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THE SEVENTH
MONTH IN THE NAME
OF THE FATHER AND THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, On this day died the blessed and holy Abba Cosmas, Archbishop of the city of Alexandria; he was the fifty-eighth archbishop of that city. This father was righteous, and pure, and exceedingly merciful and compassionate and he was learned in the Books of the Church, and in the interpretations thereof. And God chose him for the archiepiscopacy, and to sit upon the throne of Mark the Evangelist, and he was enthroned in the eighteenth year of Makter, King of Egypt. And having been enthroned he tended the flock of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory, in the fear of God and with wisdom. And he set aside certain of the dues, which were rightly his, and gave them to the poor, and the cost of building churches was defrayed by him. When Satan saw him fighting the good fight, he did not leave him unhated, on the contrary, he contrived to bring great sorrow upon him, through his own act, in consecrating as Bishop of the country of Ethiopia a man whose name was Peter. Now the bishop, Abba Peter, arrived in Ethiopia, and after he had been sitting a few days, the King of Ethiopia fell sick. And he summoned the bishop, Abba Peter, to his presence, and brought his two sons before him, and taking the royal crown off his own head, he gave it to the bishop, Abba Peter, and said unto him, “Behold, I am going to my Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory! And behold, my two sons are before thee. After my death appoint as king the one of them which thou knowest would rule the kingdom best.” When the King of Ethiopia was dead, the bishop, and the governors, and the generals, and the royal army, took counsel together, and it was said among them, “The younger son will be far better for the kingdom than the elder.” And the bishop appointed the younger son to be king, and seated him upon the royal throne for a few days. In those days Satan entered into the heart of two monks from the country of Syria, and they went about from one place to another until they came to the monastery of Abba Antonius, and they dwelt therein for a few days, but were driven out because of the evil of their works. And the two of them made an agreement together, that one of them should be made a bishop, and that the other should assist his companion. And they rose up, and came to the country of Ethiopia, and they forged lying documents which they carried with them, and these documents declared that the two monks had come from father Abba Cosmas, Archbishop of the city of Alexandria. And they went on to say, “We have heard that there hath cone unto you a certain man whose name is Peter, and that he hath made himself bishop. Now we have not consecrated him, and we have not sent him to you; on the contrary, he is an impostor. Now as concerneth the man who shall come to you with this letter, and whose name is Minas, he is in truth a bishop. We have consecrated him and we send him to you.” And the monks wrote also in that document, saying, “Peter, the false bishop, hath crowned king the younger prince, and hath set aside the elder prince, which thing is not right; Peter is a man of iniquity.” And these two false and wicked monks, Minas and Victor, before they wrote the forged letter came to Peter, the bishop, and asked him to give them gold, but he would not give them anything whatsoever. And Satan taught them how to carry out this foul and wicked work, and they took the forged letters to the elder prince, who was sitting by himself in a certain place, and a few men were waiting upon him. When he had read these forged letters he rejoiced exceedingly, and he gathered together to him a very large number of soldiers, and read the forged letters before them. And he made war upon his brother, the king, and he put him in fetters and he himself reigned [in his stead]. And he likewise put Peter the bishop in fetters, and carried him off to a far city, and he seated the impostor Minas on the Episcopal throne in his stead. After a few days the impostors Minas and Victor quarreled, and Victor stole everything there was in the bishop’s house in works, which were not well pleasing unto God. And when Cosmas the Archbishop heard what Minas, the liar, had done, he was exceedingly sorry, and he wrote a deed of expulsion and anathematized and excommunicated him. When the King of Ethiopia heard this he was exceedingly sorry, and he seized Minas the liar and killed him, and he sent a messenger bidding Peter the bishop to return from exiled, but they found that he had died in exile. And Cosmas the Archbishop was wroth, and he wanted to consecrate a bishop for the Ethiopians, but his successors Abba Macarius, and Abba Theophanius, and Abba Minas, and Abba Abraham, would not do so. And the King of Ethiopia took the assistant of Peter, the Bishop, and said unto him, “Sit thou instead of thy teacher, and be bishop.” And he entreated the king, saying, “It is not right for thee that I should do this, and I will not transgress the Canon of the Apostles, but let me go to Egypt, and I will beseech the archbishop to consecrate a bishop for you, and I will return to you.” And the king would not allow him to go to the country of Egypt, but he took him against his will, and he arrayed him in Episcopal vestments, and he performed Episcopal functions until the days of Abba Philotheus, the Archbishop. And Abba Cosmas lived to a very old age, and all his days were filled with peace and prosperity. And he sat upon the throne of Mark the Evangelist twelve years, and he died in peace. And on this day also died Barronyos of Banyos.
Glory
be to God Who is glorified in His Saints.
Amen. |
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