Holy Martyrs Empress Alexandra and Valeria (+314)

The holy Empress Alexandra and Valeria (+314). In the first acts describing the martyrdom of Saint George it is written that Diocletian’s wife, Saint Alexandra, died on the day of Saint George’s martyrdom. In reality, however, she received the martyr’s crown later, in 314.

Many things happened in that time. In 305 the Emperor Diocletian gave up the throne, and power passed into the hands of his co-ruler, the fanatical pagan and coarse, cruel soldier Maximian Galerius (305–311). His wife was the daughter of the holy Empress Alexandra, the holy Martyr Valeria, whom Diocletian had given him in marriage against her will. Saint Alexandra brought up her daughter in Christian piety. When Galerius died, the Emperor Maximian asked for Saint Valeria’s hand. Offended by the Christian woman’s refusal, Maximian exiled Saint Valeria to Syria, where she lived with her mother. After Maximian’s death, in 313, mother and daughter, hoping for the mercy of the Emperor Licinius (313–324), came to Nicomedia. Together with the holy Constantine, Equal to the Apostles, Licinius had signed the Edict of Milan, which granted Christians freedom of confession, but in reality he remained an enemy of Christianity. Licinius ordered the holy Empress Alexandra and her daughter Saint Valeria to be put to death. The martyrs were beheaded.