by Nun Christina (Author), Anna Skoubourdis (Author)
Our venerable mother Irene of Chrysovalantou was the abbess of the monastery of Chrysovalantou during the ninth century. Her feast day is on July 28. Originally slated to wed the Emperor Michael, she went to the monastery of Chrysovalantou, and immediately engaged herself in vigils and prayer. She then replaced the Abbess very early on, and increased her spiritual struggles, with great trust in God to guide the community properly. She developed the gifts of foresight and exorcism. Her prayer through the night continued in the courtyard of the monastery, and caused herself to levitate and the cypress trees to bend towards her. She was granted three apples from St. John the Theologian, visions of angels, and appeared in a vision to the Emperor to release an unjustly convicted man. After her death at 102 years, she continued to be a wonderworker.