Murdered for Her Holiness!

Today, we commemorate Martyr Thomais of Alexandria who was beheaded by her father-in-law for refusing to give into his lustful demands.

At the age of 15, Thomais married a Christian fisherman and lived with his family. One day while her husband was working, the saint's father-in-law tried to force himself on her sexually. Despite his advances, Thomais remained true to the faith and fended him off. Her father-in-law then flew into a rage and cut off her head that same night in the year 476.

After committing his sin, the man was blinded and was unable to escape from the house. He was later found near the saint's body covered in blood and taken to a judge, who ordered that his head was to be cut off too.

One quite beautiful addition to this gory story is that St. Daniel of Skete instructed the monks of the Oktodekadian monastery to bury St. Thomais's body in the monastery's cemetery. "After some of the monks questioned the decision to bury her with the monks, St. Daniel responded, 'She is a mother to me and to you, because she died for her chastity'."

Material for this post was gathered from here and here.