St. Hripsime and Her Companions
There are several similar legends about Saint Hripsime; a member of a royal Roman family who died c. A.D. 290 was a Christian martyr who died about A.D. 290.
Saint Hripsime and her 35 female companions formed a group of devout Christian nuns who lived as hermits in a Roman monastery near the end of the third century. Hripsime was believed to be a descendant of a royal family of Rome. She was extremely beautiful and had attracted the attention of the Roman emperor Diocletian, who vowed to marry her.
To avoid the Emperor’s forceful advances and to maintain her chastity, Hripsime, her fellow nuns, and their leader Gayane, fled Rome. After traveling to Alexandria, then to Jerusalem, and finally to the vicinity of Vagharshapat in Armenia, where, it is said, they found an old building of an abandoned wine press and settled there.
The Roman emperor continued his pursuit of Hripsime and the nuns. He asked the pagan Armenian King D'rtad (Tiridates) to help in returning them to Rome. However, when King D'rtad's soldiers discovered where the nuns were hiding and King D'rtad saw the beautiful Hripsime, he, too, fell in love with her and commanded her to marry him. When Hripsime was brought before the king, she refused to deny her Christian faith and to accept the marriage proposal of the king. She chose the love of Christ over the title of queen, and all its pagan trappings.
The king then pressured Gayane, the leader of the sisterhood, to convince Hrispime to marry him. However, instead of advising Hripsime to submit to the demands of the king, she told her to resist and stand firm in her faith. Hripsime and Gayane escaped from the palace and returned to the winery. Because of her refusal, the king's soldiers inflicted fiendish tortures upon Hripsime, Gayane, and the other sisters. According to the various accounts, the soldiers cut out their tongues, pierced their eyes, chopped up their bodies, and burned them.
The martyrdom of these women took place in the last year of St. Gregory the Illuminator's imprisonment at Kor Virab (the deep pit) by King D'rtad. Upon his delivery from the pit in the early 4th century, and subsequent conversion to Christianity of D'rtad and by royal decree the Armenian Nation, St. Gregory built chapels over the relics of the nuns. Later, during the time of St. Sahag Bartev, these chapels were rebuilt and, during the pontificate of Catholicos Gomidas (7th century), two beautiful cathedrals were erected; one of these, the Cathedral of St. Hripsime, remains monument of Armenian architecture. St. Hripsime, along with her companions in martyrdom, is venerated as the first martyrs in Armenian history.
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In 1979 His Holiness Vasken I, the Catholicos of All Armenians, reported that as a result of recent archaeological excavations at the Cathedral of Hripsime, firmly sealed graves were found and thought to be those of the witnesses, Hripsime and her companions.
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Other Churches also commemorate St. Hripsime and Companions: The Coptic Church call her "St. Arapsima." The Greek Orthodox Church venerates St. Hripsime and calls her "St. Ripsimia" in Greek, and commemorates with her Companion Virgin Martyrs. The Ethiopian Orthodox call her "St. Arsema" where she is very popular with at least three church buildings named for her. Additionally, she is included in the Ethiopian compendium of martyrs and a book entitled "The Life of Arsema" can be found in many spiritual bookshops.
In honor of the saint, Hripsime remains a fairly common female name in Armenia, as do its variants; likewise, Arsema is a very popular name among Ethiopian and Eritrean Christians.
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The Armenian Orthodox Church remembers Hripsime and her companions in early June; Gayane and her companions are commemorated separately soon after. In the Roman Catholic tradition, the Greek Orthodox, and the Orthodox Church in America, Hripsime and her companions are commemorated with a feast day in September.
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From the Sharagnotz (book of hymns) of the Armenian Orthodox:
Today the Holy Church celebrates the memory of the invincible Saint Hripsime;
With the bodiless hosts blessing of the Lord God of our fathers.
Today Saint Hripsime was called into the Kingdom of Heaven
For in combat with the tyrant she courageously conquered him.
Confessing Christ the King, the Lord God of our fathers.
Receive us also who have assembled here, O Savior;
Through the intercession of the holy virgin companions of Hripsime;
as a child of God.
And write us down in the book of life.
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