Ephigenia of Ethiopia or Iphigenia of Ethiopia (; ; ; ), also called Iphigenia of Abyssinia,Robert C. Smith Jr. "The Colonial Architecture of Minas Gerais in Brazil." The Art Bulletin, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Jun., 1939), pp. 110–159. p. 115. is a Western folk saint whose life is told in the Golden LegendJacobus de Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa, 1275 (Comp.). "Here beginneth the Life of S. Matthew, and, first of the interpretation of his name." In: The GOLDEN LEGEND or LIVES of the SAINTS: VOLUME FIVE. First Edition Publ. 1470. ENGLISHED by WILLIAM CAXTON, First Edition 1483. Temple Classics, Ed. by F.S. ELLIS, First issue 1900, Reprinted 1922, 1931. as a virgin converted to Christianity and then consecrated to God by Matthew the Apostle, who was spreading the Gospel to the region of Ethiopia.
Hagiographic life According to the legend, Ephigenia was the daughter of Aethiopian King Egippus. She was dedicated to God by Saint Matthew the Apostle,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. who veiled her.The Autonomous Orthodox Metropolia of Western Europe and the Americas (ROCOR). St. Hilarion Calendar of Saints for the year of our Lord 2004. St. Hilarion Press (Austin, TX). p. 70.
Upon succeeding Eggipus, Aethiopia's new king, Hirtacus, promised Matthew the apostle half of his kingdom if he could persuade Ephigenia to marry him. So, Matthew invited the king to mass the following Sunday where he explained that she was already espoused to the eternal king and therefore could not marry him. Enraged, King Hiraticus left the church and later sent a swordsman to kill Matthew who was standing by the church's altar at the time, thereby making Matthew a martyr.
Not having managed to bend Ephigenia to his will, Hirtacus tried to destroy her home with fire. However, Matthew appeared in spirit and protected the flames from the house, turning them upon the royal palace. The king's son was seized by the devil and the king himself contracted leprosy, eventually killing himself.
After Hiraticus's death, the people chose Ephigenia's brother as their king, who reigned for seventy years, leaving his kingdom to his son who filled Egypt with Christian churches.
Hagiographic sources and commemoration Roman Catholic Church
Saint Ephigenia's feast day in the Roman Catholic Church, along with Saint Matthew's, is on September 21.
The oldest textual source of her Life seems to be the Legenda Aurea (Golden Legend, also known as the Historia Longobardica or Flos Sanctorum) of Italian chronicler Jacobus de Voragine, compiled around 1275 AD.Paul Halsall. Medieval Sourcebook: The Golden Legend (Aurea Legenda) Compiled by Jacobus de Voragine, 1275, Englished by William Caxton, 1483. Fordham University. Retrieved: 8 September 2016. This was an influential book on Renaissance spirituality and the understanding of sanctity which was read not only as a hagiography - a collection of lives of the saints - but as a vade mecum, a manual of asceticism.Dr. Donald Blais (ThD). Passion and Pathology in Teresa of Avila's Mystical Transformation: With Reference to the Transpersonal Theories of Michael Washburn. Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Regis College and the Pastoral Department of the Toronto School of Theology, University of Toronto. Submitted August 1, 1997. Defended October 16, 1997. p. 189. This is the manner in which Ignatius of Loyola employed it and how Teresa of Ávila advised her spiritual sisters that it should be used.
Saint Ephigenia is also listed in the hagiography of the Venetian Bishop Petrus de Natalibus (d. circa 1400), and appears in the 1586 edition of the Roman Martyrology of Cardinal Caesar Baronius, Bernard Vincent. SAN BENITO DE PALERMO EN ESPAÑA. Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca. Stud. his., H.ª mod., 38, n. 1 (2016), p. 27. the first authoritative edition of the Roman Martyrology.REV. BENEDICT ZIMMERMAN, O.C.D. THE NEW ROMAN MARTYROLOGY . The Tablet. 15 March 1924, Page 4.
The Bollandists included an entry for Saint Iphigenia in their Acta Sanctorum for September 21. She is listed in a German language Bollandist-derived collection of saints of 1869. "Iphigenia, S." Vollständiges Heiligen-Lexikon, Band 3. Augsburg 1869, S. 49. (Zeno.org) "S. Iphigenia, V. (21. Sept.)." Vollständiges Heiligen-Lexikon, I-L, Volume 3, 1869. p. 49. Professor Roberto Sánchez in his paper 'The Black Virgin: Santa Efigenia, Popular Religion, and the African Diaspora in Peru' notes the following about the Bollandist account:
"The Bollandists, whose work is to historicize and contextualize the lives of the saints, concede that there is some doubt as to whether St. Matthew even went to Ethiopia. They conclude however that the legend is consistent with other sources and apocryphal writings of the period. It is clear that the story of Santa Efígenia is written as a corollary to the keen interest in the martyrdom of St. Matthew. His martyrdom is a significant historical event that has been subject of different versions. In effect, the origins of Santa Efigenia are shrouded in myth, folklore, and a spirited ecclesiastical historical debate."Roberto Sánchez. "The Black Virgin: Santa Efigenia, Popular Religion, and the African Diaspora in Peru." Church History 81:3 (September 2012), 631–655. p. 642.
The Austrian Jesuit missionary and author Francis Xavier Weninger (D.D., S.J.) included the life of Saint Ephigenia in his Lives of the Saints (1876), inscribed within the life of Saint Matthew on September 21:
"...Incontestible writings prove that he preached the Gospel for twenty-three years, partly in Ethiopia, partly in other countries, at the same time founding almost innumerable Churches, and supplying them with priests and bishops, in order to preserve the faith he had taught... ...Iphigenia, the eldest daughter of the newly converted king of Ethiopia, had not only become a Christian, but also, with the knowledge and consent of the holy Apostle, had consecrated her virginity to the Almighty, after having frequently heard the Saint preach on the priceless value of purity, and exhort others to guard and preserve it. Her example was followed by many other virgins, who, choosing the princess as their superior, lived together and occupied their time in prayer and work..."Rev. F. X. Weninger (D.D., S.J.). LIVES OF THE SAINTS: Compiled from Authentic Sources with a Practical Instruction on the Life of Each Saint, for Every Day in the Year. VOL. 2 - July–Dec. New York, 1876. pp. 369–370.
Her listing in the Roman Martyrology (1916 English edition) states the following:
"In Ethiopia, St. Iphigenia, virgin, who being baptized and consecrated to God by the blessed apostle Matthew, ended her holy life in peace."
The Book of Saints (1921) compiled by the Benedictine Monks of St Augustine's Abbey, Ramsgate has the following entry for Saint Iphigenia:
"A Virgin converted to Christianity and afterwards consecrated to God by St. Matthew the Evangelist, Apostle of Ethiopia. The extant Acts of St. Matthew are however so untrustworthy that no reliance can be placed on the particulars given therein of St. Iphigenia and others of the first fruits of the Gospel in Ethiopia."
The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary also recount the life of Saint Iphigenia:"Saint Matthew (65)." CATHOLICISM.ORG: An Online Journal edited by The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Saint Benedict Center, New Hampshire. September 21, 2000. Retrieved: 10 September 2016.
"Saint Matthew, the Publican, preached the gospel in Ethiopia. He is, as Bartholomew for Armenia, an Apostle of a Nation, because, not only did he make many converts (as did all the Twelve) but he converted the king of Ethiopia by the stupendous miracle of raising the king's daughter from the dead. Her name was Iphigenia and she is listed as a saint in the Martyrology. After her resurrection from the dead, with Saint Matthew's approval, she took a vow of virginity. This so enraged the next king, Hirtacus, who wanted to marry her, that he had Matthew slain at the altar while offering Mass. The year was 68. Saint Matthew's feast day is September 21."Brian Kelly. "The Apostles of the Nations." CATHOLICISM.ORG: An Online Journal edited by The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Saint Benedict Center, New Hampshire. July 18, 2013. Retrieved: 10 September 2016.
Saint Ephigenia is also listed in Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints (2014, 2nd edition):
"Iphigenia (d. first century). A virgin from Ethiopia who was converted by St. Matthew . No other reliable details about her are extant. Feast day: September 21."
Anglican Catholic Church
The Anglican Catholic Church records the memory of Saint Ephigenia, contained within the Life of Saint Matthew, citing The Anglican Breviary (1955):
"Although many parts of Christendom have delighted to claim this Apostle as the founder of their Churches, the usual tradition is that he went into the regions south of the Caspian Sea, (which same are in this instance called Ethiopia) where he preached the Gospel and confirmed the same by many wondrous deeds. The greatest of these is told on this wise: that he raised to life the king's daughter, Iphigenia, whereby the royal family was converted to Christ; that after the king died Hirtacus his successor demanded Iphigenia to wife; and that she (who through Matthew's teaching had vowed herself to God) rejected Hirtacus in pursuance of her vow; for which reason Matthew was by royal order put to death whilst celebrating the holy Mysteries, whereby he fulfilled his apostleship in martyrdom.""Liturgical Calendars: Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist ." The Anglican Catholic Church. Retrieved: 10 September 2016.
Citing: The Anglican Breviary. Frank Gavin Liturgical Foundation, Inc., New York, 1955. Pages 1455–56.
Eastern Orthodox Church Significantly, the Life of Saint Matthew the Apostle in traditional Orthodox Synaxaria does not directly mention Saint Ephigenia by name, although the Synaxaria do record Saint Matthew's travels to "Ethiopia," that he enlightened the area, and was martyred there. The Orthodox Synaxarion according to the tradition of Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos (c. 1320), states that after being cruelly treated by the Parthians and Medes, St. Matthew then went to spread the Gospel to a certain city called "Mirmena / Myrmena,"Hieromonk Makarios of Simonos Petra (Ed.). THE SYNAXARION: The Lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church: VOLUME TWO - November December. Transl. from the French by Christopher Hookway. Holy Convent of the Annunciation of Our Lady, Ormylia (Chalkidike), 1999. p. 157."The Life and Sufferings of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew, whose Memory the Holy Church Celebrates on the 16th of November." In: The Lives of the Holy Apostles. From the Menology of St. Dimitri of Rostov in Russian and The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church in Greek. Transl. by Reader Isaac E. Lambertsen and Holy Apostles Convent. Buena Vista, Colorado, 1988. Reprinted 1990. pp. 211–212.Apostle and Evangelist Matthew. OCA - Lives of the Saints. supposedly in Ethiopia, described as a land that was inhabited by tribes of cannibals: