The Venerable Martyr Febronia of Nisibis (304)
Febronia was the daughter of Prosphorus, a senator from Rome. In order to avoid marriage with a mortal man, Febronia betrothed herself to Christ and was tonsured a nun in the East, in the land of Assyria, in a convent where her aunt Bryaena was abbess. Lysimachus, the son of a nobleman, desired to wed Febronia, but since Emperor Diocletian suspected him of being a secret Christian, he sent him to the East with his uncle Silenus to apprehend and kill Christians. Silenus was as cruel as a beast, and he exterminated Christians everywhere without mercy. Lysimachus, on the contrary, spared the Christians wherever he could and hid them from his beastly uncle. Having made Palmyra devoid of Christians, Silenus came to the town of Nisibis, close to which was a convent with fifty ascetics, among whom was Febronia. Even though she was only twenty years old, Febronia was respected both in the convent and in the town because of her great meekness, wisdom and abstinence. In this convent they adhered to the rule of the former abbess, Blessed Platonida, that every Friday be spent only in prayer and the reading of sacred books, without any other type of work. Bryaena had appointed Febronia to read the sacred books to the sisters while she was hidden behind a curtain, so that no one would be distracted and captivated by the beauty of her face. Hearing about Febronia, Silenus ordered that she be brought to him. But when the holy virgin refused to deny Christ or to enter into marriage with a mortal man, Silenus ordered them to whip her, then knock out her teeth, then cut off her hands and breasts and legs, and finally to slay her with a sword. But a horrible punishment from God befell the torturer that same day: a demon entered into him and he was overcome by a deadly terror. In this fear he struck his head against a marble pillar and fell dead. Lysimachus ordered that Febronia’s body be gathered and brought to the convent, where it was honorably buried, and he and many other soldiers were baptized. From the relics of St. Febronia there occurred many healings, and she appeared on the day of her feast and stood in her usual place among the sisters, and all the sisters looked upon her with fear and rejoicing. St. Febronia suffered honorably and took up her habitation in eternal blessedness in the year 310, and in the year 363 her relics were translated to Constantinople.
