St. Ekaterina of Attica, the New Martyr and Orthodox confessor+

St. Ekaterina Ruti, Orthodox Calendar confessor

Ekaterina Ruti was a 27 year old mother of two children and a wife who was killed in the riots in 1927 when the Greek police, sent and urged by the New Calendar clergy, tried to prevent pious Greek people and their priest faithful to the Orthodox Calendar to hold the all-night vigil service on the Feast of the Holy Archangels according to the Orthodox Calendar in the town of Mandra, Attica. After the vigil started the armed police furiously started to break the windows and the doors of the church swearing and shouting threats in order to disperse the faithful flock. Despite of that the believers who previously locked themselves in the church continued the all-night vigil. After the liturgy was over the faithful people got out of the church previously surrounding and protecting their priest with their bodies. They shouted to the police that their priest is not Juda, and that they can get hold of him just over their bodies.
Enraged the police started shooting in the air. One of the bullets wounded Angelina Katsareli. Some of the believers dispersed, but others didn't back off and stayed with their priest. One of the policemen raised his gun in order to hit the priest with the butt. St. Ekaterina bravely stood forward in front of him and protected the priest with her body. The policemen stroke her severely on her head. Bleeding she dropped dead in front of the church. The last words she whispered were :"Panagia Mou"+

*The icon is the work of His Grace bishop Akakije Stankovic (STOC)