Christ is Risen!
During the earliest days of Christianity, in the decades that followed the Resurrection of Christ, it was incredibly dangerous to call yourself a Christian in public. In order to celebrate the Liturgy together, men and women had to meet in secret in the last place that the authorities would think to look: The Catacombs! The Divine Liturgy was actually celebrated in the first centuries of the Church on top of the bones of the martyrs of the faith who were laid to rest!
This tradition is carried on in our Churches today. When an altar table is consecrated, there is a piece of a martyr’s bone that is placed in the table itself, which reminds us of two things:
1.) How in every Divine Liturgy, heaven and earth mystically come together as we celebrate with those that are still with us physically, but also spiritually. We see this the book of revelation, where the prayer of the martyrs of the Church were seen praying beneath the altar for those in the world. (Revelation 6:9)
2.) To remember how Christianity grew and flourished on the tremendous and unshakable faith of the martyrs.
This Sunday of the Samaritan Woman is always a special Sunday for us here in our Church in the Woods. When our altar was consecrated 5 years ago, the relics of St. Photini, this incredible woman who we hear about in the Gospel today, were placed inside this altar table. How incredible is that to think about! We are so blessed to have this amazing, physical, and palpable connection to the Gospel this morning. We are so close to this great Saint who truly exemplified how partaking of the Life Giving Water of Baptism can truly transform someone from the dust that we are made of…into glory.
St. Photini, before the encounter with Christ, was truly a woman whose life was buried beneath the dirt. For all intents and purposes, she was dust. Her mind was transfixed on trying to get earthly pleasures, and this was seen in the way she lived her life, having gone through five husbands and now was on her sixth. She was never satisfied with what she had been given, always looking for something more, but never being able to quench her thirst. But all it took was one encounter…one confession…one meaningful communion with Christ for St. Photini to transform her life.
In perhaps one of my favorite verses of this text, it says: “The woman left her water pot (she left her old life behind) went her way in the city, and said to the men: “Come, see the man who told me the things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” St. Romanus says in one of the hymns for St. Photini’s feast day: “She departed in filth and entered into the figure of the church as blameless. She departed the well and drew out life like a sponge.
She stopped bearing water…and became a bearer of God.”
The story of what became of St. Photini is truly remarkable in itself. Her life after she met Jesus at the well is a testament to the power and influence that the Life-Giving Water can do to someone, if they simply “leave their water pot behind”.
After St. Photini was awakened to this new and glorious reality of life with Christ, she made it her mission in life to awaken others to this truth! She started with her sisters, all five of them, who were catechized and baptized as Christians. She had two sons, who came from all of these illicit relationships. Both of them became Christians. Over the next few years, this entire family would become incredibly famous witnesses of Christ throughout the world.
The family began their journey in Carthage, where one of St. Photini’s sons, Victor, who was a general for the Roman army, ended up converting the military commander in Carthage (Sebastian) to Christianity. This enraged the Emperor Nero, who had just began his famous persecutions of Christians which included the murder of St. Peter and Paul. This evil tyrant wanted nothing more than to stamp out the Christian flame that was sweeping the world!
Nero summoned St. Photini and her family to Rome, and asked them if they were followers of Christ. When they answered in the affirmative, Nero ordered that they be beat with iron rods until they denied the Nazarene. In the Synaxarion (life of the saint), we read how no matter how hard the soldiers tried, they could not break the bones or bring pain to this holy family!
In an attempt to change tactics, Nero tried to change his approach. If he couldn’t beat their faith out of them, he would try something else! He sent St. Photini into a room full of gold and riches, and sent his own daughter Domnina to try and convert the Holy Saint away from the faith. This attempt failed miserably, as Domnina was converted to Christianity, and given the name Anthousa, which in Greek means flower (how beautiful that St. Photini, who received Life-Giving Water from Christ, now passed on that gift to give nourishment to a “new flower” of the faith!).
Nero had struck out again, and was overcome with rage over the conversion of his daughter. Over the course of the next 3 years, he tried all different kinds of torture to try and turn St. Photini and her family away from Christ. He threw them into a furnace for three days, but like the three holy youths in the Old Testament, they came out unharmed. Nero had his magicians concoct a poison that he ordered St. Photini and her family to drink. But after making the sign of the cross over the potion, the St. Photini drank it will no ill effects.
Nero threw the family into a dark cave filled with poisonous snakes…no dice. He tried to blind them by destroying their eyes, to which their sight returned. After He couldn’t harm them, he threw them all into prison, and even that backfired! People who heard of all of the trials that this family had went through for the sake of Christ, saw St. Photini in the prison, and were converted to Christianity themselves! Eventually, Emperor Nero took St. Photini out of the prison and threw her into a well, where after peacefully praying for a few days, went on to eternal rest.
In reflecting on the last few days of St. Photini’s Life, I have to imagine that she was delighted. Despite the devil’s best efforts, she got to spend her last days on earth in a well, which is where her life really began all those years before with a simple conversation with Christ. She was able to remember that day that she had received the Life-Giving Water, which continues to sustain her even today…even here right now…as she continues to pray for us and be an inspiring presence for us here in our little Church in the woods.
Through the prayers of St. Photini, O Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us!