Holy Martyrs Menodora, Metrodora and Nymphodora
The icon of the three virgins, kept in the cathedral of Svetitskhoveli
The holy Martyrs Menodora, Metrodora and Nymphodora were blood sisters, from Bithynia (Asia Minor). Distinguished by the fear of God, they decided to withdraw from this world; they found a secluded spot in the desert and spent their days there in prayer and fasting. Soon the saints became famous far and wide, for they had been granted by the Lord the gift of miraculous healing. Fronto, the governor of the region, ordered them to be seized and brought to him. The godless ruler tried with promises of honour and rewards to turn the maidens away from the faith of Christ, but they boldly confessed the true God and rejected all the tempting offers. The enraged governor turned his wrath on the eldest sister, Menodora. The saint endured the torments patiently, and at last she cried out: “O Lord Jesus Christ, my joy and my desire, to Thee, my hope, do I flee; receive my soul in peace,” and departed this world. Four days later the younger sisters, Metrodora and Nymphodora, were brought before the tribunal. To frighten them, Menodora’s body, cut with wounds and covered with blood, was thrown down before them. The girls wept bitter tears over the precious body, but did not even think of denying the Saviour; they declared to the governor: “Thou wilt find none among us fearful, nor unworthy and unlike such a sister as this, nor unlike that root of ours which brought forth these three branches.” Then Saint Metrodora was led out to torture: she was hung on a tree and her body was burned “with torches of fire”; then she was taken down and her body was broken with blows of iron rods; in such torment the blessed one commended her soul to the Lord. At last the third, Nymphodora, was brought. Before her lay the tortured bodies of her elder sisters. Fronto hoped that this sight would frighten the young woman. He pretended to pity her youth and beauty, and with affection and promises of generous rewards and honour tried to win her over. Saint Nymphodora did not listen to his tempting words and shared her sisters’ lot.
The lawless wished to burn the martyrs’ bodies, but “terrible thunder and lightning were suddenly seen over the fiery furnace,” and struck down and consumed the ruler and his servants; then a heavy rain came down from heaven and put out the fire. The Christians committed to the earth with honour the saints’ remains, which had remained unharmed. Some of their incorrupt relics are kept on Athos, in the church of the Protection of the Mother of God in the Russian monastery of Saint Panteleimon, while the hand of Saint Metrodora rests on the Holy Mountain too, in the monastery of Pantocrator.
Lives of the Saints, vol. III, Tbilisi, 2001.
In Iveria, the land allotted to the Most Holy Mother of God, at the beginning of the Dormition Fast (14 (1) August 2003), the icon painted after an appearance of the three sister-martyrs, by God’s will and providence, deigned to enter the land of Iveria.
At the end of July 2003 a Georgian delegation went to the jubilee of Saint Petersburg, and among its members were our clergy. At the end of the jubilee the Georgian clergy with their believing flock were to fly from the airport to Saint Seraphim of Sarov’s monastery at Diveevo, to attend this saint’s feast; and just as they had boarded the aeroplane, an unknown car drew up right at the steps, and a Russian husband and wife got out of it. This is what had happened:
In 1999 an angel of the Lord appeared to a certain believer named George (it was this George who gave the Georgians the icon he had painted) and told him that the three sister-martyrs Menodora, Metrodora and Nymphodora have a grace like that of the five wise virgins of the Gospel. If you wish wars and religious strife to cease in the land, and peace to settle in families, and people to love one another, paint their icon and pray.
George had a believing mother, Nadezhda (which, incidentally, means “hope” in Georgian). In 2000 our holy father George the Athonite and a certain king of Iberia appeared to her (she herself had been born on the day of the commemoration of George the Athonite). The mother did not know which king it was, but it must have been David the Builder, for George the Athonite said that as it had been in this king’s time, so Georgia would revive and shine again, and he added: give the icon to the Georgians, so that it may be taken to Georgia.
Saint Seraphim of Sarov appeared to Nadezhda twice in her lifetime, and she herself died on the day of this saint’s commemoration, 15 January (2003). Together with the icon our clergy were also given 3,000 euros, which Nadezhda had collected with a blessing after the appearance of the saints. They asked us: there is no altar on earth in the name of these saints, and if you cannot build a church, decide yourselves how to spend it.
Thus the icon of these three sister-martyrs came to Georgia by the hand of Archpriest Ilia Nasidze, who reported it to His Holiness Ilia II. With the blessing of the Catholicos-Patriarch this holy icon was placed for a time in the holy cathedral of Svetitskhoveli. At present the icon rests in the small church of the holy Martyrs Menodora, Metrodora and Nymphodora, built in 2008 in the complex of Saints Peter and Paul. By decision of His Holiness the icon is to travel throughout all Georgia, to spread peace over it. Prayer to the holy virgins helps the sick, the needy and the suffering. It preserves peace, averts bloody wars, among them those of a religious character, and enmity between nations, and helps in creating and strengthening a happy family. Kontakion, Tone 4
Blessed is the future of our land and nation in the name of the Lord. Amen.
Having struggled bravely for the Holy Trinity, ye drove away the enemy of many wiles, bound together as sisters in spirit; wherefore ye rest with the five virgins in the bridal chamber of heaven, clothed with your labours, and with the angels ye stand before the King of all in unfailing joy. Prayer to the holy sister-martyrs Menodora, Metrodora and Nymphodora
O holy martyrs Menodora, Metrodora and Nymphodora, pearls of faith and purity, who endured terrible torments for Christ, who counted your youth as nothing and amazed the merciless tormentors by your firmness. To you, sisters filled with love, I, the servant of God (name), humbly fall down: entreat our Lord Jesus Christ, in war and in time of peace, to preserve my neighbour and me, a sinner, by His ineffable grace; to deliver us from the foul demons, from cruel death and incurable wounds, from hail, from flood, from pestilence and from shameful captivity. O much-suffering virgins, by your prayers may the merciful Lord protect our fathers and mothers, our wives and children, and all my neighbours from sorrows and woes. May He send down upon them humility and patience, and ever warm their love towards us. May He grant them constant and fervent prayer for our successful return home. O righteous God, deliver us from our transgressions and sins, voluntary and involuntary. Help us to fulfil our duty worthily, that we may guard our fatherland from evil. Grant us strength to bring righteousness, peace and love to men. To Thee, O Lord, our Deliverer and Protector, we send up glory, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
