Martyr
Martyr Drosis of Antioch
II век
Also known as: Дросида Антиохийская
Martyr Drosis of Antioch — according to medieval church tradition, the daughter of a Roman emperor; learning that certain pious virgins were secretly stealing at night the bodies of executed Christian martyrs and burying them with honor, she joined them, although she herself was not yet baptized; she was seized together with five virgins (Aglaida, Apollinaria, Daria, Mamphusa, and Thaisia) and, voluntarily renouncing the marks of royal dignity, was burned in a furnace for confessing Christ.
According to medieval church tradition, Martyr Drosis was the daughter of a Roman emperor. Learning that certain pious virgins were secretly stealing at night the bodies of tortured Christians and burying them with honor, Drosis, having become acquainted with five of them — Aglaida, Apollinaria, Daria, Mamphusa, and Thaisia — resolved to join their work, although she herself was not yet baptized. By order of the emperor she was seized together with the five virgins. Recognizing his daughter among the prisoners, her father ordered her held separately, hoping she would reconsider. However, Drosis voluntarily removed the marks of her royal dignity and shared the confessors' fate: she was burned in a heated furnace. A later medieval tradition names her father as Emperor Trajan (98-117), though researchers question the reliability of this identification, since the site of the martyr's feat — Antioch — does not match the location of the imperial family's residence in Rome. Her memory is kept on March 22/April 4.