Memorial Day of the Martyr Matrona of Solunskaya

April 9 (March 27, old style) is celebrated in the church calendar as the Day of Remembrance of the Martyr Matrona of Thessalonica The exact dates are unknown, but Matrona lived approximately in the 3rd-4th centuries in the city of Thessaloniki (now Thessaloniki, Greece) The girl served with the noble Jewish woman Pautila, the wife of a military commander in Thessaloniki From her youth, Matrona professed Christianity and prayed to the Lord daily When a Jewish woman visited the synagogue, the maid ran to the church in secret from her During the Easter period, the servants reported to the mistress about Matrona, and she ordered the girl not to go to a Christian church anymore, but to choose a synagogue instead But the maid objected, declaring that the Lord had retreated from the synagogue Matrona also expressed that her life does not belong to her, but her soul is free to choose who and where to pray In a rage, Pavtila beat her subordinate, tightly tied her hands and feet with ropes and locked her in a closet for four days Having opened the closet, the hostess found Matrona in prayer on her knees, and her body was freed from the ropes without a single abrasion Then anger covered Pautila, she ordered the martyr to be beaten with sticks and again locked up without food, so that she would change her decision The saint was unable to survive such torment; her pure soul went to God Fearing reprisals for murder, the owner ordered the girl's body to be thrown off a cliff to hide the evidence of the beating When the city residents found the dead Matrona, she was buried in a Christian manner Subsequently, God's punishment overtook the tormentor; she accidentally fell off that cliff and fell to her death In honor of Saint Matrona, Bishop Alexander, nicknamed Solunsky, organized the construction of a temple The relics of the holy martyr were transferred to it, where they became famous for their miraculous properties