By Bishop Gregorios of Mesaoria
Today the Church commemorates the Holy Women Pelagia and Taisia and the Hieromartyr Artemon.
Virgin Pelagia was from the famous historic city of Antioch in Syria, and came from a glorious family. When the local governor learned that she was a Christian and was studying the Holy Gospel, he sent troops to arrest her.
The Saint prayed to God to take her while she was still living a life of chastity, thus she delivered to the Lord her immaculate body and spirit.
When Saint Taisia, the harlot, driven to the wrong habit and the decay of her body by her own mother, found out that there is salvation and redemption next to Christ, repented of her corrupt practices, distributed her possessions to the poor, and dedicated herself to monasticism. She spent the rest of her life as a saint, with prayer, tears and sighs, an expression of genuine remorse.
Both Saints, Pelagia and Taisia, are examples of humble people and female heroes, as well as a proof that true repentance gives comfort and sanctifies people, whatever their moral decline is. At the same time, humans under these conditions are led to the physician of souls and bodies, the Maker and Creator, the God-man Jesus Christ, who, with His three-day Resurrection, brightened and restored human nature.
Source: Church of Cyprus
