Saint of the Day – 2 May – Saint St Zoe of Pamphylia (Died 127) Martyr, Laywoman, Wife and Mother. The Roman Martyrology states of her and her family: “The holy mMartyrs , Exuperius and Zoe, his wife, with their sons, Cyriacus and Theodolus, who suffered under the Emperior Adrian.”
Zoe was married to Saint Exuperius. They had 2 sons, Saint Cyriacus and Saint Theodulus.
They were slaves, and were owned by a rich devout worshipper of the ancient Roman gods in Atalia, Pamphylia. One of Zoe’s duties was to tend the house dogs and prevent them from biting visitors. She rarely saw her husband as he worked the fields, a distance from the house.
Since she worked near a roadway, she gave of her own meagre rations to those even poorer than herself. One pagan feast day, the slaves were given meat to sacrifice to an idol. They refused and the entire family was tortured and murdered.
They were burned to death c 127.
The icon you have under Saint Zoe is the wrong one, Saint Zoe of Rome is different than Saint Zoe of Pamphylia
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Thanks for the heads-up Lo Cova!
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