The Saint and Great Martyr, Agia Mavra, lived in Thebes in Egypt in 1331 and was Timotheus’ wife. Back then they were both very young, is when they followed Christianity.
Timotheus was defamed and was brought before Arrian, the ruler of Thebes. Following the directions of the emperor Diocletian, he asked Timotheus to deliver his Christian books to him, and he got a negative answer. Furious, Arrian gave orders that his prisoner gets tortured. He was submitted to terrible tortures. He had hot irons passed into his eyes, that blinded him. The tortures that followed were the most terrible thing that existed at the time. He had his legs tied up on a torture wheel, he had a heavy stone hung on his head and he himself was then hung from a tree. However, the martyr did not succumb.
Agia Mavra was then invited to present herself at the torture place. She was asked to deliver Timotheus’ books and she denied, admitting that she was a Christian herself. Arrian’s anger was so great that he lashed out on her. Hair was removed from her head, all of her fingers were cut off, she was being drowned in very hot water, and even though the cauldron was like fire and the water was way too hot, Agia Mavra did not get the slightest scald.
Despite the fact that the ruler was confronting a miracle, he demanded that they were both hung on a cross. Even then, the martyrs gave courage to each other. On the cross, the devil approached them. He offered the Saint a glass of milk with honey. He urged her to drink it so that she would no longer feel the pain. Agia Mavra realised that it was the devil and she started praying.
The devil, having been disgraced, gave up and left. Then the Angel of the Lord appeared to the Saint and after she grabbed him by the hand, he lead her to the sky, showed her a throne and on it a white suit and a wreath. Then the Angel turned to her and said : “These have been prepared for you”. After that, he raised her even higher and showed her another throne and another suit and wreath saying : “These have been prepared for your husband”.
Nine days after terrible tortures, the two Saints delivered their souls to the Lord.
The small chapel in honour of the Saint is found on the left side of the old road from Nicosia to Limassol, close to Stavrovouni.
