Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church

“ Then he left her and went to the desert of Scete, and he became a monk in the monastery of Abba Macarius, and he dwelt there for many years as an ascetic and fighter. When the archbishop his predecessor died, they took Abba Minas against his will, and made him archbishop; and he sat on the throne of Mark the evangelist for eighteen years, and he protected his flock rightly and justly and he died in peace. Salutation to Minas the Second who renounced the world and regarded it as a shadow and as a thirst during which a man drinketh as in a dream. ”

“ Then he remembered the church of Saint Mercurius the martyr in the city of Mesr (Cairo) , which was near his father’s house, and he said in his heart, “Every man makes vows to him, and he fulfils for them everything which they ask him.” And straightway the young man said, as he wept, “O Mercurius, martyr of Christ, if thou wilt deliver me from the wild beasts of the desert, and wilt bring me out safe from the desert, I will become a Christian.” ”

“ On this day is commemorated the festival of the Four and Twenty Priests of heaven, who are round about the throne of God, who are priests indeed, and who are beings of the spirit and have no bodies. They are exalted above all the saints and the spiritual hosts. They are saints with God and they make intercession on behalf of the race of men, and they bring unto Him the prayers of the saints like incense in the censers, which they have, in their hands. ”

“ At thine end thou wilt sit in the fire of Gahannam, because thou dost attribute a Son to God, and dost confess Three Persons. Hearken unto me and abandon thy blasphemy and thine abominable words.” And the Christian answered and said unto him, “We Christians are not infidels, but we worship One God, and He is Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost. The Son is not alien to God His Father, for He is His Word. ”

“ And on this day also died the holy father Abba Minas the Second, the sixty-first Archbishop of the city of Alexandria. The parents of this holy man made him marry a wife when he was young, against his will, but he did not wish to transgress the command of his parents, and he fulfilled all the duty of marriage according to the Law of the Church, and the whole of this matter was to him as a dream. When they brought him with his wife into the marriage-chamber, he sat down and talked to her, saying, “O my sister, what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? ”

“ One day they saw our Lord Jesus Christ, and His mother Mary the pure and holy Virgin, and she took the two virgins and brought them to her Son as an offering, and He blessed them. And the king, the father of Atrasis, departed to fight a battle, and when he came back he came to his daughter and said unto her, “Come, my daughter, cast incense to the god Apollo before thou comest to thy marriage (?) .” And Atrasis the virgin said unto her father, “Why dost thou forsake the God of heaven and worship foul idols? Turn, O my father, to the God Who created thee and in Whose hand is thy soul and body.” ”

“ When Abba Daniel heard this he bowed down at his feet, and adjured him to tell him the story of all his life. And the Emperor Honorius told him that for forty years he had neither eaten food nor worn raiment which he had not earned by the labor of his hands, that is to say the weaving of palm fiber, that what was left of his daily food he gave to the poor, that his food was bread, and herbs, and vinegar and salt, that he never cursed any man, that he never craved for the goods of any man, and that he had kept himself a virgin. ”

“ This Mercurius the blessed martyr forsook the glory of this world and thrust it away, and the infidels tortured him with severe tortures for the Name of Christ, and the martyr died and God received him into His kingdom, and churches are built in his name everywhere; and in them the saint praises God, and makes intercession for all men. And for all those who commit themselves to him in prayer he makes intercession, and he makes manifest miracles. ”

“ Whilst they were living thus one day the angel of the Lord came and told them that they would attain to the fight of martyrdom; and then they became strong by the Holy Spirit, and they rose up in glad haste and rejoiced. Then they came into their own city, where accusations against them were made to the governor of the city, and he had them taken to the governor of Behnesa. And that governor asked them questions and said unto them, “Is it true that ye are idolaters?” And the saints said unto him, “We confess openly that we are Christians, and we have no other God except Jesus Christ.” ”

“ And straightway an angel of God came down and released him from his fetters, and he took him into a high place, and he sat down with the wild beasts glorifying God. And straightway Andrianus ordered his soldiers to hunt down the wild beasts that were in the mountain in which they had found Eleutherus, and they took Eleutherus to Andrianus the emperor. When they had brought him to him the emperor commanded them to give him to the lions, and when the lions came they licked the moisture from his face and feet; and all the men of Rome wondered. Now the lions had slain fifty hundred pagans. ”

“ When the days of Saints Honorius and Arcadius and other kings arrived, they built in his honor churches, and monasteries and nunneries. When the King of Persia heard the report of those monasteries, and the stories of the martyrs and their bodies, and what great signs and wonders had appeared through them in every place, he commanded his soldiers to burn the martyrs’ bodies in every place with fire, and not to allow anything of them to remain in the country of his dominion. ”

“ And Peter knew that [he was possessed of] a spirit of devils, and then and there he rebuked him, and Satan went out of him, and the man was healed and he followed the apostles into the city. Now there was above the gate of the city an exceedingly high pillar, and when they came to that gate Peter entreated God, saying, “I beseech Thee, O my Lord Jesus Christ, that this gate, and this high pillar and the things which are on it may fall down upon the earth in such a manner that the hand of a man may touch them.” ”

“ When Justinus, Emperor of Rome, heard this, he sent a letter to Timothy, Archbishop of Alexandria, calling upon him to send instructions to Caleb, King of Ethiopia, to make war on that Jew, and to avenge the blood of the people of Nagran. When Caleb, the King of Ethiopia, heard this, he departed into the country of the Jew king with many soldiers, and many ships, having received the blessing of Abba Pantaleon of the Cell. Having arrived in the country he destroyed all the city of the King of Saba, and he left nothing therein, neither man nor beast. ”

“ And we have become like unto sheep which have been turned out, and have no shepherd. Our bishops, and priests, and kings have died, and our churches have been pulled down; but we acknowledge that this tribulation hath come upon us rightly in return for what we did to our Bishop Abba Peter.” And when the letter of the King of Ethiopia came to King George in Noba, and he had read it, he was exceedingly sorry that trials and tribulation had come upon the country of Ethiopia. ”