Holy Martyr Agrippina (+253–259)

The holy Martyr Agrippina was a Roman; for the love of God she refused marriage and took a vow of virginity. When the Emperor Valerian (253–259) began a persecution of the Orthodox, the lamb of Christ appeared before the tribunal and fearlessly confessed her faith. For this the lawless arrested her, wounded her whole body with torture and broke her bones. The tormentors put fetters on the tortured virgin, but an angel freed her from her bonds. Saint Agrippina could not endure the torments she had suffered, and in her exhaustion she commended her soul to the Lord. The Christian women Bassa, Paula and Agathonica secretly took up the martyr’s body and carried it to Sicily, where many miraculous healings took place at her tomb. Around the eleventh century Agrippina’s incorrupt relics were translated to Constantinople.