Venerable Pelagia, before her conversion to Christianity, was a dancer in Antioch of Palestine, spending her days in idleness and fornication. Once, adorned in luxurious garments, she passed by a church at whose entrance Saint Nonnus, Bishop of Edessa, was preaching. The Christians demonstratively turned away from the harlot, but the bishop, watching Pelagia as she passed, was struck: beneath her outward beauty he was able, with spiritual vision, to perceive the beauty of her soul. In solitude, the saint prayed long for the sinful woman.
The following day Pelagia entered the church, where Nonnus was again addressing the people. Hearing the sermon on the Last Judgment, Pelagia was seized with horror at her sinful life and desired to be baptized. Saint Nonnus comforted her with hope in the mercy of God and baptized her. After her baptism she gathered her possessions and gave them to the poor, then, clothing herself in men’s garments, departed for the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, where she received monastic tonsure.
In Jerusalem, taking the male name Pelagius, she was regarded as a young man and led a strict monastic life of repentance, fasting, and prayer. Venerable Pelagia reposed around the year 457, and at her burial it was discovered that she was a woman.
