Martyr Polychronia

Polychronia is venerated as a martyr of the early fourth century and is known in Orthodox tradition as the mother of the Great Martyr George the Trophy-bearer. According to the synaxarion, she came from the city of Lydda, also called Diospolis, in Palestine, and belonged to a renowned and noble family. Her husband was Gerontios, who is remembered as an idolater, while Polychronia herself lived as a Christian, devoting herself to reading the Scriptures, to prayer, and to a disciplined life of fasting and self-restraint.

The tradition surrounding her places her death during the persecution of the Emperor Diocletian, alongside the witness of her son. She is commemorated on April 23, the feast of Saint George. Because her account is preserved chiefly within the larger tradition of George's life, the historical record concerning her is limited, and the details are transmitted hagiographically rather than from independent documentary sources.