THE HOLY MARTYR PHOTINA

March 20

From the Prologue

This was the Samaritan woman who had the rare fortune to converse with the Lord Christ Himself at the Well of Jacob, near Sychar (St. John 4:4-31). Believing in the Lord, Photina afterwards went to preach His Gospel with Victor and Josiah her two sons, and with her five sisters, Anatolia, Phota, Photida, Parasceve and Cyriaca. They had gone to Carthage in Africa. There they were arrested and taken to Rome during the reign of Emperor Nero and were thrown into prison. By God's Divine Providence, Domnina, the daughter of Nero, came into contact with St. Photina and was converted to the Faith of Christ by her. After imprisonment they all suffered for the sake of Christ. Photina, who for the first time was enlightened with the light of truth at the well of Sychar, was now thrown into a well where she died and entered into the eternal kingdom of Christ.

HYMN OF PRAISE

SAINT PHOTINA, THE SAMARITAN WOMAN

The Samaritan Woman met Christ at the well,

And was enlightened with the light of Christ, Himself.

Under Nero, her life she ended in another well,

And her spirit she gave to Christ God, her Lord.

Her glorious sons were Victor and Josiah,

Both, the saintly mother enlightened with holiness.

Five sisters suffered for the Name of Christ,

With her were translated to heaven, their reward to receive.

O, penitent Photina, wonderful sufferer,

How your countenance with eternal light now glows.

At one time, not even water did you give to the Savior,

Finally, even your blood for Him, you shed.

Your soul at one time darkened, while yet a Samaritan you were,

When you became a Christian, above the sun's rays, you shown.

In Sychar, you proclaimed Christ with fear,

In the center of Rome, by your death you witnessed to Him.

Love, every fear, destroys and makes one a hero,

O, Photina, love, forever, glorified you.

Two or three Romes, can Nero burn down

But the soul of Christians cannot burn.

The vessels of clay, Nero can smash

But, over the spirit of Photina, did not have any power.

O, immortal saint, help us now,

By your prayers, before the Throne of Christ the Savior.