Venerable Thaisia (IV)
The Venerable Thaisia was the daughter of a harlot, and from her youth she too was sunk in debauchery. Thanks to her wonderfully captivating looks she led many astray. At that time the monk Paphnutius, who set many who had gone astray on the way of salvation, lived in Egypt, in the monastery of Heraclea. When he heard of Thaisia, he put on worldly clothes, went to the harlot and asked her to arrange a meeting with him in so secluded a place that neither man nor God could see them. Thaisia, in whose soul thoughts of the Lord had not yet died out, answered with a smile that this was impossible, for God is everywhere and sees everything. Then the venerable father revealed who he was, and set plainly before the Lord’s chosen one the weight of her sins and the unbearable torments that awaited her in the life eternal for the soul of every person she had led astray and ruined. The monk’s words shook the sinful woman’s soul, and heavenly light shone into her heart. She gathered all her wealth, heaped it up in the city square and burned it with her own hands, as a sign that she publicly confessed the vileness of her former life and did not even think this treasure, gained by debauchery, worthy to be given to the poor.
The Venerable Paphnutius took the saint to a convent, where she settled in a narrow cell, and every day a piece of bread and a little water were handed in to her through a small window. The blessed mother spent three years here in complete solitude. The Lord’s chosen one, wasted by strict fasting, repeated unceasingly a short prayer: “O my Creator, have mercy on me!” Meanwhile Paphnutius felt a wonderful compassion for her and went to the Venerable Anthony the Great (commemorated 17 January) to learn whether the Lord had forgiven Thaisia. Saint Anthony gathered his disciples and stood at prayer with them all night. At last it was revealed to one of them, the Venerable Paul (commemorated 7 March and 4 October), in a miraculous vision, that Thaisia’s sins had been blotted out. Paphnutius went to the house where the holy mother was labouring and opened the door of her cell. Thaisia said humbly that she wished to remain in seclusion, but the blessed monk ordered her to come out. The saint obeyed, and said: “God is my witness: from the moment I entered the cell all my sins stood before my eyes, and I dissolved in tears looking at them.” Paphnutius answered: “It is for this, and not for the strictness of your seclusion, that the merciful Lord has had mercy on you.” After this Thaisia lived only fifteen days. She passed peacefully into the Kingdom around the year 340. The venerable mother should be distinguished from the blessed Taisia whose commemoration the holy Church keeps on 10 May.
