Photina the Samaritan woman
Photina the Samaritan woman drawn by Lorenzo Ferri Salton according to the indications of Maria Valtorta. Source: documentary collection of the Maria Valtorta Heir Foundation.
From Sychar in Samaria. She meets Jesus around a well. At the end of the conversation, she asks him for living Water. Jesus reads in her Heart her secrets, including her unstable life made up of five "husbands." Afterwards, she becomes an ardent propagator of faith in Jesus.
Character and appearance
"About thirty-five to forty years old, tall, with strongly drawn features, but beautiful. She has, we might say, an almost Spanish type with her olive complexion, very red and rather thick lips, disproportionately large black eyes under very bushy eyebrows and jet-colored braids visible under the light veil. Even the shapes, which tend to be plump, clearly present the slightly softened oriental type like that of Arab women. She is dressed in a multicolored striped fabric, cinched at the waist, stretched over the hips and plump chest, then falling in a kind of wavy flounce down to the ground. Numerous rings and bracelets on her plump and brown hands and wrists, visible under the linen sleeves. Around her neck a heavy necklace from which hang medals—I would say amulets because they come in all shapes. Heavy earrings descend to the neck and shine beneath the veil."[1]
Apostolic journey
- "Now that I am no longer a sinner, I know nothing anymore. The Good, I do not know it. What must I do?" - "You could not come, woman, alone, to follow me. But if you really want to sin no more and know the science of not sinning, return home with the spirit of penance and wait. The day will come when, Woman among others also redeemed, you can be close to your Redeemer and learn the science of Good. Go. Do not be afraid. Be faithful to your current will not to sin. AGod."[2]It is probably she who is referenced when Jesus later returns to Shechem:
"One will be missing, for she has left the place to lead a life of atonement. That is what she said, and I believe it. Indeed, when a woman strips herself of everything she loved, and rejects sin and gives her goods to the poor, it is a sign that she really wants to follow a new life. But I cannot tell you where she is. No one has seen her since she left Shechem. Someone among us thought they saw her as a servant in a village near the Phialé.[3] Another swears to have recognized her miserably dressed in Bersabea[4]. But their statements lack certainty. Called by her name, she did not answer, and the woman answered the name Jeanne in one place, and the name Agar in the other. - "It is not necessary to know anything else except that she has redeemed herself."[5]Jesus at the Last Supper will remember the Souls saved including hers.[6]
Her name
This first name would have a Greek origin: "Light" (as in photos).
Where is she mentioned in the work?
EMV 143 EMV 144 EMV 147EMV 571.4 EMV 572.2 EMV 596.33
EMV 600.25 EMV 647.7
Learn more about this character
Saint Photina is celebrated on March 20 by the Church Catholic Church and on February 26 by the Orthodox Church. She is said to have been an apostle to Tunisia (Carthage) in the company of her sons, Joseph and Victor. She is said to have died in 66 AD.
Notes and references
- ↑ EMV 143
- ↑ EMV 147
- ↑ Salton in the Cambridge catalog, this is a lake in Gaulanitis, currently known as Birkat Rām (Lake Ram) and the nearby village would currently be Mas'ada. The name Phialé comes from the shape of the lake, identical to Greek phiales, cups intended for libations.
- ↑ Bersabea, Greek and Latin name of Be'er Sheva.
- ↑ EMV 571.4
- ↑ EMV 600.25