Ia

Holy Martyr Ia was an aged woman who, according to the synaxarion, was taken captive by the Persians with nine thousand Christians, who were put to various torments. She is commemorated on 11 September (new style), with Geminianus, Didymus, Diodorus and Diomedes; her memory is repeated on 4 August.

She stood with the others before the chief magi of the king of Persia and was punished with many torments; at last her head was cut off. Tradition says that the ground that received her blood swelled and rose beyond nature, the executioners who had tortured her were left paralysed and blind, and the air filled with a fragrance.