Life and Martyrdom of Saint Christina
Saint Christina was from the Syrian city of Tyre. She was born around 200 and was the daughter of the general Urban, who was a fanatical pagan. He even built a tower, which he filled with pagan statues. In it he imprisoned his daughter, whom he obliged to sacrifice daily to the non-existent and ridiculous pagan “gods”. But she refused, because she was a conscious Christian.
When she was pushed hard by her father, she toppled and smashed the statues. Her religious father became very angry, grabbed his daughter by the hair, beat her mercilessly and subjected her to painful torture. Then he threw her into a dark and dank prison. He even ordered that no one should give her food or water, so that she would die of hunger and thirst. For many days, no one approached her for fear of Urban’s reprisals.
Everyone had believed that Christina had died. But on the very first night she was visited by an angel of the Lord, who healed her wounds and brought her daily food and water. When they went to take her body, thinking she was dead, they found her perfectly healthy, praying and praising God. They informed her father of the fact and he, more enraged, ordered his soldiers to lead her into the sea and drown her.
They threw her into the deepest part, believing that she had drowned. But again an angel of the Lord appeared and saved her. In fact, her biography states that she had not been baptized until that moment and received Holy Baptism in the sea from Christ Himself. The angel took her and brought her out to land.
Urban became a beast again from his anger at his daughter’s new rescue. He again ordered her to be imprisoned again, after being severely whipped and left to die of hunger, thirst, and wounds. But the unexpected happened. That same night Urban died suddenly. He was succeeded by a certain Dion, just as fanatical a heathen as he was, and just as ferocious and inhuman. He mortally hated the Christians and showed excessive zeal for their extermination. He was informed of the heroic Christina and undertook himself to convert her to the worship of idols. He ordered her to be brought before him and questioned himself.
His men took Christina out of the dark and dank prison and brought her before General Dion. She bravely stood up to him and apologized without the slightest hesitation for her faith in Christ, the only true God. At the same time, he heroically glorified idolatry as humanity’s worst spiritual downfall. The worship of false “gods” is not just a delusion, but a real worship of the father of lies and delusion, the devil, since, according to the Holy Bible, “the gods of the nations (are) demons” (Psalm 95,5). After that he ruled out any possibility of agreeing to sacrifice to the false gods of the empire and carry out the imperial order.
Dion was enraged and turned into a proper beast by the courageous confession of Martyros. He ordered her to be subjected to horrible tortures, hoping that the fear of the horrible pains and the threat of death would convert her to idolatry. But despite all this, the saint remained unwavering in her faith. Many of her tormentors and pretended pagans, seeing her heroism, converted to Christianity.
After Dion, a certain Julian took over the tortures of Christina, truly a demon for his choices against Christians. He grabbed her and threw her into a red-hot furnace, but she was miraculously saved. He then filled a cage with poisonous snakes, into which he threw her, believing that he would get rid of her. But again he was saved by the grace of God. The poisonous reptiles, instead of biting her, licked her feet! Then he ordered her breasts to be cut off. But instead of blood, milk flowed! Then they cut out her tongue.
The torture continued for days. The saint patiently endured the tortures, without protesting, without uttering a single sigh! Julian seeing that it was not possible for Christina to convert, ordered his executioners to pierce her body with poles. Thus she ended her earthly life, exchanging it for the heavenly infinite life indeed.
Her holy relic was secretly received by some courageous Christians, who buried it with honors. After the end of the persecutions, the exhumation took place and it was found smelling unworn! Later, unknown exactly when, it was transferred from Syria to Constantinople to a temple of the Holy Palace, which was built in her name.
In 1204 it was seized by the heretical Franco-Latins and taken to Venice. In 1252 it was placed in the Monastery of Agios Markos Torsellos and in 1340 it was transferred to the church of Saint Athanasios in Murano. In 1435 Pope Eugene transferred it to the church of Agios Antonios Torsellos. In 1793 she was placed in the Monastery of Saint Justin in Venice. Finally it was placed in the church of Saint Francis of Ambelos, where it is kept to this day in a crystal urn. Her memory is commemorated on July 24.