Zlata of Maglen

Saint Zlata of Maglen
Great Martyr
Born unknown
Slatina (today in Greece)
Died 1795
Slatina (today in Greece)
Venerated in Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Feast October 18

Saint Zlata of Maglen (Macedonian: Света Великомаченичка Злата Мегленска, Bulgarian: Света Великомъченица Злата Мъгленска, Greek: Αγία Χρυσή; died October 18, 1795) is an 18th-century Eastern Orthodox saint and new martyr.

Zlata was born in the eighteenth century in the village of Slatina, in the province of Meglen (today Chrysi, Greece), to a poor, peasant family with three other daughters. She was a meek and devout girl, wise in the wisdom of Christ and golden in both name ("Chryse") and God-fearing heart. Once when Zlata went out to get water, some shameless Turks seized her and took her to their home. When one of them urged her to become a Muslim and be his wife, Zlata fearlessly replied: "I believe in Christ, and Him alone do I know as my Bridegroom. I will never deny Him, even though you subject me to a thousand tortures and cut me into pieces." When her parents and sisters found her, her parents said to her: "O daughter, have mercy on yourself and on us, your parents and sisters; deny Christ in words only, so that we can all be happy, for Christ is merciful. He would forgive such a sin, committed due to the necessities of life." Her poor parents, sisters, and relatives wept bitterly. However, the noble soul of St. Zlata resisted such diabolical snares. She answered them: "When you counsel me to deny Christ the true God, you are no longer my parents or my sisters. I have the Lord Jesus Christ as my father, the Theotokos as my mother, and the saints as my brothers and sisters." The Turks then cast her into prison for three months, flogging her every day until her blood soaked the ground. Finally, they suspended her upside down and lit a fire, to suffocate her with the smoke; but God was with Zlata, and gave her strength in suffering. At last they hanged her from a tree and cut her into small pieces. Thus, this brave virgin gave her soul up to God, and went to dwell in Paradise on October 18, 1796. Pieces of her relics were taken by Christians to their homes for a blessing. Bulgarian Orthodox Church celebrates her feast day on October 18; the Greek, the Russian, the Serbian and the Macedonian Orthodox churches - on October 13. Her hagiography was written by Nicodemus the Hagiorite. In Bulgaria and Macedonia Saint Zlata is often depicted as young women, wearing a traditional folk costume. In Bulgaria Saint Zlata is patron saint of the all Bulgarians, who live abroad.

Sources

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