There the virgin stood, facing death, in a room surrounded by ghouls who demanded her bloodshed. They had already tried to coerce her into worshiping the demons they followed. They told her that her wisdom came from Hermes. That she would be crowned in glory by Zeus if she only accepted the Emperor’s hand in an illegitimate marriage.
But she remained firm. She remembered the vision of Christ. She knew well where her gifts came. She had only one intention in mind. Witness. She faced the Emperor calmly and reiterated her decision to remain in Christ. She rejected his Pagan deceptions. She would continue this even if it meant increased torments.
Now the pack animals surrounded her. They called out for her blood and would not relent until they saw death. These foul-mouthed creatures were worse than wild beasts. Wild beasts can at least be tamed, but these animals were of a different nature. They were given over to their ghastly desires for death. They had prepared the most sadistic vengeance for her lack of obeisance to their demonic cult.
But she held firm. The wheels came into motion. The blades started motioning in a spectacular silver blur. They appeared almost as one gigantic blade though there were indeed four wheels and multiple blades attached. The silver hue gleamed as it came closer to the virgin. But she held firm, accepting the death that her Heavenly Bridegroom had prepared for her. Her only intention was to lead all the ghouls to Him as well if it would be possible. Though they demanded her death, she had no will for their harm and only offered forgiveness. She desired their conversion if it was His will.
The wheels came closer to her face. The savage Scythians let out a blood-curdling cry as the blades hovered nearer, about to reduce the virgin to a mass of fleshly strings and sinews. But just as the crowd kept roaring so also the blades began to break apart. One by one they flew out in all different directions away from the virgin. They tore apart a wolf in the crowd who had told the virgin that she owed obeisance to Aphrodite for her beauty. They reduced to a bloody wound a boar who had told her to praise Athena for her wisdom. The head flew off another animal who had told her to render praise to Apollo for her gift of healing. As limbs flew and body parts were cut open, the Scythians began to howl out in shear terror, “Great is the God of the Christians!”
The Empress demanded the Emperor cease his diabolical behavior but the Emperor’s mind was completely given over to Satan. He took his own wife and he tore apart her breasts. The Empress called out for the virgin’s intercession and the virgin announced to the holy Empress that her martyrdom would crown her with glory. The Emperor had no idea who his wife was anymore. In his madness, he cut her head off. All that was in the room now was the virgin, the Emperor, and a bloody mess. But the virgin maintained her ground. The witness she had given would be her triumph over the madness of the Emperor and she accepted the will of God for her.
Theological Rejuvenation 