Synaxarium

On this day is the commemoration of the transfer of the relics of Saint John Chrysostom from the town of Comana, where he departed, to the city of Constantinople. This took place in the year 437 AD with due honor and respect, where they placed him in the Church of the Holy Apostles. This was during the reign of Emperor Theodosius the Younger.

Queen Eudoxia, wife of Emperor Arcadius, had exiled him because she had judged him to abstain from attending church and from partaking of the holy sacraments, as she had seized a widow’s garden and for other reasons. Then she became ill and spent a large amount of money. The saint had died in exile, so she went to his tomb, wept, and asked for forgiveness; her illness was removed. The translation of his life is written under the seventeenth day of the month of Hathor. May the prayer of this saint be with us. Amen.

On this day, the church celebrates the monthly commemoration of the chief of the heavenly hosts, the honorable Archangel Michael, the intercessor for the human race. May his intercession be with us. Amen.

On this day, we commemorate the consecration of the church of the virgin martyr Saint Demiana. This chaste and striving virgin was the daughter of Mark, the governor of Barales, Zafaran, and Wadi Al-Sisban. She was the only child of her parents, and when she was one year old, her father took her to the church at the Monastery of Al-Maima and offered vows, candles, and sacrifices to bless God for this daughter and to keep her safe. When she reached the age of fifteen, her father wanted to marry her off, but she refused and informed him that she had vowed herself as a bride to the Lord Christ. When she saw that her father was pleased with this, she also asked him to build her a separate palace where she and her companions could worship. He immediately granted her request and built the palace, where she lived with forty virgins who spent most of their time reading the Holy Scriptures and fervent worship. After some time, Emperor Diocletian sent for Mark, the father of Saint Demiana, and ordered him to worship idols. At first, he refused, but after the emperor coaxed him, Mark obeyed Diocletian's order, worshipped the idols, and abandoned the Creator of the universe.

When Mark returned to his province and Saint Demiana learned of her father's actions, she hurried to him and entered without greeting or salutation, saying: "What is this I have heard about you? I would rather receive news of your death than hear that you have abandoned the God who created you from nothing into existence and worshipped man-made idols. Know that if you persist in what you have done and do not abandon idol worship, you are not my father, nor am I your daughter." Then she continued, saying to him, "It is better for you, my father, to die a martyr here and live with the Lord Christ in heaven forever." Then she left him and went out. The father was moved by his daughter's words, wept bitterly, and hastened to Diocletian, confessed Christ, and when the emperor could not persuade him by promises or threats, he ordered his beheading.

Diocletian learned that it was Demiana who turned Mark away from idol worship, so he sent a commander to her, ordering him to first coax her, and if she did not obey, to behead her. The commander went to her with one hundred soldiers and instruments of torture. When he reached her palace, he entered and said to her: "I am a messenger from Emperor Diocletian, sent to invite you by his order to worship his deity so that you may be granted what you desire." Saint Demiana shouted at him, saying: "Cursed be the messenger and the one who sent him! Are you not ashamed to call stones and wood gods, when they are inhabited only by demons? There is no god in heaven or on earth except the one God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the eternal Creator, filling all places, who knows secrets before they exist, and who will cast you into hell where eternal torment is. As for me, I worship my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, His good Father, and the Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity. I confess Him, trust in Him, die by His name, and live forever by Him."

The commander became angry and ordered her to be placed between two presses, and four soldiers pressed her until her blood flowed on the ground while the virgins stood weeping over her. Then they imprisoned her, and the angel of the Lord appeared to her and touched her body with his radiant wings. She was healed of all her wounds. The commander devised various tortures for Saint Demiana: sometimes tearing her flesh, sometimes placing her in boiling fat and oil, yet the Lord preserved her unharmed. When the commander saw that all his tricks failed against the steadfastness of this pure virgin, he ordered her beheading along with all the chaste virgins with her. They all received the crown of martyrdom. Then the commander mounted and traveled to Antioch, the king's city. The faithful from the regions gathered the bodies and left their care until the persecution ended and the righteous king, the lover of Christ, Emperor Constantine the Great, ascended. He ordered the building of churches, the destruction of idols' temples, gathered the bodies of the martyrs from all places, built churches in their names at his expense, and arranged revenues for their maintenance.

When the memory of the chaste Saint Demiana and what she endured in the valley of Sisban in Zafaran came before Emperor Constantine, he agreed with his blessed mother Helena and said to her: "Take shrouds and coverings and go to Zafaran and build there a church for the martyr Saint Demiana and the other martyrs with her." She traveled, blessed by him, and came to the ladder, ascended to the palace, and found the body of Saint Demiana in the place where she used to sit while alive. She kissed it and found around her in the palace the bodies of the forty virgins. She wrapped them in precious shrouds, then gathered craftsmen and engineers, demolished that palace, and built beneath it a strong vault in the ground, placing all the bodies inside. Then she wrapped the body of Lady Demiana in a precious shroud, made a bed of fine ivory for her, placed her body on it, covered it with a costly silk curtain, and built above the vault a beautiful church with a single small dome. Pope Alexandros the Patriarch (19) consecrated it on the 12th of Bashans and appointed a holy bishop over it, for the bishop of Zafaran and Barales had received the crown of martyrdom among the martyrs placed in this church. He also appointed priests, deacons, and servants to perform prayers day and night.

Anba Youannis said in his homily: "Then in the eighth generation, it was demolished by one of the Arab rulers and a palace was built in its place for his residence." This ruler was a sorcerer, and the salty sea waters flooded this land until they reached the borders of the church of Samannoud called Zion on the west side near the old fortress. This flood was due to the destruction of the bridge that blocked the salty sea waters. When King Hassan bin Atahiya received news that the entire region was flooded, he was saddened because this area generated revenue for the state from the cultivation of saffron and precious aromatic herbs. One of his close advisors, an Israelite, suggested bringing the Patriarch of the Christians and compelling him to restore everything to its original state by the power of his faith and spiritual prayers. The caliph brought him and asked him to remove the flood from the region and rebuild the bridge as it was. God helped this patriarch with the assistance of one of the saints known as Al-Tafahi in this endeavor. He performed prayers in the church of Samannoud mentioned earlier in the presence of the king. The patriarch went out raising the cross in his hand, the people saying Kyrie Eleison, with Al-Tafahi behind him. Immediately, the water rose about forty cubits and receded before the people to the sea. The patriarch, Al-Tafahi, priests, people, king, and his army proceeded until they reached Al-Damirtain, where they camped, and the island was named after him to this day. Then they rode from there with the water receding before them until they reached Zafaranah, where they pitched tents for the king beside the ruined palace under which lay the body of Saint Demiana and the other martyrs, with the water receding before them. The patriarch stood, prayed, and prostrated on the ground with those with him. At that moment, a great miracle and sign amazed those who saw it: a strong wind blew over the salty sea, raising waves and casting much sand in heaps by God's power, forming a bridge stronger than the first. Then the winds calmed as if they had never been. The patriarch returned, and upon his return to the king, the king greeted him and said, "O Patriarch, ask me for something, and I will do it for you." He replied, "I want you, my lord, to help us build a church in this place because it contains the bodies of female martyrs killed during the days of idol worship for refusing to worship idols." The king ordered the place to be thoroughly cleaned. The patriarch opened the stair door, descended secretly to the vault, and found the bodies of the forty martyrs arranged beside the bed on which Saint Demiana's body had rested. The king then ordered the rapid construction of a church with a single dome, which the patriarch consecrated on the twelfth of Bashans. Its fame spread throughout the land, and people flocked to it with offerings.

Its first consecration was in the days of Constantine, and the second on a day like this. The king ordered that no Christian be disturbed, and there was peace in all Egypt during those days. Afterwards, the king returned to his palace in Egypt and always requested to visit the patriarch, who received him with great honor until the end of his days (according to the homily of Anba Youannis, Bishop of Barales).

The king who ruled Egypt at that time was named Hassan bin Atahiya. His rule was just like Solomon's, and he loved churches, bishops, and monks. He loved Pope Patriarch Khail I (46), who held the throne from 743 to 767 AD, and he used to visit him and discuss matters of the kingdom with him.

The prayer of the martyr Demiana be with us. Amen.

On this day in the year 351 AD, during the time of Saint Cyril, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and in the reign of Emperor Constantine the Great, the sign of the glorious cross appeared in the middle of the sky around the third hour of the day, surrounded by a light surpassing the light of the sun, extending over the city of Jerusalem from Mount Golgotha to the Mount of Olives. Everyone in Jerusalem at that time saw it and hurried to the Church of the Resurrection, amazed by the greatness of the sign. Many believed then. The Pope Patriarch wrote a letter to Emperor Constantius saying: "In the days of your blessed father, a cross of stars appeared in the middle of the sky, and in your days, the cross also appeared surrounded by a light surpassing the light of the sun." He then forbade following the heresy of Arius and established this feast in the precincts of the Holy House. All the churches of the world followed this, and its commemoration is still observed every year because through it we were saved and it is our weapon against all our enemies if we arm ourselves with strong faith. May its blessing be with us. Amen.

The church commemorates on this day in the year 1485 A.M. (May 18, 1769 AD) the departure of Pope Mark VII, the 106th Patriarch. This pope was from Qalusna in the diocese of Beni Suef. His name was Simon. He first went to the Monastery of Anba Anthony as a young man and stayed there for a while. He frequented the monasteries of Anba Anthony and Anba Paula, took monastic vows, and was ordained a priest at the Monastery of Anba Paula on Mount Nimra. When Pope John XVII, the 105th Patriarch, passed away, he was chosen to succeed him on the patriarchal throne. He was brought from his monastery and ordained patriarch on Sunday, the 24th of Bashans, 1461 A.M. (May 30, 1745 AD), the commemoration of Christ's entry into Egypt. This pope was merciful, melodious in voice, and eloquent. Two years into his patriarchate, a great sedition occurred among the military in Egypt, in which many princes were killed, some fled to Upper Egypt, then emigrated to the Hijaz. God removed this hardship after it lasted for some time.

This pope suffered many hardships and terrors during those days, sometimes from opponents and other times from the people.

He ordained Anba Peter as Metropolitan of Upper Egypt to shepherd his flock and protect them from predatory wolves. Near the end of his days, Anba John XIV, the 103rd Metropolitan of the Ethiopian See, passed away. A delegation from the King of Ethiopia came to him for the ordination of a metropolitan. He ordained Anba Yousab IV six months before his own departure. The delegation did not leave Egypt until after the patriarch's death.

He was taken by death while residing at the Church of the Virgin Mary at the Monastery of Al-Adawiya near Maadi on the outskirts of Cairo. Before his pure soul ascended, he saw the two great fathers, Anthony and Paula, present at the second hour of the blessed Thursday, when the church was celebrating the commemoration of the pure martyr Saint Demiana, the commemoration of Archangel Michael, and the departure of the great Saint John Chrysostom. Immediately after his departure, his pure body was transported by boat to the Monastery of the Great Martyr Saint George and placed in the nuns' monastery under the sanctuary. On Friday, the 13th of Bashans, the metropolitans Anba Yousab, Metropolitan of the Ethiopian See, Anba Peter, Metropolitan of Upper Egypt, all priests, deacons, and elders came and washed the face, hands, and feet of the departed pope with rose water and precious spices. They dressed him in his priestly garments, placed him in a coffin, and carried him with priests holding censers, candles, banners, and bells until they reached the Church of Mercurius Abu Seifin, where they prayed for him fittingly and buried him in the blessed fathers' cemetery. He served on the patriarchal throne for 23 years, 11 months, and 18 days, and lived during the reigns of Sultans Mahmud I, Osman III, and Mustafa III. The throne was vacant for five months and five days after him.

May his prayers be with us. Amen.

On this day in the year 1519 A.M. (May 19, 1803 AD), the church commemorates the martyrdom of the teacher Melty. He was a scribe for Ayoub Bey, the chief clerk among the Mamluks of Muhammad Bey Abu al-Dhahab. When the French occupied the country, they formed a council to oversee public affairs and appointed teacher Melty as its head with the approval of its members, both Muslims and Christians, due to his integrity, expertise, and good management. Teacher Melty continued skillfully in the council during the French rule. After their departure, it was announced that no one should harm Christian notables, specifically mentioning teacher George Al-Jawhari, teacher Wasif, and teacher Melty. When the country became unstable and security was disturbed during the days of Taher Pasha, the governor of Egypt, they arrested teacher Melty and beheaded him at Bab Zuwayla, thus he received the crown of martyrdom.

May his intercession be with us. Glory be to the Lord forever. Amen.