Holy Martyrs Menodora, Metrodora and Nymphodora (†305–311) — September 10 / September 23 (Julian Calendar)

On this day, September 10 according to the Julian Calendar (September 23 civil calendar), the Georgian Orthodox Church commemorates the Holy Virgin Martyrs Menodora, Metrodora and Nymphodora, sisters by birth, who suffered for Christ in Bithynia.

The holy martyrs Menodora, Metrodora and Nymphodora were sisters by birth, natives of Bithynia in Asia Minor. Distinguished by their fear of God, they resolved to withdraw from the world; they found a secluded dwelling in the wilderness and there spent their days in prayer and fasting. Soon the saints became known far and wide, for the Lord had granted them the gift of miraculous healing. Fronto, the governor of the region, ordered that they be seized and brought before him. The godless ruler tried, with promises of honours and rewards, to turn the virgins away from faith in Christ, but they courageously confessed the true God and rejected every seductive offer.

The enraged governor turned his fury first upon the eldest sister, Menodora. The saint patiently endured the tortures, and at the end she cried out: “O Lord Jesus Christ, my joy and my desire, I hasten to Thee, my hope; receive my spirit in peace,” and she departed this world. Four days later the younger sisters, Metrodora and Nymphodora, were brought before the tribunal. To frighten them, the body of Menodora, torn with wounds and covered in blood, was cast down before them. The maidens wept bitterly over their beloved sister, yet they did not even think of denying the Saviour. They declared to the governor: “You will find none among us who is fearful, nor unworthy of such a sister, nor of our common root, which has put forth these three branches.”

Then Saint Metrodora was led out to torture. She was hung upon a tree and her body was burned with flaming torches; then she was taken down and her body was broken with blows of iron rods. In such torment the blessed one committed her soul to the Lord. Last of all the third sister, Nymphodora, was brought forward, and the tortured bodies of her elder sisters lay before her. Fronto hoped that this sight would terrify the young girl. He pretended to pity her youth and beauty, and with flattery and promises of rich rewards and honours he tried to win her over. But Saint Nymphodora paid no heed to his seductive words and shared the lot of her sisters.

The lawless ones wished to burn the martyrs’ bodies, but suddenly terrible thunder and lightning broke out over the furnace, striking down and consuming the governor and his servants; then a heavy rain fell from heaven and quenched the fire. The Christians reverently committed the saints’ unharmed relics to the earth. Some of their incorrupt relics are kept on Mount Athos, in the Church of the Protection of the Theotokos at the Russian Monastery of Saint Panteleimon, and the arm of Saint Metrodora is enshrined on the Holy Mountain as well, in the Monastery of Pantokrator.

The Holy Martyrs Menodora, Metrodora and Nymphodora — New Intercessors of Georgia

In Iveria, the lot of the All-Holy Theotokos, at the beginning of the Dormition Fast (August 14 [1], 2003), an icon painted after an appearance of the three sister-martyrs came, by God’s will and providence, to the land of Georgia.

At the end of July 2003 a Georgian delegation, which included several of our clergy, travelled to the jubilee celebrations of Saint Petersburg. At the close of the jubilee the Georgian clergy and faithful were to fly from the airport to the Diveyevo Convent of Saint Seraphim of Sarov for the saint’s feast. They had already boarded the plane when an unknown car pulled up at the foot of the steps, and a Russian married couple stepped out. This is what had happened.

In 1999 an angel of the Lord appeared to a believer named George (the same George who handed the Georgians the icon he had painted) and told him that the three sister-martyrs, Menodora, Metrodora and Nymphodora, possess a grace like that of the five wise virgins of the Gospel: “If you wish wars and religious strife in the land to cease, peace to dwell in families, and people to love one another, paint their icon and pray.”

George had a devout mother named Nadezhda (a name which, incidentally, means “hope”). In 2000 our holy father George of Athos and a certain king of Iveria appeared to her (she herself had been born on the feast of Saint George of Athos). She did not know which king it was, but it must have been David the Builder, for Saint George of Athos told her that Georgia would once again be reborn and shine as it had in that king’s day, and he added: “Give the icon to the Georgians, so that it may go to Georgia.”

Saint Seraphim of Sarov appeared to Nadezhda twice during her life, and she herself reposed on this saint’s feast day, January 15, 2003. Together with the icon, our clergy were also given 3,000 euros, which Nadezhda had collected with a blessing after the saints’ appearance. The couple said: “There is no altar on earth dedicated to these saints; if you cannot build a church, decide for yourselves how to use it.”

Thus the icon of the three sister-martyrs came to Georgia in the hands of Archpriest Ilia Nasidze, who reported this to His Holiness Ilia II. With the blessing of the Catholicos-Patriarch, the holy icon was placed for a time in the holy Cathedral of Svetitskhoveli. Today the icon resides in the small church dedicated to the Holy Martyrs Menodora, Metrodora and Nymphodora, built in 2008 within the Saints Peter and Paul complex. By the decision of His Holiness, the icon is to travel throughout all of Georgia, to spread peace across the land.

Blessed is the future of our country and our nation in the name of the Lord. Amen.

Prayer to the holy virgins brings help to the sick, the needy and the suffering. It preserves peace, averts bloody wars, including those of a religious character, and strife between nations, and helps in establishing and strengthening a happy family.

Kontakion, Tone 4

Having struggled bravely for the Holy Trinity, bound together in spirit as sisters, you overthrew the many-wiled enemy; wherefore you have found rest with the five virgins in the heavenly bridal chamber, clothed in your struggles, and you stand with all the angels before the King of all in unending joy.

Prayer to the Holy Sister-Martyrs Menodora, Metrodora and Nymphodora

O holy martyrs Menodora, Metrodora and Nymphodora, pearls of faith and purity, who endured terrible torments for Christ, who counted your youth as nothing and astonished your merciless tormentors by your steadfastness! To you, sisters filled with love, I, the servant of God (name), humbly flee for refuge: entreat our Lord Jesus Christ, in time of war and in time of peace, to protect my neighbour and me, a sinner, by His ineffable grace; to deliver us from foul demons, from cruel death and incurable wounds, from hail, flood, pestilence and shameful captivity. O much-suffering virgins, by your prayers may the merciful Lord protect our fathers and mothers, our wives and children, and all my neighbours from sorrows and woes. May He send down upon them humility and patience, and ever kindle their love towards us; may He grant them constant and fervent prayer for our safe return home. O righteous God, deliver us from our iniquities and sins, voluntary and involuntary. Help us to fulfil our duty worthily, to guard our homeland from evil. Grant us strength to bring righteousness, peace and love to all people. To Thee, O Lord, our Deliverer and Protector, we send up glory, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.