St. Photini – A Mother at the Well – Samaritan Woman Sunday
Gospel Reading: John 4:1–42
In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.
May the blessing of the Father who calls us and His Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ who saves us, and the Holy Spirit who sanctifies and transforms us be with us all, that we may hear His word and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. Amen.
The Church cares about this chapter and reads it three times throughout the year, in the Holy Great Lent 4th Sunday, during the Holy Fifty days 3rd Sunday after Easter, and on the evening of the feast of Pentecost.
Because it is:
- A Gospel of the sacraments: It points to Confession, Baptism, and the Eucharist.
- A Gospel of love: Christ reaches out to the rejected and lifts her.
- A Gospel of hope: No past is too broken for grace.
- A Gospel of comfort and gentleness: He speaks not to judge but to heal.
- A Gospel of evangelism: She becomes the first missionary to the Samaritans.
1. A Mother Born at a Well
She came with shame. She left with salvation.
She came with thirst. She left with rivers.
She came as a sinner. She left as a mother.
This is the story of St. Photini, the Samaritan Woman, transformed at the well into a spiritual mother, missionary, and martyr.
St. Romanos the Melodist (Byzantine hymnographer and composer):
“She departed in filth, but entered into the Church as blameless. She left the well and drew out life like a sponge. She stopped bearing water… and became a bearer of God.”
2. Her First Birth: A New Identity in Christ
Christ revealed her sins—not to shame her, but to awaken her.
She left her waterpot—her old life—and became the first evangelist in Samaria.
At Pentecost, she was baptized and named Photini – “the Enlightened One.”
John 4:29
“Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”
3. Her Martyrdom and Eternal Legacy – A Well of Glory
After St. Photini was awakened to this new and glorious reality of life with Christ, she made it her mission in life to awaken others to this truth! She started with her sisters, all five of them, who were catechized and baptized as Christians. She had two sons, who came from all of these illicit relationships. Both of them became Christians. Over the next few years, this entire family would become incredibly famous witnesses of Christ throughout the world.
The family began their journey in Carthage (Now Tunisia), where one of St. Photini’s sons, Victor, who was a general for the Roman army, ended up converting the military commander in Carthage (Sebastian) to Christianity. This enraged the Emperor Nero, who had just begun his infamous persecutions of Christians, including the murders of St. Peter and St. Paul.
Nero summoned St. Photini and her family to Rome and asked them if they were followers of Christ. When they answered in the affirmative, Nero ordered that they be beaten with iron rods until they denied Christ. No matter how hard the soldiers tried, they could not break the bones or bring pain to this holy family!
In an attempt to change tactics, Nero tried another approach. If he couldn’t beat their faith out of them, he would try seduction. He sent St. Photini into a room full of gold and riches and sent his own daughter, Domnina, to persuade the holy saint to leave her faith. This attempt failed miserably, as Domnina was converted to Christianity and given the name Anthousa, meaning ‘flower’ in Greek.
Over the next three years, Nero tried every kind of torture to turn St. Photini and her family away from Christ: a fiery furnace, poison, snakes, blindness, and prison. Yet all failed. Even more were converted in prison when they witnessed the family’s endurance and peace.
Eventually, Nero had St. Photini thrown into a well—fittingly, the very place where her story began. There she peacefully prayed for several days, then gave her spirit to God.
St. Gregory of Nyssa:
“She who came to draw water drew a city to the fountain of life. She became a mother of many through one encounter with Christ.”
6. A Word to the Mothers
To all our mothers:
You are our Saint Photinis of today.
You carry Living Water in weary hands.
You birth souls through love, prayer, and witness.
Every act of patience.
Every whispered prayer.
Every tired hug.
It is all soul-bearing work.
Mother’s Day Blessing Prayer
O Lord Jesus Christ,
Who met the woman at the well and gave her Living Water, bless the mothers here today—those who gave birth in the flesh and those who mother in spirit.
Make their homes wells of joy.
Make their hearts altars of prayer.
And make their legacy one of faith, like St. Photini’s.
Through her prayers and all the saints,
bless our children, our Church, and our world.
May the Lord bless us, transform our hearts and minds, that our homes may stand on the Rock, our hands serve in the harvest, and our hearts long for Heaven. Amen.