Saint Matrona was a servant of a noble Jewish woman named Pantilla, the wife of the commander of the imperial troops in the city of Thessalonica. Matrona revered Jesus Christ as the true God and prayed to him in secret, without attracting the attention of her mistress. She went to the synagogue every day. Matrona accompanied her to the door, and then immediately secretly went to the church, where she offered prayers to the Lord. When Pantilla left the synagogue, the maid was already waiting for her there.
The Jewish Passover has arrived. Matrona wanted to take part in the divine services leading up to the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord, the true Easter that brought us from death to life. She went to church, but was too late to return to the synagogue, and one of the servants reported her to the mistress. Pantilla was seized with terrible anger. She stated that if Matrona had deceived her about this, then she must have performed her duties just as poorly. The mistress ordered the other servants to tie her to a bench and beat her with rods.
To the accusations of the lady, Matrona replied: "Yes, I am a Christian, but I have always obeyed your orders, except for what concerns my faith. What have I done wrong against your service, that you are tormenting my body like this? If you want to put me to death because I worship Jesus Christ, then you have full power over my life, but you have no power over my soul, which belongs to God alone. I am not afraid of any torture, because Jesus, my Savior and my Lord, will come to my rescue!"
Matrona was locked in a room for three days, and when she was released, Pantilla was amazed to find that she was standing free from her bonds, without any wounds on her body, and with a radiant face singing the praises of God. This made her anger even more terrible, and she ordered the maidservant to be flogged again and with even greater cruelty. The miraculous healing was repeated three times, but the stick blows eventually overcame the fortitude shown by Matrona. At that moment, when her soul was leaving for the Lord, she said: "Lord Jesus, Most Pure Saviour, for whose sake I endured all these torments, I now commit my soul into Your hands. 
Pantilla, fearing to be accused of murder, ordered Matrona's body to be thrown off a high cliff so that everyone would believe that she had been the victim of an accident. Subsequently, Alexander, Bishop of Thessalonica, ordered the transfer of the precious remains to Thessalonica at the beginning of the fourth century, where a temple dedicated to St. Matrona was built.