Saint Photini, the Samaritan Woman at the Well
Equal-to-the-Apostles, Great Martyr
- Feast day
- February 26
- Lived
- 1st century
- Patronage
- Evangelists, converts, those in dialogue with unbelievers
The woman who met Christ at Jacob's well in Samaria is named Photini — 'the enlightened one' — in Orthodox tradition, and is honoured as Equal-to-the-Apostles for bringing her whole city to faith.
Life
After the conversation recorded in John 4 she left her water jar, went into Sychar and said, 'Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did' — and the townspeople believed. Tradition records that she was baptised at Pentecost with her five sisters and two sons, and preached in Carthage in North Africa.
Summoned to Rome under Nero, she confronted the emperor directly and converted his daughter Domnina and a hundred of her servants. She was tortured over years, thrown down a well, and died there.
Liturgical place
The fifth Sunday of Pascha is the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman, when the whole Gospel of the well is read and her hymns are sung. The conversation at Sychar is the longest recorded exchange between Christ and any individual in the Gospels.
When Saint Photini is commemorated
The feast falls on February 26 on the Revised Julian (New) calendar used by most Greek, Antiochian and Romanian parishes. Parishes that keep the Julian (Old) calendar — much of the Russian, Serbian and Georgian Churches, and Mount Athos — celebrate it on the civil date March 11, thirteen days later. You can switch between both reckonings anywhere on this site.
See the full liturgical day for February 26, 2027
That page gives the fasting rule in force, the Epistle and Gospel appointed for the day, and every other saint commemorated alongside Saint Photini. To keep the feast, look for a parish in the USA, Canada or Australia directory, and read the Akathist hymns appointed for private prayer.