The life of St Irene of Thessalonica
Apellian was a Christian, and while he taught her letters he taught her Christ, and told her at the last that the Lord meant to have her for Himself and that she would suffer much for Him.
She refused the marriages her father arranged, was baptized by the priest Timothy, who gave her the name Irene, and broke her father's idols in pieces. Licinius had her bound and thrown under the hooves of horses, and the horses would not move; one of them turned upon him instead and struck him down. She prayed, and he rose unhurt, and he and his wife were baptized, and a great many of the people with them. He gave up his rule and lived out his life in the tower he had built to keep her from Christ. She went into the city and preached, and many thousands more were brought to God by her teaching.
She went on to suffer greatly for her preaching, though the accounts do not agree on the end of her life. Some point to Thessalonica, others to Constantinople or elsewhere, and no single tradition can be called certain. The Church numbers her among the great martyrs and keeps her memory on this day.
