4th century
A widowed deaconess who led a women's ascetic community and openly resisted Julian's pagan revival, and was beaten for singing psalms against idolatry.
Our Venerable Mother Publia the Confessor, Deaconess of Antioch
Publia (also spelled Poplia) was a 4th-century deaconess of Antioch in Syria who, after being widowed at a young age, founded and led an ascetic community of women in her own home. She is venerated as a confessor for openly resisting the pagan revival of the Emperor Julian the Apostate (reigned 361-363) and enduring beatings for her witness.
Recorded as a woman of high reputation and illustrious virtue, she devoted herself to raising her son John, who became a presbyter at Antioch, and to leading the widows and consecrated virgins of her community in the praise of God. Her best-known act was directing her sisters to sing psalms denouncing idolatry as the emperor passed her residence, for which she was struck on the orders of Julian himself.
She survived only a short time after the persecution and reposed peacefully. The Orthodox Church commemorates her on October 9.
Publia lived during the brief reign of Julian the Apostate (361-363), the emperor who sought to reverse the Christianization of the Roman Empire and restore public pagan worship. Antioch, a major Christian center, was a focal point of this conflict, and Julian spent significant time in the city.
Her resistance is recorded by the 5th-century historian Theodoret of Cyrus in his Ecclesiastical History (Book 3, Chapter 14), which is the principal primary source for her life.
When Julian passed through Antioch, Publia directed her community of consecrated women to sing loudly the psalms that mock idolatry. Theodoret records that they chanted, 'The idols of the nations are of silver and gold, the work of men's hands,' and 'Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered.'
Provoked, Julian ordered Publia brought before him and commanded his escort to strike her violently on both ears, reddening her cheeks. She did not stop her witness but continued to sing spiritual songs against him. Theodoret likens her singing against the emperor to the way David's music calmed the troubled spirit of Saul.
The synaxarion relates that she endured the beating with forbearance. Because she suffered for the faith without being put to death, the Church venerates her as a confessor rather than a martyr.
The available sources record no information about relics or shrines beyond the account of her life and peaceful repose.