Icon of Saint Photini (Protaton, Athos, 1290) – S101

Description

At Jacob’s Well near Sychar in Samaria, Christ stopped to rest while His Disciples went into the town to find provisions to eat.  Saint Photini (Svetlana in Slavic languages) came to draw water, and He asked her for water to drink from the well.  Christ revealed to her that he already knew of her unlawful relations with a man who was not her husband, and affirmed against her beliefs that salvation is from the Jews, not the Samaritans.  She learned by listening with an open heart that this was the Messiah for whom the whole world inwardly yearned.  The Samaritan Woman then left her bucket and went into town to confess that she had seen the Christ who can give all spiritual water that is completely fulfilling.

Saint Photini was baptized with her two sons and five sisters.  In Carthage she preached the Light of the Gospel, for which she is named, where she was arrested and brought to trial in Rome before Nero.  She converted Nero’s daughter Domnina, and then was martyred by being thrown down into a well where she died in this life, but was made alive by Christ in Heaven forever.  She truly tasted the waters of Everlasting Life.