THE HOLY FEMALE MARTYR DOROTHEA

February 6

From the Prologue

Dorothea was a prominent and beautiful maiden from Caesarea in Cappadocia. Sapricius, the administrator of the province, turned Dorothea over to the two pagan sisters Christina and Kallista in order to dissuade her from Christ. But, the opposite occurred; Dorothea succeeded to convert both sisters to the Faith of Christ. Enraged, Sapricius ordered the two sisters bound back to back and threw them into a vat of pitch and set it on fire. He then sentenced Dorothea to death. She joyfully heard the sentence and cried out: "I give thanks to You, O Soul-loving Christ, that You are leading me into Your All-holy mansions!" Theophilus, a certain nobleman who was present, laughed at these words and cried out to Dorothea: "Listen, O bride of Christ, send me apples and flowers from the pomegranate tree from the Paradise of your Bridegroom." "Indeed, I will do that," replied the martyr. When Dorothea was at the place of execution, all at once a beautiful young man appeared with three beautiful apples and three red flowers from the pomegranate. That was an angel of God and it was winter. Dorothea asked the angel to bring them to Theophilus and to tell him: "Behold, this is what you desired!" When Theophilus received the message and saw the gift, he was thoroughly frightened. For him, everything turned upside down and he, a confirmed pagan, became a Christian. He was tortured and slain for Christ and his soul entered the Paradise of the Lord Jesus soon after St. Dorothea.