Rimma of Novodunum

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

The three were Slavs from northern Scythia, disciples of the Apostle Andrew. They taught of the Name of Christ, baptized many barbarians and brought them to the right faith. A ruler of the place seized them and tried to entice them with honours and flattering promises, but they did not yield and were cruelly beaten. It was a hard winter, and the rivers were so frozen that they were crossed on the ice not only on foot but with horses and carts. The ruler ordered great logs set into the ice, the saints tied to them and slowly lowered into the cold water. When the ice reached their necks, worn out by the cold, they gave their souls to the Lord.

An ancient Slavic calendar tells that some Christians 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 the place called Aliks, a dry haven, that is a harbour; Aliks is today Alushta, on the shore of the Black Sea, north-⁠east of Yalta.

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