By Fr. George Dorbarakis
The ecclesiastical poet considers it a priority in the Service of the Saint to explain the change of her name from Penelope to Irene. In her Apolytikion, which usually summarizes for each Saint the main elements of his or her life, he emphasizes this from the very beginning:
“Christ, who is peace, called you Irene; for you bestow peace upon those who celebrate your memory and who come with hymns and spiritual songs to your divine temple, and you intercede for all, standing before the Thrice-Radiant Godhead.”
He does the same also in the other brief hymn, the Kontakion:
“From God the Bride of Christ received the Christ-bearing name; for the Angel of God, coming, called her Irene instead of Penelope.”
It is unnecessary, as it is self-evident, to emphasize once again that the Holy Hymnographer insists, regarding the Great Martyr, that what explains her life and conduct in Christ — as well as her martyrdoms — is her fervent eros for the Lord and her devotion to those things which He Himself promised to those who love Him.
We have noted this before, and not only once: in the Christian faith, if one removes the element of fervent love for Christ — as the fundamental motive of every saint, that which Christ Himself asked of His faithful: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word” — then the Christian faith ceases to be what we know it to be. It degenerates into something odorless and tasteless, something from which life itself is absent.
“You were enchanted by the eros of Christ and hated the gods of the nations and lifeless idols, O glorious Irene, and you raised yourself as a most manifest pillar of divine knowledge to those who beheld you.”
“You bore the assault of the consuming fire and all the tearing of your body, gazing toward the rewards prepared there, O all-venerable one, which Jesus prepared only for those who loved Him and ardently longed for Him as the most beautiful Bridegroom of souls” (Vespers Stichera).
“Set aflame from infancy by love for Christ the Bridegroom, O all-hymned one, you ran like a doe thirsting for ever-flowing springs” (Oikos of the Kontakion).
The Hymnographer, seeing the multitude of people who believed in Christ because of the Saint’s endurance in the sufferings she underwent and because of the exceedingly great miracles that took place in her life, cannot help but note with amazement that her endurance — being the result of the grace of God that strengthened her courageous mind (cf. Ode 4) — was precisely what utterly put to shame all those who held to vanity and godlessness.
In other words, when even the greatest atheist and blasphemer of the faith encounters the “rock” of fervent love for Christ and the sacrifice of life for His sake, he collapses and is exposed in the emptiness of his own false belief. What happened to the enemies of the faith before Crucified Love — Christ Himself — where they fell and were destroyed; the same happens in every age before the saints: they collapse and are brought low, even if for a time they seem to prevail. For the word of Scripture is unfailing and eternal:
“This is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith.”
“Your endurance in sufferings, O crowned Irene, ridiculed those who clung to vanity and atheism” (Ode 8).
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.