He was taken into captivity by Turks who had landed on the shore of Athos. They took him to Magnesia and there he worked in chains for twelve years. But he did not lose hope for freedom and fervently he prayed to the Mother of God to free him from this bitter captivity.
The Virgin Domnina of Syria was a disciple of Saint Maron (February 14). The nun built a straw-covered hut in her mother’s garden and lived there as an ascetic, eating only lentils soaked in water.
After fierce tortures, Saint Antonina was thrown into prison, but Maximian could not force the saint to renounce Christ and offer sacrifice to idols.
Harsh and painful was the life of the monk in the wilderness, but neither cold, nor deprivation, nor wild beasts, nor the wiles of the Enemy were able to shake his resolve. He built a small chapel for the glorification of, and in gratitude to, the Lord and the Most Holy Theotokos.
Eudokia awoke one night at midnight and heard singing from the house of a Christian woman next to hers. A monk was reading from a book which described the Last Judgment, the punishment of sinners, and the reward of the righteous. The grace of God touched Eudokia’s heart, and she grieved because of her great wealth and for her sinful life.
