In 1822, Muslim Turks captured two Greek Christian women in Naousa and attempted to force them to convert to Islam. They smeared them with honey on the head and tied them exposed, so as to receive the stings of wasps and of passersby.
The first woman, wife of captain Zafeirakis, was then built into the wall up to the neck in the church of Hagia Sophia in Thessaloniki. She was left there for days for the entertainment of the wild mob that went there cursing and hitting her head with sticks as it protruded from the wall. She did not back down for a moment, strengthened until her last breath by prayer, and she never abandoned her Christian faith. Her martyrdom lasted five days. A passing gypsy woman, to hasten her end, threw a large stone at her, and thus the blessed one delivered her heroic soul into the hands of God, Whom she did not deny.
The other woman, Maria, refused to change her faith, and for this Ebub Lubut enclosed her in a sack with deadly snakes, where she was martyred.
The other woman, Maria, refused to change her faith, and for this Ebub Lubut enclosed her in a sack with deadly snakes, where she was martyred.
(Photo Credit: The Cradle)