Synaxarium

On this day, Saint Agabus, one of the seventy apostles whom the Lord chose to preach before Him, was martyred. He was with the twelve disciples in the Upper Room of Zion, filled with the gifts of the Holy Spirit the Comforter, and received the grace of prophecy, as the Acts of the Apostles tells us: "While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. He came to us and took Paul's belt and bound his own hands and feet, saying, 'This is what the Holy Spirit says: The man to whom this belt belongs will be bound by the Jews in Jerusalem and handed over to the Gentiles.'" This prophecy was fulfilled.

He also prophesied a great famine throughout the inhabited world, which occurred in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then he preached the gospel with the holy apostles, traveling through many countries teaching and guiding, until he brought many Jews and Greeks to the knowledge of the Lord Christ and purified them with the life-giving baptism. The Jews in Jerusalem seized him, beat him severely, then put a rope around his neck and dragged him outside the city where they stoned him until he surrendered his pure spirit. At that moment, a light came down from heaven that those present saw as a pillar connecting his body and heaven. A Jewish woman saw this and said, "Truly this man is righteous," and cried out loudly, "I am a Christian, believing in the God of this saint." They also stoned her. She departed and was buried with him in the same grave.

May their prayers be with us, and to our Lord be glory forever and ever. Amen.