religious women. Apollinaris made her way to Wadi El Natrun, a desert valley in the Nitrian Desert west of the Nile Delta , where she joined a large monastery of recluses living in caves and cells, run by Macarius of Alexandria. She was able to disguise herself as a man and assumed the name Dorotheus. Her sister had, in the meantime, become possessed by a demon, so her parents sent her to Macarius, who was famous for healing. Macarius, "moved by some interior impulse", insisted that Dorotheus heal the girl. When the girl was restored, she was returned to her parents, but she became ill again and her parents assumed that she had become pregnant. The girl accused Dorotheus of seducing her, so they demanded that Dorotheus be brought to them so he could answer the charge, and Apollinaris revealed herself to them as their daughter. She spent a few days with them and returned to the desert, where she remained for the rest of her life. Death and legacy Apollinaris' gender was not discovered by her fellow hermits until her death in 420. The hagiographer Alban Butler said, about her story, that "it turns on the familiar theme of a girl putting on male attire and living for many years undiscovered". The Roman Catholic Church celebrates her feast day on 4 January; the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates it on 5 January. Syncletica's name was removed from the Roman calendar of saints in 2001. References Works cited Baring-Gould, Sabine (1877). The Lives of the Saints (3rd edition). London: J. Hodges. pp. 70–72. Veder, William R. (2006). "Saint Syncletica and the Sea: A Text Come To Life". Russian History. 33 (2/4): 153–162. ISSN 0094-288X. 420 deaths 5th-century Christian saints Cross-dressing saints Eastern Orthodox saints Greek saints Hermits People whose existence is disputed Year of birth unknown