Venerable Eupraxia of Tabenna

Eupraxia of Tabenna, also called Eupraxia of Egypt, was an ascetic nun of the late fourth century honored among the venerable mothers of the Egyptian desert. Her principal feast is kept on July 25, and her memory is also observed on January 12.

By the accounts of the synaxarion she was the daughter of Antigonus, a dignitary of Constantinople and a kinsman of the emperor Theodosius the Great, who reigned from 379 to 395, and of his wife, who bore the same name, Eupraxia. Her parents were remembered as pious people who gave generous alms to the poor.

Left while still young in possession of great wealth and promised in betrothal, she renounced both her inheritance and the proposed marriage. She withdrew to a convent at Tabenna, also called Tabennisi, in the Thebaid of Egypt, where she gave herself to a life of deep humility and obedience among the sisters. She is remembered for the severity of her ascetic struggles, and her repose is traditionally placed around the year 393.