Polactia of Ancyra

Holy Martyr Polactia of Ancyra, a virgin, suffered for Christ in the year 303, at the beginning of the fourth century, in Ancyra, together with the Holy Martyrs and virgins Tecusa, Claudia, Phaina, Euphrasia (Euphrosyne), Matrona, Athanasia, Alexandra and Julia.

They were women of about seventy, weakened by fasting, modestly dressed and with their heads covered, so that their hair was not seen. Brought up from childhood in piety and the fear of God, they had kept purity of body and soul. In the persecution of the emperor Diocletian they were seized and given over to torment. Since torments did not shake their faith, they were handed over to licentious young men for defilement. St Tecusa rebuked one of them, and he, with his companions, ashamed of their wicked intention, did them no harm.

Then the cruel governor ordered the sisters to take part in a pagan feast. They refused and were drowned in a lake. St Tecusa appeared in a dream to a kinsman of hers, the Holy Martyr Theodotus (†303), asking him to bring the bodies up from the bottom of the lake. Going by night after a lamp that lit their way, Theodotus and other Christians came to the lake. A terrible apparition frightened the soldiers guarding the bodies, and they fled. A wind drove the water from one side to the other, so that the bed of the lake lay bare and the bodies of the saints could be seen. Theodotus took them and buried them with honour. Learning of this, the pagans dug them up and burned them.

St Polactia is commemorated on 19 November, in the new style.