Saint Martha (died 551) was the mother of Simeon Stylites the Younger. She is venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church on July 4. When her parents betrothed her to a young man, she seriously considered leaving home and withdrawing from the world. However, John the Baptist is said to have appeared to her and advised her to do as her parents had arranged and marry the man to whom they had betrothed her. Simeon Stylites was the child of this marriage. She died in 551 AD, and was buried near her son.