17 tahsas 2016
The Ethiopian Synaxarium
IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, ONE GOD. AMEN.
On this day took place the translation of the body of Saint Luke of the pillar, who came from the country of Persia. He was the captain of one hundred soldiers, but he gave up his appointment, and assumed the garb of the monastic life, and took up his abode in one of the monasteries of the country of the East; and he dwelt therein many days. And when he had finished his ascetic training and his spiritual fight showed his excellences, he was made a priest in that monastery. And at the time of his appointment he dressed himself in iron, and he wore this dress as long as he dwelt in that monastery; and he devoted himself to fasting, and from that day he fasted seven days and seven nights at a time. On the Seventh Day he consecrated the Offering, and partook of the Holy Mysteries, and then he ate a small bread cake and some herbs. After this he went up on the top of a pillar, and stood thereon for three years, and he heard the voice of an angel calling him by name, and commanding him to get down from the pillar. And the angel showed him a cross of light, and Luke descended and followed the voice, which he heard. And the cross (of light) guided him until it brought him to a certain monastery, and he dwelt therein many days, and all the men came to him and were comforted by his doctrine. Then he became a devotee of silence, and he put a stone in his mouth so that he might not talk at all with any man. Then God commanded him to go to the borders of the city of Constantinople, and he went to a certain village which was near it, and he went up on the top of a pillar, and he dwelt thereon for five and forty years and fought a great spiritual fight. And God gave him the gift of prophecy, and he performed signs and wonders, and he healed all the sick folk who came to him. And God willing that he should leave the toil of this world, Luke died on the fifteenth day of the month of Takhshash; and he who ministered unto him went and told the archbishop and the priests concerning his death. And the archbishop and the priests rose up, and carrying crosses and censers they came to his abode, and they prayed over him, and they took him up and carried him to the city of Constantinople, three days after he died. And they brought him thither on the seventeenth day of the month of Takhshash, and laid him in the sanctuary, and they finished the prayer for the third hour
over his holy body; and all those who were gathered together were blessed by him. Then they put him in a sarcophagus wherein were the bodies of the saints who were his predecessors, and God made manifest from his body many signs and wonders, and [many derived] very great benefit there from, and it healed all the sick who came to it in faith. Salutation to Luke, the pillar-saint.
And on this day also are commemorated the holy martyrs ‘Eusoryays (Aularianus), and ‘Euthyos, and Suryan, and Mark, and Bartelel, and Nathaniel, the monk and toiler in the ascetic life.
Glory be to God Who is glorified in His Saints. Amen.
James the apostle
ሐዋርያውያዕቆብ ወልደ ዘብዲዮስ
Apôtre Jacques fils de Zébédée
Abba Gerima
Abba Gerima (one of the Nine saints)
አባ ገሪማ
Saint Stefanos
ቅዱስ እስጢፋኖስ
(Stephen the Martyr) - the First Martyr and Archdeacon