Folk calendar - Vow to Paraskeva

The Christian people celebrate their traditional holiday with the unusual name “Pledge to Paraskeva” annually on November 9 The church calendar on this day remembers the Great Martyr Paraskeva, the woman’s Intercessor Paraskeva was born into the family of a wealthy Iconian senator who reveres and believes in Jesus Christ The husband and wife spent part of their time in prayer, most of all highlighting Friday, when the crucifixion of the Almighty happened Just on Friday, the Lord God sent them a daughter In honor of this event, the parents named the girl Paraskeva, which translated from Greek means Friday The daughter received a good upbringing, grew up in favorable conditions, was pious, and loved Christ Paraskeva was left an orphan early Despite the enormous grief, the girl did not lose her faith in Jesus Christ Loneliness without parents only strengthened her spirit Paraskeva loved the Lord God with all her heart and did many good and selfless deeds, continuing the work of her parents After Paraskeva became an inheritor, she donated all her property to the benefit of poor and needy Christians The girl was beautiful and smart and could marry any rich groom But she chose for herself a path dedicated to the Lord God and righteous deeds In the era of Diocletian (257-305) there was strong persecution of the Christian people To identify rebellious Christians, the military commander Aetius was sent to Iconium, who read out the ruler’s decree He was immediately informed that there was a girl named Paraskeva, who herself did not go to the temple to worship idols, but also encouraged other people to believe in Jesus Christ Aetius demanded that the disobedient girl be brought to him for trial Seeing the beautiful Paraskeva, the military leader was surprised and fascinated by her beauty He asked her name and faith She answered without fear that she was a Christian Aetius liked the girl, and he wanted to take her as his wife if she went to bow to the idols But she replied that she loved the Lord God with all her heart, he was her only groom The offended military leader ordered the executioners to beat the girl with raw ox sinews The girl did not ask for mercy, but only prayed to withstand the torture Aetius again asked if she had changed her mind, but she only spat in the face of the gentleman who insulted Christians Then he ordered to hang the rebellious woman and torment her body with iron claws The torment stopped only when there were pools of blood around, and the girl was on the verge of death The bloodied and tortured body was thrown into prison But the Lord God did not abandon his chosen one He sent an Angel to heal In the morning, the prison guards were surprised to see that there were no signs of torture left on the girl’s body Paraskeva did not renounce her faith, rejected the advances of the military leader Aetius and died After grueling torture, she was beheaded At the site of her execution, a healing spring formed, helping to get rid of many ailments Her relics are also considered healing Paraskeva is considered the patroness of all women and the hearth From her image, girls asked for a good groom, and women - for family happiness Temples and chapels were built in her honor In pre-revolutionary Moscow alone there were 4 churches named in honor of the Great Martyr Paraskeva The images depicted a tall, beautiful girl with a cross in her right hand and a scroll in her left The angels of the Lord held a crown over her head In honor of the righteous girl, queens, boyar daughters, and simple peasant women were named after Paraskev Only after the revolution the popularity of the name disappeared But the memory of the righteous woman is still alive The birthday of Paraskeva, the woman’s patroness, November 9 was considered a non-working day On this day it was necessary to go to church In the evening from the 9th to the 10th, people took holy vows The promised actions (the vow to Paraskeva) were aimed at healing family members and fulfilling other promises A woman could sew a shirt in one night to make her wish come true, or the illness of a person close to her would go away Fulfilling a vow is a sacred duty If a woman took a vow to Paraskeva and did not fulfill it, she could forever lose the fulfillment of her dream It was believed that visiting a healer on this day would give a positive result On this day, damage and the evil eye were removed, and eye diseases were treated On Paraskeva's birthday they baked pies with various fillings They cooked in silence, with prayer on their lips Then all the people were treated to pies If there were any pies left, they were taken to church After this ritual, one could ask the Saint for everything that was “painful” In the old days, they believed that Paraskeva would send health to loved ones for good deeds or fulfill a woman’s cherished desire