On February 23, the holy Orthodox Church celebrates the memory of an absolutely marvelous woman, a woman dedicated to her husband and to her family and to her parents. I’m talking about the saint of Christ, Gorgonia.

Gorgonia was the eldest of three children, the second being Gregory and the third being Caesarius. Now this Gregory, her brother, is none other than the famous St. Gregory the Theologian, or St. Gregory of Nazianzus. Their parents, Gregory and Nonna, were quite devout, although Nonna seems to be the most devout one, who spent many years praying for her husband’s conversion to the faith; he apparently was quite the pagan. After a while this paid off, and eventually her husband Gregory did convert to the faith, and in fact became bishop of Nazianzus.

Now, their children—Gorgonia, Gregory, and Caesarius—were quite illustrious in their day, and Gorgonia was always talking about her parents and all the wonderful things that she got from them. After she married, she had five children. Two of the oldest boys would eventually become bishops, although their names, strangely enough, are lost to us. The other three were all daughters, and Gorgonia spent no little time instructing her husband and her children in the ways of God.

There is a funeral oration given by her brother, St. Gregory, and we’re not sure exactly when she reposed, probably around 370 AD, and he is so concerned not to overdo the praises that he heaps upon her, but instead he says that he is afraid that he will fall far short of all her virtues. She is someone who would spend her entire night reading the psalms in, as he said, an intelligent manner, and also reading the Scriptures, and never ceasing to pray, constantly. This is a woman who was so dedicated to God that, although she knew that she was married and she had all of these generally acceptable familial obligations to her family, yet she was completely dedicated to our Lord Jesus Christ and spent every waking moment of her life trying to draw near to him.

She was subject to some unfortunate incidents. Once a cart overturned, and apparently she was dragged a long way by the horse. She was so modest, however, that even in her pain she would not let the physicians examine her at all. At another time she was plagued by a malignant disease, which we don’t know the exact details of, but which gave her short bouts of real trouble, but then there were some brief respites between them. At one point, the blessed Gorgonia went to the altar of God and placed her head on it and grasped it and absolutely refused to leave until she had obtained the cure from the Lord that she wanted, and even took the reserved antitypes—the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ—and put them on her body, something we would probably, and probably rightfully so, be scandalized at if someone did this today.  But Gorgonia was different. She was someone who had such absolute faith in the Lord that he would cure her, and indeed that did happen.

We don’t know how much longer she lived. We do know that her mother, Nonna, was present at her funeral when her son Gregory was reading this oration. But one thing that became clear is that all of the people in Iconium, which is where she lived, knew of her virtues, knew of the splendors of her existence, knew of her absolute dedication to God, one who was so modest, who did not overly adorn herself, one whose house was always open to people who needed help from her. And she encouraged her family members to emulate her in all of these things.

If there is a greater example in all of our Orthodox Christian history of the absolute beauties and perfections of a mother who is also fully dedicated to our Lord, I can’t think of who it would be. Gorgonia was an astonishing woman, someone that put to shame virtually everyone around her for her absolute trust and faith in the Lord, which she not only maintained within herself but showed other people outwardly in the things that she would do for them and in the good works which ultimately followed her. May we remember Gorgonia this month of February, because of her virtues, because of her wondrous contribution to the spirituality of the Church, and for showing all of us—male, female, married, unmarried—what the true path to the Lord really is and how we should all follow it.