Martyr
Susanna of Eleutheropolis
A holy woman linked with Eleutheropolis in Palestine, in Western calendars; few details survive.
- Era
- 4th century
- Order
- Martyrs
Life
Susanna of Eleutheropolis was a Christian deaconess, put to death as a martyr in the year 362, in the persecution of Julian the Apostate, the last pagan Roman emperor.
She was born at Eleutheropolis in Palestine, the daughter of Artemius, a pagan priest, and Martha, a Jewish woman. After the death of both she converted to Christianity and was made a deaconess. When Julian tried to reverse what the empire had done in accepting Christianity, she was arrested, tortured and killed while she prayed in her cell, by the local prefect, called Alexander.
The source gives no feast day and does not say whether there was a synodal canonization. She is honoured as a saint.