Venerable Theophanes and Saint Pansemne of Antioch

Theophanes and Pansemne of Antioch are a fourth-century pair commemorated together in the Orthodox Church on June 10. Theophanes was born in Antioch, in Syria, to non-Christian parents; married in his youth, he was widowed after three years of marriage, and the loss turned him toward Christ. He was baptized and withdrew to a cell beyond the city, where he lived ascetically and instructed those who came to him in the commandments of God.

The two lives are bound together by an unusual act of intercession. Learning of Pansemne, a woman of Antioch who had grown wealthy through a life of prostitution, Theophanes resolved to seek her conversion. Disguising his purpose, he approached her with gold and a proposal of marriage on the single condition that she accept Baptism. Pansemne, whose name is traditionally rendered as "All-virtuous," underwent a genuine change of heart, was baptized, gave away her wealth, and lived out her remaining life as an ascetic near his cell. By tradition the two reposed on the same day.