Martyr Pelagia, Virgin of Antioch

HONEST CONFIRMATION OF INDEPENDENCE: despite the coincidence of name, city (Antioch), and feast day (Oct 8/21) with Venerable Pelagia of Antioch, the Penitent (see pelagia_the_penitent), research confirmed these are TWO GENUINELY DISTINCT, independently developed hagiographic traditions with different sources and different plot lines — not a duplication of one person. The Orthodox Encyclopedia notes explicitly that the similarity of iconography and proximity of feast days have historically made it difficult to distinguish these figures in the menaia, but in substance the vitas describe different saints.

Martyr Pelagia of Antioch, the Virgin, suffered during Diocletian's persecution (late 3rd–early 4th century). She came from a noble Antiochene family and was a disciple of the hieromartyr Lucian of Antioch. When the city's governor learned she was Christian, he sent soldiers to seize her, wishing to force her to apostatize or be violated.

The fifteen-year-old, determined to preserve her purity, asked for a brief delay to dress in her finest clothes, then, after praying, threw herself from the roof of her house rather than submit. Her act was later praised by St. John Chrysostom, who dedicated a homily to her, and by St. Ambrose of Milan, both holding her as a model of steadfastness.