Domnina of Syria explained

Saint Domnina of Syria
Death Date:~460
Feast Day:March 1
Venerated In:Maronite Church
Catholic Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
Death Place:Syria

Saint Domnina of Syria (Greek: Δομνίνα Συρίας) also known as Domnina the Younger, was a 5th-century ascetic.[1] Her name is mentioned in the Byzantine Synaxarium.[1] and according to Theodoret, bishop of Cyrrhus, Domnina was born to a rich Syrian family.[1]

Life

She became a disciple of Saint Maron.[2] As a young woman she constructed a straw-covered hut in the garden of her mother's house, located in Cyrrhus near Antioch.[3]

She passed all of her life there, to the point where she became extremely thin.[1] She only ate lentils soaked in water[2] and went to church in the morning and in the evening. Domnina covered her face in a veil so that no one could see her face.[2] She had 250 female followers, who passed the time doing manual labor and carding wool.

Theodoret writes, in his Religious History (chap. XXX in Patrologia Graeca), that Domnina acquired such a state of religious ecstasy that she could not speak without weeping as she was considered to have been inspired by the love of God.[1]

She died between 450 and 460 AD.[2]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Santa Domnina. 6 Feb 2003. Santi e beati. Antonio Borrelli. May 19, 2009.
  2. Web site: The Nun Domnina of Syria. 1996–2001. Holy Trinity Orthodox. Fr. S. Janos. May 19, 2009.
  3. https://oca.org/saints/lives/2012/03/01/100632-virginmartyr-domnina-of-syria "Virginmartyr Domnina of Syria", Orthodox Church in America