Commemorated September 16 (New Calendar) September 29 (Old Calendar)
Also July 11, for the miracle at Chalcedon

Saint Euphemia was a young Christian virgin of Chalcedon, daughter of the senator Philophron and Theodosia. In 304, under Diocletian, she was taken with forty-nine other Christians who would not sacrifice to Ares. The governor Priscus separated her from the rest and tortured her. God kept her through the wheel, the furnace, pits, and beasts. A small wound from a she-bear ended her struggle. Her parents buried her near the city.

The Great Collection of the Lives of the Saints – September 16

(Please forgive me for any mispronounciation of words in this reading. God Bless!)

The words of Saint Euphemia

“Do not abandon me, my most beloved Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, for I hope in You. Do not give to the beasts the soul that loves You and confesses Your holy name. Do not let my enemy rejoice over me. Strengthen me, Your weak handmaid, so that iniquity may not overcome me.”
(Prayer when Priscus pulled her out from the other Christians to keep her for himself.)

—

“Do not think, tormentor, that you can easily turn my weakness to your impiety with cunning words. Though I am a woman by nature, weak in the flesh and young in years, my heart is firmer than yours, and the power of my faith is far stronger than your courage. By the grace of my Christ I have greater understanding than all your pagan orators. You will not deceive me as the serpent once deceived our first mother. You will not make this bitter world sweet to me — I count all its pleasures as bitterness for the sake of my sweetest Jesus. You will not overcome the power that is made perfect in weakness. I hope in my Christ: He will not leave me until the proud head of the demon is trampled under the feet of a woman.”
(Reply when he tried to win her with kind words, gifts, and promises.)

—

“O Lord Jesus Christ, enlightenment of my soul, fountain of life, who give salvation to those who hope in You! Come now to my help, so that all may know that You alone are God and the sure hope of those who trust in You. No evil shall befall you, and no plague shall come near your dwelling.”
(Prayer while bound to the wheel set with knives.)

—

“O God who dwell on high and look upon the humble! You preserved the three youths in Babylon, who were thrown into the fire for Your law, keeping them unharmed through Your holy Angel and sending them dew from heaven. Be a helper also to me, Your handmaid, for I contend, O my Christ, for Your glory!”
(Prayer as they heated the furnace to throw her in.)

—

“Blessed are You, O Lord God of our fathers, and praised and exalted forever.”
(The song of the three youths, which she sang inside the furnace.)

—

“O God, I will sing a new song to You. I will glorify You, O Lord my strength. I will sing to You among the nations and glorify Your name, for You alone are the true God and there is no other God besides You.”
(What she sang as they led her from prison to judgment the next morning.)

—

“O my Light, Jesus Christ! You kept Jonah unharmed in the belly of the sea monster. You delivered Daniel from the mouths of the lions. Preserve me also by Your mighty hand, that Your holy name may be glorified in me.”
(Prayer before she was thrown into the water pit filled with serpents.)

—

“Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord or declare all His praise? You have kept Your tormented handmaid unharmed from wounds, saved her from fire, protected her from beasts, water and the wheel, and brought her up out of the pit. And now, O Lord, deliver my soul from the hand of him who from the beginning has been the enemy of all who obey You. Remember not the sins of my youth nor my transgressions, but by the drops of Your blood shed for me cleanse the defilement of my flesh and spirit, for You are the purification, sanctification and enlightenment of Your servants.”
(Thanksgiving after God brought her safely across the hidden pit of spears.)

—

“O Lord of hosts! You have shown upon me Your invincible power and unconquerable right hand. You have shown the weakness of the demons and the madness of the tormentor, and You have set me above all torments. As You permitted the slaying and the shedding of the blood of the martyrs who went before me, so now accept also my sacrifice, offered to You from a contrite soul and a humble spirit. Give rest to my soul in the habitations of the saints and in the choir of the martyrs, for You are blessed forever.”
(Last prayer as she was led to the circus to be given to the beasts.)

The words of the Christians

“If your command, or the emperor’s, is not against the God of heaven, we must obey it. If it is against God, we must not only refuse it, but resist it. If you ordered us to do what we owe to earthly rulers, we would render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But your command is against God. You tell us to honor the creature instead of the Creator, and to sacrifice to a demon instead of the Most High. We will never obey that. We are true worshippers of the one true God who dwells in heaven.”
(Reply to Priscus, when he asked if they dared resist the emperor and refuse sacrifice to Ares.)

—

“The gifts and honors you promise we have already rejected. We count them as nothing compared with knowing Christ. We have heavenly goods, better than earthly ones. Earthly things pass away. Heavenly things last. We do not fear the torments you threaten. We even desire them, so that the power of our God may be seen in us, and so that you may be ashamed when you see how weak your gods are. Why keep arguing? Do what you have decided. You will find more firmness in our endurance than zeal in your cruelty.”
(Reply after he offered gifts and honors, and threatened them with torture.)

—

“Do not hope to turn us from the right path. You could sooner overturn the mountains and move the stars than tear our hearts from the true God.”
(Reply on the twentieth day, when he asked if suffering had taught them to obey. Spoken with Saint Euphemia.)

The words of Victor and Sosthenes

“Until now we were in error and did not know the truth. Now we know the one God who made heaven and earth. We believe in Him and worship Him. We will no longer honor your gods, whom we once worshipped without seeing that demons were deceiving us. Do with us what you will. Our bodies are in your hands. Our souls are under God’s protection.”
(Reply after they refused to throw her into the furnace, when Priscus demanded that they worship the idols.)

Who stood with her

Forty-nine Christians were taken with her. They suffered nineteen days before she was separated from them. Two soldiers, Victor and Sosthenes, saw angels in the furnace, confessed Christ, and were sent to the beasts. Her parents, Philophron and Theodosia, received her body and buried her about a mile from Chalcedon.

She was a young woman in a city that demanded a lie. That pressure is not gone.

We ask her prayers when we are pressured to deny Christ, when we are young and afraid, and when we need to hold the faith we have received.

Pray for us

Troparion, Tone 4
“Your lamb Euphemia calls out to You, O Jesus, in a loud voice:
‘I love You, my Bridegroom, and in seeking You I endure suffering.
In Baptism I was crucified so that I might reign in You,
and I died so that I might live with You.
Accept me as a pure sacrifice, for I have offered myself in love.’
Through her prayers, save our souls, since You are merciful.”

Kontakion, Tone 4
“In your struggle you contested well, Euphemia;
even after death you make us holy by gushing forth miracles, O All-praised one.
Therefore we honor your holy repose, standing by your august relics with faith,
in order to be delivered from spiritual afflictions,
and that we may draw forth the grace of your miracles.”

Saint Euphemia the All-Praised, pray for us.

Sources

St. Demetrius of Rostov, Lives of the Saints, September 16.
https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Dmitrij_Rostovskij/zhitija-svjatykh/790

Orthodox Church in America, Great Martyr Euphemia the All-praised.
https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2025/09/16/102626-great-martyr-euphemia-the-all-praised

This site is a lamp, not a parish. Listen to the life. Then find a living Orthodox church and ask a priest to pastor you.
https://pieceofhumanity.com/find-a-church/