“Do you think me so deluded that I would consent to renounce my Lord Christ and instead offer sacrifice to idols which are as blind as you are?”
-The woman at the well
In John 4 we read about an interaction Jesus had with a Samaritan women at an ancient well dug by Jacob over 1500 years earlier. This passage is fascinating on a number of levels.
1. The fact that Jesus would talk at length to a woman, in a very patriarchal culture. Women were seen by many men as property more than human beings.
2. The fact that Jesus would talk at length to a Samaritan, a group that the Jews did not get along with.
3. The fact that John would choose to write in detail about this event… again because of the fact that this story would not have been helpful in attracting men to the gospel message.
4. The interaction in John 4 between Jesus and the woman is the longest theological interaction found in the gospels.
There isn’t much mentioned in scripture about this woman. There are many rumours and innuendo about her personal life that have been perpetuated by various prominent Bible teachers over the millennia. This has created a false narrative that is not found in scripture or in extra biblical history about this woman. As a matter of fact… any extra biblical references to the woman at the well refer to this woman very differently than the mental picture we have created.
Who was this woman? She was obviously intelligent as she had a deep theological discussion with Jesus. She was obviously influential as she went back to her community and was able to create a frenzied interest in Jesus. She was obviously not a shy woman… as she boldly spoke to Jesus without fear.
Who was she?
This is where it gets interesting!
The Bible doesn’t mention her name at all… for that we go to several historical documents from the early church! These two sources are:
• Older editions of the Roman Martyrology where she is named and listed as a martyr who died on March 20th
• Eastern Christian tradition, at first passed down verbally, then written as the Church became more established.
Her baptism name was Photine… she is listed in the Roman Martyrology as Photina.
What we can say with near certainty, based on the biblical outline and early Church historical documents is that she was not a harlot as some have taught, she was not likely “divorced” multiple times, she was not likely “immoral” in the sense that she was sleeping around - even though the Bible does seem to indicate some kind of common law marriage situation was happening in the biblical account.
Some important things about the culture during the Roman times. A divorced woman was somewhat blacklisted… she would not have found it easy if her previous husbands divorced her to find another man.
Secondly, she was very influential… as a harlot would not have had the capacity to be as influential as the Bible says she was.
Let’s read her story in the scriptures first… then let’s get into her fascinating and inspiring story.
“Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, “Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John” —although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized— he left Judea and started back to Galilee. But he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.” Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” They left the city and were on their way to him. Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.””
John 4:1-30, 39-42 NRSV
This story gets even more interesting when we read the extra biblical accounts…
Photina had two sons that we know of, Victor (named Photinos) and Iosḗs. She also had sisters named Anatolḗ, Photó, Photida, Paraskevḗ, and Kyriakḗ.
Victor fought valiantly in the Roman Army against the barbarians and was appointed as commander of the city of Attilia - which was in Asia Minor. Later on, Nero would call on Victor to come to Italy and arrest and punish Christian’s.
Sebastian, who was an official in Italy under Nero, is recorded as saying to Victor,
“I know that you, your mother and your brother, are followers of Christ. As a friend I advise you to submit to the will of the Emperor. If you inform on any Christians, you will receive their wealth. I shall write to your mother and brother, asking them not to preach Christ in public. Let them practice their faith in secret.”
As you likely know, Nero did not like Christian’s and was the most brutal emperor in regards to his treatment of Christians.
Victor replied to Sebastian, “I want to be a preacher of Christianity like my mother and brother.”
Sebastian retorted, “O Victor, we all know what woes await you, your mother and brother.”
Then Sebastian suddenly felt a sharp pain in his eyes. For three days he lay there blind, without uttering a word. On the fourth day he declared, “The God of the Christians is the only true God.”
Victor asked why Sebastian had suddenly changed his mind. Sebastian replied, “Because Christ is calling me.” Soon he was baptized, and immediately he regained his sight. After witnessing the miracle Saint Sebastian’s servants were also baptized.
When these reports reached Nero, he asked that these Christians be brought before him in Rome. It was said Jesus appeared to the new believers saying ““Fear not, for I am with you. Nero, and all who serve him, shall be vanquished.”
Photina came to Rome with several other Christian’s and joined her son and Sebastian in Rome. When they came before Nero, it was said that Nero asked them all if they truly believed in Christ. All of the confessors stayed resolute and refused to deny Christ. Nero then ordered that the joints of the Martyrs fingers be broken. During their torments the Christian’s including Photina felt no pain that was evident and their hands remained intact.
Nero then ordered that Sebastian, Photinos and Iosḗs all be blinded and locked up in prison, and Photina and her five sisters Anatolḗ, Photó, Photida, Paraskevḗ and Kyriakḗ were sent to the imperial court under the supervision of Nero’s daughter Domnina.
Photina converted both Domnina and all her servants to Christ and even converted a sorcerer, who had brought her poisoned food.
After three years, Nero summoned for one of his servants who had been locked up with the others. He discovered that Sebastian, Photinos and Iosḗs, who had all been blinded, had recovered their sight, and that people were visiting them to hear their preaching. Worse yet the prison had been transformed into a place where God was glorified.
Nero then ordered that the whole group be crucified and their naked bodies be beaten with straps. On the fourth day when Nero sent his servants to check on them, they became blind. Apparently an angel had taken them down from their crosses and healed them. They prayed for the servants and they received their sight back as well.
Of course this enraged Nero even more… he ordered that the skin be flayed from Photina’s body and that she be thrown into a well. From here it just got worse…
Sebastian, Photinos and Iosḗs had their legs amputated, and they were thrown to dogs… after which there was skin flayed off.
Photini's sisters suffered terrible torments. Nero ordered soldiers to cut off their breasts, and then to flay their skin but Nero saved the most painful execution for Photinas sister Photida. Her feet were tied to the tops of two trees which had been bent to the ground. When the ropes were cut the trees sprang upright, tearing the martyr apart. The Emperor ordered the others all beheaded.
Photini was then removed from the well and locked up in prison for twenty days after which she was brought before Nero again to be asked to sacrifice to idols. Photina spat in the Emperor’s face and said this:
“O most impious of the blind, you profligate and stupid man! Do you think me so deluded that I would consent to renounce my Lord Christ and instead offer sacrifice to idols which are as blind as you are?"
Nero then threw her into the well again where she eventually died and was apparently beheaded as well.
Did everything happen as I just described here? I suppose we don’t really know for sure. That said, the head of Photina is apparently kept at the Grigoriou Monastery on Mount Athos. I know that sounds morbid, that said it lends significant credibility to the story as kept through the ages.
Personally, I believe the story is credible. We have both the Roman Martyrology and eastern Christian tradition accounts that appear to compliment each other. The names all appear to be common names at the time of these events and the timing lines up with the Bible documentation.
Perhaps that meeting at the well had a bit more significance than we first thought? That meeting appears to changed so many lives… it even got the gospel preached to Nero himself!
Yes friends… a woman preached the gospel to the emperor Nero and likely led hundreds or thousands to Christ… and her impact is still rippling today!
She didn’t stay silent lol.
I am in constant awe at how God works! There are more stories like this! Some are good… others like the stories behind Simon the sorcerer are dark. Simon’s journey can be found in my previous article here:
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