Holy Martyr Christina of Tyre — July 24 / August 6 (Julian Calendar)

On this day, July 24 according to the Julian Calendar (August 6 civil calendar), the Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates the Holy Martyr Christina of Tyre.

The father of the holy Martyr Christina, Urbanus, was governor of the city of Tyre. Having reached the age of eleven, the maiden was distinguished by wondrous beauty, and many desired to marry her, but her father intended to raise the blessed one as a pagan priestess. He shut Christina in a specially built idol-temple and commanded her to burn incense before the idols. Two maidservants attended her.

In her solitude the maiden began to ponder who had created this beautiful world. From the window of her chamber she gazed at the star-covered heavens and gradually came to the conclusion that all that exists has one Creator. She understood that the idols could create nothing, since they themselves had been made by human hands, and with tearful prayers she besought the one true God to reveal Himself to her. The soul of the blessed one was gradually filled with ardent love for the Lord she had not yet come to know, and she intensified her sincere prayers and fasting.

An angel of the Lord appeared to Christina and instructed her in the true faith. He called the maiden a bride of Christ and foretold that she would endure suffering for the Lord’s name. After this the holy one smashed all the statues of the pagan deities set up around her and threw them out of the window. When her father Urbanus came to visit his daughter, he asked in astonishment where the idols had gone. Christina kept silent. The governor then summoned the maidservants and learned the truth from them; beside himself at what he heard, he ordered his daughter’s servants put to death, while Christina herself, after cruel tortures, he cast into a dungeon. When her mother learned what had happened, she came to her daughter with weeping and lamentation and begged her to return to the faith of her fathers, but Christina remained unshaken. The next day Urbanus summoned his daughter and once more tried to persuade her to worship the idols, even promising forgiveness of her offense, but all was in vain: the lamb of Christ hoped unwaveringly in the Savior.

The torturers bound the blessed one to an iron wheel and kindled a fire beneath it. Like a whole burnt offering, the flame licked from every side the saint’s body as it turned above the fire. At last, tormented, she was again locked away in her cell.

At night an angel of the Lord soothed Christina’s wounds and strengthened her with food. At dawn, when Urbanus beheld his daughter miraculously healed, he gave orders to drown her in the sea; but only the stone bound to the saint’s neck plunged to the bottom, while the handmaid of the Lord herself, made light by divine power, miraculously came out upon the shore and stood before her father. The terrified torturer ascribed everything to sorcery and resolved to put Christina to death in the morning — but wondrous and unsearchable is the providence of God: that very night he himself died. The new governor appointed in his place, Dion, summoned the martyr and tried to persuade her to deny Christ, but when he achieved nothing, he loosed new tortures upon her. St. Christina was kept imprisoned in the dungeon for a long time. Visitors found their way to her and, their minds enlightened by her grace-filled words, glorified the true God: the blessed one converted as many as three thousand souls to Christianity.

After Dion, Julian was appointed governor of Tyre. He renewed the torture of St. Christina and at last commanded that the maiden, already worn by manifold torments, be cast into a burning furnace and shut inside. Five days later the doors of the furnace were opened, and the Lord’s chosen one was found alive and unharmed. Many who witnessed these miracles were converted to the true faith, while the godless torturers beheaded the bride of Christ.