Armenia: Saint Hripsime, A Martyr In The Name Of Female Autonomy

Hripsime was a VIP from an imperial roman family in third century. She was very beautiful and so Emperor Diocletian felt entitled to marry her. But she wanted to be a nun and fled – together with 70 other virgins – to Jerusalem and later to Armenia.  When they arrived in Armenia King Trdat III got wind of it and male entitlement struck a second time: As Hripsime still refused to marry, he stoned and beheaded her.

This and a second event were probably the reason for the rise of Christianity in Armenia. Trdat III had a crisis of conscience after this murder and at the same time he was heeled from a seemingly incurable skin condition by Saint Gregory who he detained for 13 years in the dungeon of Khor Virap. Both events made him think about his life and he decided to install Christianity as Armenias official religion.

In Saint Hripsime Church in Echmiadzin you can find her tomb and the stones which were supposably used to stone her.