This ring contains a waist-length relief image of St. Irene, the first woman to become a great martyr, dressed in a tunic and himation and with a tiara on her head. Her left hand pressed to his chest, while her right hand is holding an eight-pointed cross as a symbol of Christian martyrdom.
The reverse depicts a dove with an olive branch. This image is connected to an incident that occurred before the saint’s conversion into Christianity. One day, a dove flew into her room through the window carrying a small branch in its beak, left the branch on the table and instantly flew away. Her tutor Apelian believed that the branch was a symbol of the young woman’s virtues, while the dove stood for the grace received in baptism. The image of the dove is surrounded by the text of a prayer in Church Slavonic .
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