Martyr
Martyr Irinarkh of Sebaste
III век — †303
Martyr Irinarkh of Sebaste — a former executioner who converted to Christianity after witnessing the steadfastness of seven female martyrs he himself was torturing; he was then baptized, tortured, and beheaded in 303 during the persecution of Emperor Diocletian.
Martyr Irinarkh was a native of Sebaste in Lesser Armenia. In his youth he served as an executioner, carrying out torture upon Christians by order of the governor Maximian during the persecution of Emperor Diocletian. While overseeing the torment of seven holy women (variously named in different sources as Olympiada, Theodotia, Theoktista, Theodula, Eutropia/Dorothea, Evdoxia, and Virineya), he witnessed their unshaken faith and the shaming of the torturer — this moved his heart, and he openly confessed Christ.
For this he himself was thrown into a swamp but remained unharmed; he was then cast into a fiery furnace together with the presbyter Akakios — and again remained unharmed, praying there for the believers who would later honor his memory. He was finally beheaded by the sword in 303. He is venerated as a patron of soldiers and law-enforcement officers, in memory of his former occupation.