Venerable Apollinaria of Egypt

Apollinaria is venerated as a desert ascetic of fifth-century Egypt who, fleeing marriage, lived for many years disguised as a man under the name Dorotheus. By tradition she was the daughter of Anthemius, a high Roman official during the minority of the emperor Theodosius the Younger; some accounts call him a proconsul, while a later hagiographic tradition associated with Symeon the Metaphrast names him as the emperor Anthemius, an identification that modern scholars regard as unlikely. She is commemorated on January 5.

According to her life, from childhood she was set on preserving her virginity and persuaded her parents to let her make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. There she gave away her wealth to the poor and dismissed most of her attendants, then traveled on to Egypt. On the Egyptian coast she exchanged her worldly dress for monastic garb and withdrew into the wilderness, by the accounts living for a time hidden in a marsh before entering a monastic community. Adopting the name Dorotheus and the appearance of a man, she joined a monastery in the desert of Scetis and distinguished herself by the severity of her ascetic life.

The central episode of her tradition concerns her own sister, who had become possessed by a demon. Brought to the monks for prayer, the sister was healed through the prayers of the monk Dorotheus. When the sister later fell ill again, a demon falsely charged Dorotheus with having violated her, and the parents sent men to demand justice. Confronted, Apollinaria revealed her true identity to her parents, healed her sister, and returned to Scetis. Only at her death, when her body was prepared for burial, was it discovered that the monk Dorotheus had been a woman; she was buried in the monastery church.