Aid to the Church in Need gathers the testimony of the families of these Coptic Christians.
ACN.- This February 15 marks the memory of the 21 Coptic martyrs who were beheaded by the Daesh terrorist group on a Libyan beach in 2015. The 20 Egyptian Coptic Christians and their Ghanaian co-worker were kidnapped in Libya in early January 2015. The video of their beheading was posted on several jihadist websites the following February 15. Barely a week after the news of the massacre, Coptic Orthodox Patriarch Tawadros II decided to inscribe their 21 names in the Synaxarium, the book of martyrs of the Coptic Church.
On the eighth anniversary of this martyrdom, we recall the testimony that the relatives of these Christians have shared with Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
«I am a mother of martyrs and I am proud of them».
Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) was able to speak with the mother of two brothers Samuel, 22, and Beshoy, 24, who were among the 21 martyrs, and she asked to be identified for what she really is: «I am a mother of martyrs, and I am proud of them. They intercede for me and for their father in heaven. She added that she is praying for the Daesh persecutors and asking God «to give them the light and open their eyes to the truth and the good.»
On the release of the famous Daesh video, in which the 21 martyrs are seen dressed in orange and kneeling in the sand in front of their killers, Basheer, brother of Samuel and Beshoy states that before the «killing of my brothers and their companions, our family and the whole church in our village of Al Our had been praying for them for 45 days, as we knew about their kidnapping.»
He further adds that, as recorded in the video, «God spoke through them through their invocation ‘Ya Rabbi Yassou’ (‘Oh, my Lord Jesus’).» «Our martyrs prayed before they died, and it was obvious that they were invoking Jesus. That is a comfort to us and makes us proud. All twenty-one were fortunate to be martyrs for Christ and our community is honored to have custody of their bodies.»
Despite the terrible pain they suffered, Basheer says, «My parents felt relief when they knew for certain that their children stood firm in their faith in Jesus Christ, who has instilled much relief and comfort in us. My brothers have instilled courage in us in the face of persecution; we are no longer afraid and no longer feel worried.»
A book will collect the miracles of the 21 martyrs
The shrine dedicated to these martyrs is preparing the publication of a book documenting the miracles attributed to the intercession of these martyrs. «There are many miracles in the town attributed to them. Thus, a woman with cancer has been cured after praying at the shrine,» reported Fr. Abu Fanus, adding that many people have been baptized and have become Christians thanks to the example of the 21 martyrs. «The Coptic Church survives thanks to the blood of her children,» said the priest. At the shrine, located in Al Our, in the Egyptian province of Minya, an exhibition documenting the story of these martyrs from the time of their abduction can be seen and in this one can see, among other things, the orange-colored suits they were wearing when they were beheaded.
Martyr number 21
The beheaded number 21 was neither Coptic nor Christian and was recognized in the video released by Daesh by a friend of his. He was a native of Ghana, his name was Mathew Ayariga and he came to Libya to look for work. There he met, lived and worked with the other 20 Coptic martyrs. At the time of his martyrdom, when the terrorists asked him if he rejected Jesus, even though he knew he was going to be killed, he said without hesitation, «Your God is my God.» Mathew confessed Christ with his blood.