SAINT DIMIANA & THE FORTY VIRGINS.

Since persecutions and martyrdom were not confined to men, the next 'witness * to be considered here is a woman saint and martyr. Her name is Saint Dimiana, and she is, perhaps, the most widely known & most popular heroine in Coptic sacred history. Her icon in many a Coptic church depicts her in the center with forty virgins around her. The reason will be known as her story unfolds.

Dimiana was the only child of Marcus, Governor of Burullus [(11)]during the rule of Emperor Diocletian. Marcus & his wife were Christians and had brought up their daughter in the fear of the Lord. She had been taught the Scriptures from her early childhood and had become so captivated by them that their study occupied most of her time and interest.

As she grew up, Dimiana became a beautiful young lady, and her parents - like all others - aspired to have her well married. When she was approached on the subject, however, Dimiana refused to consider it and revealed to her parents that her sole wish was to dedicate her life to the service of the Christ.

Disappointed but complying with her wish, her parents built for her a special mansion in Za'afran[(12)] where she and forty virgins decided to live and plan their Christian activities. In this abode Dimiana and her companion lived harmoniously together, worshipping God and serving the surrounding community. The happiness and peace they enjoyed was not destined to last, however. One day Diocletian, who had already begun his persecution of the  Christians, asked the Egyptian princes & noblemen, of whom Marcus was one, to accompany him to the pagan temple to offer incense to the Roman Gods. Fearing the loss of prestige and perhaps of life itself, Marcus joined the ranks of the worshippers, and did not publicly declare that he was a Christian.

A few days later, the news of her father's frailty reached Dimiana in her seclusion. Immediately she left her abode and went to meet him in his capital. As she entered his mansion, her father sensed her sorrow and hurried forward to greet her. But as she responded to his paternal solicitude, her whole frame shook and her tears gathered and fell. Finally when she collected herself, she told her father how disappointed she had felt when she heard that he had not had the courage of his faith, and that she could have borne with greater fortitude the burden of his loss than the shame and treachery of his survival. Her words and her sobs moved her father so deeply that he regretted what he had done, and told her he was going to redress it. In a mood of resurgent courage & resolution, he went back to see the Emperor Firmly, proudly but quietly he declared before him & his retinue his fealty to the Christ. Diocletian, infuriated by the change of heart Marcus had had, and the calm defiance he showed, ordered him to be beheaded at once. Then, when he learned that it was his daughter, Dimiana, who was the instigator of her father’s repentance, Diocletian sent one of his officers at the head of his regiment, with orders to do his utmost to dissuade her from her faith. If neither promises nor threats availed, she was to be tortured, and this failing, be put to death.

The officer obeyed his orders. He tried persuasion at first, but Dimiana and her forty companions refused to denounce their faith. Forthwith they were tortured outrageously and inhumanely, but despite that, never wavered. Amid their pains and suffering, they kept praying and praising God. Finally they were all put to death and received the crown of martyrdom. Before Dimiana's head was cut off, she prayed, then proclaimed: "The Lord Christ I confess, on Him I rely, in His Name I die, and through Him I live forever.".

A large crowd of people stood by and watched, and when they beheld her courage and1 steadfastness, and the patience with which she accepted torture, in a surge of miraculous exaltation many of them confessed the Christ, and were massacred on the spot. [(13)].

Less than half a century later, when these terrible persecutions had ended and become only a nightmarish memory, and Emperor Constantine the Great declared Christianity to be one of the official State religions, his mother Queen Helena, hearing the story of St. Dimiana, paid a visit on her return from the Holy Land to the saint's mansion, which was still standing at the time. There she built a dainty little church with one spire, and in the vault beneath the altar, she laid the bodies of St. Dimiana and her companions. [(14)] This original church was eventually destroyed but another has been rebuilt & still stands on the very same site. Every year myriads of people visit St. Dimiana's shrine between the 12th and the 20th of May to fulfill their vows, make offerings, pay homage and ask for the intercession of this highly popular and beloved saint. In the whole area round about her Church she is venerated by both Christians & Moslems, and she is referred to with just one word, which is 'Es - Sitt' or the Lady. When it is mentioned, everybody without exception knows who is meant by it[(15)].