On the 8th day of this month, we commemorate our
Venerable Mother Pelagia, Who Was Formerly A Courtesan
Verses
Being washed of disgrace and abandoning the foolish,
You have attained refuge in Heaven, Pelagia.
On the eighth Pelagia fled a life in a sea of troubles.
Verses
Being washed of disgrace and abandoning the foolish,
You have attained refuge in Heaven, Pelagia.
On the eighth Pelagia fled a life in a sea of troubles.
She was from the city of Antioch, who devoted and occupied herself with dances and the theaters, and was a public prostitute of that city. By such a diabolical and shameful occupation she gathered immeasurable wealth. At one point she was catechized by Bishop Nonnus,* who was a holy man, and she fervently repented for her former wicked actions, and was baptized. Immediately she turned away from all the good and delightful things of this world, and considered them to be as dung. Having dressed herself in a garment made of hair, which was made from goat's hair, she transformed herself by taking on the form of a man, and went to the Mount of Olives, without anyone knowing. There the renowned one shut herself within a cell, and spent the rest of her life in asceticism and pleasing God. The blessed one then reposed in peace.
* Commemorated on November 10.
