The holy martyr Irina was highly revered in ancient Byzantium. She lived in the years when the 12 apostles were spreading the Word of God. Irina was born with the name Penelope and was a native of Magedon, today's Macedonia, then part of Byzantium. She was from a noble family and had many teachers. She became an educated and intelligent girl, there were many suitors for her hand and her father decided to marry her. But he did not know that she had already secretly converted to Christianity from one of her teachers. At first he was kind because he loved her very much, but when he saw that she refused to marry and wanted to devote her life to God, he decided to punish her. Whatever punishments he devised, God protected Irina, and they turned against her father. Finally, he was inclined to listen to her and converted to Christianity along with his entire household. Irina continued to preach and many of her fellow citizens converted to Christianity. She was tortured by the new governor of the city, but miraculously, she always remained unharmed. When Irina was informed by an angel that the time had come to go to God, she went to a cave and ordered the entrance to be blocked up. Irina is a very common name in the territory of Macedonia, Greece and Thrace. There are many beautiful temples in her honor in the Byzantine style. The Church of St. Irina (Agia Irini), built shortly after her death in what was then Constantinople, now Istanbul, is believed to be the first Byzantine Orthodox church. The name Irina comes from "eirene" which means "peace" and Irene is the French version of Irina.