Catherine
was the daughter of King Constus. After the death of her father, she lived with
her mother in Alexandria. Her mother was secretly a Christian who, through her
spiritual father, brought Catherine to the Christian Faith. In a vision, St.
Catherine received a ring from the Lord Jesus Himself as a sign of her
betrothal to Him. This ring remains on her finger even today. Catherine was
greatly gifted by God and was well educated in Greek philosophy, medicine,
rhetoric and logic. In addition to that, she was of unusual physical beauty.
When the iniquitous Emperor Maxentius offered sacrifices to the idols and
ordered others to do the same, Catherine boldly confronted the emperor and
denounced his idolatrous errors. The emperor, seeing that she was greater than
he in wisdom and knowledge, summoned fifty of his wisest men to debate with her
on matters of faith and to put her to shame. Catherine outwitted and shamed
them. In a rage, the emperor ordered all fifty of those men burned. By St.
Catherine's prayers, all fifty confessed the name of Christ and declared
themselves Christians before their execution. After Catherine had been put in
prison, she converted the emperor's commander, Porphyrius, and two hundred
soldiers to the true Faith, as well as Empress Augusta-Vasilissa herself. They
all suffered for Christ. During the torture of St. Catherine, an angel of God
came to her and destroyed the wheel on which the holy virgin was being
tortured. Afterward, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself appeared to her and comforted
her. After many tortures, Catherine was beheaded at the age of eighteen, on
November 24, 310 A.D. Milk, instead of blood, flowed from her body. Her
miracle-working relics repose on Mount Sinai.
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From the Prologue of Ohrid
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