The holy martyr Philotheus was born in Ternovo, Bulgaria, to a simple village family. As soon as the pious mother had planted in her daughter the first principles of virtue, she departed this life, still in the prime of youth, to the heavenly gardens.
After a short time, the father married another woman who inflicted various tortures on the girl, but Philothea endured these pains and sorrows with amazing patience, which was the reason for her growth in a life of virtue and piety.
When Philothai was twelve years old, her stepmother sent her to the fields where her father worked to bring him provisions. On her way, however, the girl met the poor and distributed to them the large portion of food she had.
One evening her father came home hungry and exhausted. He asked his wife why she was sending him so little food. She replied that she was providing him with enough food and that Philothai was responsible for it. Since this happened every day, the father wanted to make sure that his wife was telling the truth. One day, he hid behind a tree to see what his daughter was doing with the food. When he saw her distributing food to the poor who were approaching her happily, he could not control his anger. He pounced on her, tied her up with a rope, and started beating her with a farm tool he carried in his area. He wounded her leg and her blood began to flow profusely until Philothai surrendered her soul to God.
The murderous father tried to lift the body to hide it from view, but he did not succeed because the body had become heavier than bullets and was surrounded by a bright heavenly light. As soon as the father saw this scene, his conscience began to torment him for his deed, and he ran quickly to Turnovo to surrender himself to the authorities. The bishop learned of what had happened, and immediately came to the place where the incident had occurred, accompanied by a large crowd of clergy and laymen, to bury the body of the young martyr in the cathedral of his diocese. All efforts and attempts to remove the body from its place were in vain. They then decided to mention the names of all the major temples in the Christian world and in Bulgaria, in the hope that the saint would give an indication of the place where she would prefer her body to be buried. Thus the clergy began to mention the names of the churches of Romania, and when they mentioned the name of a newly built church in Curtea de (Arges) in Wallachia (Romania), the weight of the saint’s body was immediately lightened, and her will was confirmed to everyone. They sent a letter to the governor of the region there, Radu I (1375-1377), who immediately came with all his entourage and a large crowd to the banks of the Danube to receive the remains of the saint, and to transfer them to her church, which later became, and remains to this day, thanks to the miracles of the saint, one of the most prominent and important pilgrimage centers in Romania.
Saint Philothea the New is celebrated on December 7th. Through her intercessions, O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.
