For our next companion, we’ve chosen St. Demiana, who journeyed in place with forty women as they built a religious community in Egypt - a pilgrimage that would eventually lead them to courageously defy an emperor and give their lives in martyrdom.
Toward the end of the third century, there lived a Christian widower named Marcos. His only daughter, Demiana, was known for her beauty and goodness of heart. Marcos wanted to arrange a marriage between Demiana and a highly respected colleague, but she asked for a different kind of dowry - a house outside the city, where she could live removed from the world and spend her time in prayer. For a woman in this period, this was a bold request - daring to imagine a life without the social security and financial provision of marriage; daring to imagine a new possibility of self and of community. For the first time, Demiana defied the expectations of others - a blend of courage and imagination that would follow her throughout her life.
Yielding to her deep desire for a righteous life, her father granted Demiana her wish; but instead of a small house, he built her a large palace. Demiana eventually lived there with forty other women, forming their own religious community as they walked together. We know very little about this period of St. Demiana’s life, but we can imagine the joys and struggles of such a life together - learning to journey with other women through all the ups and downs of community life, struggling on together towards holiness with very little encouragement or support. We can imagine that Demiana was often called upon to heal small rifts or irritations, to encourage them on towards love and faithfulness, and to lead their works of prayer and mercy to the poor. Although for many years she seemed to go nowhere, for Demiana this was the long, faithful journey of the heart. This was her path to holiness.
Years later, Emperor Diocletian began to torture and kill Christians who refused to worship his idols. Soon, Demiana heard the terrible news that her father had caved to the Emperor’s pressure and bowed rather than face death. For possibly the first time, she left her community and went to him, bringing him back to his senses in love. In time, her father went back to Diocletian, and declared himself a Christian.
When the Emperor learned that it was Marcos’ daughter Demiana who had changed his mind, he ordered one hundred soldiers to attack the palace. “First, try to convince her to worship our idols”, he is reported to have said. “But, if she refuses, threaten her, torture her, and even kill her so that she will be an example for the other Christians.”
The soldiers came; Demiana and her sisters refused to relent, and were cruelly tortured for several days. Each day, the Archangel Michael is said to have appeared to Demiana, touching her with his heavenly wings and healing her wounds. On the last day before her martyrdom, Christ Himself appeared to her, saying, “Have courage, my chosen one.” The next day, she and her forty companions were beheaded: joined together in death as they had been in life. And they were not alone. Because many people believed in Christ through her testimony, the total number martyred with St. Demiana was about four hundred.
Demiana’s life is one of faithfulness - to her vocation, to her community, and ultimately to her faith and to Christ. Her icons show her surrounded by the support and testimony of her forty companions, as they bore witness and drew strength from each other even under the most severe circumstances.
The testimony of St. Demiana’s life speaks volumes about our need to have companions in our journey towards God. You’ve heard us say that ‘Good things happen when Orthodox women walk together.” But even more than this, we could say that necessary things happen when we walk together - that none of us can or should walk alone. Just like St. Demiana and her community, our path to holiness is a journey together through the ups and downs of life, lending each other strength for the journey.
We invite you to walk with us in the next phase of our Axia journey, in the company of women like St. Demiana and so many other women who have gone before.
