Ammonaria

Holy Martyr Ammonaria, a virgin, suffered at Alexandria in the time of the persecution of Emperor Decius (249 to 251). She is commemorated together with the martyrs Julian, Cronion (Eunus), the soldier Bessas and others. She is commemorated on 12 November, by the Greek calendar; her name does not appear in the present Menologion of the Russian Church.

In the years of Emperor Decius's persecution there were in Alexandria many courageous Christians, wondrous witnesses of the Kingdom of God, who remained unshaken amid the most terrible torments. The first of them was the old man Julian. Suffering from gout, he could neither stand nor walk. He was brought to the judge with two servants who carried him from place to place. Of the servants, one at once denied Christ, and the other, named Cronion and surnamed Eunus, confessed with Julian, firmly, the faith in Christ. They were put on camels and led through the whole of Alexandria, being scourged without pause. Outside the city the martyrs were burned in a fierce fire, in the presence of all the people. The pagans' anger against the Christians was so great that a soldier named Bessas, who defended Cronion and Julian from the fury of the mob as they were led to the stake, was seized, taken to the place of execution and beheaded. Another Christian, of Libyan birth, named Macarius, proved worthy of his name and received the blessedness promised by the Lord to all who are persecuted for Him: the judge could not persuade him to deny Christ by the most insistent exhortations, and the martyr was burned alive. The same fate befell Epimachus and Alexander. For a long time they lay in prison, enduring a thousand different tortures, but neither the scourging nor the tearing of their bodies with iron claws could shake their courage, and the weary executioners burned them alive.

Women too were not spared. One of those who suffered in this persecution was the virgin Ammonaria, who endured from the judge the most refined torments, because she had announced beforehand that she would not utter the words the judge demanded. Despite the cruellest tortures, she remained unbending and was put to death. With them thirteen more martyrs suffered. These things took place about the years 249 to 251.