Страдание святой мученицы Антонины

The Holy Martyr of Christ Antonina suffered in the city of Nicaea 1692, during the reign of Diocletian and Maximian 1693. Since she believed in Christ, Maximian was informed that she was a Christian. Brought to Nicaea and presented before the emperor, she fearlessly confessed her faith. To force her to renounce Christ and sacrifice to idols, she was subjected to severe torture, but she did not submit to the wishes of her tormentors and was imprisoned. Soon after this, Maximian ordered her to be taken out of prison and again began to force her to renounce Christ, but this time she did not obey the emperor. Then Maximian ordered her to be hanged and planed along the ribs. Amidst her torment, Saint Antonina constantly denounced the error of the emperor and preached about Christ. Seeing this, Maximian ordered the executioners to take off her clothes and beat her on her naked body. But when the executioners wanted to fulfill the order of the emperor, Angels appeared and, guarding the holy martyr, subjected the tormentors themselves to torture. After this, the saint was placed on a red-hot iron bed, but she remained unharmed. Then they threw her in a sack into Lake Nicaea. The city of Nicaea was located in the Asia Minor region of Bithynia, which lay in the northern part of Asia Minor along the shores of the Marmara and Black Seas. Known in history for the fact that the I and VII Ecumenical Councils took place there. In 284, the Roman Empire was divided into the eastern, which was ruled by Diocletian, and the western, which from 285 was under the rule of Augustus Maximian Herculus. But here we must understand not Maximian Herculus, but Maximian Galerius, who was Diocletian’s co-ruler in the east, his son-in-law and subsequently his successor (306–311). Although open persecution of Christians began in 303, several years before that Galerius persecuted Christians privately. You might be interested in: