Theodota of Philippi

Holy Martyr Theodota of Philippi is remembered on 29 September. The sources say that Philippi, in her case, is not the city in Macedonia but Philippopolis in Thrace. In September 318, in the time of the Emperor Licinius, the prefect Agrippa commanded that all should offer sacrifice to Apollo. Theodota, a woman who had lived in sin before, refused. She answered that she had been a grievous sinner but could not add sin to sin. Her confession encouraged seven hundred and fifty men, perhaps soldiers, to refuse the sacrifice as well.

Theodota was cast into prison, where she lay for twenty days without food or water, praying without ceasing. When she was brought to the court, she wept and begged Christ to forgive the sins of her former life and to give her strength to bear the torments. Agrippa ordered her to be scourged, stretched on the rack and torn with an iron comb, and then to have her teeth pulled out one by one with pincers. At last she was condemned to be stoned outside the city. Her story is preserved in her Acts in Syriac. The Latin Church also remembers her on 29 September.