Menodora, Metrodora and Nymphodora

The Holy Martyrs Menodora, Metrodora and Nymphodora were three virgin sisters of Bithynia, beaten to death by pagans because they refused to renounce their faith, between 305 and 311. They are venerated in the Orthodox and the Catholic Church and are remembered on 10 September (23 September on the new calendar).

According to tradition they were sisters from Bithynia in Asia Minor. They chose not to marry but to keep their virginity and withdraw from the world, spending their days in prayer, in proclaiming the word of God and in fasting. They are said to have lived in the desert or on a mountain (according to the Greek source, in a monastery they founded on Mount Argathonion). Word spread about them, for they were reputed to heal the sick through prayer, and many began to follow them. The news reached Frontonus, the pagan governor of Bithynia, who ordered them arrested and brought before him. Frontonus tried to make them renounce their faith by promising honours and gifts, but they confessed their faith steadfastly, saying that they did not value passing earthly goods and were ready to die for their heavenly Bridegroom.

Angered, the governor poured out his fury on the eldest, Menodora. She bore the torments manfully and at last cried out: “Lord Jesus Christ, joy of my heart, my hope, receive my soul in peace.” and gave up her spirit. After four days the younger sisters, Metrodora and Nymphodora, were brought to trial. Before them was laid, to frighten them, the wounded body of Menodora. The maidens wept for her but stayed unshaken. Then Metrodora was tortured, and she died calling on the Lord Jesus Christ to her last breath. Then the third sister, Nymphodora, was brought before the bodies of her sisters. Frontonus hoped the sight would terrify the young girl; pretending to pity her youth and beauty, he tried to persuade her with gentle words to worship the gods, promising honours and gifts. Nymphodora rejected his words and shared the fate of her elder sisters, beaten to death with iron rods.

They wished to burn the martyrs' bodies on a pyre, but heavy rain extinguished the flames, and a bolt of lightning killed Frontonus and his servant. The Christians took the sisters' bodies and buried them with honour near the so-⁠called Warm Waters of Pythia in Bithynia. According to the Greek source, a church was later built in their honour, whose ruins survived into the early twentieth century near today's village of Armutlu, close to the ancient spa of Pythia. Some of their relics are kept on Athos, in the Protection cathedral of the Russian monastery of Saint Panteleimon, and the hand of Metrodora is at the monastery of Pantocrator.