Pelaghia din Tars
| Acest articol (sau părți din el) este propus spre traducere din limba engleză!
Dacă doriți să vă asumați acestă traducere (parțial sau integral), anunțați acest lucru pe pagina de discuții a articolului. |
The holy and glorious Virgin-Martyr Saint Pelaghia din Tars was a resident of Cilicia [1] of Tarsus [2] in Asia Minor during the reign of the Emperor Diocletian (284-305). She is commemorated May 4.
According to the tradition of the Church, the son of Diocletian fell in love with the holy maiden, wishing to seek her as his own. When he made advances towards her, Pelagia replied that she could not love him, having sworn herself to Christ, the Bridegroom. In passion, anger, and sorrow, Diocletian's son killed himself. Pelagia was then sent to Rome by her pagan mother, where Diocletian himself asked her to become his wife. She refused, and seeing the cruelty of the tyrannical emperor, she called him insane. The emperor had her burned at the stake, and as her flesh melted like wax, the incense of myrrh emitted from her holy flesh, perfuming the city.
The pagans sent four lions to surround her bones, but instead of consuming them, they protected her remains from vultures until Bishop Linus recovered them. After the legalization of Christianity, Constantine the Great built a church on the site of those remains in her honor.
