Synaxarium

On this day in the year 675 A.M. (June 13, 959 A.D.), the new Saint George, known as the Wrestler, was martyred. His father was a Bedouin Muslim married to a Christian woman from the people of Damira al-Qibliya, and they were blessed with three sons, one of whom was this saint, whom they named "Wrestler." From his youth, he used to accompany his mother to the church. He saw the Christian children wearing white clothes on the days they received the Holy Sacraments, and he longed for his mother to dress him like them and allow him to partake of what they ate in the sanctuary. She informed him that this could only happen if he was baptized. She gave him a blessed morsel from the communion distributed to the people, which tasted like honey in his mouth. He thought to himself, "If the taste of the communion that has not been sanctified by prayer is this sweet, how sweet must the sanctified communion be?" From that moment, his desire to believe in Christ increased.

When he grew up, he married a Christian woman and informed her of his wish to become a Christian. She advised him to be baptized first. So he went to Burma. When his matter became known, he came to Damietta and was baptized, taking the name George. The Muslims recognized him, arrested him, and tortured him, but he escaped and went to Saft Abi Turab, where he stayed for three years. When his matter became known, he went to Qutur and served in the church of Saint Mar George. Then he returned to Damira, where the Muslims heard of him serving in the church of Saint Mar George. They handed him over to the governor, who imprisoned him. The Muslims gathered, broke the prison door, beat him, and wounded his head, leaving him between life and death. When some believers came the next day to bury him, thinking he had died, they found him alive. The Muslims held a council and threatened him to renounce his faith, but he refused. They hung him on a ship's mast, but the judge took him down and imprisoned him again. His wife comforted and encouraged him, teaching him that the suffering he endured was for his sins, so that the devil would not tempt him to pride, thinking he had become like the martyrs. The angel of the Lord appeared to him, comforted and strengthened him, and informed him that he would receive the crown of martyrdom the next day. In the morning, the Muslims gathered at the governor's place and demanded his beheading. The governor handed him over to them, and they beheaded him near the church of the Archangel Michael in Damira. They threw his body into a blazing fire for a day and a night. When his body did not burn, they placed it in a barrel and threw it into the sea. By God's providence, it reached an island where a believing woman took it, wrapped it in a shroud, and hid it in her house until they built a church for him and placed his relics there. May his intercession be with us. Amen.

On this day, Saint Pshai Anoub, whose name means "Gold of the Paint," was martyred. He was from a town called Panaios in the Diocese of Damietta and was a soldier under Cyprianus, the governor of Atripe. When persecution against Christians broke out, he went before the governor and confessed the Lord Christ. The governor tortured him and then sent him to Ansena. There, he openly proclaimed Christ before its governor, Ariana, who tortured him severely. Finally, he ordered his beheading outside the city. A large crowd followed him, including the tamer of wild beasts of Ariana, the governor, who came with two lions chained. One lion broke its chain and leapt at the saint to devour him, but immediately the angel of the Lord appeared, took the saint, and brought him to the city of Ain Shams, where his martyrdom was completed.

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

On this day in the year 1684 A.M., corresponding to Wednesday, June 26, 1968, the Church celebrated the opening day of the new Marquesian Cathedral built at the Monastery of Anba Rouis, formerly known as the Monastery of the Trench, where the relics of Saint Mark were placed after their return from Venice and Rome.

On this occasion, a grand papal liturgy was held, presided over by Pope Kyrillos VI, with the participation of Patriarch Mar Ignatius Jacob III, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East of the Syriac Orthodox, along with several metropolitans of the Syriacs, India, and the Armenian Orthodox. Present were Emperor Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia, Cardinal Duval, head of the Roman Papal Mission, many religious leaders, metropolitans, bishops, clergy, Egyptians and foreigners from various countries around the world, and a large number of the faithful, about six thousand people.

During the liturgy, the reliquary containing the relics of Saint Mark the Apostle was placed on a table in the eastern middle of the cathedral's sanctuary and remained there throughout the liturgy. At the end of the liturgy, Pope Kyrillos descended carrying the reliquary, accompanied by the emperor, the Syriac Orthodox patriarch, and the heads of churches in a grand procession to the shrine of Saint Mark prepared under the main altar. The reliquary was placed inside the marble altar and covered with a large marble slab, on which the altar table was placed. Then, the choirs sang in succession appropriate hymns in various languages, greeting Saint Mark the Apostle in Coptic, Ethiopian, Syriac, Armenian, Greek, Latin, and Arabic. It was a joyful day, one of the happiest days of the Church of Alexandria.

May the blessing of Saint Mark the Apostle be upon all. Amen.

On this day in the year 28 A.M., June 23, 312 A.D., Pope Archilaus, the eighteenth patriarch, departed. He had been a priest in the Church of Alexandria. When Pope Peter I received the crown of martyrdom, the believers in Alexandria gathered the bishops and consecrated Archilaus the priest as patriarch in his place, as Peter had advised before his departure from this world. When he sat on the patriarchal throne on 19 Kiahk, 28 A.M. (December 24, 311 A.D.), a group of the people came to him and asked him to accept Arius. He accepted their request and ordained him a deacon. When he accepted him and went against the advice of his father Peter, he remained on the throne for only six months before his departure. May his prayers be with us. Amen.