Abraham the Great of Kidunja

Infobox Saint
name=Saint Abraham the Great
birth_date=
death_date=c. 366
feast_day=July 29; October 24; October 29; December 14
venerated_in=Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Coptic Church, Syrian Orthodox Church


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birth_place=
death_place=Assos, in the Troad, Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey)
titles=Hermit
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Saint Abraham the Great of Kidunja (?- d. c. 366) was a Hermit and Priest of the Christian Church.

Biography

He left his young wife on his wedding day and settled in the desert of Syria. After having spent twelve years there in a hut he had walled up, he was ordained to the priesthood and appointed the pastor of a village in Mesopotamia with a largely pagan population. Within three years, he had converted the population of his village to Christianity. Thereafter, he left to return to the desert. He only returned later to convert his niece Mary, who had become a prostitute, to Christianity. He died at Assos in the Troad, Asia Minor (now modern-day Turkey) around 366 AD.

Veneration

The feast day of Saint Abraham is October 29 in the Eastern Orthodox Church and in the Roman Catholic Church. [Martyrologium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 88-209-7210-7). The date was formerly 16 March.] The Syrian Church commemorates him on December 14, the Coptic Church on July 29, the Syriac Orthodox Church on October 24.

References

External links

* [http://www.vitae-patrum.org.uk/page17.html The Life of Saint Abraham, Hermit, by S. Ephraem the Deacon]
* [http://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j213sd_AbrahamKiduna_03_16.html St. Abraham Kidunaia]

*Holweck, F. G. "A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints". St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co. 1924.