Paraskeva of the Balkans

Saint Paraskeva of the Balkans, also lovingly called Petka, was born in Epivates on the Sea of Marmara, near present-day Istanbul, to wealthy landowners in the 11th century. As a child she heard Christ’s call to self-denial and took it to heart, giving her fine clothing to the poor and quietly leaving home to pursue a life wholly devoted to God. She lived for a time in Chalcedon and in Heraclea Pontica, praying with great austerity and, according to tradition, receiving consoling visions of the Virgin Mary. Drawn to the holy places, she journeyed to Jerusalem and then embraced hidden ascetic life in a convent in the desert near the Jordan River. When she was about twenty-five, an angel told her to return to her homeland. She obeyed, spending her final years near Constantinople, and died in peace at only twenty-seven. After her death, her incorrupt relics became a source of deep devotion, spreading from Bulgaria through Serbia and into Moldavia, where she is especially honored in Iași. She is patroness of places including Iași and Nea Kallikratia. Her feast day is October 14.