The Church today commemorates St. Xenia and the holy martyr Babyla, as well as Bishops Philon and Theoprosus of Carpathia.
St. Xenia came from an aristocratic family in Rome and was originally called Eusebia. She was noted for her beauty and faith in Christ and for her striving for virtue. Most of all longing for purity, virginity, and devotion to the Lord, she was forced to leave her homeland in secret to avoid the marriage for which her parents had intended. Together with two of her former handmaidens, they traveled to Alexandria, and from there to the island of Kos. Finally they fled to Milasa in Asia Minor, where they asceticized until their last sleep.
Hosea was renamed from Eusebia to Xenia after she followed the virtue of abiding in her life, a name she used when she traded the aristocratic life of Rome for the path of cruelty for the sake of Christ.
St. Xenia came from an aristocratic family in Rome and was originally called Eusebia. She was noted for her beauty and faith in Christ and for her striving for virtue. Most of all longing for purity, virginity, and devotion to the Lord, she was forced to leave her homeland in secret to avoid the marriage for which her parents had intended. Together with two of her former handmaidens, they traveled to Alexandria, and from there to the island of Kos. Finally they fled to Milasa in Asia Minor, where they asceticized until their last sleep.
Hosea was renamed from Eusebia to Xenia after she followed the virtue of abiding in her life, a name she used when she traded the aristocratic life of Rome for the path of cruelty for the sake of Christ.
Share:
