Saint Domnina of Syria, also known as Domnina the Younger, was a 5th-century ascetic. Her name is mentioned in the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

Synaxarium. and according to

Theodoret Theodoret of Cyrus or Cyrrhus ( grc-gre, Θεοδώρητος Κύρρου; AD 393 – 458/466) was an influential theologian of the School of Antioch, biblical commentator, and Christian bishop of Cyrrhus (423–457). He played a pi ...

, bishop of

Cyrrhus Cyrrhus (; el, Κύρρος ''Kyrrhos'') is a city in ancient Syria founded by Seleucus Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals. Other names for the city include Coricium, Corice, Hagioupolis, Nebi Huri ( ar, نبي هوري), and Khoros ...

, Domnina was born to a rich Syrian family.

Life

She became a disciple of

Saint Maron Maron, also called Maroun or Maro ( syr, ܡܪܘܢ, '; ar, مارون; la, Maron; grc-gre, Μάρων), was a 4th-century Syrian Syriac Christian hermit monk in the Taurus Mountains whose followers, after his death, founded a religious Christ ...

. As a young woman she constructed a straw-covered hut in the garden of her mother's house, located in

near

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ� ...

."Virginmartyr Domnina of Syria", Orthodox Church in America
/ref> She passed all of her life there, to the point where she became extremely thin. She only ate

lentils The lentil (''Lens culinaris'' or ''Lens esculenta'') is an edible legume. It is an annual plant known for its lens-shaped seeds. It is about tall, and the seeds grow in pods, usually with two seeds in each. As a food crop, the largest produ ...

soaked in water and went to church in the morning and in the evening. Domnina covered her face in a veil so that no one could see her face. She had 250 female followers, who passed the time doing manual labor and carding wool. Theodoret writes, in his ''Religious History'' (chap. XXX in ''Patrologia Graeca''), that Domnina acquired such a state of religious ecstasy that she could not speak without weeping as she was considered to have been inspired by the love of God. She died between 450 and 460 AD.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Domnina Of Syria Syrian Christian saints Late Ancient Christian female saints Maronite saints 5th-century Byzantine people 5th-century Christian saints