The Serbian Orthodox Church and its faithful celebrate the feast day dedicated to the Venerable Mother Paraskeva, better known to the people as Saint Petka, on October 27th. The name Saint Paraskeva or Petka comes from the Greek word: paraskeva which means Friday, hence Petka.
She was born at the end of the ninth or beginning of the tenth century in the city of Epivatus. Her parents were wealthy and pious Christians. They had two children, a son Evtimije and a daughter Petka. Evtimije was the elder, he became a monk with the approval and blessing of his parents, and later became the bishop of Maditus.
From her earliest childhood, Petka was very devout. After the death of her parents, she wished to pay homage to the greatest shrines and so she went to Constantinople, where she lived for five years near the Church of the Veil of the Virgin Mary in the suburb of Iraklio.
From there she went to Palestine, to pay homage to all the places sanctified by the Savior’s life. By the Providence of God she settled in the Jordanian desert. Where she labored until old age.
Two years before her death, while standing in prayer, an angel appeared to her and told her that she should return to her hometown, where she would give her body to the earth, and the Lord would receive her soul. When she returned to Epivat, no one recognized her, because she had left more than two decades ago, and she had no relatives. Her days passed in work, fasting, and prayer. She quietly passed away and disappeared from the face of the earth. They buried her outside the cemetery, because for the townspeople she was a stranger.
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After many years, they were supposed to bury a drowned man at that place. While digging, the workers found a perfectly preserved body, but they did not attach any importance to it. During the night, one of the workers, Georgije, had a vision: he saw a woman sitting on a throne illuminated by light and surrounded by bright soldiers, like an empress. Then Saint Petka descended from the throne and told him who she was. She ordered that her relics be taken out and placed in a worthy place.
In the morning, Georgije told the household about the vision, so they all went to the grave. There they found many people, because another woman, Evtimija, had had the same vision. Thus, the relics of Saint Petka were placed in the church and miraculous healings began to occur immediately.
Two centuries after the death of Saint Petka, the Crusaders ruled Constantinople and the surrounding area, so the Bulgarian Tsar, Jovan Asen, in 1238, begged these relics from the Crusaders and transferred them to his capital, Tarnovo.
At the time of the Battle of Kosovo, Tarnovo also fell under Turkish rule, so the relics of Saint Petka were transferred to Romania, and when Romania was also conquered in 1396, Empress Milica begged Sultan Bayezid for the saint’s relics and transferred them to Serbia. Thus, the relics of Saint Petka were transferred to Belgrade to Kalemegdan, near the source of miraculous water, where a chapel was built that still exists today.
The relics rested there until 1521, when Suleiman the Second conquered Belgrade. He seized the relics and took them to his palace in Constantinople. Miracles also began to happen there, so Saint Petka was celebrated not only by Christians but also by Muslims.
In 1641, the Romanian voivode Vasilije Lupul, ruler of Moldavia, managed to obtain the relics of Saint Petka and transferred them to the city of Iaşi, where they still rest today, writes Svetosavsko zvonce.
Precisely because Saint Petka is so revered, there are customs and beliefs for this saint that should be respected. On this feast day, according to legend, all heavy work in the house is avoided. This applies to everyone, but especially to women. Our grandmothers believed that on that day one should never wash clothes, sew, and no heavy work should be done, which especially applies to women.
According to an old custom, young girls should pick flowers to decorate their home so that harmony, love, and peace reign within it. It is also believed that on this feast day, girls should wear new dresses so that joy will accompany them in the coming year.
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Source: N1
Photo: Wikipedia