Holy Great Martyr Irene

Life

She lived in apostolic times in the Balkans, in a certain city of Magedon, where her father Licinius was a petty king. Some think she was a Slav. Born a pagan of pagan parents, Penelope — for that was her pagan name — was instructed in the Christian faith by her teacher Apellian. Saint Timothy, a disciple of the Apostle Paul, baptized her and her handmaidens, and brought her the epistles of the Apostle Paul to read. By her refusal to marry, she angered her father, and her father wished to torture her, but in a miraculous manner she converted her father to Christianity. By four other kings besides her father she was subjected to various torments, but God saved her through His angels. King Zedekiah buried her up to her head in a trench filled with serpents and scorpions. But an angel of God killed the venomous creatures and preserved the holy virgin unharmed. Then the same king attempted to saw her in half with a saw, but the saw bounced off her body as though from stone. Then the same king bound her to a wheel beneath a water mill and released the water to kill her in this way. But the water refused to flow and stood still, and the maiden remained sound and alive. King Sapor, the son of Zedekiah, nailed horseshoes to her, loaded a sack of sand upon her, bridled her, and commanded that she be led about like a beast far outside the city. "Truly I am as a beast before Thee, O Lord!" spoke the holy martyr, running bridled behind her tormentors. But an angel of God shook the earth, and the earth opened and swallowed her tormentors. Having survived all torments, through which she converted a vast number of pagans to Christianity, Irene crossed over to the city of Callipolis, where she preached the faith in Christ. The king there, Numerian, wished to kill her by casting her into three heated metal oxen, one after another. But the maiden was saved and remained alive. And many saw and believed. The eparch Vavodin led her to the city of Constantina, where he planned to kill her by placing her on heated iron grates. But this did not harm the holy Irene, and it brought many to the true faith. At last Irene came to the city of Mesembria, where King Saborius put her to death, but God brought her back to life. And the king, together with many people, seeing this, believed in Christ and was baptized. And thus the holy Irene, through her suffering and miracles, brought to the faith of Christ more than one hundred thousand pagans. At last she lay down in a grave of her own accord and commanded Apellian to close the tomb. After four days, when the grave was opened, she was not in the grave. Thus did God glorify forever the virgin and martyr Irene, who sacrificed everything and endured everything, that God might be glorified as much as possible among men.

From the Hymn of Praise

Penelope, a king's daughter, sat upon her balcony,When three birds, one after another, swiftly flew to her.First a dove, white as milk, with an olive branch,Then an eagle with a wreath of flowers in its bony beak.