Mazgaba Maṣāḥəft

Titles

• Martyrdom of ʾabbā ʾEsi and his sister Tekla of Busir in Egypt
• Martyrdom of Paisi and Thecla
• ገድለ፡ አባ፡ ኤሲ፡, Gadla ʾabbā ʾEsi

Description

(from EMML II pp. 595-596): Combat of [Abbā ēsi] and his sister [Teklā] by [Yoleyos Ela Aqfāsi] who witnessed their contendings in Alexan-dria and wrote down the accounts 9 years later. [ēsi] (only once [Esi], f. 226rb) and [Teklā] come from a rich family in [Buṣir] (also called [Abuṣir], f. 226vb) in Ešmunāyn. Teklā’s husband died when she was young and their son [Abloneyos] was still a baby. All three with their servants were serving the saints who were in prison in [Enṣenā] a village also in ēšmunāyn. One day, however, their friend, as merchant named Paul from Alexandria, fell sick. Abbā ēsi went to Alexandria to visit him. There he confessed Christ openly, having been encouraged by the sufferings of Victor the martyr who was banished to Alexandria bound in chains. Teklā also came to Alexan-dria in a boat piloted by the angel Suriel to look for her brother ēsi. It was only at the end of the voyage that she realized that the other passengers on the boat were the Virgin Mary and St. Elizabeth the mother of John the Bap-tist. The former told her that they were going to Alexandria to strengthen a saint called Abbā ēsi! Both ēsi and Theklā passed through many sufferings at the hands of the prefect [Armāneyos] which iuncluded being thrown into fire and into the Red Sea. They were eventually handed over to [Awdizinos] the prefect [Makʷannen] of their homeland [Enṣenā] who came to Alexandria in response to a call for all prefects of the land to come and listen to the reading of a letter from Diocletian through [Awheyos] one of the inspectors (? anṭolā‘i) em-anṭolā‘eyāna Diyoqelṭeyānos) of the Emperor. The prefect executed the two saints on the road on his way back to Ešmunayn when they refused to worship [Aṗṗelon] "Apollo". There is similarity of this story and that of their synaxary entry for Tāḥsās 8th