Sophia and Irene of Egypt

Saints Sophia and Irene of Egypt, martyrs, suffered in the third century, put to the sword in the time of the emperor Aurelian, around the years 270 to 275. They are commemorated on 18 September, the day after the holy martyrs Faith, Hope, Love and their mother Sophia, and on 19 January, on the day of the Synaxis of all the saints of the land of Egypt.

The Byzantine synaxaria and menologia, apart from the date of commemoration, say nothing about them, about the time and place of their lives. Their commemoration is tied to the precedent of the martyrdom of Heraclides and Myron, bishop of Tamassos in Cyprus, mentioned in a menological couplet, from which the conclusion has been drawn that they existed, since it mentions their beheading. In the West the first to enter Sophia and Irene into the Roman martyrology was Baronius, who placed them among the martyrs and set the day of their commemoration.

The Bollandists said in their commentaries on the Roman Martyrology that at Constantinople, in Hagia Sophia, there was one of the small churches dedicated to Saint Irene. According to one version, after the beheading of the saint, an Egyptian Christian gathered her relics and left them in his house, where many miracles took place. The emperor Constantine, learning of it, ordered the relics moved to Constantinople and a great church built in her honor.