Venerable Theoktίstē of the Isle of Lesbos

Saint Theoktίstē was born in the city of Methymna on the island of Lesbos. She was orphaned at an early age, so her relatives sent her to a monastery to be raised by the nuns. The girl was quite happy to forsake this sinful world. She loved the monastic life, the long Church Services, monastic obedience, the strict fasting, and unceasing prayer. She learned much of the chants, prayer, and psalmody by heart.

On the radiant Feast of Christ's Resurrection in the year 846, when Theoktίstē was eighteen years old, she left the Monastery with the blessing of the Igoumeness, and went to a nearby village to visit her sister, remaining there overnight. Some Arabs invaded the settlement, captured all the inhabitants, and forced them onto a ship. By morning, they were at sea.

The brigands took the captives to the desolate island of Paros so that they might examine them in order to set a price on each when they were sold at the slave market. The Lord helped the young maiden to escape, and the Arabs did not catch her. Saint Theoktίstē lived on the island for the next 35 years. An old church dedicated to the Most Holy Theotokos served as her abode, and her food was sunflower seeds. She spent all her time in prayer.

Once, a group of hunters landed upon the island. One of them, pursuing his prey, went far from the coast into the forest, and suddenly he saw the church and went inside in order to pray. Afterward, the hunter saw what seemed to be a human form in a dim corner, not far from the holy altar table, Brushing aside thick cobwebs. He drew nearer and heard a voice say, “Stay there, and come no closer, for I am a naked woman, and I am ashamed.”

The hunter gave the woman his outer garment and she came out from her place of concealment. He saw a grey-haired woman with worn face, who called herself Theoktίstē. In a faint voice, she told him of her life, which she had devoted to God.

When Saint Theoktίstē finished her story, she asked the hunter, if he should happen to come to this island again, to bring her a particle of the reserved Gifts. In all the time she had lived in the wilderness, she had not been able to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ even once.

A year later, in 881, the hunter returned to the island and brought a small vessel with a particle of the Holy Mysteries. Saint Theoktίstē approached the Holy Gifts and fell to the ground, praying with tears for a long time. Standing up, she took the vessel and received the Body and Blood of Christ "with faith, reverence, and in the fear of God."

The next day, the hunter found the dead body of Saint Theoktίstē in the church. After digging a shallow grave, he placed her in it. Then brazenly, he cut off one of her hands, in order to take a relic of the Saint with him. All night the ship was tossed upon a tempestuous sea. In the morning, it ended up at the very place from which it started. Then the man realized that his taking the relic was not pleasing to God.

Returning to the grave, he placed the hand with the Saint's body. Then the ship was able to sail away without difficulty. .On the journey, the hunter told his companions all that had happened on the island. After hearing his story, they all decided to return to Paros at once, that they might venerate the relics of the great ascetic, However, they did not find her holy body in the grave.