Eupraxia of Tabennisi

Holy Venerable Eupraxia of Tabennisi, called the Elder, was the mother of the Venerable Eupraxia, the virgin of Tabennisi, commemorated on 25 July. She was the wife of the pious senator Antigonus, a relative of the Emperor Theodosius the Great (379 to 395).

Widowed, Eupraxia gave herself wholly to the service of the Lord. She visited many monasteries and left generous gifts in them, and then came to the monastery of Tabennisi, where the abbess was the Venerable Theodula, famed for the strictness of her rule. Moved by the purity of the nuns' life, Eupraxia began to come often to the convent and always brought her daughter, then eight years old. The virtues and prayers of her parents drew special grace upon the child, and from so young an age she wished to devote herself to God. To her mother's great joy, Abbess Theodula kept the little Eupraxia in the convent and blessed her to receive monastic tonsure.

Eupraxia the Elder continued her works of generous mercy, increasing her fasting and prayer. Abbess Theodula, who had the gift of foresight, announced her approaching death. Learning of it, she thanked the Lord for His great mercy, took leave of the sisters of the convent and of her daughter, and gave her a last counsel: to love the Lord Jesus with the trembling of reverence, to honour her sisters and never think of them as lower than herself or fit to serve her, and to be poor in her own thoughts so as to inherit spiritual treasures. After three days she gave her soul to the Lord, in the year 393, and was buried in the convent, where her daughter continued the struggle. She is commemorated on 25 January (new style).