Abraham of Arbela (died 345) (also known as Abramius) was a bishop of
Arbela (also Persian) in
Assyria
Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the A ...
.
During the imprisonment of Bishop Ioannis of Arbela, he was appointed as his deputy by the local religious community. The church historian
Sozomen
Salamanes Hermias Sozomenos ( grc-gre, Σαλαμάνης Ἑρμείας Σωζομενός; la, Sozomenus; c. 400 – c. 450 AD), also known as Sozomen, was a Roman lawyer and historian of the Christian Church.
Family and home
He was born arou ...
(died 450) described in the second book of his
Christian Church
In ecclesiology, the Christian Church is what different Christian denominations conceive of as being the true body of Christians or the original institution established by Jesus. "Christian Church" has also been used in academia as a synonym fo ...
, among other things, the persecutions and tortures that took place in the Persian Empire under
Shapur II
Shapur II ( pal, 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩 ; New Persian: , ''Šāpur'', 309 – 379), also known as Shapur the Great, was the tenth Sasanian King of Kings (Shahanshah) of Iran. The longest-reigning monarch in Iranian history, he reigned fo ...
(died 379). In paragraph 8 of chapter 8 he says:
Among the names he had been able to retrieve, the name of Bishop Abraham of Arbela also appeared.
He was tortured and later beheaded under
Shapur II
Shapur II ( pal, 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩 ; New Persian: , ''Šāpur'', 309 – 379), also known as Shapur the Great, was the tenth Sasanian King of Kings (Shahanshah) of Iran. The longest-reigning monarch in Iranian history, he reigned fo ...
because he refused to worship the sun in Telman. The saint is venerated on February 5.
He has two
feast day
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...
s – February 4 and 5, but January 31 in the Catholic Church.
Roman Martyrology
The ''Roman Martyrology'' ( la, Martyrologium Romanum) is the official martyrology of the Catholic Church. Its use is obligatory in matters regarding the Roman Rite liturgy, but dioceses, countries and religious institutes may add duly approved ...
References
External sources
*Holweck, F. G. ''A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints''. St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co. 1924.
*The Bénédictins of Ramsgate 'Ten Thousand Saints, Hagiographic Dictionary' Brepols, 1991.
*Kirschbaum, Engelbert (established). Published by Wolfgang Braunfels' Encyclopedia of Christian Iconography. First to eighth volume 'Rome / Freiburg / Basel / Vienna, Herder, 1990.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abraham of Arbela
Year of birth missing
345 deaths
4th-century Mesopotamian bishops
Mesopotamian saints
4th-century Christian martyrs