The holy Virgin Martyr Chryse (Zlata).
In the Greek service books her name is Chryse; in the Slavic, Zlata; the name in both means gold. She was born in the village of Slatena in the district of Meglin near the border of Serbia and Bulgaria, one of four daughters in a poor family, and very pious from her youth. A young Turk smitten with her beauty abducted her and, imprisoning her in his house, bade her become a Moslem and his wife. Interested in becoming neither, she boldly refused and told him that Jesus Christ was her Bridegroom Whom she would never deny even if he tortured her to death. Zlata was kept a prisoner by him for six months, during which he used every coercion and harangue and even practised magic spells on her to persuade her to do his will, commanded her parents and sisters to prevail upon her to give in, and finally resorted to torture. For three months her tormentors beat her with clubs every day. Then they flayed her alive and drove a heated skewer through her ears. Rather than being moved that she survived such monstrous torments and remained steadfast in her faith, they were roused to intolerable fury, and tied her to a pear tree cut her body to pieces on October 13, 1795.
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