Saint Irene Chrysovalantou

Saint Irene lived during the reign of Queen Theodora, who restored the holy icons. Irene came from Cappadocia and was distinguished not only for her piety but also for her physical beauty and her noble upbringing. She was requested in marriage by a distinguished man of the palace and she set off for Byzantium. On the way, however, he passed by the Monastery of Chrysovalantos and was so attracted by the fellowship of the nuns that she made the big decision to stay with them. So she rejected the worldly glories, returned to her homeland, sold her possessions, helped many poor people, and deposited the rest of the money in the Monastery. She became a nun and her life in the monastery was very ascetic and holy.

When the abbess died, Irene, despite her refusal, was appointed her successor. In her new position, she performed her duties excellently. God even endowed her with a prophetic and miraculous gift. So through her prayer, she delivered many of the demons. Her prayer through the night continued in the courtyard of the monastery, and caused herself to levitate and the cypress trees to bend towards her. She was granted three apples from St. John the Theologian, visions of angels, and appeared in a vision to the Emperor to release an unjustly convicted man. After her death at 102 years, she continued to be a wonderworker.

Apples of St. Basil

Irene kept the feast of St. Basil especially holy because they both came from Cappadocia. After the feast day of St. Basil, during the third watch of the night, she heard a voice saying, “Welcome the sailor who brings fruit to you today and eat it with joy; let your soul rejoice;” followed by a similar voice during Matins saying, “Go to the door and bring in the sailor who is visiting you.” She invited the sailor in and greeted one another, and stayed until the end of the Liturgy. After Liturgy, Irene enquired after the sailor’s journey, to which he replied, “I am a sailor from Patinas and I joined a boat coming to this town for business. As we were passing the coast of that island, we saw a very old man on the shore who called to us to wait for him. We could not because we were near the rocks, so with a good wind behind us we left. He then shouted all the more loudly ordering the boat to stop. This it did at once. Then he came to us walking on the waves and soon entered the boat. Then taking three apples from beneath his cloak, he gave them to me saying, ‘When you go to the capital, give these to the patriarch and tell him that the Almighty sends them to him from His beloved disciple, John.’ After that, he took another three and asked that these be presented to you, the abbess of Chrysovalantou. To you, he said, ‘Eat these and all that your beautiful soul desires will be granted you because this gift comes to you from John in Paradise.’ Having said this he blessed God, wished us well, and disappeared.”

Irene offered a prayer of thanksgiving, with tears of joy, for St. John the Theologian, the Apostle, Evangelist, and beloved disciple of Christ. The sailor asked for a blessing and left the monastery. Irene fasted for a week, thanking God for the apples. After this, she ate small pieces of the first apple daily, without any other form of sustenance, for forty days; when she ate, she smelt as if she was exuding myrrh; during this time, the remaining apples became more beautiful and aromatic. On Holy Thursday, she directed her sisterhood to receive Communion; after the Liturgy, the second apple was divided between them; when eaten, so sweet was the taste that the sisters felt as if their souls were being fed. The third apple was kept until Irene would know what to do with it.

On Holy Friday, during the singing of the hymns of the Passion, Irene had a vision of countless radiant angelic beings entering the church: some with stringed instruments, singing beautiful hymns to God; others with goblets of myrrh, to be poured onto the altar, which filled the monastery with a wonderful fragrance. Among these beings was a particularly majestic man, a face radiant like the sun, who was treated with devotion. He approached the altar and, taking the shroud offered to him by the other beings, covered the now-fragrant altar.

The angel who stood by the altar, with great sadness, cried out to the majestic one, “Until when, O Lord?” to which a voice replied, “Until the second Solomon, when the heights will be united with the depths and all will be one. Then the Lord will be exalted and the memory of Irene will be glorified.” Irene took this as confirmation of her teaching that no one, whether herself or another of the sisters, could be glorified until they achieved the Kingdom in death. Irene gathered the community, reiterating the necessity of running from worldly honor to achieve and behold the glory of God.

Apples are being given to the visitors of the Monastery of Chrysovalantou, to this day, that have worked a lot of miracles, one of the most common is to help women who can’t conceive.