MARTYRS OF EGYPT - 5 JANUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY

Saints celebrated on the 5th of January

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

MARTYRS OF EGYPT 

On January 5 we commemorate the fourth century Martyrs of Egypt (A.D. 303). In the great persecution under Diocletian, Upper Egypt was fertile in saints and martyrs. 

THE EXECUTIONERS THEMSELVES WERE WORN OUT WITH THEIR WORKLOAD

Eusebius, an eye-witness, describes how the executioners themselves were worn out with their work. As a rule after torture, believers in Christ were either beheaded or burned alive.

(From The Book of Saints, 1921, by the Monks of Ramsgate)