Feast Day: July 24th
The Life of Saint Christina: She began to Pray to the One God with tears, entreating Him to reveal Himself. Her Soul blazed with love for the Unknown God, and she intensified her Prayer all the more, and combined it with fasting…
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Prayers
Apolytikion: O Lord Jesus, unto Thee Thy lamb doth cry with a great voice: O my Bridegroom, Thee I love; and seeking Thee, I now contest, and with Thy baptism am crucified and buried. I suffer for Thy sake, that I may reign with Thee; for Thy sake I die, that I may live in Thee: accept me offered out of longing to Thee as a spotless sacrifice. Lord, save our Souls through her intercessions, since Thou art great in mercy.
Kontakion: O dove of golden wings, thou shonest like lightning, and flewest up unto the height of the Heavens, august Christina; therefore we all celebrate thy glorious festival, as we faithfully reverence the worshipful shrine wherein thy pure Relics are treasured, whence thou dost truly well forth unto all Divine cures both for the body and for the Soul.
Apolytikion: Thou didst abandon thy father’s error, and receive Divine illumination, as a glorious virgin betrothed to Christ. Thou didst bravely struggle, and destroy the enemy, O Great Martyr Christina, and dost ever Pray that we may receive great mercy.
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Saint Christina was born into a wealthy family. Her father was a governor and wanted her to become a pagan priestess. When she was 11 years old, Saint Christina was locked in a tower by her father, filled with many gold and silver idols, and he instructed her to burn incense before them. Saint Christina could see the beautiful creation through her window, and she thought about how the soulless idols could not create anything. So she Prayed to the Creator, the One True God, and she experienced a great love for Him and continued in Prayer and fasting. An Angel visited Saint Christina and spoke to her about Christ. The Angel called her a Bride of Christ and told her how she will suffer for His sake. Saint Christina then smashed all the idols in her room, and threw them out the window.
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Upon learning this, Saint Christina’s father attempted to force her to renounce Christ by greatly torturing her and then locking her in prison. Her mother in tears implored her to renounce Christ. An Angel of God appeared to Saint Christina in the prison to heal her wounds and give her some food. This only increased the steadfastness of Saint Christina, and her love for Christ remained unshaken.
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Saint Christina was then thrown into the sea by her father, with a rock tied around her. An Angel of God held the rock so the Saint wouldn’t sink, and in the water Saint Christina received Holy Baptism from the Lord Himself.
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When her father suddenly died, another governer continued to further torture Saint Christina and kept her in prison for a long period of time, here she received many people who flocked to her, and about 300 people were converted to the Christian faith. She was greatly tortured continuously, and finally gave up her Soul into the hands of her beloved Christ.
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