FEBRONIA, Saint and Martyr. — The details of her life and martyrdom are uncertain; the earliest accounts date from the 7th century. She was venerated in Constantinople, where her feast is recorded in the Synaxarium on 25 June.
The legend-filled Passio, allegedly written by a disciple of St. Febronia, relates that she lived in a monastery at Nisibi. When the persecution of Diocletian broke out, while all her companions fled in terror, Febronia remained. She was therefore seized and brought before the tribunal. Pressed with promises and enticements to sacrifice to the gods, she firmly refused; whereupon she was horribly scourged, lacerated, mutilated, and finally beheaded. A great church was built in her honour, but her body remained buried in the monastery where she had lived, since it could not be moved.