Our righteous Mother Euphrosyne, who lived during the reign of Saint Theodosius the Younger (408-450), was the daughter of Paphnutius of Egypt. Forsaking her father and his wealth, she renamed herself Smaragdus, and pretending to be a eunuch of the imperial palace, she dressed herself as a man and entered a monastery of men where her identity remained unknown until her repose thirty-eight years later.
In thee the image was preserved with exactness, O Mother; for taking up thy cross, thou didst follow Christ, and by thy deeds thou didst teach us to overlook the flesh, for it passeth away, but to attend to the soul since it is immortal. Wherefore, O righteous Euphrosyne, thy spirit rejoiceth with the Angels.
Desiring to reach the life on high, thou earnestly didst spurn every vain and fleeting pleasure here below and didst live among men as if a man, O all-famed Euphrosyne, since for Christ thy Bridegroom's sake thou forsookest a bridegroom that was temporal.
Reading courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery
Apolytikion courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery
Kontakion courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery
Icon courtesy of St. Isaac's Skete