Faina of Ancyra

Holy Martyr Faina of Ancyra (also called of Corinth), a virgin, is one of the seven virgin martyrs of Ancyra in Galatia: Tecusa, Faina, Claudia, Matrona, Julia, Alexandra and Euphrasia, who suffered together with the Holy Martyr Theodotus. They lived in the second half of the third century and died for Christ at the beginning of the fourth.

Theodotus of Ancyra

Theodotus kept an inn in Ancyra, was married, and had already attained great perfection: he kept purity, practised self-⁠restraint and subdued the body to the spirit by fasting and prayer. By his words he brought Jews and pagans to the faith and sinners to repentance, and from the Lord he received the gift of healing and healed the sick by laying his hands on them. In the persecution of Diocletian (284 to 305) the governor Theotecnus, known for his cruelty, was sent to Ancyra. Many Christians fled the city, and Theodotus sheltered in his inn those left without a roof, fed them, hid the persecuted, gave devastated churches what they needed for the Divine Liturgy from his own stores, entered the prisons fearlessly to help those unjustly condemned, and buried the bodies of martyrs, carrying them off in secret or ransoming them from soldiers. When the churches of Ancyra were ruined and closed, the Liturgy was celebrated in his inn. Knowing that the struggle of martyrdom lay ahead of him too, Theodotus told the priest Fronto that martyrs' relics would soon be brought to the place the two of them had chosen, and gave him his ring as a pledge.

The seven virgins

At that time the seven virgins died for Christ, of whom the eldest, Tecusa, was the aunt of Theodotus. They had dedicated themselves to God from youth and lived in constant prayer, fasting, self-⁠restraint and good works, and all reached great age. Brought to trial as Christians, they boldly confessed their faith before Theotecnus and were tortured, but remained unshaken. Then the governor handed them to shameless young men to be defiled. The virgins prayed fervently, and Tecusa fell at the feet of the young men and, removing her head covering, showed them her white head. The youths were ashamed, wept and left. The governor then ordered them to take part in the festival of the "washing of the idols," as pagan priestesses did, but the saints refused and were condemned to death. A heavy stone was tied round the neck of each, and all seven were drowned in the lake.

The martyrdom of Theodotus

The following night Tecusa appeared to Theodotus in a dream and asked him to recover their bodies and bury them as Christians. Theodotus, with his friend Polychronius and other Christians, set out for the lake. It was dark, and a burning lamp showed the way. Before the guard posted on the shore the holy martyr Sosander appeared, and the terrified guards fled. The wind drove the water to the other side of the lake, and the Christians took the bodies of the martyrs and carried them to the church, where they buried them. Learning of it, the governor was enraged and ordered Christians seized without distinction. Polychronius was seized and, unable to endure the tortures, named Theodotus as the guilty one. Theodotus prepared for death, left word that his body should be given to the priest Fronto, and stood trial. Long tortures did not break him, and he was taken to prison and tortured again the next day, and the governor, seeing he could not shake his steadfastness, ordered his head cut off. A storm kept the soldiers from burning his body. Fronto, passing by on the road with a donkey laden with wine from his vineyard, saw the donkey fall near the body, learned from the soldiers who the dead man was, and understood that the Lord had brought him there. He laid the holy remains on the donkey, brought them to the place Theodotus had indicated and buried them with honour, and later built a church there. Theodotus died on 7 June 303 or 304.

Veneration

The story of their lives was written by Nilus, a contemporary and companion of Theodotus and an eyewitness of his death. Faina is commemorated on 31 May (new style), that is 18 May by the old calendar, the day of the virgins' death.