The Life of the Venerable Paraskeva of Serbia
St. Paraskeva was born in Serbia, near the city of Kalliokratia, in the village of Yepivat. Her parents were pious people; they unfailingly fulfilled all of God's commandments and were widely known for their charity and benevolence.
After the death of her parents, Paraskeva began to lead a life full of sorrow and deprivation. Earnestly emulating the lives of saints, she mortified her body with fasting and wakefulness, and subjugated it to the soul. Being inspired with a divine desire to live for the Lord, Paraskeva no longer wished to live in this greatly turbulent world, but abandoning all worldly things, she disappeared from the world and upon reaching the Jordan desert, she began to lead an angelic life. She ate only desert grains and, moreover, ate them only in small amounts and only after sunset. Gradually dwindling away from heat and cold, she turned her eyes only to the One God, Who can save those with a humble heart from faint-heartedness and tempests. Who can tell of how many tears were shed by the saint? Who can tell of her frequent and incessant laments? Who can tell in detail of her continuous genuflections and diverse bodily endeavors? The All-seeing God Alone looked upon the saint's endeavors. She had no cares for worldly busyness there: she was only concerned about purifying her heart, her response at the Last Judgment, and her meeting with the Heavenly Bridegroom. “I seek Thee, my bridegroom,” – said St. Paraskeva. She was primarily concerned about adorning her lamp and, together with the wise virgins, going out to meet the Heavenly Bridegroom, hearing His sweet voice, and delighting in the sight of His perfection.
When St. Paraskeva thus dwelt in the desert, the cunning enemy became jealous of her virtues and tried to frighten her with illusions and phantoms. Turning frequently into various animals, he attacked the saint, in order to hinder her on her path of spiritual endeavors. But the good bride of Christ Paraskeva “turned to God as her refuge” and with His help – the sign of His holy Cross – she repulsed the enemy, unraveled all the works of the devil like a cobweb, and overcame him completely. By adorning her soul with such endeavors and virtues, Paraskeva became a beloved bride of Christ and upon her were fulfilled the prophetic words: “The King will desire thy goodness.” Thus this King took up abode within her, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and remained within her as within His holy Church, for by preserving her soul from sin and defilement St. Paraskeva became a church of the Living God.
Once at night, after she had already dwelt long in the desert, Paraskeva stood praying as was her wont, tenderly holding out her arms to the sky. Suddenly she saw an angel of God, in the form of a shining youth, who approached her and said:
— Leave the desert and return to thy homeland, for it is there that thou must leave thy body on earth, while thy soul will pass on to the Lord.
The saint, deliberating upon the meaning of her vision, understood that such was God's will; she rejoiced that the time of her departure from the body was near, but she regretted having to part with desert solitude. However, obedient to the celestial will, the saint left the desert and went off to her homeland. She went to her birthplace in Yepivat, where she lived for some time without leaving off her usual desert endeavor – fasting and prayer. When the time came for her departure from this world, Paraskeva earnestly prayed for herself and for the entire world, and during her prayers gave up her blessed soul to God. Her body was buried by the faithful according to Christian custom, but not in the common cemetery, since this was the body of a wanderer who had never told anyone where she had come from.
After many years had passed, God, Who wished to glorify His saint, revealed her relics under the following circumstances.
Near the place where the saint was buried, a certain ascetic stayed on a pillar, laboring in the spiritual endeavor of deep stillness. It so happened that the body of a certain sailor, who had become very sick during sailing and died, was thrown up by the waves into the same spot. The corpse began emitting a suffocating stench, so that it became impossible to walk by on that road, and even the ascetic who was laboring near that place could not endure this stench and was forced to descend from his pillar. Therefore, he ordered that a deep trench be dug out and the foul-smelling corpse be buried therein. When the workers were digging out the trench, by God's will they found an incorruptible body lying in the ground and were greatly amazed by this. However, since the workers were inexperienced and unknowing people, they did not pay any attention to the occurrence, deeming it to be an insignificant and trite matter. They discussed it among themselves thusly:
— If this body were holy, then God would reveal this by means of some miracles.
With such thoughts they once again covered up the incorruptible body with earth, throwing the foul-smelling corpse in there as well, and then went home. When night fell, one of them, a certain Georgiy, a pious man, prayed to God at home. Falling asleep towards morning, he saw in his dreams a queen, who was sitting on a shining throne, surrounded by a great multitude of shining warriors. In great fear, and being unable to look upon this kingly majesty and glory, Georgiy fell to the ground. Then one of the shining warriors, taking Georgiy by the arm, raised him up and said:
— Georgiy! Why have you all so disdained the body of St. Paraskeva and have buried a foul-smelling corpse together with it? Immediately take out the body of the saint and put it in a worthy place, for God desires to have His servant glorified on earth.
And the shining queen, too, said to him:
— Hasten to remove my relics and put them in a worthy place, because I can no longer endure the stench of that corpse. For I, too, am a person, and my homeland is Yepivat, where you now reside as well.
That same night there was a similar vision to a certain pious woman named Yevfimia. In the morning both of them told everyone what they had seen. Upon hearing this, the pious people went off with lighted candles to the relics of St. Paraskeva, and reverently taking them out of the ground, rejoiced over them as over a precious treasure. The holy relics were ceremoniously placed in the church of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul in the village of Yepivat, where by the prayers of St. Paraskeva her relics granted great healing to the sick: the blind began seeing, the lame began walking, and all those who were ill or possessed by demons were returned to health.
In 1238, on orders from King Ioann Asena, the relics were transferred to the city of Ternov. After Bulgaria was captured by the Turks, the relics of St. Paraskeva were taken to Walachia, and when the latter was captured as well, at the request of the Serbian Princess Militsa permission was granted to have them moved to Belgrade.
When Suleyman I captured Belgrade in 1521, among other treasures he also took out to Constantinople the relics of St. Paraskeva. In 1641, at the request of the Moldovan sovereign Vasiliy, permission was granted to transfer them to Yassy, where they remain to this day.