Страдание святых мучениц Агапии, Хионии и Ирины

When Emperor Diocletian 2573 was in the Italian city of Aquileia 2574, he was informed from Rome that all Roman prisons were overcrowded with Christians who, although they indulged in various torments, however, did not renounce their Christ. They all have Chrysogonus as their teacher and listen to him, firmly adhering to his teachings. In response to this news, Diocletian ordered that all Christians be put to death, except for one Chrysogonus, whom he ordered to be brought to him for torture. When the holy confessor of Christ Chrysogon was led bound from Rome to Aquileia to the Emperor Diocletian, Saint Anastasia the Patternmaker followed him, as her teacher, from afar. Upon his arrival to Diocletian, the martyr of Christ was given over to cruel torment, as one who had disobeyed the wicked royal command; then he was condemned to death and beheaded 2575 outside the city in a remote desert place. His honest body lay on the seashore, thrown to be devoured by animals and birds. Not far from that place there was a priest named Zoilus, a pious elder. Near him lived three virgins, sisters in body and spirit, Agapia, Chionia and Irina. This priest, having learned, by the revelation of God, about the whereabouts of the body of the holy martyr Chrysogonus, took it together with the head and, putting it in a wooden coffin, hid it in his house. On the thirtieth day after this, Saint Chrysogon appeared to him in a vision and said: “Know that before the end of nine days, the three virgins of Christ who live not far from you will be taken to torture. Therefore, tell the Lord’s servant Anastasia to take care of them, rousing them to courageously endure the feat until they are crowned with a suffering crown. Be in good hope that you will receive the sweet fruits of your exploits, for you will soon be freed from earthly bonds, joyfully go to Christ and rest together with the saints.” Saint Anastasia had the same revelation. Moved by the Divine Spirit, she came to the house of the presbyter, whom she did not know at all, and asked him: “Where are those virgins whose martyrdom was revealed to you in a vision?” Having learned where their home was, she came to them, greeted them with love and stayed with them for one night, conducting a soul-saving conversation with them filled with Divine love, in which she excited them to courageously, to the point of bleeding, to stand up for their Bridegroom - Christ. Having seen the relics of the holy martyr of Christ Chrysogon, her beloved teacher, in the priest’s house, Anastasia cried over them for a long time, pouring tears over them and entrusting herself to the prayers of this saint. After this, she returned again to the city of Aquileia, and there she continued to perform her usual service to the prisoners of Christ imprisoned, helping them with her property. Indeed, this is exactly what happened, as Saint Chrysogonus said in a vision to the priest Zoilus: ten days later, this holy presbyter reposed in the Lord, and three holy virgins - Agapia, Chionia and Irina - were captured and taken to the Emperor Diocletian for torture. Seeing them, the emperor asked: – What madness taught you to follow a pathetic and nasty error, humiliating our just law and despising our gods as something unclean? But since I see that you are of noble birth, young and beautiful, then, pitying you, I advise you to spare yourself. Deny your Christ and make a sacrifice to the gods, and I will give you from my retinue three young men of noble family, fully worthy of your beauty, so that you can have glorious men, for whose sake you yourself will be honored. The elder sister, Saint Agapia, responded to these royal seductions: “Tsar, you should take care of the people’s affairs, of foreigners, of the troops, but you say many unjust things, humiliating the Living God, whose help you greatly need and whose kindness is patient with you; You are blaspheming Him. - This girl is crazy; bring me another one. After this, her sister, Saint Chionia, was brought to him, who told the king the following: - My sister, the king, is not mad. On the contrary, reasoning sensibly, she showed the wrongness of your admonition to worship idols. The king, not wanting to listen to this sister any longer, ordered the third sister, Saint Irene, to be brought closer to him, and said to her: “Since your sisters have gone mad, you, the youngest of them, bow your head before the gods, so that your sisters, looking at you, will do the same.” But Saint Irene answered firmly: – Let all the opponents of the True God, maddened in their wickedness, bow their heads before idols. What could be more vain and crazier than this than to worship the work of an artist, made by him for a certain fee? For first you consult with the artist, at what price and what kind of idol to make, whether standing or sitting, lying or jumping, laughing or crying, from what material - whether wood, or stone, or copper, or some other material. And if he does something bad, you break the condition, and if he does well, then you give the promised payment. And then you worship this purchased and made thing, calling the idol your god, which is more appropriate to be called a bought slave than a god. In response to such speeches of the holy virgins, Diocletian said: “Such words must be answered with torment,” and he ordered the holy virgins to be thrown into prison. Meanwhile, Saint Anastasia (as was her custom, she visited the prisoners in prison) came to these holy virgins and consoled them with hope in God’s help and the hope of a glorious victory and triumph over their enemies. After some time, the king needed to go to Macedonia 2576 to provide for some of the people's needs. After him, all the Christians who were imprisoned in Aquileia were taken there, along with whom were the three holy virgins - Agapia, Chionia and Irina; Saint Anastasia also followed them. When they arrived in Macedonia, the king ordered the hegemon 2577 Dulcetius to torture Christians in order to force them to make idol sacrifices; He ordered the disobedient to be put to death after various tortures. Since it is impossible to describe the sufferings of the many holy martyrs, who at that time were given over to various torments, we will only speak about the suffering deeds of the above-mentioned three holy virgins. When these brides of Christ were brought to be tortured before Hegemon Dulcitius, he immediately, seeing their extraordinary beauty, was inflamed with an unclean desire for them. He ordered them to be taken into custody and ordered it to be conveyed to them through the guard that they would receive freedom and many gifts if they agreed to fulfill the prince’s wicked desire. But the holy virgins would rather die a thousand times than to be defamed even once, so neither with caresses, nor threats, nor gifts, nor torments could the hegemon persuade them to agree to fulfill their wicked desire. Unable to overcome the flame of lust that burned him, the hegemon decided to come to their room at night in which they were kept in order to discredit them. When night fell, the holy virgins began to pray, singing the all-night praise and psalms to God. The hegemon, wanting to enter them, as soon as he touched the threshold of their room, he immediately went mad and could not go further. Near the room in which the three sisters were located, there was a cookhouse, where there were many vessels - pots, cauldrons and frying pans, black with soot. Not being able to enter the room in which the holy virgins were located, the hegemon, seduced by demons, entered the kitchen, where he got dirty with soot, contaminating his face, hands and all his clothes with it, and in this form went out to the servants who were waiting for him, standing near that room with lit lamps in their hands. The servants, seeing the hegemon all black, scary, like an Ethiopian, were very frightened and, throwing their lamps, ran away from there. The hegemon, wondering why the servants ran at the sight of him, thought that they were laughing and mocking him, and became very angry. At this time it had already begun to dawn, and wherever the prince passed, everyone scattered at the sight of him - servants, guards, and soldiers, fleeing from him as if from some monster. Then the hegemon went to the royal palace, intending to complain to the king about the soldiers who were under his command because they did not obey him and even mocked him. But as soon as he approached the royal dwelling, he heard loud and prolonged laughter coming to him from there, and some of those who were there fled, afraid of him, while others began to beat him, driving him away from the doors of the royal dwelling, since no one could think that it was Hegemon Dulcitius, but everyone thought that it was some kind of holy fool. However, the hegemon still could not understand that he was covered in soot, since his eyes, through the action of the devil, were darkened. It seemed to him that he was white-faced and his clothes and hands were clean. But when his servants finally realized that their master had gone mad, they immediately ran after him and took him home, saying: “Look at you, what you are!” When he entered the house, his wife and all the house servants began to cry heavily, thinking that he had gone mad, and the others shunned him and did not enter into communication with him. He himself was still perplexed and surprised why some cried about him, while others even disdained him. Then his wicked eyes opened and he saw himself defiled, noticing in the mirror that his face was black, like an Ethiopian, and realizing that he had been disgraced by a demon. Then he became very angry with the holy virgins, thinking that they had done all this to him through their magic, and he was thinking of ways to take revenge on them. Having washed his body and changed his clothes, he sat down in the judge's seat in front of all the people. Then the hegemon ordered, having prepared the instrument for torment, to bring the holy virgins again. When the holy virgins were brought, the hegemon ordered them to be naked in order to see their bodies. But as soon as they began to take off their clothes, they could not do anything, for, by God’s will, the clothes of the saints stuck so tightly to their bodies, like skin to body, and everyone marveled at such a miracle. The servants, although they tried for a long time to remove the clothes from the saints, could not do this. The hegemon, sitting at the trial seat, suddenly dozed off and suddenly fell into such a deep sleep that they could not wake him up: they pushed him and shouted loudly around him, but he slept like the dead. Then, taking him asleep, they carried him to his house. But as soon as he was brought into the house, he immediately woke up. Having learned about everything that had happened to Hegemon Dulkitsius, the king became very angry with him and ordered the holy virgins to be given to judge Sisinius for torture. This judge began his questioning with the younger sister, Irina. He asked: – Do you obey the king’s command? - No, I do not obey, for I am a Christian, a servant of Almighty God. Then the judge ordered her to be taken to prison. Then, having commanded that Agapia and Chionia be brought before the judgment seat, he said to them: “Your younger sister was seduced and taught by you to despise Divine laws; Therefore, I decided to postpone her torment for now, so that she, seeing your torment, would be afraid and listen to us. If you want to get rid of torment, make a sacrifice to the gods, as we do, obeying the royal command. Saint Agapia answered the judge: – Our faith is unshakable. Then the judge said to Chionia: “Our faith will remain unchanged. – Do you have any Christian books? – There are books, but they are hidden in our minds, from where it is impossible for the enemies of Christ to take them. – Who taught you to voluntarily surrender yourself to such torment? – These torments are temporary and bring great benefit, for through them you can achieve eternal glory. - Fulfill the royal command and make sacrifices to the gods. “We offer a sacrifice of praise to God, but we will never offer a sacrifice to the devil.” Do not think of turning us away from the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, but fulfill what is commanded to you by your earthly king, just as we fulfill the commands of our Heavenly King. Then, angry, Judge Sisinius gave the following order regarding the saints: - I command Agapius and Chionia, who did not agree after the judicial admonition to fulfill the royal command, to be burned alive. Hearing such a sentence, the holy virgins were filled with joy and loudly exclaimed: – We thank You, Lord Jesus Christ, that you have vouchsafed us to be confessors of Your Most Holy Name. Take our souls into Your hands, Lord! Thrown into the fire, the holy virgins prayed there and with prayer gave up their souls into the hands of their Lord 2578. Meanwhile, the strong flame did not in any way damage not only the bodies of the holy virgins, but did not even touch their clothes, so that no trace of the fire remained on them. This happened as a sign to the pagans that the holy virgins did not die from fire, but through their prayers they asked God for a blessed death. Their honorable bodies, not damaged by fire, were taken by the servants of Saint Anastasia the Pattern Maker at night and brought to their mistress. Saint Anastasia, having anointed the holy bodies with their aromas, laid them with honor in a new tomb, rejoicing in spirit and praying to the Lord that He would grant her to be a participant in the bliss of those holy virgins. The next day, Judge Sisinius again sat down at the court and ordered Saint Irene to be brought. When she was brought, he said to her: “Make a sacrifice to the gods so that you don’t die in the fire the same way your sisters died.” But the saint courageously answered: “I will not make a sacrifice, for I very much desire to be a participant in the bliss of my sisters, so that I will not be far from them when they appear before the face of God.” “Listen to our admonition,” said the judge, “otherwise you will be subjected to even more severe torment than your sisters.” “I am ready for all kinds of torment,” answered the saint, “for I wish to die for the truth and through death receive eternal life; I wish, having passed through the fire, to achieve joy. “I will order you to be taken, naked, to a whorehouse, so that you will be abused there until you die.” “My body will suffer as much from a fornicator as from a biting dog, or from a wolf, or from a bear, or from the sting of a snake.” And for me it is much better if my defiled body suffers than if I defile my soul with idolatry, for a sin committed involuntarily, when the soul does not deign to do so, is not blamed before God. Have the saints, who previously suffered for confessing the name of Jesus Christ, become defiled by the tormentors who forcibly poured blood sacrificed to idols into their mouths? “Aren’t those who tasted our victims defiled,” asked the judge. “Not only were they not defiled,” answered the saint, “but they were crowned by God for this, since they, having their hands tied, had their mouths forcibly opened and blood sacrificed to idols was forcibly poured into them.” A sin committed voluntarily deserves punishment, but a sin committed against the will is not imputed. Likewise, for me, who gave my body to my Christ, if you do anything by force, I hope that I will not be put to shame before my immortal Bridegroom, but that I will receive His reward, since for His sake I endure violence from you. I will not pay attention to what you want to do with my body: whether you give it up to desecration, or wounds, or fire, I am ready to endure everything for the sake of the name of the Lord my God. But my God has power and strength and will not allow you to do what you plan to do to me. Then the judge ordered the soldiers to take the young maiden to the whorehouse and ordered that there she should be given over to be mocked until she died. On the road, when the saint was being led by soldiers, two other soldiers, very majestic in appearance and bright in complexion, caught up with them, and they said to the soldiers leading the saint: “The judge sent us to tell you to take this maiden to where we will show you.” And they took them outside the city and, leading them to a very high hill, said to the soldiers: “Go and tell Judge Sisinius that you placed the maiden on the hill, as you were ordered.” The warriors went to the judge, and the two bright men became invisible, for they were Angels of God. The holy virgin Irene stood on the hill, praising and thanking Christ God, who delivered her from the hands of fornicators. When the judge was informed about what had happened, he became very angry that his command was not carried out, and, mounting his horse, rode to that hill. Having arrived, the judge saw the holy virgin standing on a hill, but could not climb the hill, for it seemed to him that the hill was surrounded by a high wall that could not be crossed. Riding around the hill, he burned with intense anger because he could not get closer to the holy virgin, and so he drove from morning to evening, achieving nothing. Some of the warriors who were with him, drawing their bows, shot arrows at the saint and wounded her. She exclaimed, turning to the judge: - I laugh at you, damned one, that you, like some strong man, came at me, a weak woman, with a weapon. But here I am, pure and undefiled by you, going to my Lord Jesus Christ, who will now number me among my sisters. Having said this and giving thanks to God, the saint lay down on the ground and gave up her soul to the Lord. This happened the day before the holiday of Holy Easter 2579. When night fell, Saint Anastasia sent her servants to take the honorable body of the holy martyr Irene from the hill and, anointing it with aromas, laid it along with the bodies of her sisters. Thus, the holy martyrs, three sisters, virgins - Agapia, Chionia and Irina - accomplished their suffering feat and presented themselves with glory to the throne of the Most Holy Trinity - the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the One God, to Him be glory forever. Amen. On the same day, the memory of the holy martyr Leonidas and with him the holy women: Chariessa, Nunekhia, Vasilisa and Theodora, who suffered in Corinth and were drowned in the sea in 251. Diocletian, Roman Emperor, reigned from 284 to 305. Aquileia was in ancient times a large and famous city in northern Italy, founded by the Romans two centuries BC. In the history of the Christian Church, the city of Aquileia is remarkable as the site of several local cathedrals and as the cradle of a special creed (the so-called “Aquileian”). The death of the holy martyr Chrysogonus is celebrated by the Church on December 22 Macedonia is a country on the Balkan Peninsula, adjacent to the northwestern corner of the Aegean Sea (Gulf of Thessaloniki). Hegemon is the regional ruler. The death of the holy virgin martyrs Agapia and Chionia followed in 304. The death of the holy martyr Irene followed in 304. You might be interested in: