The cult of Saint Parascheva spread in the 14th century from Bulgaria northwards into the Romanian principalities, Wallachia and Moldavia. The relics were translated to the church of the Holy Apostles in Kallikrateia. The vision informed the monk where the saint had been buried when the body was unearthed, it was found to be incorrupt. It was completely demolished in the spring of 1979 a park occupies the site.Ĭhristian tradition states that after an old sinner was buried near Paraskeva’s grave, the saint protested by appearing in a dream to a local monk. It was the biggest church in the whole of Eastern Thrace (16 m in height, 26 m in width and 30 m in length), a real jewel that could be seen from kilometres away. The building, completed after 6 years, re-used parts of the 1327–1341 Byzantine tower of Duke Alexis Apokaukos as building material. In 1885 the Community demolished the old church in order to construct a much bigger one on the same site. In August 1817 a great fire completely destroyed the church it was rebuilt in 1820 with the financial support of the citizens of Constantinople and of the former Prince of Moldo-Wallahia, Alexander Kallimachi. The oldest testimony regarding the church - written by the Russian traveller Anthony of Novgorod (who later became Archbishop of Novgorod) - dates back to the early-13th century. She died at the age of 27.Ī church dedicated to her was built in Epivates (present-day Selimpaşa) on the spot where her house of birth once stood. She returned to Constantinople, and then, aged 25, lived in the village of Kallikrateia, in the church of the Holy Apostles. When she was 25, an angel appeared, telling her to return to her homeland. After seeing Jerusalem, she settled in a convent in the desert near the River Jordan. Her travels took her to Jerusalem she wished to spend the rest of her life there. She led an austere life, experiencing visions of the Virgin Mary. Paraskeva fled to Chalcedon in Asia Minor, and afterwards lived at the church of the Most Holy Theotokos in Heraclea Pontica in Bithynia. Her parents, who did not support her decision to follow an ascetic, religious life, looked for her in various cities. These words would determine her to give her rich clothes away to the poor and to flee to Constantinople. Legend says that as a child, Paraskeva heard in a church the Lord's words: "Whoever wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." (Mark 8, 34). Paraskeva was born in the town of Epivates (close to present-day Istanbul) on the shore of the Sea of Marmara. Visual hagiography of St Paraskeva ( Patriarchate of Peć, 1719-20).
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