Feast day: 1 March

The Life and Suffering of the Holy Venerable Martyress Eudoxia

In the reign of Trajan [1] in the city of Heliopolis [2] in Coele-Syria [3], in the region of Phoenicia of Lebanon [4], adjacent to the country of Judea, there lived a maiden named Eudocia. By birth and by faith she was a Samaritan [5]. Seducing with its great beauty, it mercilessly led many to destruction, gathering up its shameful possessions from the wealth of those countries by means of carnal impurity, this easy way of acquiring. Her face was so beautiful that even an artist would have found it difficult to depict this beauty. Word spread everywhere about her, and many noble youths and even representatives of power from other countries and cities flocked to Heliopolis, as if for another need, but in fact only to see and enjoy the beauty of Eudocia, who by sinful deeds had collected wealth almost equal to the royal treasury. And through this prolonged accumulation of treasures, Eudoxia became so dead in her soul in her impure life and petrified in the hardness of her heart, that no power but the Divine could have healed the hopeless spiritual illness of this desperate sinner. However, the time came when the hand of the good shepherd, who was looking for the lost sheep, hastened to it: the Creator looked upon His creation, corrupted by the wickedness of the devil, and desired to renew it. The true householder took care of the fruits of His vineyard, which were subjected to enemy plunder. The Lord of Heavenly Treasures hastened to receive into the eternal treasury the dying drachma, which lay on the ground in mud and perishing. The Guardian of the blessings expected by the righteous called this desperate Samaritan woman to His perfect hope, and left the devil to shame.

This is how the conversion to God of this great sinner began.

A certain monk, named Germanus, was returning through Heliopolis from a journey to his monastery. He came to the city in the evening and stayed with a Christian acquaintance who lived near the city gates, and his room was adjacent to the wall of the house of the girl in question. The monk, having slept a little, arose at night according to his usual to sing the psalms, and at the end of the prescribed rule, he sat down and, taking a book which he carried with him in his bosom, immersed himself in reading for a long time. In the book it was written about the terrible judgment of God and that the righteous would shine like the sun in the kingdom of heaven, and the sinners would go into the unquenchable fire, where they would be given over to eternal cruel torments. That very night, Eudoxia, by Divine providence, was alone. The bedroom in which she secluded herself adjoined the wall behind which the monk asceticized in prayer and reading. When the monk began his psalmody, Eudocia immediately woke up and, lying on her bed, listened to everything until the very end of the reading. She could hear everything that the monk was reading, for only one wall, and it was not thick, separated them, especially since the monk read aloud. Listening to the reading, the sinner was moved with great emotion and did not sleep until dawn, contemplating with a trembling heart the multitude of her sins, the dreadful judgment and the unbearable torment of sinners. As soon as the day came, she (under the influence of Divine grace, which stirred her up to repentance) ordered the one who was reading a book at night to be called to her, and when he came, she asked him:

"What kind of man are you, and where do you come from?" How do you live and what is your faith? I beg you, tell me the whole truth. When I hear what you read at night, I am troubled, and my soul is weary, for I have heard something terrible and wonderful, hitherto unknown to me. And if it is true that sinners are given over to the fire, then who can be saved?

Blessed Germanus said to her:

-Mrs! What faith are you, if you have never heard of the dreadful judgment of God and do not understand the meaning of the words I have read?

"By my country and by faith," said Eudocia, "I am a Samaritan; My wealth is immeasurable, and I am especially troubled and frightened by the grief and the eternal and inextinguishable fire with which the book you have read threatens the rich. I had never seen such words in the books of our faith, and therefore I was quite alarmed when I heard something new and unexpected.

Blessed Germanus asked:

"Do you have a husband, mistress?" And where did you get your immeasurable, as you say, wealth?

"I have no lawful husband," she answered, "and my wealth has been collected from many husbands. And if the rich shall be condemned after death to such a grievous and eternal torment, what shall my riches profit me?

Herman said to her: