Hand painted icon of Saint Philothei, made in Mount Athos, on natural wood. The icon is delivered in a wooden box.
Saint Philothei, also known as Paraskevi which is her secular name, was born to Athens in the year 1522 AD to a prosperous family. Her parents, Angelo and Syriga Benizelou, welcomed her as a miracle, as they had been unable to conceive children. Paraskevi was married against her will at the age of 14. After a few years, she was left a widow and orphaned from her parents. It was then that she decided to embrace the monastic life and dedicate herself to Jesus Christ. With the great wealth she inherited, she built a monastery in honor of Saint Andrew, which eventually housed around 200 nuns. Saint Philothei became the abbess of the monastery and carried out tremendous philanthropic work. This angered the Ottomans. During a vigil of the nuns and Saint Philothei in honor of Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, the Ottomans seized the opportunity and invaded the monastery, subjecting Saint Philothei to horrific torture. She breathed her last in the crypt of Kalogreza, where the nuns had transported her. Our Church honors her memory on February 19th.
