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The Martyrdom of St . Anba Kaou .

The Martyrdom of St . Anba Kaou .

On this day also, St . Kaou was martyred . He was from the City of Bamway (Bimay) in El-Fayyoum . At that time, Emperor Diocletian issued an edict commanding the worship of idols .204The saint resided in a home that he had built for himself outside of his city, where he worshippedGod . The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a vision saying, "Why are you sitting here, whilemartyrdom is available? Arise now, and go to El-Lahoon where you will find the messenger of theGovernor of Alexandria . Go and confess the Name of Christ before him and you will be grantedthe crown of martyrdom ."St . Kaou rose up from his sleep with great joy and he went to El-Lahoon and found themessenger at the seashore . When the messenger saw him, the messenger marvelled at St . Kaou'sbeautiful old age, and he honored him . The messenger took out from his pocket an idol made ofgold and precious stones and said to the saint, "This is the gift of the Emperor to the Governor ofAnsena ."St . Kaou took it in his hand and admired its wonderful workmanship . Then he cast it to theground and smashed it . The messenger became very angry and ordered him to be bound . He tookhim to the Governor of Ansena and told the Governor what St . Kaou had done . The Governortormented him, then he sent him to the Governor of Bahnasa, who also tortured him .When he did not surrender and did not worship the idols, he was beheaded and received thecrown of martyrdom . Some believers came and took his body to the place where he used toworship and buried him there . They built a church after his name in the same place later on andGod manifested many miracles in it .His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever . Amen .