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| Sts. Capitolina and Erotheis (Feast Day - October 27) |
Verses
Servant and mistress are beheaded by the sword,
Servants of the Trinity, the true Lord.
Capitolina (Kapetolina) was a woman of high rank in Cappadocia during the reign of Emperor Diocletian. At around the year 304 she was brought to trial as a Christian, and was asked her name, country, and parentage. She answered, "I am a Christian, my country is the heavenly Jerusalem, my parents are the teachers of Christianity, and chiefly the great Firmilian, bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia." When she had resisted all the persuasions and threats used by Zilikinthus, the governor, to induce her to renounce her faith and worship the gods — particularly Serapis — she was sent to prison.
A person who had been present at the trial ran to her house and told her handmaiden Erotheis (Erotis, Eroteida), who was baking, and was just going to put loaves in the oven. She left her work, and ran to the prison and kissed the fetters that bound her mistress; she congratulated her on the prospect of martyrdom, and begged her to pray that she also might be found worthy to share her fate. Capitolina told her not to fear, but be present on the morrow and witness her execution. Erotheis went home, finished her cooking, and took the bread to the prison. Capitolina bade her give it to the poor, and then sell all her mistress's things and distribute the money to the poor. Erotheis obeyed the order.
The next day, when Capitolina was brought before the judge, her zealous servant assailed him with stones and abuse. When she had seen her mistress beheaded with a sword, she was asked how a person of her low station could dare to behave in this manner. She replied by reviling the judge and his gods; and was put to horrible tortures, under which she ceased not to thank God. Her wounds were miraculously healed, and she came unscorched out of a furnace into which she was cast. At length she was beheaded, the day after Saint Capitolina suffered the same.
