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[[Image:St_Irene_Chrysovalantou.jpg|frame|right|Saint Irene, Abbess of the Monastery of Chrysovalantou]]
==The Royal Wedding==
Irene was born in Cappadocia to an aristocratic family. She had a sister who would later marry Empress [[Theodora the Iconodule(9th century empress)|Theodora]]'s brother Vardas.
Empress Theodora, who ruled the empire after the death of Theophilus as regent for her son, re-established Orthodoxy and removed the [[iconoclast]]s. On her son Michael's twelfth birthday, Empress Theodora sent messengers to find a suitably beautiful, virtuous, and refined girl for Michael's wife. Coming across Irene, they offered and she accepted to wed Michael, and they (along with some of Irene's family) set off for Constantinople for the wedding.