1. On
this day was the martyrdom of Saints Kobtlas and his sister, Aksu, the
children of Sapor the King of Persia and Kobtlas' friend, Tatos. Safor was
a worshipper of fire and of the sun. He inflicted many tortures on the
believers, and no man throughout the country dared to mention the Name of
Christ. His Son, Kobtlas, had a friend named Tatos who was a ruler over
the country of Maydasayeen. Certain people laid an accusation against him
that he was a Christian. The king sent a governor named Tumakher to find
out the truth about what was said and if it was true, to torture him. When
Kobtlas the son of the king, heard that, he too went to that country to
his friend Tatos. When the governor arrived and found that he was a
Christian, he ordered his men to cast him in a furnace. St. Tatos made the
sign of the Cross over the fire and the fire died out. Kobtlas marveled
and asked him, 'How did you learn this magic, O my brother?' He replied,
'This is not magic, but it is through faith in the Lord Christ.' Kobtlas
asked, 'If I believed, would I be able to do this?' Tatos answered him
that with faith you can do more than this. Kobtlas, the son of the king,
believed in the Lord Christ, then drew near the fire and made the sign of
the Cross over it, and the fire backed a distance of twelve cubits. The
governor sent to the king to inform him what had happened, and the king
had them brought to him. He ordered his men to cut off the head of Tatos
who thus received the crown of martyrdom. But his son, Kobtlas, was
tortured by him in different ways. He delivered him to the warden to
torture him. He cast them in prison and sent for his sister Aksu, so she
might persuade him to return to his father's belief. Saint Kobtlas
preached to her and turned her heart to the belief in the Lord Christ,
then he sent her to a priest who baptized her secretly. She returned to
her father saying it would be a good thing if he had what she and her
brother had, for there is no other but Jesus Christ. The king became angry
and commanded to torture her, and they did so, until she yielded up her
soul in the hand of the Lord Christ. Then they tied Kobtlas to the tails
of horses and dragged him over the mountains until he yielded up his
spirit and then they cut his body and they cast it out for the birds of
heaven to consume it. When the soldiers departed, the Lord commanded
saintly priests and deacons to bury Kobtlas, and they went secretly at
night and took the holy body which was shining as snow. They hid it in a
place until the end of the days of persecution. May their intercession be
for us all. Amen.
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2. On
this day also was the martyrdom of St. Julius El-Akfehas, the writer of
the biography of the martyrs. The Lord Christ set him up to care for the
bodies of the holy martyrs, to shroud them and to send them to their
homes. The Lord brought blindness into the hearts of the governors, and no
one objected to him. They never forced him to worship idols. The Lord
protected him to care for the martyrs. He used three hundred young men for
this purpose. They wrote the biography of the holy martyrs and sent it to
their homes. But Julius used to minister to the holy martyrs by himself
and dress their wounds. The martyrs blessed him, saying, 'You must shed
your blood in the Name of our Lord Christ, so you can be counted among the
martyrs.' When the reign of Diocletian the infidel came to an end,
Constantine the righteous reigned. The Lord Christ wished to fulfill what
the saints had prophesied about him to be counted among the martyrs. The
Lord commanded him to go to Arkanius, the governor of Samanoud, and to
confess the Lord Christ. He went there where the governor tortured him
many times, but the Lord strengthened him. When the governor ordered to
bring him to worship the idols, this saint prayed and the earth opened and
swallowed up the seventy idols and the one hundred and forty priests who
were serving them. When the governor beheld the destruction of his idols
and their priests, he believed in the Lord Christ. The governor went with
the Saint to the governor of Athribis who tortured Saint Julius with great
severity, but the Lord Christ strengthened him. One day there was to be a
festival for the idols and they decorated the temple with ornaments and
lamps and with palm branches. They closed the gates till the following day
to start celebrating the festival. The saint asked the Lord to blot out
their idols and the Lord sent his angel who but the heads of the idols and
blackened their faces with ashes and burnt up all the palms, and all the
idols in the temple. On the following morning when the people came dressed
to celebrate the feast and saw what had happened to their gods, they
recognized their weakness. The governor of Athribis and a large number of
people believed in the Lord Christ. From there, the Saint went to the city
of Towa and with him were the governor of Samanoud and the governor of
Athribis, and they met with Iskandros its governor. First he refrained
from torturing them, but later he ordered his men to cut off their heads.
Julius and his two sons, Tadros and Yunias, his slaves, and the governors
of Samanoud and Athribis and a great many people were martyred. They
numbered fifteen hundred. They took his body with the bodies of his sons
to Alexandria for it was there that they used to live. May his prayers and
blessings be with us all, and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
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