The life of St Martha, mother of St Symeon
The marriage did not last long; John died only a short time in, leaving Martha a young widow with a son still to raise, and she gave everything she had left to that task, becoming for the boy a living example of devout life through her own steady prayer, her constant presence at church, and her frequent reception of Communion.
Her days outside the home were given as fully to others as her days inside it were given to her son: she fed and clothed the poor with her own hands, visited the sick, helped bury the dead, and sewed the baptismal garments herself for those preparing to be received into the Church.
She died peacefully in 551 and was buried on the Wonderful Mountain, the very place where her son, known to history as Symeon, carried out the ascetic labors of his own long life.
