Saint Zlata of Maglen
Great Martyr
Born	unknown Slatina (today in Greece)
Died	1795 Slatina (today in Greece)
Venerated in	Eastern Orthodox Christianity
Feast	October 18

Saint Zlata of Maglen (Macedonian: Света Великомаченичка Злата Мегленска, Bulgarian: Света Великомъченица Злата Мъгленска, Greek: Αγία Χρυσή; died October 18, 1795) is an 18th-century Eastern Orthodox saint and new martyr.

Zlata was born in the eighteenth century in the village of Slatina, in the Bulgarian province of Meglen (today Chrysi, Greece), to a poor, peasant family with three other daughters. Zlata was very beautiful and she caught the eye of one of the local turks. Once when Zlata went out of the village to gather wood with other women, the turk gathered some friends, kidnapped her and took her to his home. At the beginning he tried to seduce her with promises, that he will make her his wife so she would renounce her beliefs and roots. When he urged her to become a Muslim and be his wife, Zlata replied: "I believe in Christ, and Him alone do I know as my Bridegroom. I will never deny Him, even though you subject me to a thousand tortures and cut me into pieces."

The turk realised that he would not sway her to change her beliefs so he resorted to other means. Knowing that women are better able than men to deceive, he passed the saints to the local muslim women, instructing them to use all means and all tricks known to them to convince her. So for six months they tried to turn the blessed girl to their faith, but their efforts remained in vain.

Then the turks summoned the martyrs' parents and sisters and, with terrible threats, commanded them to incline their daughter to accept the muslim faith. If they do not do it When they came to the martyr's parents and sisters (for fear forced them to do what they did not want), they did everything they could to mitigate her harder and diamond soul. They were crying, they said: "A sweet daughter, have mercy on yourself and on us - your parents and sisters, for all of you are threatening to die for us! He has been shunned by Christ at least seemingly to save ourselves and us, and Christ is merciful and will forgive you this sin committed by coercion and violence. " Turning to her parents and sisters, she uttered these wondrous wise words: "You who force me to deny Christ, the True God, are no longer my parents and my sisters. In your place will be my Father, Jesus Christ, mother - the Most Holy Mother of God, and my sisters and brothers - all saints. "

The Turks then cast her into prison for three months, flogging her every day. Eventually they decide to make an example out of her and execute her. Finally, they suspended her upside down and lit a fire, to suffocate her with the smoke, but she survived. At last they hanged her from a tree and cut her into small pieces.

Thus, she died on October 18, 1795. Pieces of her relics were taken by Christians to their homes for a blessing. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church celebrates her feast day on October 18; the Greek, the Russian, the Serbian and the Macedonian Orthodox churches - on October 13. Her hagiography was written by Nicodemus the Hagiorite. In Bulgaria and Macedonia Saint Zlata is often depicted as young woman, wearing a traditional folk costume. In Bulgaria, Saint Zlata is patron saint of all Bulgarians living abroad.

Sources

• Житие и страдание на Света Великомъченица Злата Мъгленска. (Life and Suffering of Saint Great Martyr Zlata of Maglen) (in Bulgarian)
• Национална библиотека "Св.св. Кирил и Методий" (in Bulgarian)
• Страдање Свете великомученице ЗЛАТЕ Мегленске (Suffering of Saint Great Martyr Zlata of Maglen) (in Serbian)