- Ephigenia
According to the
Golden Legend , Ephigenia was the daughter ofEthiopian KingEgippus . She was dedicated to God bySaint Matthew . ["The Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine", trans. and adapted by Ryan, Granger and Helmut Ripperger. (Arno Press: Longmans, Green & Co) 1941. pp. 561-566.] WhenHirtacus succeeded the King, he promised the apostle half of his kingdom if he could persuade Ephigenia to marry him. Matthew thus invited the king toMass the following Sunday where he explained that she was already espoused to the eternal King and thus could not be purloined by Hirtacus. The king thus sent a swordsman to kill Matthew who stood at the altar, making him amartyr .Not having managed to bend Ephigenia to his will, Hirtacus tried to destroy her home with fire. However, the apostle appeared and warded the flames from the house, turning them upon the royal palace. The king's son was seized by the
devil and the king himself contractedleprosy , eventually killing himself.The people thus chose Ephigenia's brother as their king, who reigned for seventy years, leaving his kingdom to his son who filled
Egypt withChristian churches.References
External links
* [http://www.mcah.columbia.edu/medmil/pages/non-mma-pages/text_links/gl_matthew.html St Matthew the Apostle from The Golden Legend]
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