A nun of Alexandria who preserved her vow of virginity amid harassment, remembered for chastity, prayer, and martyrdom.
The Holy Virgin-Martyr Mastridia of Alexandria
Mastridia was an ascetic woman of Alexandria, in Egypt, known in Orthodox tradition for her uncompromising defense of her vow of virginity. According to her life, she took the vow of virginity and lived a withdrawn existence devoted to unceasing prayer, fasting, silence, and handwork.
Her solitary life was disrupted when a young man conceived an impure attraction to her and pursued her so persistently that she could no longer leave her home even to attend church. Grieved that she had unwillingly become an occasion of temptation for him and concerned for his salvation, she invited him into her home to confront the matter directly. When she asked what drew him to her, he answered that it was her eyes. In response she took the needle she used for her sewing and gouged out her own eyes, removing the object of his desire and so, the tradition holds, preserving both herself and the young man from sin.
The young man, struck by what she had done, repented and became a monk, afterward living as a strict ascetic. Mastridia is said to have spent the remainder of her life in labors for the Lord. She is venerated as a virgin-martyr and commemorated on November 24. Tradition distinguishes her from another woman of the same name commemorated on February 7, who is associated with Jerusalem rather than Alexandria.
Mastridia is commemorated on November 24 (December 6 on the civil calendar). She is counted among the virgin-martyrs in the Orthodox tradition for her witness to chastity, though the sources do not record a date or century for her life.