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THE SIXTH MONTH
YEKATIT 13
(February 20)

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, 
ONE GOD.  AMEN.

On this day the holy and honorable Sergius became a martyr, and with him were his father, and his mother, and his brethren, and many men from the city of Athribis.  This saint had excellent parents; his father’s name was Theodore, and his mother’s name was Mary.  And when his days were twenty years, he determined in his heart to die for the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and he came to Cyprianus the governor, and confessed our Lord Jesus Christ before him.  And the governor commanded the soldiers to inflict every kind of torture upon him, and to shut him up in prison.  And our Lord Jesus Christ commanded the angels to carry away his soul into heaven, and he saw the habitations of the saints, and his soul was comforted, and Christ healed him of his sufferings.  And a certain priest whose name was Abba Masun heard of his fight, and two deacons also, and they rose up and came to the governor of the city of Athribis, and confessed our Lord Christ.  And the governor commanded the soldiers to beat them, and they did as he commanded them, and all the people were looking on at them, and they walked round about them, and they were sorry for the deacons and the priest.  And the priest rebuked them, and turned his face to them, and he taught them, and commanded them, saying thus, “Be strong in the True Faith of our Lord Christ.”  And then he prayed over some water, and sprinkled it upon them.  And the grace of the Holy Spirit descended upon them, and they confessed our Lord Christ; and the soldiers cut off the heads of all of them with the sword, and they received the crown of martyrdom in the kingdom of the heavens.  The governor commanded the soldiers to cast the priest into the furnace of the public baths, but God delivered him there from.  And the angel of God appeared unto him, and made him to know that he would be martyred thrice for the sake of Christ, and then the angel of God brought him out of the furnace.  And the governor sent him to the city of Alexandria, and he finished his fight there, and received the crown of martyrdom in the kingdom of the heavens.  And Cyprianus, the governor, had Sergius brought before him, and he tortured him with severe tortures, and then they brought a wheel of brass, and they crushed him, and his members became two parts, and all his body was torn asunder; but our Lord Christ raised him up whole and uninjured.  Then they brought unto him an idol for him to worship, and the saint spurned it with his foot, and it fell down, and was broken in pieces.  When Cyprianus saw this he believed in our Lord [Jesus] Christ.  And he said, “The god who could not save himself, how can he save others?”  And Eucheius, the captain of the soldiers, tortured Saint Sergius very severely, and he told the soldiers to flay him, and to rub him with vinegar and salt mixed together; but Christ gave power to the saint, and he was strong.  And when his mother and his sister heard [of this] they came to him, and when they saw him they wept over him, and his sister delivered up her spirit through her excessive grief for him.  And the saint prayed to God, and his sister rose up from the dead, and became alive straightway.  And Saint Julius, of the city of ‘Akpihas, the writer of martyrdoms, came to him, and he enquired about his body, and would bury it.  And then Eucheius commanded them to torture Saint Sergius on the wheel, and to thrust burning torches into his ears, and to pluck out the nails of his hands and feet, and to suspend a huge stone from his neck, and to lay him upon the iron bed and to light a fire beneath him; and they did these things even as the captain commanded, but our Lord Jesus Christ strengthened him, and healed his wounds, and raised him up whole and uninjured.  And the captain of the soldiers being weary of torturing him, he commanded them to cut off his head with the sword; and when the saint heard this he rejoiced exceedingly.  And he sent a message to his father, and his mother, and his brethren, and all his kinsfolk and the men of his household, and they came to see him and they found him with a gag in his mouth.  And the soldiers were dragging him away to cut off the head of the saint and the heads of all those who were with him; and they cut off their heads and the saints received the crown of martyrdom in the kingdom of the heavens.  Now there was a little child among the people, and God opened his eyes, and he saw the souls of the holy martyrs, and the angels carrying them up into heaven, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying, “My Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon me.”  And his parents were afraid lest the governor should hear him, and destroy them because of him, and they shut his mouth, as he continued to cry out and to call upon our Lord [Jesus] Christ, and then they laid stones upon him until he delivered up his soul, and received the crown of life in the kingdom of the heavens.  And the angels took his soul, and carried it up into heaven.  Salutation to Sergius, whose nails were cut out with knives.

And on this day also died Eusebius the martyr, of splendid glory, and sweet perfume, the son of the judge (or, governor) of Syria; and he had a sister who was full of the spirit, and whose name was Eulophia.  This saint was brought up carefully and wisely, and then they betrothed him to a beautiful maiden, the daughter of the Emperor of Rome, and they brought her to his house with great splendor.  And on that day he went to his sister, and said unto her, “Counsel me with counsel.  Is it better to take a wife, and to live with her [or no]?  I do not wish to do this, for I long to renounce the world.”  And she said unto him, “What will the taste of this fleeting world benefit thee?  It is better for thee to dwell in virginity like Demetrius the Archbishop.”  And when the evening had come he went into the bridal-chamber where was the bride, whom they had brought unto him, and he took her head (or, neck) and kissed her, and said unto her, “Prithee, tell me if I may say unto thee a matter.”  And she said unto him, “Speak, tell me.”  And he made an agreement with her, and he said unto her, “O my sister, know thou that the lust of the world passeth away, and that comeliness and beauty fade, and that nothing whatsoever profiteth a man except the working of righteousness.  And now, it is better for us to live as virgins, and not to defile the temples of our bodies of flesh.”  And she said unto him, “I agree, O my brother, I do not wish to marry.”  And the two of them began to travel together along the path of righteousness, and they dwelt in purity for two years, and they ate no food until [after] they had received the Offering, and they slept in the same bed, and each night they stood in the river, and by day they went into the church, the name whereof is ‘Atra, and each of them made four thousand prostrations, and they read the Psalms of David and the Gospel of John continually.  One day the wife of the King of Syria saw Eusebius, and she commanded two of her servants to bring him to her.  And when they had brought him, straightway she laid down carpets and purple linen on her bed, and she adorned herself and put round her neck a gold collar, and she said unto Eusebius, “Come [and] sit down, and I will tell thee what is in my heart.”  And Eusebius said unto her, “I will not sit down with the wife of the king; tell me what thou hast to say as I stand up.”  And she said unto him, “My flesh quivereth, and my bones melt through the greatness of my love for thee; come and sit down with me.”  And Eusebius answered and said unto her, “I will not lie with thee.  It is not seemly, and the commandment of God is not thus.”  And when she wished to lay hold upon him, he went forth, and ran away, and came into the church.  And straightway the woman called her servants and said unto them, “As soon as he looked at me with his eyes pain and suffering seized me; he is a magician”; and she commanded fourteen of the elders to make him come out of the church, and to bring him to her.  And when they had brought him to her she commanded them to beat him with two iron rods, and to bind him hand and foot and to hang him up on a tree; and they hung him up outside the city, and she sent one of her handmaidens to say unto him, “Consent to do the will of my mistress, that she may have thee taken down”; but he would not hearken unto the voice of the harlot.  And straightway he began to pray with the tears running down his face like water in the winter, and he said, “O my Lord God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Who didst command the deliverance of Jacob, and Who didst deliver our fathers from every trial, deliver Thou Thy servant Eusebius, O Thou Who didst deliver Daniel from the mouth of the lion, and Susannah from the hand of the Rabbis, deliver me from the hand of the tyrant and oppressor, for besides Thee I have no other helper.”  And then the queen commanded them to strangle him with a cord, and to shoot at him four hundred and sixty-eight arrows; and when they had done this to him, God commanded the angels Michael and Gabriel, and they plucked out the arrows, from his limbs, and he became whole, and there was no injury on him.  And when the king came back from his expedition he asked the queen, saying, “What is the offense of Eusebius?  And what is his crime that thou hast delivered him over to crucifixion and death?”  And his wife the queen said unto him, “I am ashamed to tell thee, for I am afraid of thee”; and the king said, “Speak, tell me, and do not be afraid of me.”  And she said unto him, “This man is a magician.  He came to me when I was alone, and he asked me [to do] what is unseemly to mention, and when I refused him, he smote me with pains.”  And the king commanded the soldiers to take Eusebius down from the tree and to bring him to him.  And when they had brought him, the king said unto Eusebius, “Why didst thou meditate evilly the doing of a thing which it is not seemly to do against my wife?”  And Eusebius said unto the king, “O my lord, dost thou imagine that these words are true?  It is unnecessary to talk about it.”  And the king questioned the servants and said unto them, “Is this what I hear true?”  And they said unto him, “O my lord the king, when we entered the royal chamber, we found the queen screaming.  And when we asked her, ‘What hath happened to thee?’ she told us thus.”  And when the king heard this he was filled with anger and fury, like a lion, and he commanded them to cut off the head of Eusebius with the sword, and to cut off his limbs as they cut up an ox, and to throw him into a cauldron, and to smother his mouth with pitch, and to boil him over the fire; [and they did so].  And straightway the archangels Michael and Gabriel came, and they took his body out of the cauldron, and raised him up alive.  And after he had risen from the sleep of death, the people found him walking about in the city; and they told the king that he was alive, and he commanded them to bring him to him.   And straightway he put four iron bands round him, one round his neck (or, head), one round his body, one round his thighs, and one round his knees, and then they bound him hand and foot, and cast him into the fire.  And Michael and Gabriel came and cooled the fire, and Uriel the angel caught him up, and carried him into heaven, where he remained for two years; and then he returned to earth and lived [here] for forty years preaching the Faith; and through him eight thousand and fifty hundred pagans believed.  And God made a covenant with him that He would forgive the sins of every one who called upon the name of the saint, or who celebrated his commemoration.

And on this day also died Philemon the musician.  This Philemon the musician used to sing and play to Arianus the governor, and amuse him.  And one day Arianus called Apollo the reader and said unto him, “Sacrifice to the gods.”  And Apollo went to Philemon, and said unto him, “I will give thee four dinars if thou wilt sacrifice instead of me.”  And Philemon said unto him, “Give me thy garments, and I will wrap my self up in them, and go in instead of thee.”  And when he went in Arianus knew that he was Philemon, and he said unto him, “What hath happened unto thee?”  And he said unto him, “I am a Christian and I believe in Christ.”  And Arianus said unto him, “Sacrifice to the gods, so that thou mayest live”: and Philemon said unto him, “Is not this life death because of the Name of Christ?”  And Arianus said unto him, “I will kill thee quickly, before thou canst receive baptism, and that for which thou hopest will be lost to thee.”  When Philemon heard this, he prayed to God to grant to him Christian baptism, and straightway a cloud of light came from heaven and baptized him.  And Arianus commanded three soldiers to smite Philemon, so that he might be ashamed and repent.  And Philemon said unto him, “I shall not be ashamed, even if thou smite me more severely than this, for I see that the angels of God rejoice because of me.”  And Arianus commanded them to hang him up on a framework, and to shoot arrows at him, but not one of them touched him.  And when the soldiers told Arianus that he was still alive, he commanded them to shoot at him again, and as he was standing [there] one of the arrows came down into the right eye of Arianus, and blinded it.  Then straightway he commanded them to take him down from the framework, and to cut off his head and the head of Apollo the reader with the sword, and they finished their martyrdom patiently.  And Arianus took a little of the blood of these saints and put it in his eye, and he recovered his sight, and straightway he believed on Christ.  And he released all the prisoners, and became a martyr by the hand of Diocletian.  [This section is wanting in the Bodleian MS.]

And on this day also died Saint Abba Timothy, the thirty-second Archbishop of the city of Alexandria.  To this father and fighter came tribulation, and great trial, because of the True Faith.  And Abba Severus, Archbishop of the city of Antioch, came to the country of Egypt in those days, and he went about from city to city, and from monastery to monastery, and from one religious house to another with Abba Timothy, strengthening the believers.  And in the days of this father there appeared in Egypt certain evil men who had come from Constantinople, and who were of those who believed in the opinion of Eutyches, the unclean, who confessed the teaching of error and denied the Passion, and the Resurrection of Christ our Redeemer, and this father anathematized them, and drove them out of Egypt, and he anathematized those who believed in their words.  And in the days of this father Anastasius the emperor of the believers died, and Justinianus the infidel, the Chalcedonian, reigned in his stead; and he made Linarius archbishop in the place of Abba Timothy.  And he wished to convert all the men of the True Faith to the evil faith of the Council of Chalcedon.  And he gathered together a Council in the city of Constantinople, and brought there Abba Severus, Archbishop of the city of Antioch, and his bishops from the country of the East, and wanted them to believe in the unclean faith of Chalcedon, but they would not obey him.  And he brought great tribulation upon them, and upon all those of the True Faith; and this father sat for sixteen (or, seventeen) years and died in peace.  Salutation to Severus the lion.

Salutation to John from whose fingers incense dropped.  Salutation to Jacob, the saint of God, who restored the monasteries.  Salutation to Archbishop Timothy the preacher.  Salutation to Victor the sun.  Salutation to Eusebius, who after being burnt to death was raised up by Uriel, and lived upon earth for seven years. 

And on this day also became martyrs Theodore, the son of Basilides, and Abba Kaphes (Kefses), and Abba Hephes (Hepes).

And on this day also the birth of Victor the martyr took place.

Glory be to God Who is glorified in His Saints.  Amen.