Venerable Apollinaria of Egypt

IMPORTANT ERROR CORRECTION: the "character gender" field (category_gender) was mistakenly listed as "m" (male), though the saint herself is a woman; corrected to "f". The full name has also been expanded and the category clarified (venerable).

Venerable Apollinaria was the daughter of Anthemius, a high-ranking Byzantine official who served as regent during the minority of Emperor Theodosius II. Refusing marriage, she obtained her parents' permission to visit the holy places of Jerusalem, but on reaching Alexandria secretly exchanged her clothes for a monk's habit and disappeared into a marshy wilderness, where for years she pursued strict fasting and prayer.

By a revelation from above she went to the Nitrian desert, to the skete of St. Macarius the Great, presenting herself as a eunuch monk named Dorotheos; St. Macarius admitted "him" into the brotherhood, where "he" became renowned for ascetic feats. Her family, unaware of the relation, brought to "Dorotheos" her own sister, afflicted by a demon — through Apollinaria's prayers she was healed; when the affliction recurred, Apollinaria was forced to reveal her secret to her parents, after which she returned to the monastery.

Only after her death was it discovered that the monk Dorotheos had been a woman; she was buried in the church of St. Macarius's monastery.

Her feast is kept on January 5/18; also January 19/February 1 in the Synaxis of All Saints Who Shone Forth in Egypt.