السيرة
Lives of the Saints and Martyrs in the Coptic Orthodox Church
This Aptalmaos is not the same as Aptalmaos the priest, who was martyred together with the saints (Abakir, John, and Philip) near Damanhur on the 15th of the month of Paona.
**His Meeting with Babnouda the Wanderer**
Aptalmaos, son of Nestorius, was from the city of Dendera, on the western bank of the Nile opposite the city of Qena in the far reaches of Upper Egypt.
Aptalmaos had taken some soldiers and set off to the mountain on a hunting expedition, and there he met Saint Babnouda the wandering monk (Paphnutius). The monk drew near to him in response to a voice he had heard from heaven, but the soldiers despised him on account of the shabbiness of his garments and tried to drive him away. Aptalmaos, however, dismounted from his horse and made a metanoia (prostration) before the father in the presence of the soldiers, and asked him to accompany him... Then he took him to an orchard of his, full of fruit-bearing trees.
Saint Babnouda saw this glory in which the young man Aptalmaos lived, and he began to weep.
— Tell me, my father, what makes you weep?
— My son, my weeping is not over this glory, nor over the honor that I behold, but I have remembered the glories that are prepared for us in the kingdom of heaven if we keep the commandments of the Lord.
— My father, I will not leave you, and whatever you counsel me to do, I will do it.
— I only ask of you that you not depart from me, but remain with me in this place.
— I cannot remain with you.
— Then take me with you into the wilderness.
— I fear the power of your father; but if you wish to reach the kingdom of heaven by a shorter road, behold, I will send you to the city of Antinoë, to a devout man, a worshipper of God, named Dorotheus, who is called (the Wearer of Light) on account of the excellence of his worship.
Then Saint Babnouda wrote a letter for Saint Dorotheus, commending Aptalmaos to him. He then counseled Aptalmaos, telling him to guard himself against the enemy of good, who would stir up against him many temptations by means of a wicked woman who would meet him on the way, and asking him not to cease from making mention of the name of Christ, that He might deliver him from temptations and afflictions. He also foretold him that, as he journeyed to the city of Antinoë, the enemy of good would stir up against him violent winds to wreck the ship, and he asked him to entreat the Lord for deliverance, so that he would receive swift help.
**With Father Dorotheus**
Aptalmaos obeyed the counsel of Father Babnouda, and at once disguised himself and set off on the way, only to find what Father Babnouda had foretold him fulfilled to the letter. When he met Father Dorotheus, he gave him the letter, and the father sat with him and directed him to go to Arianus, governor of Antinoë, and to confess the Lord Christ, so that he would attain the crown swiftly, instead of the long road through the monastic life.
**His Martyrdom**
He set off to Arianus, where he confessed the Lord Christ, so Arianus made him taste many torments. At last the governor ordered that they take him across the Nile to the west, to the village of Tukh al-Khail, today a ruined district to the northwest of Taha. There he was hung upon a high mast and remained thus for nine days, until one of the soldiers pierced his neck and he completed his martyrdom on the 11th of the month of Kiahk.
It is said that bee's honey would flow from the mast, and everyone who was sick and ate of it was healed.
His body was buried, and a church was raised over it after the period of persecution had passed