The martyr Christina lived in the III century. She was born into a wealthy family. Her father Urvan was the ruler of the city of Tyre. At the age of 11, the girl was distinguished by her extraordinary beauty, and many wanted to marry her. However, Christina's father dreamed of her becoming a priestess. To do this, he placed her in a special room, where he placed many gold and silver idols, and ordered his daughter to burn incense in front of them. Two slaves served Christina.
In her solitude, Christina began to think about who created this beautiful world? From her room, she admired the starry sky and gradually came to the idea of a Single Creator of the whole world. She became convinced that the voiceless and soulless idols that stood in her chambers could not create anything, since they themselves were created by human hands. She began to pray to the One God with tears, asking Him to reveal Himself. Her soul was inflamed with love for the Unknown God, she intensified prayer more and more, combining it with fasting.
One day, Christina was honored with a visit from an Angel who instructed her in the true faith in Christ, the Savior of the world. The angel called her the bride of Christ and foreshadowed her future suffering feat. The Holy Virgin smashed all the idols standing by her and threw them out the window. Hristina Urvan's father, visiting his daughter, asked her where the idols had disappeared to? Christina was silent. Then, calling the slaves, Urvan learned the truth from them. In anger, the father began to slap his daughter on the cheeks. The Holy Virgin was silent at first, and then revealed to her father her faith in the One True God and that she had destroyed idols with her own hands. Then Urvan ordered to kill all the slaves who served his daughter, and Christina was brutally scourged and thrown into prison. Upon learning about the incident, the mother of St. Christina came crying to her daughter, asking her to renounce Christ and return to her fatherly beliefs. However, Christina remained adamant. The next day, Urvan called his daughter to court and began to persuade her to worship the gods, to ask forgiveness for her sin, but he saw her firm and unyielding confession.
Her tormentors tied her to an iron wheel, under which they lit a fire. The body of the martyr, turning on the wheel, was burned from all sides. Then she was thrown into a dungeon.
An angel of God appeared at night, healed her of her wounds and fortified her with food. Her father, seeing her unharmed the next morning, ordered her to be drowned in the sea. But the Angel supported the saint, the stone sank, and Christina miraculously came out of the water and appeared to her father. Horrified, the torturer attributed this to the action of magic and decided to execute her the next morning. At night, he died unexpectedly. Another ruler, Dion, who was sent in his place, called the holy martyr and also tried to persuade her to renounce Christ, but seeing her unyielding firmness, he again betrayed her to cruel torments. The Holy Martyr Christina was in prison for a long time. People began to get to her, and she converted them to the true faith in Christ. About 3,000 people applied this way.
A new ruler, Julian, arrived in Dion's place and began to torture the saint. After various torments, Julian ordered her to be thrown into a red-hot furnace and shut up in it. Five days later, the furnace was opened and the martyr was found alive and unharmed. Seeing the miracles taking place, many believed in Christ the Savior, and the tormentors cut down Saint Christina with a sword.
The Church remembers the Holy Martyr Christina of Tyre
06.08.2024, 06:00