Chrysia of Rome

Holy Martyr Chrysia of Rome, a virgin, suffered in the year 269, in the same company of martyrs as Holy Hieromartyr Hippolytus, Bishop of Ostia, and the martyrs Censorinus and Sabinus and twenty others.

She was brought to trial in the time of Emperor Claudius II, when Saint Censorinus, the chief dignitary, was thrown into prison for his faith. The virgin Chrysia confessed herself a Christian with courage and was subjected to terrible tortures, after which she was drowned in the sea. With her there suffered Philicles, Maximus, Herculinus, Venerius, Styracinus, Mina, Commodus, Hermes, Maurus, Eusebius, Rusticus, Monagrius, Amandinus, Olympius, Cyprian, Theodore, Tribunus, the priest Maximus, the deacon Archelaus and Bishop Quirinus.

The relics of Saint Hippolytus were laid in Rome, in the church of Saints Laurence and of Pope Damasus. Hippolytus was a disciple of Saint Irenaeus of Lyons and is known as a Christian theologian, the author of many writings against the heretics. He composed a Paschal Canon, the famous work on Christ and the Word on the Antichrist. He also wrote many commentaries on Holy Scripture: on Genesis, Exodus, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, the Gospels of Matthew, Luke and John, the prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and Zechariah, the psalms of David and the Apocalypse. Part of his writings has been preserved only in fragments; whole have remained the homilies on the Theophany and on the prophet Daniel, a model of the art of ancient church preaching. He learned of the torments of the martyrs and, though old, came to the trial and rebuked the persecutor, calling him bloodthirsty; after many tortures, his hands and feet were bound and he was thrown into the sea.

The saints are commemorated on 12 February (new style, that is 30 January on the old style).