“Peace I leave with you, My
peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
John 14:27
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Irene is a Greek word which means
“PEACE.” This word is repeated many times during the Holy Liturgy,
especially when the priest says, “Ireni Pasi,” which is translated, “Peace
be with you.” The congregation
and deacons answer, “Ke to epnevma ti so,” which means “And also with
you.” Many Copts call their
daughter Irene because our Lord Jesus is the King of Peace: Romans 15:33 and
16:20.
Martyrs
and Saints by the name of Irene
I.
The Holy Virgins Irene, Agape & Chionia
Martyred
the Eighth Day of Baramoudah
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These saints were martyred at
Thessalonica, Macedonia, on the eighth day of the blessed month of Baramoudah,
April 3, 304 AD. They chose the
life of chastity and agreed to devote themselves to the ascetic life.
They fasted and prayed unceasingly, visited the convents often, and
participated with the virgins in their prayers and asceticism.
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In 303 AD, Emperor Diocletian
issued a decree making it an offense punishable by death to possess any portion
of sacred Christian writings. Irene
and her sisters, Agape and Chionia, daughters of pagan parents living in
Thessalonica, owned several volumes of Holy Scriptures, which they hid.
This made the girls very unhappy because they could not read them at all
hours, as was their desire, and they fled to the mountains and hid themselves in
a cave, devoting themselves to their worship and asceticism.
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Every week, an aged Christian
woman visited them, bringing all things needed, and took the work of their hands
to sell it, and distributed the remainder as alms to the poor.
One day, a malicious person observed the frequent visits of this old
woman to the mountain. He followed her secretly until he knew the cave that she
entered. He hid himself so she did
not see him on her way back, and he thought that she was hiding precious things
in it. After she left the cave by a
distance, he entered the cave and found the precious pearls, the brides of
Christ standing and praying. He
bound them, dragged them away, and brought them to the Governor of Thessalonica,
Dulcetius. He asked them about
their faith. They confessed that
they were Christians worshipping He Who was Crucified.
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Dulcetius tried to
persuade the three sisters to eat food that had been offered to the gods.
Irene, Agape, and Chionia refused to eat of such things.
The governor asked each in turn why they had refused and if they would
still refuse. Agape answered: “I
believe in the living God, and will not by an evil action lose all the merit of
my past life.”
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Then he asked Irene, “Why
didn't you obey the most pious command of our emperor’s and Caesar’s?” To
which Irene replied, “For fear of offending God.”
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Then he went on to converse with
the rest of the sisters trying to convince them to bring forth the scriptures
they had hidden, and to eat from the sacrifices to his pagan idols.
They refused repeatedly. Then
he, Dulcetius, said, “You are all bound to obey our most pious emperor and
Caesar. But because you have so
long stubbornly despised their just commands, and so many edicts, admonitions,
and threats, and have had the boldness and rashness to despise our orders,
retaining the impious name of Christians; and since to this very time you have
not obeyed the stationers and officers who solicited you to renounce Jesus
Christ in writing, you shall receive the punishment you deserve.”
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“I condemn Agape and Chionia to
be burnt alive, for having out of malice and stubbornness acted in contradiction
to the divine edicts of our lords the emperor and Caesar, and who at present
profess the rash and false religion of Christians, which all pious persons
abhor. As for the other, let her be
confined in prison according to my pleasure.”
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Thus, Chionia and Agape were
condemned to be burned alive, but, because of her youth, Irene was to be
imprisoned. After the execution of her older sisters, their house had been
searched and the forbidden volumes discovered.
Irene was examined again by Dulcetius who said, “Your madness is plain,
since you have kept to this day so many books, parchments, codicils, and papers
of the scriptures of the impious Christians.
You were forced to acknowledge them when they were produced before you,
though you had before denied you had any. You
have not taken warning from the punishment of your sisters, neither have you the
fear of death before your eyes; your punishment therefore is unavoidable.
In the mean time, I do not refuse even now to make some condescension in
your behalf. Notwithstanding your
crime, you may find pardon and be freed from punishment, if you will yet worship
the gods. What say you then? Will you obey the orders of the emperors?
Are you ready to sacrifice to the gods, and eat of the victims?”
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Irene replied, “By no means:
for those that renounce Jesus Christ, the Son of God, are threatened with
eternal fire.”
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Dulcetius asked, “Who persuaded
you to conceal those books and papers so long?” Irene answered, “Almighty God, who has commanded us to love
Him even unto death; on which account we dare not betray Him, but rather choose
to be burnt alive, or suffer anything whatsoever than to reveal the hiding place
of such writings.”
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Dulcetius continued, “Who knew
that those writings were in the house?” Irene
replied, “Nobody but the Almighty, from Whom nothing is hid: for we concealed
them even from our own domestics, lest they should accuse us.”
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During the questioning, Irene
told him that when the emperor's decree against Christians was published, she
and others fled to the mountains without her father's knowledge.
She avoided implicating those who had helped them, and declared that
nobody but themselves knew they had the books:
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Then the following conversation
proceeded:
Dulcetius: “Where did you hide yourselves last year, when the
pious edict of our emperors was first published?”
Irene:
“Where it pleased God, in the mountains.”
Dulcetius:
“With whom did you live?”
Irene:
“We were in the open air, sometimes on one mountain, sometimes on another.”
Dulcetius:
“Who supplied you with bread?”
Irene:
“God, Who gives food to all flesh.”
Dulcetius:
“Was your father aware of it?”
Irene:
“No; he had not the least knowledge of it.”
Dulcetius:
“Which of your neighbors knew it?”
Irene:
“Inquire in the neighborhood, and make your search.”
Dulcetius: “Did you read those books to anybody?”
Irene:
“They were hid at our own house, and we dared not produce them; and we were in
great trouble, because we could not read them night and day, as we had been
accustomed to do.”
Dulcetius: “Your sisters have already suffered
the punishments to which they were condemned.
As for you, Irene, though you were condemned to death before your flight
for having hid these writings, I will not have you die so suddenly, but I order
that you be exposed naked in a brothel, and be allowed one loaf a day, to be
sent you from the palace; and that the guards do not suffer you to stir out of
it one moment, under pain of death to them.”
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Irene was sent to a soldiers'
brothel, where she was stripped and chained.
There she was miraculously protected from molestation.
Therefore, after again refusing a last chance to conform, she was
sentenced to death. She died either
by being forced to throw herself into flames or, more likely, by being shot in
the throat with an arrow. The books, including the Sacred Scripture, were publicly
burned.
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The expanded version of the story
relates that Irene was taken to a rising ground, where she mounted a large,
lighted pile. While signing psalms
and celebrating the glory of the Lord, she threw herself on the pile and was
consumed.
II.
St. Athanasius and his sister St. Irene
Martyred
the third day of Hatour
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During the reign of Maximianus
the Emperor, St. Athanasius and his sister Irene were subjected to persecution
while the emperor was in Egypt searching for Christians.
When Maximianus failed to turn them away from their faith in Christ, he
ordered them to be thrown into an empty pit, and that it be closed and covered
with stones, thus they departed and received the crowns of martyrdom.
III.
St. Irene
Departed
on the Twenty-first day of Misra
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At birth St. Irene was called
Pina Louis. She was the daughter of
King Lucinius of Macedonia. Her
parents were pagans who worshiped idols, yet they loved Irene dearly.
Irene was so pretty that her father built a palace to protect her from
the outside world. Irene spent all her time in that palace.
Although she had committed no crime, she was never permitted to leave
this palace. Because of the love of her father, Irene was a special
prisoner. No one was allowed to
enter the palace except thirteen maids and one old man who were assigned to
serve Irene. However, the king did
not know that the old man was Christian. The
king simply admired him because he was a good, respected teacher.
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When Pina Louis was thirteen
years old, she started thinking of the idols which her father left in the
palace. One day while she was awake, she saw a vision; a dove entered the room
and dropped an olive branch on the table, then an eagle brought a crown in his
beak and left it on the table also. Finally,
a crow carrying a snake entered the room and left the snake in the same place. Irene
was puzzled and asked her old teacher to explain the meaning of that vision.
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The old man prayed for a long
time, asking for God’s help. Then
he said, “The dove signifies the knowledge of the true God through His Word.
The branch of the olive is the baptism that you will receive.
The eagle symbolizes the victory of the almighty God.
The crown is the glory of the saints.
The crow refers to your father and the snake designates the persecution
of the believers.” Then he added,
“Be advised, my child, that you are the daughter of the real God that reigns
over heaven and earth, you will go through many ordeals, especially for your
father, but the Angel of the Lord will rescue you from all your troubles and you
will become a blessing for many.”
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One day her father entered the
palace with news that one of the princes wanted to marry her.
Irene asked her father for a period of time to think about it.
Then she went to ask the idols for their advice. When she did not get any
answer, she lifted her heart to heaven and prayed to the God of the Christians,
just like her old teacher had taught her. Then
all of the sudden an Angel appeared to her and comforted her.
He said that St. Timothy (St. Paul’s disciple) would come the next day
to baptize her. He also added that
from now on, her name would change to Irene, which means peace.
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The next day, St. Timothy baptized her along with her thirteen
maids. Immediately, Irene started
destroying all the idols in the palace. When
her father saw what she had done, he became furious.
However, Irene told him that his idols could not even defend themselves.
The father went to complain to his wife, but to his amazement she told
him that she agreed with her daughter and would like to become Christian
herself. The father became even
angrier and declared that Irene was no longer his daughter.
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The king gave orders to his
guards to chain Irene’s hands and feet, and let the horses trample her body.
But one of the horses attacked the king who was watching and bit off his
hand. Then the other horses pushed him to the ground and kept
kicking him until he died. Suddenly,
Irene’s chains miraculously fell down. She
went to her father, put back his hand in place and lifting her heart to heaven
asked God to bring him back to life, and
immediately the king rose up on his feet in front of three thousand onlookers,
who all declared their faith in the true God.
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After Irene’s father converted
to Christianity, he sent a message to King Daccius, informing him that he
believed in the crucified Christ, and that he would never sacrifice to the idols
again. The king became infuriated
and sent for Irene, since he thought that she was responsible for what had
happened. At that time, Irene’s
father and mother were baptized.
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When Irene presented herself in
front of King Daccius, he tried to
persuade her by any means. He
promised to marry her and make her the happiest girl in the whole empire.
But Irene refused, saying that her real groom was the Heavenly Groom,
Jesus Christ, whom she adored. That
infuriated the King even more, and he ordered her to be tortured.
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The soldiers took Irene away and
started tormenting her every day. At
night, they would throw her half-dead body into jail, but an angel used to come
and heal all her wounds. When the
people who were watching saw the savage torturing, they revolted against the
king, and expelled him from the country. As
a result of his ordeal, the king became very ill and died.
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Prince Sabour succeeded his
father to become the new king of Macedonia.
Unfortunately, he did not learn from his father’s mistakes.
He sent his troops to attack the city where Irene lived in order to
avenge his father’s death. Irene, on the other hand, prayed to God to protect her people
from the tyrant. Suddenly, all the
soldiers and their king became blind and fell down. The king cried to Irene to pray to her God to restore his
sight, since He is the only God with such power.
Irene prayed and their eyes were opened again. Nevertheless, the king insisted that Irene offer sacrifices
to the idols since she was responsible for his father’s death.
When Irene refused, she was jailed for four days without any food or
water. Then around midnight, in her
dark and lonely cell, a bright light appeared; the Lord of Glory Himself came to
tell Irene not to fear for He would be always with her.
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The next day, they started
torturing her again, but Irene saw many celestial creatures coming down to her,
untying her chains and saving her from her gladiators, while she was praising
God. The king became angered and
fell to his death.
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A period of peace followed this
tribulation. St. Timothy joined
Irene in the palace where she lived with her parents. They built an altar for St. Mary where they celebrated the
liturgy everyday. St. Timothy also
preached the word of God to everyone, and baptized many believers for three
years. Numerous miracles were
performed through St. Timothy and St. Irene, and the faithful multiplied in
number.
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Irene spent her last days in
Ephesus, where she used to pray continuously.
Finally, she died on the 21st day of the month of Misra.
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May their prayers and blessings
be with us all. Amen.