Though she had familial ties to the Zoroastrian religion, the Holy Martyr Golinduc was always repulsed by the worship of fire. Nevertheless, she prayed for a revelation of the True Faith, and, while she was still a pagan, she was vouchsafed a vision over the course of three days of souls in torment in Hades and another of souls rejoicing in Paradise. When she asked what she must do join those in Paradise, an angel told her that she must be baptized into Christ. Willing to stop at nothing to do so, she left her husband and parents, was catechized and then baptized into the Church. Upon returning home, she was turned into the authorities by her husband for repudiating the Mazdean religion and was thrown into prison for 18 years. But she lived those years as if it were a single day, focusing only on her love for Christ. She was granted the grace of learning first the Psalter and then the rest of Holy Scriptures by heart from other faithful Christians who she met in the prison. At the end of that time, she was delivered up to the torturers who, inspired by demons, inflicted the most heinous torturers on the Martyr to no avail. For, each night, the Lord healed her wounds. Seeing they could make no impact on her resolve they cast her into a pit that was inhabited by a dragon that was feared by all. In short order, however, Saint Golinduc had tamed the beast such that is slept each night with its head resting in her lap. After four months, they removed her from the pit and had her installed in a house of ill-repute, but she was rendered invisible to any who entered in the hopes of defiling her. Having proven utterly victorious, she was finally released from prison and exiled. Thankful for her freedom, she nevertheless offered up a prayer of lament for not having been counted worthy of the crown of martyrdom. In response, the Lord sent an angel to her who gently wounded her neck with a sword causing blood to issue forth. The angel then told her that the Lord considered that wound in addition to he sufferings to have been her martyrdom. From thenceforth she became known as the Living Martyr, and she was revered wherever she went. One day, when she nearly received communion from some Monophysite disciples of Sergius of Antioch, an angel granted her a vision of two chalices, one that held the bitter darkness of Hades from her first vision, and a second that held the warm glow of paradise. Through this and other such visions, she became a sign and firm support for the true faith to those around her.
Hymnography
Through divine instruction, thou by faith camest to know Christ our God, Who abode with those on the earth; and enlightened in the eyes of thy mind, stately Golinduc, thou didst set forth straightway, bold and unafraid, to join in battle with unseen enemies, whose brazen insolence thou didst utterly destroy; wherefore, the Lord, He that is supremely good, crowned thee with vict’ry’s crowns.
(Lord, I have cried, Second Troparion of the Martyr; Vespers)
Thou didst keep thy mind unhurt and whole while thou wast suffering wounds in confinement of many years; and, O Martyr, having been cast down into the lowest pit to pine and languish therein for many days, thou wast sustained with imperishable food; and though there dwelt with thee a pernicious dragon, thou wast never touched by its harm, O glorious prizewinner of the Lord.
(Lord, I have cried, Third Troparion of the Martyr; Vespers)
They who are guided by thee unto the Lord, O all-lauded Golinduc, have not their feet caught in the enemy’s meshes, but they trip up his ways by the Divine Spirit.
(Ode Four, First Troparion; Orthros Canon)
Showing diligence to be released from the confusion of passions and from treacherous delusion, O Martyr, thou didst suffer bonds with joy, binding with them all the error of the destroyer.
(Ode Four, Second Troparion; Orthros Canon)
Christ the Lord gave thee strength to endure torments and wicked tortures, through which thou hast undone all the enemy’s devices, O wonder-worthy maiden.
(Ode Four, Third Troparion; Orthros Canon)
With joy thou abodest in a dark and very deep pit, O venerable Golinduc, like the wondrous Daniel, being with a dragon which reverenced thee, recognizing in thee a Martyr of the sufferings of Christ.
(Ode Five, Third Troparion; Orthros Canon)
Longing for the almighty gave thee wings, O admirable Martyr, and thou flewest above all the snares of the adversary as a dove of Christ, and wast united unto God.
(Ode Eight, Third Troparion; Orthros Canon)
Category: Woman
Indicates female saints.
Martyr Agrippina
Living the life of an angel in the flesh, Saint Agrippina devoted herself to purity and virginity seeing it as a foretaste of the delights of heaven. As such, she shone forth like a beacon light in Old Rome, and drew other women – both young and old – who hoped to imitate her way of life. The hatred of the pagans being aroused, they denounced her to the local authorities during Valerian’s persecution accusing her of rebellion against the state by way of refusing marriage and deceiving others to do the same. Appearing before the tribunal she said that she and her followers had indeed been betrothed, but it was to the heavenly Bridegroom. Beaten, stripped, and left to rot in chains, she was completely healed by angels. Fearful of her influence spreading, the authorities had her executed shortly thereafter, leaving her body in a field to be consumed by beasts. Her spiritual sisters, however, recovered the holy relics and transported them to Menes in Sicily, guided all the while by a pillar of fire as Israel of old. Her sweet-scented presence immediately drove out the demons of that place whom the locals worshipped as gods, the darkness of error being thereby dispersed. Her relics continued to work miracles of healing and deliverance for all those who venerated them with faith.
Hymnography
Christ our God doth give thee as most precious treasure to Sicily, who hadst striven in Rome for Him, O Martyr of Great renown; and in Rome abiding, thou dost drive away the dark demons’ vile and wicked throng by thine unceasing protection and thy care. And for this cause, O much-contending Agrippina, we call thee blest, and we celebrate on this day thy great contests in holiness.
(Lord, I have cried, Second Troparion; Vespers)
As Sicily receiveth the holy Martyr’s body, which hath flashed forth from Rome like a never-setting sun, it is delivered from the gloomy terror of demons.
(Ode Six, First Troparion; Orthros Canon)
The swords of the enemy were utterly enfeebled against thee, O Agrippina; and like cities without foundations, thou didst pull down his audacity with the bar of thy glorious contests.
(Ode Six, Third Troparion; Orthros Canon)
Night became as day for them that carried away thy relics, O Martyr; and when a place filled with sweet fragrance received thee, the array of the demons was mightily driven away and a flood of healings flowed forth unto them that supremely exalt Christ unto the ages.
(Ode Eight, First Troparion; Orthros Canon)
Pansemne, the Former Prostitute
A prostitute from Antioch, the ironically named Saint Pansemne (“very chaste”) especially targeted Christians with her charms for 12 years. Hearing of her reputation, Saint Theophanes, who lived nearby in solitude, feigned interest, but surprised her with a marriage proposal that included a large quanitity of gold. His only condition was that she become a Christian. When she learned about the Last Judgment during her catechesis, her conscience was pricked, and she gave herself to the ascetic life, shutting herself up in a cell like that of her husband. Her name ultimately proved prophetic, and, having done all diligence, God granted her petitions of healing and delivering those tormented by demons.
Xenia the Wonderworker
A beautiful woman made all the more radiant by her acquisition of the Christian virtues, the regional prefect, Dometian, hired a magician to cast a love spell on Saint Xenia who he wanted for his wife. The saint easily defeated the dark arts by the power of the cross, and declared the Lord to be her heavenly spouse. Enraged by her faithfulness to Christ, the prefect subjected her to various forms of torture which proved just as powerless as the spell enwrapped as she was in prayer. When he, nonetheless, convinced himself that she was ready to renounce her faith for him, he took her to a pagan temple to offer sacrifice, but the saint immediately cast down the idols by her prayer. Incensed by her continued rejection, Dometian eventually had her beheaded and her heart delivered to him on a platter as if he were a new Herod.
Martyr Maura
After her husband had been put to the torture and imprisoned by Diocletian’s Prefect of Thebes, Arian, the tyrant hoped that he could get Saint Maura to convince her husband to renounce the faith order to save his life. Much to the contrary, after speaking with her husband, she too boldly confessed Christ and proclaimed that she was ready to die for Christ. After being subjected to multiple tortures to which she responded with disdain and ridicule at their impotence, Maura and her husband, Timothy, were crucified side-by-side having been tied to their crosses. Her patient and uncomplaining endurance proved to be a scourge to the demons, and, in order to end his humiliation, the Devil appeared to her as a man offering the saint milk and honey to pull down her vision from the creator to the created as he did with our first Mother. Maura, however, easily defeated this temptation through prayer. The Devil then redoubled his efforts at temptation by transporting her to an illusory land flowing with milk and honey. Filled with righteous anger at this further deception, the holy martyr rebuked the enemy of mankind saying the she preferred rather the draught of eternal life. Having been routed, the demon fled from the saint and, like when Christ was tempted in the wilderness, and angel came to minister to her. The next day, the 10th day of their crucifixion, Saints Maura and Timothy both carried off the martyrs crown.
Hymnography
August Martyr Maura blest of God, with thy brightly flashing visage and the light of thy grace, thou didst benight and dim the eyes of the evil tyrant; when thy foes tore out thy hair, though didst openly speak unto God; and with the water heated up in the seething cauldron, thou didst burn the unjust head of deceitful Belial.
(Second Troparion of the Saints, Lord, I have cried)
Clad with the breastplate of the Divine Spirit, O venerable Maura, thou joyfully wentest forth to wrestle with the adversary, and didst defeat him and didst receive the crowns of victory, O Martyr.
(Ode Five, Second Troparion, Orthros Canon)
In keeping the law of the Ruler of all, ye did not bow down to the rule of the transgressors; ye did not offer worship to the wicked demons, O noble Martyrs, heirs of the Lord.
(Ode Eight, First Troparion, Orthros Canon)
Elizabeth the Wonderworker
Consumed by a divine eros for Christ, St. Elizabeth fixed her gaze on the Divine Beauty, turning neither to the right nor the left. For her single-minded dedication she was granted the gift of working miracles which she used to heal the sick, cast out demons, and predict future events. Like a female St. George, she too killed a dragon which held sway over the Hebdomon District of Constantinople armed only with the precious cross. On the day after the feast of the Trophy-bearer, St. Elizabeth fell asleep. Her body remained incorrupt and continued to work wonders for the faithful down through the centuries.
Hymnography
Since thou didst pereserve in ascetical diligence, thou hast received grace to drive out the maladies of souls and bodies, O Modest Mother blest of God, in the Holy Spirit, chasing spirits off and protecting all found in adversities; now in thine intercessions, ask that strength and great mercy be granted unto all.
(First Troparion of the Saint; Lord, I have cried)
Having borne the pains of self-denial, thou didst gain the grace of deep dispassion and of healing to cure every malady, and to drive off all the working of demons’ spite, O God-inspired, wonder worthy Elizabeth. Righteous Mother, interceded with Christ God in our behalf, that His great mercy may be granted unto us.
(Sessional Hymn of the Saint; Orthros Canon)
The terrible serpent, even the dragon, hast thou slain with thy prayer; for having first broken all the devices of the evil one by divine power, thou gavest him as food to the beasts and to every fowl of the air, O Elizabeth, while glorifying the Master of all.
(Ode Four, First Troparion; Orthros Canon)
Resplendent was thy way of life, made beautiful with virtues; and thy falling-asleep hath sacredly flashed with the lightning or miracles, chasing away demons and dissipating the winter of passions by divine grace.
(Ode Six, Second Troparion; Orthros Canon)