Pinna of Novodunum

Holy Martyr Pinna of Novodunum, a Slav by birth, was a disciple of the Holy Apostle Andrew and suffered with Inna and Rimma in northern Scythia, frozen in a river for Christ.

The three were Slavs from northern Scythia and taught of the Name of Christ, baptizing many barbarians and turning them to the right faith. For this the local prince seized them and tried to entice them with promises and honours. They did not yield, and were beaten without mercy. It was a hard winter, and the rivers were frozen so firmly that not only people but horses with wagons crossed them. The prince ordered great logs set into the ice, the saints tied to them and slowly lowered into the freezing water. When the ice reached their necks, worn out by the cold, they gave up their souls to the Lord.

According to the ancient Slavic calendar, Christians then buried their bodies, but the bishop of Gedza took them from the grave, carried them on his shoulders and laid them in his church. Seven years after their death the holy martyrs appeared to the same bishop and commanded him to move their relics to a place called Aliks, a dry haven, that is a harbour; Aliks is today Alushta, on the shore of the Black Sea.

St Pinna is commemorated on 2 February and on 3 July, in the new style.