Saint Zlata of Bulgaria (Whirledge) Icon - S673

Saint Zlata (also known as Saint Chryse; both words mean "gold") was born in the 18th century in the village of Slatena, Ottoman Bulgaria (modern Chrysi, Greece). She came from a poor peasant family of devoted Orthodox Christians, despite the persecution of the Turks.

Zlata was very beautiful, and a certain Turkish young man became obsessed with her. He kidnapped her and tried to seduce her and convert her to Islam to become his wife. She refused, saying, "I believe in Christ as my Bridegroom and I serve Him alone." These bold words appear on her scroll in the icon.

For six months she refused her captor's flattery, coercion, and eventually torture. Eventually he brought in Zlata's family, and weakened by grief, they pleaded with her to deny Christ for the sake of appearances. But the saint said, "You who urge me to deny Christ are no longer my parents and sisters. Instead, I have the Lord Jesus as my father, the Theotokos as my mother, and the saints as my brothers and sisters."

Unable to break her resolve, the Moslems savagely tortured her for another three months and finally tied her to a tree and cut her to pieces on October 13, 1795. Her soul went to her Bridegroom Christ, and the Christians reverently buried her relics.

Saint Zlata's feast is celebrated on October 13, and among the Bulgarians, on October 18.

This icon is offered by Legacy Icons with the permission of the iconographer, Brian Matthew Whirledge.