Saint Alexandra the queen and the followers of Apollo, Isaac and Kodratos
Celebration date: 21/04
Saint Alexandra was the wife of the emperor Diocletian (284 – 305 AD). Completely different from him, who was rough in feelings and a friend of violence and blood, she was distinguished by her calm mental disposition, her mercy and her philanthropic life. And the Grace of the Lord increased the illumination within her. And the divine mercy granted her during the martyrdom of the Holy Great Martyr George to feel within her the breath and the impulse of faith in Christ. Then, turning to the emperor, he begged him to order the cessation of martyrdom. He surmised that the empress, unaccustomed to such spectacles, was seized with unconscious and thoughtless pity. So he told her to withdraw. But he was loudly answered that such a scene was inhuman and unworthy of the crown.
And when the emperor blasphemed the Name of Christ, she with a brave voice proclaimed that she denounces before the true God the persecutors of the Christians and she also confesses her faith in Jesus Christ.
The emperor wanted to interpret her statement as a mental disturbance. But she protested and repeated her confession. Diocletian then appeared. While he sought to exterminate the Christians, their conquest also entered the palaces, and the queen herself openly displayed the same faith and was their advocate. So he ordered her abduction and imprisonment.
In prison the Saint spent the night in prayer for herself and beseeching the Lord for His Church, which was so violently shaken. He was not interested in her life at all. He even wished to receive a martyr’s death, but hesitated. She knew that for her husband there was no mercy before God who was a just judge, but she did not want his guilt for the crime to be burdened with her own murder, and she prayed to the Most High to receive her soul from that prison and he appears to be merciful towards her, because for so long she had watched dispassionately the persecutions of the Christians by the side of their persecutor.
Her prayer was heard. Two days before the execution of the Great Martyr George, in 303 AD, she breathed her last in prison. The queen’s example was followed by three of her followers, Apollo, Isaakios and Kodratos. Honest and virtuous servants, devoted from the heart to their empress, whose goodness they knew, thought that her decision and her faith in Christ should make them also consider without prejudice the faith in the true God, and arrange their conduct accordingly them in the future. So they went to a Christian priest, listened to him, and left his house ardent believers, enlightened by the Grace of the intercessor, with the decision to follow the example of their queen. And one day they too confessed their faith.
Diocletian ordered their execution. And Codratus was beheaded, and Apollo and Isaac were put to death by hunger and thirst. This torture was excruciating. But they faced it bravely, comforted by the hope that they were to meet in the scenes of justice and bliss together with the Holy Queen. Their hope was satisfied. The Church, honoring their memory, celebrates with her on the same day.
