Venerable
Venerable Basilissa of Antinoe
† ок. 303/313 (мирная кончина)
Venerable Basilissa of Antinoe — wife of Venerable-Martyr Julian, with whom she preserved virginity within marriage and became abbess of the women's monastery they founded in Antinoe, Egypt; she reposed peacefully shortly before the persecution that led to her husband's martyrdom.
Basilissa of Antinoe was born in the Egyptian city of Antinoe to a noble, wealthy family. By her parents' will she was married to a young man named Julian, but by mutual agreement the couple preserved their virginity within marriage, living in purity like brother and sister.
After their parents' death, having inherited their wealth, they founded two monastic communities — a men's monastery, headed by Julian, and a women's monastery, of which Basilissa became abbess, gathering about a thousand virgins and widows.
Basilissa reposed peacefully in prayer roughly six months before Emperor Diocletian's persecution reached them, and was buried by Julian himself. Later, during the persecution of 313, Julian — together with the presbyter Antony, Celsius, Marionilla, seven youths, and twenty soldiers — was martyred by beheading.
Her feast is kept January 8/21, together with Julian and those who suffered with him.
NOTE: the entry's category has been refined to "venerable" — Basilissa herself reposed peacefully before the persecution began and was not put to death, unlike her husband and his fellow martyrs; she is venerated as an ascetic abbess, commemorated as part of the group.