Martyr Mamelchtha of Persia

Martyr Mamelchtha, according to tradition, was a pagan priestess of the goddess Artemis in Persia. Her own sister, already converted to Christ, brought her to a bishop, who instructed her in the faith; Mamelchtha received baptism. That same night an angel appeared to her in a dream, giving her further instruction in the Christian mysteries.

The pagans, learning of her conversion, flew into a rage and stoned her to death — she died still clothed in her white baptismal robe. After her death, the local bishop, having obtained the Persian king's permission, tore down the temple of Artemis at the site of her death and built a church there in her honor.

The Life of Mamelchtha survives as a separate, still-unpublished Greek text (BHG 2245), and for this reason modern scholarly hagiography treats the historicity of the account with caution, regarding it as a literary Life rather than a strictly documented historical source. Church tradition, nevertheless, consistently dates the martyr's feat to the 4th century, the era of the Persian persecutions of Christians.

Her feast is kept on October 5/18.

IMPORTANT CORRECTION: the impossible/unsupported dating "7th century" has been removed — according to church tradition, the martyr's era is the 4th century; she is not part of the well-known group of martyrs who suffered under Shah Shapur II (commemorated separately, with different feast dates in April), but represents a separate, independent narrative.