Mastridia of Alexandria

Venerable Mastridia of Alexandria was a virgin and ascetic in Alexandria of Egypt, according to some sources around 580. The Orthodox Church commemorates her on 24 November by the old calendar, which is 7 December by the new.

According to her Life, from her youth she vowed her virginity, spending her life in fasting and prayer. A young man, tormented by desire for her, tried persistently to turn her from her vow of chastity. The venerable one, tired of his persistence, invited him to her house through a maidservant. When the young man entered, Mastridia was weaving linen, and she asked him why he caused her so much grief and sorrow that he did not even let her go to church. The young man answered that he loved her very much and that when he saw her it was as if he were burning. Mastridia asked what he saw in her, and he said that her eyes were so beautiful that they enticed him.

The holy virgin, hearing that her eyes enticed men, at once pierced her eyes with the shuttle with which she was weaving the linen. Seeing Mastridia's act, the young man repented, received monasticism and became an ascetic. The story is included in the Lives of the Saints of Demetrius of Rostov, under 24 November. Archpriest Avvakum used the example of Mastridia to urge the boyarina Morozova in her struggle with the temptations of love, telling her to put out her eyes with the shuttle as Mastridia did.