Holy Martyr Saint Photina (Svetlana) - Necklace Images

The Holy Martyr Photina (Svetlana) was the very Samaritan woman who talked with the Savior at the well near the town of Sykhar (John 4: 5-42). The Lord reveals to her, directly calling Himself the Messiah, foreseeing her future holiness. This revelation seems an extraordinary thing, for Christ rarely spoke of Himself directly, always preaching in parables. A Samaritan woman, feeling the Deity of Christ under the cover of human nature, starts a conversation about the worship of God and again is pleased with the revelation: the Lord says that God should worship in spirit and truth (John 4:23).

According to the patristic interpretation, Christ speaks here of prayer, which must be performed by the mind and the heart. This trust of Christ to a simple woman, reasoning with her on spiritual topics that require theological preparation, show how subtle and sensitive the soul of Saint Photina was to the perception of Grace. At the time of Emperor Nero, St. Fotina lived in Carthage with her youngest son, Josiah. Her eldest son Victor was a warrior. Fotina raised her children in the Christian faith. When she appeared with her sons and five sisters before Nero's court in Rome, the impious emperor demanded that she renounce Christ. The Savior, having appeared St. martyrs, before the court strengthened them, saying: "Blessed is he who will accomplish his feat to the end." torture.

Some of them martyrs were subjected to terrible tortures, were blinded and thrown into prison, where they miraculously healed, received visitors, preaching the word of God. St. Photina was sent to the Imperial Palace under the supervision of the daughter of Nero Domnina, who soon turned to Christ along with her slaves. All the martyrs were subjected to new tortures and executed. St. Photina was thrown into the well, where she betrayed her spirit to the Lord in 66 AD Orthodox Christians, turning to Saint Fotina with various ailments and fever.