Sarah-Theodora

Sarah, Theodora or Sarah-Theodora was an Empress of Bulgaria during the Second Bulgarian Empire and second wife of Tsar Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria (ruled 1331–1371). Biography Sources agree that she was of Jewish descent, having lived with her family in the Jewish neighbourhood in Tarnovo. Ivan Alexander divorced his wife of many years, Theodora of Wallachia, who was forced to become a nun, and Sarah converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, accepted the name Theodora and soon became the Tsar’s second consort. Their marriage took place in the late 1340s. The new Tsaritsa was renowned for her fierce support of her new religion, the Eastern Orthodox Christianity. She was one of the instigators of a church council against the Jews. She restored many churches and built a lot of monasteries and this is the reason why she was held in such high regard by the Bulgarian Church.