Saint Pelagia

Saint Pelagia
Margarita among her courtesans, as Saint Nonnus prays for her (14th-century MS).
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church Syriac Orthodox Church
Feast	8 October (Roman Catholic) 8 October OS (Eastern Orthodox) 8 October (Syriac Orthodox Church)

8 October (Roman Catholic)
8 October OS (Eastern Orthodox)

Pelagia (Greek: Πελαγία), distinguished as Pelagia of Antioch, Pelagia the Penitent, and Pelagia the Harlot, was a legendary Christian saint and hermit in the 4th or 5th century. Her feast day was celebrated on 8 October, originally in common with Saints Pelagia the Virgin and Pelagia of Tarsus.

Pelagia's hagiography, attributed to James or Jacob (Latin: Jacobus), deacon of the church of Heliopolis (modern Baalbek), states that Margarita was the "foremost actress" and a prominent harlot in Antioch. During one of the city's church councils, she passed by on a donkey surrounded by her entourage and a "worldly crowd". Perfumed and "immodestly" bareheaded, the outlines of her body were "clearly visible" beneath her gold cloth, pearls, and precious stones, which ran from her bare shoulders to her feet. Most of the fathers were shamed into looking away, but the bishop Nonnus stared openly and confessed himself "delighted". Mocking his fellows, he condemned both them and himself for taking less care of their souls than she had of her body.

She appeared at his next Sunday sermon and Nonnus's sermon on hell and the goodness of paradise prompted her to repent. She had two of her slaves trail Nonnus to his residence and then wrote him on wax tablets, calling herself "sinful" and a "servant of the devil" but seeking mercy from God, who "came down to earth not for the sake of the righteous but to save sinners". Nonnus replied to the anonymous request that God knew her and her past and that he would receive her, but only in the presence of the other bishops.