Euphrasia of Nicomedia

Saint Euphrasia, martyr, was a Christian virgin of Nicomedia, put to death for Christ in the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian, in the year 303. The Orthodox Church commemorates her on 19 January.

She was born at Nicomedia, in the time of the emperor Maximian. According to tradition she was very beautiful and good by nature, and a faithful Christian. In the time of persecution she was seized and pressed to offer sacrifice to the pagan idols. Because she refused and confessed the Christian faith, she was imprisoned and tormented. She bore it all with fortitude, after which she was handed over to a cruel man, to dishonor her.

The saint prayed with tears to the Lord to keep her virginity, and the Lord heard her prayer. Saint Euphrasia proposed to the barbarian that, if he would not defile her, she would give him a special herb, which would protect him from the enemy's weapon and from death. But this plant, she explained, has power only if received from a virgin, not from a woman. The soldier believed her and went with her to a garden. The saint picked the herb, then offered to show him its power. She put the plant on her neck and told the man to strike her with his sword. With a strong blow, he cut off her head. So her prayer was fulfilled, and thus she gave her soul to God, keeping her bodily purity.