Damaris

This article is about the Biblical Figure. For the Patrick Wolf Single, see Damaris (song). For the Peruvian Folk singer, see Damaris (singer).

Damaris is the name of a woman mentioned in Acts of the Apostles (17:34).

Life

According to Acts of the Apostles (17:34), Damaris lived in Athens in the mid 1st century. She embraced the Christian faith following the speech of Paul of Tarsus, given in front of the Athenian Areopagus. She might have been of high social status because only such women were allowed to assist the Areopagus meetings. This may be the reason why her name has been especially recorded.^[1]

According to Christian tradition she was Dionysius the Areopagite´s wife, and she is remembered to be his faithful assistant in organizing the incipient church when her husband became Bishop of Athens.^{[citation needed]} Apparently, for Luke the Evangelist, having such elite citizens converted to the new faith was very important because it served as an example of sacrificing luxury and wealth in order to serve Christ.^{[citation needed]}

Veneration as a saint

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Saint Damaris of Athens is celebrated on October 3. together with Saint Dionysius^[2], but for the Old Calendarists who follow the Julian calendar this feast currently falls on October 16.

In modern Athens, Saint Damaris is also honoured by having a street named after her -Odos Damareos- siding the Profitis Ilias Square, which is one of the main urban open spaces in the Pagkrati neighborhood.

Name

There is no universal consensus about the meaning of her name. Apparently it is the Hellenization of the Celtic name Damara, the goddess of fertility. With the subsequent invasion of the Gauls to Asia Minor and their permanent establishment in the Galatia region, the intermixing of both Greek and Celtic cultures may have given birth to the "Graeco-Celtic" form Damaris. A parallel of this supposed origin of the name may be found in Artemis of Ephesus, which had been a Celtic deity assimilated with a local goddess of fertility.^{[dubious – discuss]}.^[3]

Alternatively, the name may be of pure Hellenic origin of the name, a contraction of the classical name Damarete,^[4] like Theron of Acragas's daughter who became the wife of Gelo of Syracuse, or perhaps from damalis "heifer".^[5]

Notes

1. ^ "Seventh-Day Adventist Bible Dictionary", Review and Herald Publ.Assn, 1979
2. ^ Church of Greece
3. ^ P.Grimal, "Dictionaire de la Mythologie Grecque et Romaine", Presses Universitaires de France, Paris, 1979
4. ^ http://www.damarete.com/englishversion.htm
5. ^ "Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary", Vol.VI, Review and Herald Publ. Assn., 1988