In the early days of Christianity many became martyrs', and our
Faith grew and spread more throughout the Roman Empire because of their
testimonies. Moreover, our Faith has grown to become 2.1 billion followers of
Christ today. Many of the early church leaders, such as Early Father Polycarp,
were martyred. In the original language a martyr was a witness. Back in those
early days many suffered death rather than renouncing their faith. I am sure
that those doing the killings thought they would end Christianity, but unfortunately
for them they couldn’t have been more wrong because the Roman Empire is now just
a piece of history.
Recently, a Libyan branch of the Islamic State of Iraq and
Syria or ISIS, a jihadist rebel group decapitated 21 Coptic Christian brothers
for not renouncing Christianity. These ISIS members are seemingly trying to
revive a practice that was being used to try to defeat Christianity hundreds of
years before Islam even existed. Sadly, it didn’t work then, and it is not going
to work now. In fact, to all of us, these 21 men are now victorious heroes, and
will always be remembered as such, and Christ is still their Lord. In Romans
14: 7-8, Saint Paul said:
"None of us lives to himself,
and none of us dies to himself. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die,
we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the
Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both
of the dead and of the living (RSV Bibe).”
For some reason, I think ISIS has just begun their very own
downfall because now they have challenged the Lord of all it seems. In The
Epistle of Paul to the Philippians in Chapter 2:9-10 it reads:
"Therefore God has highly
exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (RSV
Bible)."
I don’t know how much longer ISIS will be around, but I
really doubt it will be for very long. I do know that I am providing the names of
the 21 martyrs’ for all to know and remember always. Also, I encourage that we
pray for the families of these men, and for Egypt. Not to say the least, pray
for the conversion to Christianity of these ISIS killers so that they also can
join those they killed as witnesses for our Faith to their fellow members.
The names of the 21 Hero Martyrs’ according to the Coptic
Orthodox Church are as follows:
1. Milad Makeen Zaky
2. Abanub Ayad Atiya
3. Maged Solaiman Shehata
4. Yusuf Shukry Yunan
5. Kirollos Shokry Fawzy
6. Bishoy Astafanus Kamel
7. Somaily Astafanus Kamel
8. Malak Ibrahim Sinweet
9. Tawadros Yusuf Tawadros
10. Girgis Milad Sinweet
11. Mina Fayez Aziz
12. Hany Abdelmesih Salib
13. Bishoy Adel Khalaf
14. Samuel Alham Wilson
15. Worker from Awr village
16. Ezat Bishri Naseef
17. Loqa Nagaty
18. Gaber Munir Adly
19. Esam Badir Samir
20. Malak Farag Abram
21. Sameh Salah Faruq
Reference:
RSV Bible
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