From the Prologue of Ochrid
Sisters by birth, from the environs of Aquileia. When Emperor Diocletian was sojourning in Aquileia, he ordered the execution of the renowned spiritual father Chrysogonus. At that time a certain aged presbyter, Zoilus, had a vision by which it was revealed to him where the unburied body of Chrysogonus lay. The elder hastened, found the body of the martyr, placed it in a coffin, and kept it in his own house. On the thirtieth day after this, Saint Chrysogonus appeared to him and informed him that within nine days those three maidens would suffer martyrdom, and that he too would repose during that time. This same revelation was also received in a vision by Anastasia the Deliverer-from-Potions, who had gone in search of her teacher Chrysogonus. And indeed, after nine days both the Elder Zoilus reposed and the three sisters were brought before the emperor for judgment. The emperor counseled the holy maidens to bow down before idols, but they all refused and confessed their steadfast faith in Christ. Irene said to the emperor how foolish it was to worship things of stone and wood, which had been commissioned, for an agreed price, to be fashioned by the hands of some mortal man. Enraged, the emperor cast them into prison. And when the emperor set out for Macedonia, all the slaves and captives were led after him, among them these three holy women. The emperor handed them over to a certain commander, Dulcitius, for torture. This commander, inflamed by a dark passion, desired to defile the virgins, but when he attempted to enter the prison where they were held, at the time when they were praying to God, he lost his senses and fell upon the blackened cauldrons and pots before the door, embracing and kissing them, so that he came away all sooty and black. When the emperor heard of this incident, he ordered another commander, Sisinius, to undertake the trial of these sisters. After severe torture the judge condemned the first two sisters to burning, but retained Irene for a time longer, hoping that he might be able to defile her. But when he sent Irene with soldiers to a house of debauchery, angels of God rescued this pure virgin, turned back the soldiers, and led her to a certain hill. The next day the commander went out with soldiers toward that hill, but being unable to ascend it, he ordered that Irene be shot through with arrows. Saint Anastasia gathered all three bodies in one place and honorably buried them. They all suffered honorably for Christ the King and Lord around the year 304.
