Martyr
Martyr Neonilla of Syria
III в.
Also known as: мц. Неонилла (в группе мчч. Терентия, Неониллы и чад их)
Martyr Neonilla of Syria — wife of Martyr Terentius, mother of seven children, martyred together with her whole family under Emperor Decius for refusing to worship idols.
IMPORTANT CORRECTION: the category has been corrected from "righteous" to "martyr" — Neonilla suffered torture and execution for the faith together with her family. No direct connection to Theodoret of Cyrrhus's "Religious History" or any hermit tradition was confirmed by any source — the only reliably attested mention of "Neonilla of Syria" belongs to a family group of martyrs.
Martyr Neonilla, wife of the pious Terentius, bore and raised in the Christian faith seven children — Sarbelus, Photus, Theodulus, Hierax, Nitas, Bilaeus, and Eunicia. During the persecution of Emperor Decius (249–251) the whole family openly confessed Christ and refused to worship idols, for which they were subjected to cruel torture — vinegar poured on their wounds, being thrown to wild beasts, immersion in boiling pitch — from which, according to the Life, they miraculously emerged unharmed each time — and were ultimately all beheaded by the sword.
HONEST NOTE: the Life is a brief, formulaic synaxarion account of a 3rd-century group martyrdom, without developed individual details about Neonilla apart from her family — no independent historical corroboration beyond church tradition was found.
Their feast is kept on October 28/November 10.