Thea

Holy Martyr Thea suffered with her siblings Paul and Valentina at Diocaesarea in Palestine. She is commemorated in the Greek calendar on 18 July (new style), beside Aemilianus, Paul and Valentina; the calendar adds the year 363.

According to the synaxarion, Paul, Valentina and Thea (also called Thoe) were born in Egypt, siblings of Christian parents. They were seized at Diocaesarea by the governor Firmilianus, who called on them to renounce Christ. They confessed their faith loudly and said they were ready for prison, torture and ten thousand deaths. Valentina and Thea, young women in the bloom of life, were first torn with iron instruments, then thrown into fire. Paul, after addressing a few words to the crowd about salvation through Jesus Christ, was beheaded. That the synaxarion names the governor Firmilianus would point to a different age from the year 363 given in the calendar.