Though these names sound feminine in Russia, they were first borne by men. Saints Innas, Pinnas, and Rimmas came from northern Scythia. They lived in the first century, and by God’s guiding hand, they received instruction in the Christian faith from the holy Apostle Andrew, the First-Called. The three began to preach the Gospel among their own people. Word soon reached the local chieftain, a ruler of a pagan tribe, that these men were baptising people in the name of Christ the Saviour. He ordered them seized and brought before him. The chieftain used every means he could think of to make them deny the Lord Jesus Christ and worship his own idols. Yet, they stood firm.
It was a bitter winter that year. The rivers had frozen and lay under thick ice. Upon the chieftain's command, his men drove stout wooden posts deep into the frozen river. To these posts, they tied the holy men. The brave martyrs sank slowly into the icy waters until the cold claimed their lives.
