Eudokia of Heliopolis

Eudokia was a Samaritan woman of Heliopolis in Phoenicia (the modern Baalbek in Lebanon) in the early second century — born of pagan parents and grown up to extraordinary beauty, immense wealth, and a public reputation for high living that drew lovers and admirers from across the eastern provinces. The synaxarion records her as among the wealthiest women in her city, possessing estates and gold that she had accumulated through her notorious profession.

Her conversion came through a Christian monk named Germanus who happened to lodge at the inn next door to her house during a journey through Heliopolis. Through the thin wall she overheard his vigil reading aloud of the Last Judgment from a Christian book; the words struck her with such force that she went to him that morning and asked to be instructed. Germanus catechized her, brought her to the local bishop Theodotus, who baptized her — and she gave away the whole of her vast wealth to the poor of the city. She entered a convent and lived there in strict ascetic discipline.

Under the Emperor Trajan (98–117) she was eventually arrested, examined, and beheaded for refusing to renounce Christ. Her feast falls on March 1.