Coptic Martyrs

ACTS OF MARTYRS

Through the waves of persecution, many spiritual leaders devoted themselves to strengthen the martyrs and confessors. They visited the prisons and kept their company on their trial, or even to the place of their execution. Some virtuous men not only kept the martyrs’ company but dared to take their holy bodies or relics, and wrote the biography of their trail and martyrdom as eye-witnesses, which are called “Acts of Martyrs.”

1. THEODORE THE VIRGIN

She was summoned to the court, during the Diocletian persecution. She was accused of being a Christian, perhaps it was because of her refusal to marry a certain noble man. She was taken away to a den of sin and infamy, but a Christian soldier called Didymius saved her by giving her his own cloak. When Didymius was sent to be martyred, Theodora appeared to share with him the crown of martyrdom.

2. ST. MENA THE MIRACLE-MAKER

St. Mena is most well-known in both the East and West, due to the many miracles that are performed by his prayers for us. That is evident from the numerous little clay bottles that got his picture and name engraved on them, which were found by the archaeologists in various cities around the world, such as Heidleburg in Germany, Milan in Italy, Dalmata in Yugoslavia, Marseilles in France, Dongula in Sudan, and Jerusalem.

St. Mena was born in the year 285, in the city of Niceous which follows the provision of Mymph. His parents were real ascetic Christians, the father Audexios, and the mother Aufimia. On the feast of St. Mary, the mother who did not have any children prayed in front of the icon of the Virgin with tears, that God may give her a blessed son. A sound came to her ears saying “Amen,” and thus she called her son Mena.

His father, a ruler of one of the provisions of Egypt died when Mena was fourteen years old. At fifteen he joined the army, and was given a high rank, because of his father’s reputation, and was appointed in Algeria. Three years later he left the army longing to devote his whole life to Christ, and headed towards the desert to lead a different kind of life.

After spending five years as a hermit, he saw the angels crowning the martyrs with glamorous crowns, and longed to join them. He hurried to the ruler, declaring his Christian faith. His endless endurance of the tortures that he underwent, had attracted many of the pagans not only to Christianity, but also to martyrdom. His body was buried in Marriute, near Alexandria. It was discovered by the daughter of King Zinon, who was healed from sickness when she slept at the site of his burial. The King built a church there, and a large city was established. Sick people from all over the world used to visit that city for recovery. Pope Cyril VI established a new monastery in this area.

3. ST. REFKA

She and her five children, natives of a village in Upper-Egypt at the province of “Quous,” submitted themselves to the ruler of Quous after giving all their belongings to the poor and the needy. St. Refka’s family was well-known and loved by the natives of Quous, therefore, in order not to punish them in Quous, they were sent to Armanius, the ruler of Alexandria who was visiting Shoubra (a suburb of Damanhour) at that time. There they suffered cruel tortures and finally they were beheaded, giving great example of the love of martyrdom.

4. ST. DIMIANA

She is one of the popular martyrs of Egypt, she lived together with forty virgins in her palace as a nunnery. During the reign of Diocletian, she rebuked her father Markos, the ruler of El-Borollos (Zaafaran), for his denial of Christ, and urged him to be martyred with her and the forty virgins.

5. ST. CATHERINE

In the seventh century, Tillemont wrote that it would be hard to find a saint more famous than St. Catherine, the Alexandrian virgin, who met her martyrdom at the early age of eighteen in A.D 307. Baronius states that in his own country, Belgium, no city or town is without some church or altar built to her glory; even her feast was celebrated as a holiday in some European countries such as England, in the thirteenth century.

It is said that she endured horrible tortures and even dared to argue and reason in public with the philosophers of Alexandria and succeeded in converting them and many of the court’s officers to Christianity… Her saintly corpse was transported to Mount Sinai by the angels.

Generally she is regarded as the patron saint of schools, probably because of her controversial arguments with the philosophers of Alexandria. In Europe (in A.D 1063) a semi-monastery was instituted in her honor, where those who joined it made a vow to live in virginity.

6. ARIANUS, THE RULER OF ANTIONIE
   The Roman Empire did not know a ruler more cruel than Arianus, who devoted all his strength to impose severe tortures upon Christians, to the extent that some rulers from outside Egypt used to send him those Christians who refused to abandon the Christian faith. He found great pleasure in visiting other cities, such as Esnah (Latopolis) in Upper-Egypt where he killed its Bishops and all his people.

He came to know about a Christian deacon in Antionie named Apollnius. As he summoned Apollnius, in fear, he asked his pagan friend, Philemon the piper, to appear before the ruler and bribed him with gold to offer sacrifice to the idols. Philemon, disguised in the deacon’s clothes and went before the ruler. But there, the grace of God converted Philemon and he refused to offer the sacrifice!

After many failing attempts from Arianus, he sent for Philemon the piper, with the assumption that the man before him is Appolnius, hoping that through the piper’s music, and influence, a change of faith could occur. But the messenger’s search ended in vain, till the piper’s brother was obliged to tell the truth. In great anger Arianus ordered both the piper and the deacon to come before him, submitting them to great punishments, throwing arrows at them; but non of the arrows hit the two Christians. One of the arrows reflected back, hurt the ruler’s eye. Philemon told the ruler, as he was crying for help, to wait until the next day and use dust from their tomb to heal his eye, as they were to be killed if they did not abandon the Christian faith.

The two Christians were beheaded, Arianus could not sleep all night, and in the morning he went to the martyrs’ tomb and did as Philemon told him. At once his eye was cured. In sorrow and repentance the ruler accepted the Christian faith, and liberated all the Christians from prison.

Diocletian, who was visiting Alexandria, was agitated. Not believing what he had heard, he sent messengers to summon Arianus before him. He obeyed the order, but before traveling to Alexandria he visited the martyrs’ tomb, and the messengers who were with him heard a voice encouraging him to be martyred.

God granted Arianus the gift of making miracles. In the end he was martyred along with the messengers who were converted to Christianity.

7. THE THEBAEAN LEGION

In A.D 286 as some tribes of Gaul under two Roman officers, Aelianus and Amondus revolted against the Emperor Maximian who summoned to his aid from the East a legion called Thebaean, (because it was raised in the neighborhood of Thebais in Egypt). They were all Christians (6666 members). Before entering the war, the emperor held a review of the troops and called upon them to swear allegiance with all the usual pagan ceremonies. Encouraged by the exhortation of their commander Mauritius, they refused. One tenth were beheaded before all the soldiers, but instead of submitting they wrote a letter to the Emperor, in which they said:

“O Great Caesar, we are your soldiers, but at the same time we are God’s servants.

We have to serve in the National (military) service, but we also submit heartedly to God…

We receive the temporary reward from you, but the eternal one from Him.

We never obey orders which oppose God’s commandments…”

On reading the message he ordered that another one-tenth be beheaded. The rest still refused to sacrifice to the idols. Then they were all martyred.