St. Salome the Georgian

Commemorated on July 21

The details of the life of St. Salome the Georgian are not preserved. In the Synaxarion of Jerusalem’s Holy Cross Monastery it is written: “On this day we commemorate the martyrdom of Salome the Georgian, who at first yielded to the Persian threats and renounced Christ, but later confessed the true Faith. For this she was beheaded and cast into the flames.”

In his famous work Pilgrimage, the 18th-century historian and archbishop Timote (Gabashvili) writes that the godless Persians captured the holy martyr Salome and tortured her at Jerusalem’s Holy Cross Monastery for defending the name of Christ.

It appears that Salome labored at one of the convents in Jerusalem. It is believed that she was tortured to death after the martyrdom of Luka of Jerusalem, around 1227–1228.

By permission of the Orthodox Church in America (www.oca.org)