Holy Martyr Sira the Virgin, of Persia (+558)
The holy Martyr Sira the Virgin lived in Persia in the sixth century. She was the daughter of Elimais, a renowned priest of the fire-worshippers. Her father gave Sira to a priestess to be brought up. From her the maiden learned the false science of the magi and became a priestess of the fire-temple. Once, in conversation with a Christian woman, the blessed one believed in the truth of the Saviour’s teaching and began a Christian life: she learned prayers and psalms, fasted, and gradually came to know Holy Scripture and the Christian teaching.
Time passed, and Sira fell ill. She went to a Christian church and asked the presbyter to give her a little dust from the church, hoping it would heal her. The priest knew the holy maiden as an idol-worshipper and sent her away with a refusal. Deeply convinced of her own unworthiness, Sira was not in the least angry; on the contrary, she was filled with greater hope; she touched the presbyter’s vestment with faith, as the woman with the issue of blood had once touched the “hem” of the Saviour’s garment (Matt. 9:20–22), and was healed at once. The blessed one’s relatives saw her attachment to Christianity and tried in every way to hinder her. They asked Sira’s stepmother to make her give up this intention. The stepmother deceived the saint, saying that she too was a secret Christian, and told her to keep the true faith in her heart but outwardly to continue worshipping fire, since otherwise she might not endure torture and might renounce Christianity. The maiden began to waver: should she be baptised and openly confess Christ, or remain as she was, a priestess in deed and a Christian at heart? In this spiritual struggle the Lord Himself appeared to the saint. Stunned by the miraculous vision, Sira made her final choice: she went to the bishop and asked for baptism. The hierarch put off fulfilling the maiden’s wish: he feared giving the magi a pretext to persecute the Christians, and he also thought that the girl, frightened by her father’s wrath, might even deny Christ. He advised Sira first to confess her faith openly before her relatives.
Once, during the morning sacrifice, Saint Sira put out the fire that the Persians called a god, overturned the altar, and declared aloud that she was a Christian. Her enraged father beat the saint terribly and threw her into prison. The next day her father tried with caresses and gifts to win his daughter back, but the saint’s decision was unshakeable. Then her father handed the holy martyr over to the chief priest and the governor. The martyr was tortured for a long time in the dungeon, but, strengthened by the Lord, her hope in the Saviour did not grow the least bit cold. Once Sira bribed the guards of her cell, went to the bishop and was baptised. Weakened by torture, the saint fell mortally ill. She besought the Lord not to let her die of illness, but to make her worthy of the martyr’s crown. God heard her prayer and healed her miraculously. Seeing the maiden safe and sound, the guard of the cell and the prison warden decided to use force on her, but punishment from on high was not slow in coming: one took to his bed, and the other gave up his spirit. Saint Sira was sentenced to be strangled.
The death sentence was carried out with particular cynicism and cruelty: from time to time they slackened the rope and asked the martyr whether she had changed her mind and wished to remain among the living. The dying lamb of Christ answered with a refusal and asked them to hasten the carrying out of the sentence. Sira’s body was thrown to the dogs to be torn apart, but they did not touch the holy thing. The Christians committed the God-pleaser’s holy body to the earth (+558).
