Venerable Martyr Philothea of Athens (+1589)

The Venerable Martyr Philothea (in the world Revoula) came into the world after the long prayer of God-loving parents. She was born in Athens in 1522. When the girl, brought up in piety, came of age, she was married. Revoula’s husband, an ungodly and rough man, often beat and tormented his wife. The woman patiently bore the insults and besought the Lord to bring her husband to his senses. After three years the saint was widowed, after which she began a strict labour of prayer, fasting and vigil. The holy ascetic also founded a convent dedicated to Andrew the First-called, and she herself was the first of its inhabitants to take the habit, with the name Philothea. At that time Greece was suffering under the yoke of the Turks. Many Athenian women had been made slaves by the enemy. The Venerable Philothea used every means to free her countrywomen, and ransomed many of them. Once four women took refuge in the holy woman’s convent; they had fled from masters who were demanding that they deny Christ. The Turks learned where the fugitives were, burst into the venerable mother’s cell and beat her cruelly. Then the saint was brought to the head of the city, who ordered her to be thrown into prison. The next morning the holy prisoner was threatened: if you do not deny Christianity, we will saw you in two. The venerable mother was ready for a martyr’s end, but by God’s will the Christians who had gathered managed to free her. Returning to the convent, Saint Philothea made her labours still stricter. In a suburb she founded a new convent and continued her labours there with the sisters. On the feast of Saint Dionysius the Areopagite (commemorated 4 January and 3 October) the Turks seized the saint, beat her savagely and threw her down half dead on the ground. Weeping and lamenting, the sisters of the convent carried the dying Philothea to the village of Kalogreza, where she died on 19 February 1589. Soon the holy martyr’s body was translated to the cathedral church of Athens.