St. Hermione of Ephesus

Hermione was one of the four daughters of the holy Apostle Philip, the deacon and evangelist of whom the Book of Acts says that they 'did prophesy.' Raised in the apostolic household, she and her sister Eutychia set out after their father's repose to find the Apostle John the Theologian, but arriving at Ephesus they learned that he too had already fallen asleep in the Lord.

They remained at Ephesus, where Hermione was instructed by a disciple of the apostles named Petronius and gave herself to the service of the Church. She received from God the gift of healing, and her dwelling became a place of refuge where the sick of body and soul were cured in the name of Christ, so that many of the pagans came to the faith through her.

In the days of the emperor Trajan, and again under his successor Hadrian, she was brought before the authorities and commanded to sacrifice to the idols. She confessed Christ boldly, and was subjected to torture; but the tradition relates that her tormentors were themselves converted by the wonders that attended her sufferings, and that she healed even those who had been sent to harm her.

After long endurance she gave up her soul to God at Ephesus around the year 117. The Church honors her on the fourth of September as a virgin and martyr, and as one of the prophesying daughters of an apostle, a living link between the age of the Twelve and the Church of the Fathers.