Marina of Beroea

The Venerable Marina of Beroea (Macedonia) was the sister of the Venerable Cyra and lived in the fourth century in the city of Beroea. Their parents were of noble and rich family, but the sisters, having reached majority, left home and went out of the city. They fenced off a small corner of land, the holy virgins blocked the entrance to their shelter with stones and clay, leaving only a small opening through which food was given them, and lived there in the open air. On their bodies they wore heavy iron chains and bore hunger patiently: for three years they ate once in forty days.

Their former maidservants came to them, wishing to join their ascetic life. The saints placed them in a separate house, not far from the enclosure, and guided them, urging them to prayer and fasting. So they struggled for forty years. They broke their solitude only for a journey to Jerusalem, to venerate the Tomb of the Lord. During the pilgrimage they took no food until they had venerated the holy places, and on the way back again tasted nothing. The same labour they did once more when they travelled to the tomb of the First Martyr and Equal of the Apostles Thecla, in Isauria. The Venerable Marina and Cyra died around the year 450.

They are commemorated on the movable day around 13 March, in the new style.