October 8
The saints and feasts remembered on October 8, each with a short life, a Bible passage and a prayer.
Saint Pelagia of Antioch
Teenage martyr of Antioch, praised by John Chrysostom and Ambrose
Pelagia was a young Christian in Antioch, in Syria, during the last great Roman persecution of the Church in the early 300s. She was still a teenager when soldiers came to her home to arrest her, around 311.
According to the earliest accounts, she knew she would be pressured to sacrifice to the gods and feared she would be abused. Rather than fall into the soldiers' hands, she went up to the roof of the house and threw herself down, dying in the fall. Later Christian thinkers debated whether such a choice could ever be right, but her own city honoured her as a martyr.
What we know comes mainly from two famous preachers. Some decades after her death, John Chrysostom preached in Antioch on her feast day, and Ambrose of Milan wrote about her. Her story was later mixed up with legends of other women named Pelagia. Christians remember her as a girl who held on to her faith and her dignity under terrible pressure.
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matthew 10:28 · BSB
A prayer
Faithful God, you gave the young Pelagia courage to stay true to you when she was surrounded by danger and fear. Strengthen all who are threatened, abused or pressured to deny what they believe, and teach us to guard the dignity of every person, knowing that nothing can separate us from your love. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The lives are written with AI help from public-domain histories and checked before publishing; the prayers are ours. Bible quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), in the public domain. How we write.