Agape, Chionia and Irene () were sisters and

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

s from

Aquileia Aquileia is an ancient Roman city in Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about from the sea, on the river Natiso (modern Natisone), the course of which has changed somewhat since Roman times. Today, the city is small ( ...

,"Agape, Chionia, and Irene, the Holy Martyrs", Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
/ref> martyred at Thessalonica in 304 AD. Agape and Chionia were charged with refusing to eat

sacrificial offering Sacrifice is an act or offering made to a deity. A sacrifice can serve as propitiation, or a sacrifice can be an offering of praise and thanksgiving. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks ...

s, whilst Irene was killed for keeping Christian books in violation of existing law. All were condemned to be

burned alive Death by burning is an execution, murder, or suicide method involving combustion or exposure to extreme heat. It has a long history as a form of public capital punishment, and many societies have employed it as a punishment for and warning agai ...

Legend

Orphaned at a young age, the sisters Agape, Chionia, and Irene led pious lives under the direction of the priest Xeno. They declined a number of offers of marriage. In 303, Emperor

Diocletian Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...

issued a decree making it a capital offense to possess Christian scriptures. The sisters hid their copies. Eventually, they were arrested for offending the

Imperial cult An imperial cult is a form of state religion in which an emperor or a dynasty of emperors (or rulers of another title) are worshipped as demigods or deities. "Cult (religious practice), Cult" here is used to mean "worship", not in the modern pejor ...

by not eating food that had been sacrificed to the gods. They were brought before Emperor Diocletian, who could not persuade them to renounce their faith, and as he was leaving for Macedonia, brought them with him. There they were taken to the court of Dulcitius, governor of Thessalonica. The sisters repulsed the governor's indecent advances. Annoyed with Dulcitius as ineffectual, Diocletian turned the three young women over to Count Sisinus for trial. He imprisoned Irene, the youngest; and making no headway in getting the older two to recant, ordered them to be burned. According to Christian tradition, after the immolation, the decedents appeared to be merely asleep as neither their clothes nor bodies had been scorched. After the deaths, their house was searched and the scriptures found and publicly burned. Sisinus ordered Irene to be taken to a brothel, but on the way the escort was intercepted by two soldiers who told them to abandon her on a mountain. When they returned Sisinus grew angry as he had given no such orders. He pursued Irene and she was wounded in the throat with an arrow, at which point she died. Four other individuals were tried with the sisters: Agatho, Casia, Philippa and Eutychia. Of these, one woman was remanded as she was pregnant. The fates of the other three are unknown.

Legacy

The story of their martyrdom is the subject of a 10th-century medieval Latin drama by the secular canoness,

Hrotsvitha Hrotsvitha (–973) was a secular canoness who wrote drama and Christian poetry under the Ottonian dynasty. She was born in Bad Gandersheim to Saxon nobles and entered Gandersheim Abbey as a canoness. She is considered the first female writer ...

of Gandersheim. The island of

Santorini Santorini (, ), officially Thira (, ) or Thera, is a Greek island in the southern Aegean Sea, about southeast from the mainland. It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago formed by the Santorini caldera. It is the southern ...

is named after a cathedral established honoring Irene in the island village of Perissa.

References

Sources

*Attwater, Donald & John, Catherine Rachel. ''The Penguin Dictionary of Saints''. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. . * (Includes the complete English translation of the ancient Acts of Agape, Chionia and Irene)
Full online text of Hrotsvitha's play, ''Dulcitius''
Fordham University. {{DEFAULTSORT:Agape, Chionia, And Irene 304 deaths People executed by burning Groups of Christian martyrs of the Roman era Saints of Roman Thessalonica 4th-century Christian saints 4th-century Christian martyrs Christian hagiography Ancient Christian female saints Christians martyred during the reign of Diocletian Sister trios Virgin martyrs