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THE FOURTH MONTH IN THE NAME
OF THE FATHER AND THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, On this day Saint Absadi the bishop became a martyr.
When the Emperor Diocletian heard the report of the great Bishops
Abba ‘Absadi and Abba Hellanicus, of Upper Egypt, and that they were
confirming the Christians in the True Faith of our Lord Christ, and were
destroying the worship of idols, he sent messengers and had them brought
to him, and he tortured them very severely.
And Saint Abba ‘Absadi asked the imperial messenger to wait for
him one day. Then he prepared
the Eucharist, and administered to the people the Holy Mysteries, and he
commanded them to hold fast to the True Faith, and he embraced them and
went forth from them, and delivered his soul into the hand of God.
And the messenger took him to Arianus, the governor of the city of
Antinoe. And when the
messenger saw the face of Abba ‘Absadi, he marveled at his appearance
and his dignity, and he was sorry [for him], and said unto him, “Thou
art a man of dignity; take pity on thyself and hearken to the voice of the
emperor.” And the saint
answered and said unto him, “I will not hearken to the command of the
emperor, the infidel, and I will not exchange the kingdom of heaven for
life in this transitory world”; and there were many words between them,
but Saint ‘Absadi would not turn from his good counsel.
And then the governor commanded the soldiers to torture him on the
wheel, [and they did so]; and they cast him into a red-hot oven, and also
into the furnace which heated the baths; and Saint Abba ‘Absadi endured
all these tortures patiently, and God raised him up uninjured.
Then the governor commanded them to cut off his head with the
sword. And when the saint
heard this he rejoiced with a great joy, and he put on his priestly
vestments, and he stretched out his neck and they cut off his glorious
head, and he received the crown of martyrdom in the kingdom of the
heavens. Salutation to
‘Absadi and Hellanicus, Bishops of Upper Egypt. Salutation to the endurance of Abba Bag’u, who laid a ban upon
water or seventy years. Glory
be to God Who is glorified in His Saints.
Amen. |
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