Venerable Martyr Eudocia (+160–170)
The Venerable Martyr Eudocia (+160–170) was a Samaritan from the city of Heliopolis in Phoenician Lebanon. Pagan licentiousness led her off the good path, and for a long time she lived in sin.
Once Eudocia heard words of Holy Scripture that remind people of the eternal blessedness prepared for the righteous and of the judgement of sinners. The grace of God touched the woman’s heart, and she felt that her sins lay like a heavy burden on her soul.
After she had been made a catechumen and tested, Theodotus, Bishop of Heliopolis, baptised Eudocia. The newly enlightened woman gave away all her property to the poor, while she herself hastened to a monastery and took up strict ascetic labours.
Once, when the venerable mother was already abbess of the monastery, a young pagan, Philostratus, crept into the monastery in a monk’s habit and tried to lure her away to Heliopolis to return to her former life. “May the God of vengeance smite thee!” Eudocia answered sternly, and the tempter fell dead to the ground. The nuns were afraid that God’s punishment would be counted against their abbess as murder, and they besought the Lord to show His power. Then the Lord appeared to the saint and said to her: “Arise, Eudocia, bend thy knee, pray, and thy tempter shall rise.” Through Eudocia’s prayer Philostratus rose from the dead, asked the venerable mother’s forgiveness, was baptised, and returned to Heliopolis baptised.
Soon a new trial threatened the saint. The inhabitants of Heliopolis reported to the ruler of the city, Aurelian, that Eudocia had hidden her riches in the monastery. Aurelian sent a detachment of soldiers to seize the non-existent riches, but by God’s mercy the soldiers lost their way in the forest. Aurelian did not give up his intention: again he sent a detachment to the monastery, this time led by his son. On the very first day Aurelian’s son was badly injured and died. Philostratus advised the grieving Aurelian to ask Eudocia to pray for the soul of the departed. And there was yet another miracle: through the venerable mother’s prayer the all-good Lord brought the young man back to life. Seeing the miracle, Aurelian and his retinue believed in Christ and were baptised.
When the persecution of Christians grew fiercer, the Venerable Eudocia was seized and brought to the governor Diogenes to be tortured. Through the prayer of the captive saint the Lord raised from the dead Termina, the wife of the commander Diodorus. Visibly convinced of the grace of God, Diodorus and Diogenes were baptised with their households. The Venerable Eudocia lived for some time in Diodorus’s house instructing the newly converted, and then returned to her monastery and laboured there for fifty-six years.
After Diogenes’ death the governor was Vicentius, a harsh persecutor of Christians. He ordered the fearless confessor of Christianity to be put to death. The holy Venerable Martyr Eudocia was beheaded around 160–170, on 1 March.
