Saint Cleopatra (died 319 ''or'' 327) was a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

who lived between the 3rd century and 4th century. She is venerated in the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Oriental Orthodoxy The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 60 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches are part of the Nicene Christian tradition, and represent ...

and

Eastern Orthodoxy Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first m ...

. Cleopatra originally came from a village called Edra near

Mount Tabor Mount Tabor ( he, הר תבור) (Har Tavor) is located in Lower Galilee, Israel, at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley, west of the Sea of Galilee. In the Hebrew Bible (Joshua, Judges), Mount Tabor is the site of the Battle of Mount Tabo ...

Lower Galilee The Lower Galilee (; ar, الجليل الأسفل, translit=Al Jalil Al Asfal) is a region within the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. The Lower Galilee is bordered by the Jezreel Valley to the south; the Upper Galilee to t ...

."Blessed Cleopatra with her son in Egypt", Orthodox Church in America
/ref> She was a contemporary of the holy martyr

Saint Varus Saint Varus ( Gr. Ούαρος) (died ca. 304, Alexandria, Egypt) was an early Christian saint, soldier and martyr. Biography According to his generally reliable and authentic Acts, he was a soldier stationed in Upper Egypt who had the task of g ...

and had witnessed his suffering and execution. After Varus' death, Cleopatra had his remains taken to her home in

Daraa Daraa ( ar, دَرْعَا, Darʿā, Levantine Arabic: , also Darʿā, Dara’a, Deraa, Dera'a, Dera, Derʿā and Edrei; means "''fortress''", compare Dura-Europos) is a city in southwestern Syria, located about north of the border with Jordan ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

where she had them buried with reverence. Cleopatra was a widow, whose only child, was a son named John. By 319, John had attained the officer rank of

centurion A centurion (; la, centurio , . la, centuriones, label=none; grc-gre, κεντυρίων, kentyríōn, or ) was a position in the Roman army during classical antiquity, nominally the commander of a century (), a military unit of around 80 ...

, but to her great sorrow, had died suddenly. Cleopatra, in grief, turned to the relics of Saint Varus, begging the saint to return her son. She dreamt that Varus and John appeared to her as radiant in bright attire with crowns upon their heads and took this to mean that the Lord had received John into the Heavenly Kingdom, and was comforted. She moved to live by the church that she had built over the relics of Saint Varus and her son. Miracles were reported by people who had come to pray at the church. Cleopatra spent her remaining years in the service of God. She gave her property to the poor and spent her time praying and fasting. She died in 327. Apart from Cleopatra, her son John is also recognised as a saint in

Orthodox Christianity Orthodoxy (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion. Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Late antiquity, A ...

. The feast day of Saints Cleopatra and John is 19 October.

References

External links

A Greek Orthodox Icon of Saint Cleopatra
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleopatra, Saint 327 deaths 4th-century Christian saints Eastern Orthodox saints Saints from the Holy Land Year of birth unknown