St. Photina was that Samaritan woman whom our Lord met at Jacob’s Well. When He disclosed the secret of her profligate life, she believed in Him at once as that Messiah which was to come, and began spreading the Gospel among the Samaritans, converting many. Later, she and her son Josiah and her five sisters went to Carthage to preach and then to Rome. Another son, Victor, was a soldier and had already come to Emperor Nero’s attention as being a Christian. The Emperor summoned the whole family and with threats and tortures tried to force them to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ. Meanwhile, when Nero’s daughter Domnina came in contact with Photina (the Lord Himself had given her the name, meaning “resplendent” or “shining with light”), she, too, was converted. The enraged emperor had the heads of the sons and sisters cut off; Photina was held in prison for a few more weeks before being thrown into a well, where she joyously gave her soul to the Lord.
She, with her Christian sisters, Anatola, Phota, Photis, Parasceva, and Cyriaca; and her sons Photinus and Joses; and Sebastian the Duke, Victor, and Christodulus, all met martyrdom under the persecutions of Nero.
She, with her Christian sisters, Anatola, Phota, Photis, Parasceva, and Cyriaca; and her sons Photinus and Joses; and Sebastian the Duke, Victor, and Christodulus, all met martyrdom under the persecutions of Nero.
