Euphemia

Greatmartyr Euphemia
Mural depitcting the martyrdom of St. Euphemia (Basilica of Saint Euphemia, Rovinj, Croatia)
Virgin, Martyr
Died	c. 307 A.D., Chalcedon, Bithynia
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church, Orthodox Church, Protestant Churches
Major shrine	Saint Euphemia's basilica, Rovinj, Croatia
Feast	September 16 (martyrdom) July 11 (miracle)
Attributes	Clothed as a pious woman with her head covered, surrounded by one or a few lions, often holding a wheel or a cross

The Greatmartyr Euphemia (Greek: Εὐφημία), known as the All-praised in the Orthodox Church is a Christian saint, who was martyred for her faith at Chalcedon, c. 304-307 A.D.

Hagiography

Euphemia lived in the 3rd century AD and was the daughter of a senator named Philophronos and his wife Theodosia in Chalcedon, located across the Bosporus from the city of Byzantium (which later became Constantinople, modern-day Istanbul). From her youth she was consecrated to virginity.

The governor of Chalcedon, Priscus, had made a decree that all of the inhabitants of the city take part in sacrifices to the pagan deity Ares. Euphemia was discovered with other Christians who were hiding in a house and worshiping the Christian God, in defiance of the governor's orders. Because of their refusal to sacrifice, they were tortured for a number of days, and then handed over to the Emperor for further torture. Euphemia, the youngest among them, was separated from her companions and subjected to particularly harsh torments, including the wheel, in hopes of breaking her spirit. It is believed that she died of wounds from a wild bear in the arena under Emperor Diocletian.

Eventually, a cathedral was built in Chalcedon over her grave.

Miracle during the Council of Chalcedon

The Council of Chalcedon was the fourth Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church which took place in the city of Chalcedon in the year 451. It repudiated the Eutychian doctrine of monophysitism, and set forth the Chalcedonian Creed, which describes the "full humanity and full divinity" of Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.

The council sat in the cathedral consecrated in her name. Present at the council were 630 representatives from all the local Christian Churches. Both the Monophysite and Orthodox parties were well-represented at the council, so the meetings were quite contentious, and no decisive consensus could be reached. Patriarch Anatolius of Constantinople suggested that the council submit the decision to the Holy Spirit, acting through Saint Euphemia.

Both parties wrote a confession of their faith and placed them in the tomb of the saint Euphemia which was sealed in the presence of the emperor Marcian (450-457), who placed the imperial seal on it and set a guard to watch over it for three days. During these days both sides fasted and prayed. After three days the tomb was opened and the scroll with the Orthodox confession was seen in the right hand of St Euphemia while the scroll of the Monophysites lay at her feet.

This miracle is attested by a letter sent by the council to Pope Leo I:

"For it was God who worked, and the triumphant Euphemia who crowned the meeting as for a bridal, and who, taking our definition of the Faith as her own confession, presented it to her Bridegroom by our most religious Emperor and Christ-loving Empress, appeasing all the tumult of opponents and establishing our confession of the Truth as acceptable to Him, and with hand and tongue setting her seal to the votes of us all in proclamation thereof." ^[1]

Relics

The sarcophagus containing the relics of Saint Euphemia in Rovinj, Croatia.

Around the year 620, in the wake of the conquest of Chalcedon by the Persians under Khosrau I in the year 617, the relics of Saint Euphema were transferred to a new church in Constantinople. There, during the persecutions of the Iconoclasts, her reliquary was said to have been thrown into the sea, from which it was recovered by the ship-owning brothers Sergius and Sergonos, who belonged to the Orthodox party, and who gave it over to the local bishop who hid them in a secret crypt. The relics were afterwards taken to the Island of Lemnos, and in 796 they were returned to Constantinople.

Her relics were later stolen by the Crusaders. The saint's head was taken by the Knights Templar to their preceptory in Nicosia on Cyprus.^[2] Today it is believed that the majority of her relics are kept inside Saint Euphemia's basilica in Rovinj, Croatia.

Feast Days

The primary feast day of Saint Euphemia, celebrated by both Eastern and Western Christians is September 16 in commemoration of her martyrdom. Additionally, Eastern Orthodox Christians commemorate her miracle at the Council of Chalcedon on July 11. When the persecution of Diocletian ended, the Christians laid Saint Euphemia’s relics in a golden sarcophagus, placed within a church that was dedicated to her. Her relics attracted crowds of pilgrims for centuries. They were moved to Constantinople in 616 at the time of the Persian invasions, and remain intact to this day in the church of the Patriarchate at the Phanar. The feast day of Saint Euphemia is celebrated on September 16.

Popular culture

St. Euphemia is a widely-venerated saint among all Eastern Orthodox Christians, not only for her virginity and martyrdom, but also for her strengthening of the Orthodox Faith, and her feast days are celebrated with special solemnity. Churches in her honor have been erected all over the Christian world.

Euphemia (typically abbreviated to "Effie") was a common baptismal name.

The Anime show Code Geass has a character named Euphemia. (abbreviated as Euphie)

Italo Calvino names a trading city Euphemia in his book Invisible Cities.

See also

• Saint Euphemia's basilica

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Saint Euphemia

• Greatmartyr Euphemia the All-praised Orthodox icon and synaxarion (September 16 feast)
• Miracle of the Greatmartyr Euphemia the All-praised at Chalcedon (July 11 feast)