Agape, Chionia, and Irene
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Agape, Irene, and Chione
Agape, Irene, and Chione (d. 304), martyrs. These three young women were natives of Saloniki in Macedonia. During Maximian's persecution they left their homes and went to live on a nearby mountain to follow lives of prayer: here they were arrested under Diocletian in late 303. When they were brought with their companions before the magistrate, they refused to sacrifice, that is, eat sacrificial food. Each answered steadfastly that she would rather die than do so. The prefect summed up against them that they were guilty of treason against the emperors and Caesars; as they were obdurate, they would receive the appropriate punishment. Agape and Chione were sentenced to be burnt alive, the other because of her youth to imprisonment. After the execution of the first two, Irene was again cross-examined. She admitted that she had possessed books of the Scriptures and had taken refuge in the mountains without her father's knowledge. As she refused once again to take part in the sacrifice, she was sentenced to be sent naked into the soldiers' brothel, where she would receive daily one loaf of bread from the magistrate's residence. However, no man dared approach her. She too was eventually burnt alive. The day of her death was recorded in her Acts as 1 April, but the feast of the three martyrs together is 3 April.
Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.
- A.C.M., pp. xlii–xliii, 280–93; AA.SS. Apr. I (1675), 245–50; H. Delehaye, Les Passions des Martyrs (1921), pp. 141–3; B.L.S., iv. 1
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Agape, Chionia, and Irene
| Saints Agape, Chionia, and Irene | |
|---|---|
 Agape, Chionia, and Irene |
|
| Born | Thessalonica |
| Died | 304 AD |
| Feast | April 3 |
 |
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Saints Agape, Chionia, and Irene (Greek: Αγάπη, Χιονία και Ειρήνη meaning Love, Snowy, and Peace, born in Thessalonica) were three virgin sisters who were martyred for their faith in 304. Their feast day is April 3.
They were brought before Dulcitius, governor of Macedonia, on the charge of refusing to eat food which had been earlier offered in sacrifice to the gods. He asked Agape and Chionia where they had developed this objection to such food, and Chionia responded that she had learned it from her Lord Jesus Christ. She and Agape again refused to eat the sacrificed food, and were burned alive.
Meanwhile Dulcitius found that Irene had been continuing to keep Christian books, in violation of existing law. He examined her again, and she declared that when the decrees against Christians had been published, she and several others fled to the mountains. She would not name the others who had fled with her, and stated that only they knew where the books were being kept. Upon returning home from the mountains, they hid the books they had kept. Dulcitius then ordered Irene to be stripped and exposed in a brothel. This was done, and no one mistreated Irene at the brothel. The governor then gave Irene a second chance to abide by the laws, which she refused. Dulcitius then sentenced her to death. The books that had been found with her were burned as well.
Three other individuals were tried with the sisters. Of these, one woman was remanded as she was pregnant. The fates of the other two are unknown.
References
- Attwater, Donald & John, Catherine Rachel. The Penguin Dictionary of Saints. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0-14-051312-4.
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April 16
(Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Agape
(disambiguation)
Macedonia
(Roman province)
List of Macedonians
(Greek)