Svetlana/Photini

According to the testimony of the Gospel of John (4:5 – 30, 39-41), Jesus met this woman at the well in front of the city of Sychar – at today’s Balata – where he rested from the strenuous hike while the woman fetched water. He spoke to her even though she was a woman and even though she belonged to the group of Samaritans shunned by the Jews. In the course of the conversation, she made a confession to him as the Messiah sent by God, making her the first person to recognize the Christ in Jesus. As with the other pious women mentioned in the Gospels, the legend also tells of the now called Photini that she later preached in various places, namely in Carthage – today’s suburb of Tunis in Tunisia. She died together with her two sons Joseph and Victor, the captain Sebastian as well as Anatolius (Anatolia) and Photius (Photides), her sisters Photis, Parasceva and Cyriaca in the persecution under Emperor Nero in Rome.

Jerome first mentioned a church above the fountain in Sychar – near today’s Balata – the Crusaders built a basilica there, a new building was discontinued in 1913. Photini’s head relic is venerated in the church of San Paolo fuori le Mura in Rome.

Joachim Schäfer: Article Photini, from the Ecumenical Dictionary of Saints – https://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienP/Photini.html