The Holy Martyr Iraida.

September 23

From the Prologue

She is sometimes called Raïs or Raida. A maiden from an Egyptian town called Batan, she was therefore probably an Egyptian. Iraida went out one day to draw water from a well near the sea, and saw a ship laden with bound Christians: priests, deacons, monks, women and maidens. Enquiring, she learned that pagan torturers were taking all this crowd to torture and death for the name of Christ the Lord. In the heart of the young Iraida, the desire flared up to suffer for the Lord. She left her pots by the well, went onto the ship and confessed that she was a Christian. She was immediately bound and taken with the others t the Egyptian town of Antinopolis. After divers tortures, Iraida was the first to be beheaded, followed by the others. She suffered with honour and was glorified at the beginning of the fourth century.

From The Prologue From Ochrid by Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich
©1985 Lazarica Press, Birmingham UK