Christopher, St
Christopher, St West AsiaThe calendar of the Coptic Church recalls the martyrdom of St Christopher on 28 March. This Egyptian saint ‘belonged to the land of those who eat men and dogs’. His father had been converted to Christianity and he himself brought up in the faith. At a time of border hostilities he was taken captive by the Romans, but his ignorance of their language left him speechless. In response to his earnest prayers God endowed him with the ability to converse with them, just as on another occasion by special grace he was able to supply miraculously the famished soldiers with food. On hearing of St Christopher the Emperor Decius ordered that he be brought to Antioch, where in 250 the anti-Christian ruler assayed his belief by means of temptation and torture. Having failed to win over the holy man, or boil, drown, and mutilate him, Decius had the palace guards chop off his head.
Coptic was the vernacular language of the native...
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