Holy Martyr Drosis, Daughter of King Trajan (+104–117)
The holy Martyr Drosis, daughter of King Trajan (+104–117). In 99 the Emperor Trajan (98–117) restored a law by which Christians were forbidden to hold secret gatherings, and in 104 he issued a special decree against the Christians. The persecution of the Christians that began then lasted until the end of his reign. To frighten others, the bodies of murdered Christians were often left unburied. Five Christian virgins, Aglais, Apollinaria, Daria, Mamthusa and Taisia, decided to bury the dead. They secretly carried away the bodies of the Christians, anointed them with ointments and buried them. When the king’s daughter Drosis, who believed in Christ but was not baptised, learned of this, she asked the holy virgins to take her with them. On the advice of Saint Drosis’s betrothed, Hadrian, a distinguished courtier, guards were placed by the bodies of the martyred Christians, so as to catch those who honoured the dead. On the very first night Saint Drosis and all five virgins were seized. By Trajan’s order Drosis was taken aside, while the virgins were burned alive in a furnace for smelting copper. From the copper mixed with the holy remains of the virgins, tripods were cast for Trajan’s new bath-house; but as long as these tripods stood in the bath-house no one could go in: everyone who stepped over the threshold fell down dead. The priests understood why this miracle was happening and advised that the tripods be removed.
Hadrian advised the emperor to melt down the tripods, cast statues of naked women resembling the virgin martyrs, and set them up at the entrance of the bath-house. When the statues had been set up, the emperor saw in his sleep five lambs grazing in paradise, and a shepherd, who said to him: “Lawless and impure king! The good and merciful Shepherd hath taken away the souls of those whom thou didst outrage, and hath set them where the holy lamb Drosis, thy daughter, shall come.” By order of the enraged Trajan two huge furnaces were heated, and the emperor’s command was hung up beside them: “Galileans, worshippers of the Crucified, spare yourselves unbearable torment and spare us the labour: offer sacrifice to the gods, and if you cannot do this, enter the furnace of your own free will.” Many Christians of their own will suffered martyrdom for Christ.
Saint Drosis also decided to offer herself to Christ, and besought the Lord to lead her out of the prison unnoticed. God heard her entreaty: the guards fell asleep. The unbaptised princess hastened to the river, immersed herself three times in the water, and received baptism. For seven days the saint hid, spending her days in prayer and fasting. Christians found the holy virgin and learned everything from her account. On the eighth day the holy Martyr Drosis entered the red-hot furnace of her own will and commended her soul to the Lord.
