03/08/2026
Could you imagine being burned alive in boiling pitch?
Foxe States, Potamiena was a young Christian woman of Alexandria, known for both her beauty and her unwavering faith in Christ. When she refused the sinful demands of her pagan master and would not sacrifice to the Roman gods, she was brought before the magistrate and condemned for the name of Christ.
Her sentence was dreadful.
She was to die by boiling pitch.
Led through the streets under guard, the crowds mocked and reviled her. Yet she walked calmly, fixing her eyes toward heaven. A soldier named Basilides, moved with compassion, kept the mob from abusing her as she went to her death.
At the place of ex*****on the tormentors prepared the vessel of burning pitch. Potamiena was lowered slowly into the scalding liquid, the burning substance poured upon her body little by little. Yet she did not deny her Lord.
Before the end she spoke kindly to Basilides and said she would pray that God would reward him.
Not long after, Basilides himself confessed Christ and was beheaded for the faith, declaring that the martyr Potamiena had appeared to him and called him to the same crown.
Thus the flames that consumed one servant of Christ kindled another.
