The Coptic New Year

A little on Diocletian

 Reigned 284 AD – 305 AD

 Abdicated, died of natural causes
 Reorganized financial and military machinery
of the empire laying the foundation for the
Byzantine Empire in the East and temporarily
shoring up the decaying empire in the West.
His reign is also noted for the last great
persecution of the Christians. 
 Encouraged to persecute Christians by
Galerian, Roman emperor of the west.
 Edict of Milan in 313 ended Christian
Persecution (at least for a short while)
A little on Paganism

 "The exclusive sovereignty of Christ clashed with Caesar's claims

to his own exclusive sovereignty.
 Much of the pagan populace maintained a sense that bad things
would happen if the established pagan gods were not respected
and worshiped properly

1. Jupiter (Zeus): King of the gods;

2. Juno (Hera): Queen of the gods; wife and sister of Jupiter
3. Minerva (Athena): Born of the head of Jupiter after he
impregnated his sister Metis,
4. Neptune (Poseidon): Brother of Jupiter, Pluto and Juno; god of
freshwater and the sea,
5. Venus (Aphrodite): Mother of the Roman people; goddess of
love, beauty
 A little on El Nayrouz

 The Feast of Neyrouz marks the first day of the Coptic

year. Ignorant of the Persian language for the most part,
the Arabs confused the Egyptian new year's celebrations,
which the Egyptians called the feast of Ni-Yarouou (the
feast of the rivers), with the Persian feast of Nowruz
(new years day).
 Coptic years are counted from 284, the year Diocletian
became Roman Emperor
 Coptic year is identified by the abbreviation A.M. (for
Anno Martyrum or "Year of the Martyrs").
 May I enjoy the wild beasts that are prepared for
A lot on the 
me. I pray that they would be found eager to rush at
martyrs me, and I will also entice them to devour me
speedily and not deal with me as some, whom out of
fear they have not touched. If they are unwilling to
assail me, I will compel them to do so. Pardon me; I
know what is to my benefit. Now I begin to be a
disciple. Let no one, of things visible or invisible,
prevent me from attaining to Jesus Christ. Let fire
and the cross; let wild beasts; let tearings,
breakings, and dislocation of bones; let cutting off
of limbs; let shatterings of the whole body; and let
all the evil torments of the devil come upon me;
only let me attain to Jesus Christ. - St Ignatius of
Antioch
 Surrender the self:
Martyrdom and
Surrender
• Status
• Certainty
• Autonomy
• Relatedness
• Fairness
  ….were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might
Not accepting
obtain a better resurrection. 36 Still others had trial of mockings
and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.  37 They were
deliverance…
stoned, they were sawn in two,  [k]were tempted, were slain with
the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins,
being destitute, afflicted, tormented— 38 of whom the world was
not worthy. 
Hebrews 11:34
A few stories
 Theban Legion – Luxor, Emperor Maximian
ordered them to march to Gaul, to assist him
against the rebels of Burgundy
 Great Caesar – we are your soldiers but at the
same time we are God’s slaves. We owe you
our military service, but our prime allegiance
is to God. From you we receive our daily
wages, but from Him our eternal reward.
Great Caesar, we cannot obey any orders that
counter our God’s commands. If your orders
coincide with God’s command we will certainly
obey them, if not, “we ought to obey God,
rather than men” (Acts 5:29) for our loyalty to
him surpasses all other loyalties. We are not
rebels, for if we were we would defend
ourselves, as we have our weapons. For we
prefer to die upright, than to live stained.
 St Maurice, now a town in Switzerland
 St. Putamnia, the pure virgin martyr who cried to
The female
the ruler, “By the head of your emperor do not
let them remove my clothes and allow them to let
martyrs
me go to the tar pit with my clothes on. Then you
will see the power to endure that Christ, whom
you do not know, will give me.” A soldier named
Basilidis defended her and was also martyred. She
was of Origen’s disciples.
St. Theodora was a seventeen-year-old virgin
martyr. She was martyred with Dydimus the
soldier who saved her from the plot to shame her
by the emperor’s decree to send her to a
whorehouse.
 St. Veronica the virgin martyr. In the year
749 the soldiers of Marwan the caliph
entered a monastery for virgins close to
Akhmim, a city in Egypt. They wanted to
assault and rape her because she was very
beautiful. But she deceived them, telling
them that she had oil that would protect
the body from any sword. To convince
them she placed this oil on her neck and
told them to test her words. One soldier
took out his sword and swung at her neck
and she was beheaded. This terrified the
soldiers and they left the monastery.
 St Barbara was tortured by her own father.
I will not purchase corruptible life at so dear
a cost!

 The mother of Kosman and Demian, was forced to watch while her family we
tortured, and instead of mourning she encouraged them and was promptly
beheaded.
 Mother Dolagy pleaded that the soldiers cut the heads of her 4 sons first so
that she could be sure that they did not offer incense to idols after she was
martyred.
Martyrs from all walks of life
 Rich (St Esi) and Poor
 Doctors (St Kosman and Demian)
 Mothers, Fathers, Youth (Martyrs of Akhmim)
 Monks (the elders of Sheheet) and Nuns (St Sophia and the 50,
St Demiana and the 40)
 Children and Elderly (St Rebecca’s children)
 Soldiers / Officers (St George, and many others)
 Princes / Heirs to the throne
 Popes, Bishops, Priests and Deacons (St Peter the pope)
 Executioners (St Eulogi) and Queens (wife of Diocletian)
 Magicians (St Athansius the magician)
Signs and Wonders

 St George drank poison, and raised people from the dead

 St Philotheos, prayed and 70 idols and their priests were swallowed up by the
ground
 St. Pantaleemon healed the blind
 St Mena the wonder-worker, performed all his miracles beyond the grave
•Tertullian: “The bloods of the martyrs
are the seeds of the church. Continued
in the torture, they increased in number
more than those who were killed.
"Verily, verily I say unto you, except a
corn of wheat fall into the ground and
die, it abides alone but if it die, it brings
forth much fruit. (John 12:24)

•When I was delighting in the doctrines

of Plato, and heard the Christians
slandered and saw them fearless of
death…I perceived that it was impossible
that they could be living in wickedness
and pleasure – Justin Martyr
The commemoration of the saints

 Intercede on our behalf, O the Lady of us all the

Mother of God, Mary the Mother of our Savior, that He
may forgive us our sins.
 Pray to the Lord on our behalf, our masters and
fathers the Apostles, and the rest of the Disciples,
that He may forgive us our sins.
 Pray to the Lord on our behalf, O blessed archdeacon,
Stephen the first martyr, that He may forgive us our
sins.
The commemoration of the saints

 Prayto the Lord on our behalf, O beholder of God the

Evangelist, Abba Mark the apostle, that He may forgive
us our sins.
 Prayto the Lord on our behalf, O struggle-mantled
martyr, my lord prince George, that He may forgive us
our sins.
 Prayto the Lord on our behalf, Theodore and
Theodore, Leontius and Panicharus, that He may
forgive us our sins.
 Prayto the Lord on our behalf, Philopater Mercurius,
and Abba Mina and Abba Victor, that He may forgive
us our sins.
 Prayto the Lord on our behalf, master Claudius and
Theodore, Abba Eschyron and Abba Isaac, that He may
forgive us our sins.
 Pray to the Lord on our behalf, Basilidis and Evsebius,
Macarius and Philotheos, that He may forgive us our
sins.
 Prayto the Lord on our behalf, Abba Pisura and Abba
Epshoy, Abba Isi and his sister Thecla, that He may
forgive us our sins.
 Prayto the Lord on our behalf, O struggle-mantled
martyrs, Justus Apali and Theoklia, that He may
forgive us our sins.
 Prayto the Lord on our behalf, Abba Jacob the
Persian, Saint Sergius and Saint Bacchus, that He may
forgive us our sins.
 Pray
to the Lord on our behalf, O struggle-mantled
martyrs, Cosmas his brothers and their mother, that
He may forgive us our sins.
 Prayto the Lord on our behalf, Abba Kir and his
brother John, and Barbara and Juliana and Demiana,
that He may forgive us our sins.
 Pray
to the Lord on our behalf, O struggle-mantled
martyrs, master Apatir and his sister Iraee, that He
may forgive us our sins.
Pray to the Lord on our behalf, O struggle-
mantled martyrs, Julius and those who were
with him, that He may forgive us our sins.
Pray to the Lord on our behalf, O struggle-
mantled martyrs, Mari Pahnam and his sister
Sarah, that He may forgive us our sins.
 Prayto the Lord on our behalf, Abba Sarapamon the
bishop, Psate and Gallinikos, that He may forgive us
our sins.
 Prayto the Lord on our behalf, O struggle-mantled
martyrs, the forty saints of Sebaste, that He may
forgive us our sins.
 Prayto the Lord on our behalf, Abba Piro and Athom,
and John and Simeon, that He may forgive us our sins.
 Pray
to the Lord on our behalf, O struggle-mantled
martyrs, Abba Bishoy and his friend Peter, that He
may forgive us our sins.
 Prayto the Lord on our behalf, Abba Eklog the priest,
and Abba Epgol and Abba Kav, that He may forgive us
our sins.
 Prayto the Lord on our behalf, Abba John of Heraclia,
master Piphamon and Pistavros, that He may forgive
us our sins.
 Prayto the Lord on our behalf, Isidore and Panteleon,
Sophia and Euphemia, that He may forgive us our sins.
 Prayto the Lord on our behalf, master Apanoub and
Ptolomeos, Apa Ekragon and Sousennius, that He may
forgive us our sins.
 Prayto the Lord on our behalf, O great high priest,
Abba Peter seal of the martyrs, that He may forgive us
our sins.
 Pray to the Lord on our behalf, O new martyrs,
Pistavros and Arsenius, that He may forgive us our
sins.
 Prayto the Lord on our behalf, O Michael the
hegumen, and Michael the monk, that He may forgive
us our sins.
 Pray
to the Lord on our behalf, O choirs of the
martyrs, who suffered for the sake of Christ, that He
may forgive us our sins.