The great martyrs of our Church were not only men, but also women, who rivaled them in heroism and confessional wisdom. Many of them suffered martyrdom at the hands of their fanatical pagan parents. One of them was Saint Christina the Great Martyr.
He was from the city Tyre of SyriaHe was born around 200 and she was the general's daughter Urbanou, who was a fanatical idolater. He even built a tower, which he filled with idolatrous statues. In it he locked his daughter, whom he forced to sacrifice daily to the non-existent and ridiculous idolatrous “gods”. But she refused, because she was a conscientious Christian. When she was greatly pressured by her father, she tore down and smashed the statues. Her religious fanatic father became very angry, grabbed his daughter by the hair, beat her mercilessly and subjected her to painful torture. Then he threw her into a dark and damp prison. He even gave orders that no one should give her food and water, so that she would die of hunger and thirst. For many days no one approached her for fear of Urban’s reprisals.
Everyone had believed that Christina had died. But on the very first night, an angel of the Lord visited her, who healed her wounds and brought her food and water every day. When they went to take her body, thinking she was dead, they found her perfectly healthy, praying and praising God. They reported the incident to her father, and he, even more furious, ordered his soldiers to take her to the sea and drown her. They threw her into the deepest part, believing that she had drowned. But again, an angel of the Lord appeared and saved her. In fact, her biography states that she had not been baptized until that moment and received the holy Baptism in the sea from Christ Himself. The angel took her and brought her to land.
Urbanus became a beast again in his anger at the new rescue of his daughter. He gave the order to lock her up again in prison, after she was whipped savagely and left to die of hunger, thirst and her wounds. But the unexpected happened. That same night Urbanus died suddenly. He was succeeded by someone Zeus, just as fanatical a pagan as he was and equally brutal and inhuman. He mortally hated Christians and showed excessive zeal for their extermination. He was informed about the heroic Christina and took it upon himself to convert her to idolatry. He ordered her to be brought before him and to interrogate her himself.
His men took Christina out of the dark and damp prison and led her before General Dion. She stood courageously before him and apologized without the slightest hesitation for her faith in Christ, the only true God. At the same time, she heroically denounced idolatry as the worst spiritual degradation of humanity. The worship of false “gods” is not just an illusion, but real worship of the father of lies and deception, the devil, since, according to the Holy Bible "the gods of the nations (are) demons" (Ps.95:5). After this, he ruled out any possibility of accepting to sacrifice to the false gods of the empire and carrying out the imperial order.
Dion was enraged and turned into a real beast by the Martyr's courageous confession. He ordered her to be subjected to horrible tortures, hoping that the fear of the terrible pains and the threat of death would turn her into a saint.
idolatry. But despite all this, the saint remained unwavering in her faith. Many of her tormentors and the pagans present, seeing her heroism, converted to Christianity.
After Dion, did someone take on the torture of Christina? Julian, truly a demon for his choices against Christians. He grabbed her and threw her into a red-hot furnace, but she was miraculously saved. Then he filled a cage with poisonous snakes, into which he threw her, believing that he would get rid of her. But again she was saved by the grace of God. The poisonous snakes, instead of biting her, licked her feet! Then he gave the order to cut off her breasts. But instead of blood, milk flowed! Then they cut out her tongue.
The torture continued for days. The saint patiently endured the tortures, without complaining, without uttering a single sigh! Julian, seeing that it was impossible for Christina to convert, ordered the executioners to pierce her body with spears. Thus ended her earthly life, exchanging it for the truly eternal life of heaven.
Her holy relic was secretly taken by some courageous Christians, who buried it with honors. After the end of the persecutions, it was exhumed and found incorrupt and fragrant! Later, at an unknown time, it was transferred from Syria to Constantinople in a temple of the Holy Palace, which was built in her name. The 1204 the heretical Franco-Latins seized it and transported it to Venice. It 1252 placed in Monastery of Saint Mark of Torsello and its 1340 was transferred to the temple of Saint Athanasius in Murano. It 1435 the pope Eugene moved it to Church of Saint Anthony of Torsello. It 1793 placed in Monastery of Saint Justin in Venice. Finish it 1810 placed at the church of Saint Francis of the Vine, where it is kept to this day in a crystal urn. Her memory is honored on July 24Many Christian women proudly bear her venerable name.
photo https://www.saint.gr/2064/saint.aspx
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