Sainte martyre impératrice Alexandra de Rome
Alexandra de Rome est une sainte chrétienne vénérée comme martyre.
“Alexandra aspire à la vérité et aspire dans l’esprit masculin beaucoup plus
que les porteurs de plusieurs autres noms” (P. А. Florenskiy). Alexandre est
connue grâce à la biographie de Georges de Lydda. Alexandre était païenne,
femme de l’empereur romain Dioclétien, oppresseur cruel des chrétiens. En
voyant le courage du Saint Georges et les miracles effectués par lui, la
tsarine crut en Christ. Se serrant contre les pieds du grand martyr, Alexandra,
devant tout le peuple et l’empereur, proclama Christ le vrai Dieu. Dioclétien
ordonna d’exécuter sa femme avec le saint Georges.
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Sainte Alexandra de Rome, mosaïque
Sainte Alexandra, reine martyre
Le 23
avril / 6 mai, nous célébrons la mémoire de la sainte martyre ALEXANDRA,
l'impératrice
Sainte
Alexandra était l'épouse de l'empereur Dioclétien.
Lors du martyre de saint Georges, constatant avec admiration que le
saint résistait vaillamment au tyran et que, resté invulnérable aux supplices
les plus cruels par l'intervention de la Grâce, il s'était présenté devant
l'empereur et avait provoqué la conversion d'un grand nombre de païens, elle
confessa elle aussi le Christ vrai Dieu.
Dioclétien furieux la fit jeter en prison et donna l'ordre de la
décapiter avec saint Georges.
Lorsqu'elle apprit cette nouvelle, la sainte se mit en prière et remit
son âme à Dieu, avant que les impies n'eussent porté la main sur elle.
Ses serviteurs Apollos, Isaac et Codrat, voyant que leur maîtresse avait
tout renié par amour du Christ, se convertirent à leur tour et allèrent se
présenter devant l'empereur, pour l'accuser en face de barbarie.
Le souverain les fit arrêter puis, au matin, il donna l'ordre de
décapiter Codrat.
Ses deux compagnons, restés en prison dans l'attente de la sentence,
furent laissés sans nourriture ni boisson pendant de nombreux jours, et c'est
ainsi qu'ils remirent leurs âmes à Dieu.
Extrait du "Synaxaire / Vie
des Saints de l’Eglise Orthodoxe"
du Hiéromoine Macaire
de Simonos Pétra (Mont Athos)
Hymnographie
Тропарь мученицы царицы Александры, глас 4
Царства земнаго славу презревши,/ Единаго Христа, нас ради распятаго,
возлюбила еси/ и, Того мужественне исповедающи,/ венцем мученическим увенчалася
еси,/ всеблаженная царице Александре./ Темже и ныне Престолу Царя славы на
Небесех предстоящи,/ молися о спасении душ наших.
Santa Alexandra à volta
do ícone da Feodorovskaya juntamente
Holy Martyr Empress
Alexandra of Rome
Alexandra of Rome is a
Christian saint, who is revered as a martyr. "Alexandra strives for truth,
and seeks in the spirit of man more than the bearers of many other names"
(P. Florensky). The information about Alexandra is contained in the hagiography
of St. George the Victorious. Alexandra was a pagan woman, married to Roman
Emperor Diocletian, who was a cruel persecutor of Christians. Seeing the
courage of St. George and the miracles performed by him, the queen came to
believe in Christ. Then having lain at the feet of this great martyr Alexandra
in front of the whole nation and the emperor confessed Christ as true God.
Diocletian ordered to execute his wife along with St. George.
Martyr Alexandra the Empress, wife of Diocletian
The Holy Empress Alexandra
was the wife of Diocletian (284-305). Her supposed death was described in the
Martyrdom of Saint George, which was written immediately after his death. The
empress, however, received the crown of martyrdom several years later, in 314.
Many events occurred during
these years. In 305 the emperor Diocletian resigned the throne and power passed
to his co-ruler Maximian Galerius (305-311), a fanatic pagan, as well as a
coarse and fierce soldier. His wife was Saint Valeria, the daughter of the holy
Empress Alexandra, whom Diocletian had given in marriage against her will.
Saint Alexandra raised her
daughter in Christian piety. When Galerius died, the emperor Maximinus sought
her hand in marriage. When he was refused, he banished Saint Valeria to Syria,
where she lived with her mother.
After the death of
Maximinus in 311 the mother and daughter arrived in Nicomedia, trusting in the
mercy of the emperor Licinius (311-324). Together with Saint Constantine, he
had subscribed to the Edict of Milan, which gave Christians the freedom of
religion, but secretly he remained an enemy of Christianity. Licinius gave
orders to execute the holy Empress Alexandra and her daughter Valeria. They
were beheaded, and their bodies thrown into the sea.
SOURCE : https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2001/04/23/101185-martyr-alexandra-the-empress-wife-of-diocletian
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depicting the
saints standing full length, signed in Cyrillic l.r. F. Platonov,
the silver
border finely cast and chased with scrolling foliage, applied with the name
plaque,
the reverse with a champlevé dedication plaque inscribed in Cyrillic:
'To His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich from his valets/
Tkachev, Khudoyarovsky, Volkov, Lednev, Kleschev, Savely, Markov, Pavlov,
Surovtsev, Sorin/ 4 June 1889',
struck with maker's mark M.T., 84 standard 27.3
by 22.7cm, 10 3/4 by 8 7/8 in.
St Alexandra
Commemorated April 21
Martyr St
Alexandra, the Empress and wife of Emperor Diocletion, was so impressed by the
courage and martyrdom of St George that she became a Christian and fell under the same persecution.
She also was condemned to be beheaded but when she arrived at the place of
execution she asked to be allowed to sit down. Her request was granted. She sat
down and died quietly before the executioners could carry out their task. Her
feast day is 21 April.
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ST ALEXANDRA, THE EMPRESS
in a silver-gilt oklad oil and
tempera on panel, oklad stamped with mark of pavel ovchinnikov in cyrillic
under imperial warrant, moscow, 1883, 84 standard. 52 by 26.5 cm.
This valuable commissioned icon depicts St. Alexandra (commemorated on
23rd April), wife of the Emperor Diocletian (or according to some sources,
widow of one of his predecessors), who suffered together with the Great Martyr
St. George, the Bringer of Victory, during the persecutions of Christians at
the beginning of the 4th century. In the 19th century, this royal martyr was
regarded a s the Protectress of Russian Empresses, which explains the
popularity of her icons at that time, as opposed to previous centuries. The
Empresses Alexandra Fyodorovna (1798–1860), wife of Nicholas I, and Alexandra
Fyodorovna (1872–1918), wife of Nicholas II, both received the name Alexandra
in honour of this saint upon their conversion to Orthodoxy. In the 1830s–1860s
and 1890s, there were churches and chapels consecrated to the Blessed Tsarina
Alexandra in both Moscow and St. Petersburg.
The 1883 date on the oklad links the icon to the events of the
Coronation of Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Fyodorovna on the 15th
May 1883 at the Cathedral of the Dormition in the Moscow Kremlin, two years
after Alexander III’s accession to the throne. A thanksgiving offering could be
made to the church by those honoured with the monarch’s favour, and also by
those who had taken part in the Coronation ceremonies (these cases are well
known). The slightly larger dimensions of the icon indicate that it was
intended for a church, rather than a domestic setting. It is also entirely
possible that another icon was commissioned to go with it, depicting the
princely saint Alexander Nevsky, Protector of Russian Emperors and patron to
Emperor’s ascending the throne.
The icon, with its highly professional quality of production, is a
brilliant example of icon-painting from this revivalist era. The saint’s
apparel is richly decorated and painted in great detail with gemstones and
pearls at the neck and hem of the embroidered tunic. The precious cloak is
further enriched with a jewelled breast-piece, the headdress has grand additional
ornamentation, all of which are rendered in the traditions of “archaeological
painting”, a genre founded by the eminent Russian graphic artist, Fyodor
Grigoryevich Solntsev (1801–1892). The portrayal of the Tsarina Alexandra is
surprisingly reminiscent of the drawings he made of the frescoes in St.
Sophia’s Cathedral in Kiev and the manuscript miniatures from the collections
of the Princes Obolensky and Gagarin, as recorded in Ancient Depictions,
Portraits and Dress of Grand Princes, Tsars, Boyars and Common Folk
(Antiquities of the Russian State, Moscow, 1851, Section 4, Fig. 4–18). The
richness of the saint’s apparel is echoed in the silver foliate ornamentation
on the gilded background and the silver oklad, seemingly studded with fine
stones, which was made in the workshop of the court jeweller, Pavel Akimovich
Ovchinnikov.
This icon of Saint Tsarina Alexandra makes an important contribution to
the appraisal of Russian icon-painting and the life of the church community in
Russia in the last quarter of the 19th century.
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Sant' Alessandra e compagni Martiri
a Nicomedia
† Nicomedia, Bitinia, 18 e 22 aprile 303
Etimologia: Alessandra
= forma femminile di Alessandro, protettrice degli uomini, dal greco
ALESSANDRA, APOLLO,
ISACCO, CODRATO
Il nome Alessandra è il femminile di Alessandro; deriva dal greco ‘Aléxandros’
e significa “protettrice degli uomini”.
Il nome è sempre stato usato fin dall’antichità e della versione maschile si
ricordano due re dell’Epiro, tre re di Macedonia, due re di Siria, un
imperatore romano, otto papi, oltre 40 santi, tre re di Scozia, tre imperatori
di Russia, ecc.
Nella versione femminile, il nome Alessandra è stato portato oltre che da sei
fra regine e imperatrici, anche da cinque cristiane martiri, curiosamente
sempre inserite in altrettanti gruppi di martiri.
Il più noto dei quali è quello di Amiso (Alessandra, Claudia, Eufrasia,
Matrona, Giuliana, Eufemia e Teodosia) celebrate il 20 marzo; poi c’è il gruppo
delle martiri di Ankara (Tecusa, Giulitta e altre) celebrate il 18 maggio; poi
c’è il gruppo di Ancira, il gruppo di Antiochia e infine il gruppo di Nicomedia
di cui parliamo in queste note.
Bisogna dire che per quanto poco noto, il gruppo dei martiri di Nicomedia,
composto da Alessandra, Apollo, Isacio (Isacco) e Codrato (Crotato) è
menzionato da un numero rilevante di fonti agiografiche, sono ben 11 i
Martirologi, Sinassari, Menologi, orientali ed occidentali che ne parlano; si
evita qui di elencarli tutti.
Secondo una ‘passio’ armena, connessa al ciclo delle storie di s. Giorgio
martire, Alessandra, ritenuta moglie leggendaria di Diocleziano, a volte di
Daziano re persiano, per aver difeso e perorato con eccessivo zelo la causa dei
cristiani, perseguitati per la loro fede, finì per incorrere nelle ire
dell’imperatore, il quale dopo averla percossa e torturata di sua mano, la fece
decapitare il 18 aprile del 303, primo anno della sua violenta e sanguinaria
persecuzione.
Uguale sorte subirono nei giorni seguenti, Apollo, Isacco e Codrato,
probabilmente domestici o funzionari di Alessandra; sebbene fossero legati da
vincoli di varia natura con la Casa imperiale, non fu risparmiato loro il
tormento della fame e infine la decapitazione.
Le condanne furono eseguite a Nicomedia in Bitinia, dove Diocleziano aveva
stabilito la sua residenza imperiale.
I Sinassari orientali affermano che essi si erano convertiti al cristianesimo,
considerando fra loro il coraggio con cui il martire s. Giorgio di Lydda, loro
contemporaneo, aveva affrontato il martirio in Palestina.
La memoria dei martiri sopra menzionati, è celebrata secondo i vari testi in
date diverse, dove il 21 e dove il 22 aprile; le successive aggiunte o presunte
precisazioni, sui luoghi e sui fatti della vita e del martirio dei suddetti
santi, si colorarono di leggenda e di mancanza di fondamenti storici.
Autore: Antonio Borrelli
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