The Martyrs of Akhmeem
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?"
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Diocletian Persecution
Diocletian was a famous Roman Emperor and an aggressive Persecutor of The Church. During his Reign (284-305 A.D) many Christians were persecuted and martyred throughout the whole Roman Empire. The Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt presented thousands of martyrs during his reign and that's why the church chose to begin The Coptic Calendar of The Martyrs with the first year of his reign (284 A.D).
Diocletian held a council at Nicomedia and issued an edict "to tear down the churches to the foundations and to destroy the Sacred Scriptures by fire; and commanding also that those who were in honorable stations should be degraded if they persevered in their adherence to Christianity.” Further edicts were issued later that marked successive stages in the severity of the persecution: ordering that the bishops, priests, and deacons should be imprisoned, tortured and compelled by every means; those edicts extended to include the laity as well as the clergy. We even read of the massacres of the whole population of some cities because they declared themselves Christians.
Eve of Nativity in Akhmeem
Akhmeem is an ancient city in Upper Egypt (Southern Egypt).
On The Eve of The Nativity feast of the year 304 A.D the Christians of Akhmeem gathered at a Church called "Souteer" (which means "Savior" in Coptic) to celebrate.
Arianus, the governor of Ansena, (another city in Upper Egypt) came to Akhmeem accompanied by Bishop Abadion, Bishop of Ansena, who had earlier been arrested by Arianus.
His arrival coincided with the celebration of the glorious Nativity feast.
When the Christians of Akhmeem learned of the arrival of the bishop, they invited him to pray the Divine Liturgy of the feast for them, since their bishop, Odagious, had passed away about a month earlier.
Bishop Abadion accepted their invitation and went secretly to the church. He prayed with them all night long and the church was filled with a multitude of Christians from the city and all the surrounding villages.
As they went to celebrate the birth of The True Lamb Who shed His holy blood to save the world, they were prepared to shed their blood for their faith and love for Him.
The Brave Congregation
The news reached Arianus, the governor, that Bishop Abadion was praying with the people at their church. Arianus took a large number of soldiers and went to the church, and asked them about the reason for this gathering. They told him that it was the feast of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He got very angry, and called all the Christians to come and bow and worship the idols. All the people refused, and confessed their faith in the One God, Jesus Christ, and said that they were ready to die for Him.
They followed the words of the Holy Bible:
"For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain"
So Arianus ordered to kill all the priests (of whom was Bishop Asconda, who drew to Christianity 70 of the idols' priests), then the deacons followed them, and many of the people. When Arianus saw their faith and bravery, he put torturing instruments in the street to torture them until death. That massacre continued for three whole days and the number of martyrs at that time from the city of Akhmeem reached 8,140 martyrs.
Discovering their Relics
After the massacre was done, the people of the city started to move the remains of the bodies and bones of the martyrs to a mountain close to the city, "The Eastern Mount" and buried them there.
A few years later, a monastery was built on that mountain and is still there until now named after them; "The Monastery of The Martyrs". The monastery was desolate for a long time, and was being attacked by thieves who were digging the ground looking for Pharaonic monuments. But through God's grace, Who turns evil to good, their digging helped later in revealing the relics of the martyrs.
In the late 1980's, a monk came to the monastery from the western desert to do some reconstruction to the monastery. He found some scattered relics with signs of torture, so he realized that they belonged to the martyrs of Akhmeem. He gathered them and put them under the altar. And this is a tradition in The Coptic Orthodox Church to put the martyrs' relics under the altar according to Saint John in the book of Revelation:
"I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held"