Life and martyrdom of Saint Paraskevi

Saint Paraskevi was born in a village near Rome during the time of the emperor Hadrian (117-138 AD) to Christian parents, Agathon and Politia.

Her parents had no other children and when, after many prayers, they finally had a daughter, they named her Friday, to remember the day she was born, but also the day of the Lord’s Passion. Thus little Paraskevi learned from an early age to love the Lord Jesus and to study His life and Passion.

That is why he did not seek to adorn himself in a worldly way but with the virtues of Christ. As Saint Cosmas of Aetolos said, “Saint Paraskevi, like earrings, had her ears open to listen to the Holy Scriptures… The knots of her fingers were rings from the many penances she had done. She clothed the shame that she had in herself and the fear of God that covered her. This is how the Saint was adorned”.

Of course, those years were very difficult for the Christians, because every now and then terrible persecutions broke out against them. However, young Paraskevi was not afraid of torture.

On the contrary, she waited for the time and moment when the Crucified Lord would call her to follow the path of sacrifice. Her whole life was pre-preparation, preparation for this time.

At the age of twenty, the modest daughter was orphaned by both her parents. Then she made the brave decision to dedicate her life completely to God.

She distributed her wealth to the poor and began to work as missionaries. He approached people with a lot of love, provoked discussions and spoke about the true God.

She studied the Holy Bible in depth and taught it in special meetings. He especially invited women and inspired them to help in works of charity. In this way many believed in Christ and asked to be baptized Christians.
The fact of the conversion of so many idolaters caused a reaction in the rulers of Rome.

Thus persecution was declared and Paraskevi was among the first Christians arrested. They tried to make her deny Christ, but she did not give up one iota from her faith. To torture her and make her bend, they put a red-hot helmet on her.

However, by the grace of God, she was preserved unharmed. This obvious miracle made even more pagans become Christians. Emperor Antoninus gave an order for harsher tortures, but the miracles followed one another.
They imprisoned her with terrible bonds, but Angelos freed her. They threw her into a cauldron of burning water, but she did not burn.

And when the Emperor became blind who came near to test the water to see if it burned, the same Saint through prayer gave him his light again, with the result that he himself was impressed and stopped the persecutions against the Christians.

History called him “Pious”, while the miracle of the healing of Antoninus’ eyes is due to the deep faith of Christians that Saint Friday heals eye diseases. That is why he is the patron saint of ophthalmologists and those who deal with optics.

After Saint Paraskevi was set free by Antoninus, he continued to preach the Gospel in other places, until he reached Greece. Later, when a new persecution was declared against the emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-180 AD), she was arrested again and subjected to horrible torture.

A cruel lord, Asclepius, locked her in a place where there was a poisonous snake. But she made the sign of the cross and the snake was cut in two. Other martyrdoms followed which she bravely endured, until she was beheaded and thus received the crown of martyrdom.