Martyr Alexandra the Empress, wife of Diocletian

In the Life of the Great Martyr George, Alexandra is the wife of the emperor Diocletian. She saw George healed after torture and came to believe in Christ, though she hid her faith for a time. When George was brought to trial again, she could no longer keep silent and stood by him, openly rejecting the gods.

The emperor, angry that she had joined the one he called a sorcerer, ordered both to be beheaded. On the way to the place of execution Alexandra grew weak and asked to sit down; according to the Life, she leant her head against a wall and gave up her spirit before the sentence could be carried out. George was beheaded on 23 April, about 303. Historians do not know Diocletian's wife by this name, and the Life is a late tradition.