Ephigenia of Ethiopia
Ephigenia of Ethiopia or Iphigenia of Ethiopia, also called Iphigenia of Abyssinia, is a Western folk saint whose life is told in the Golden Legend 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, who veiled her.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 of Italian chronicler Jacobus de Voragine, compiled around 1275 AD. 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. 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, and appears in the 1586 edition of the Roman Martyrology of Cardinal Caesar Baronius, the first authoritative edition of the Roman Martyrology.
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. 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."
The Austrian Jesuit missionary and author Francis Xavier Weninger included the life of Saint Ephigenia in his Lives of the Saints, 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..."
Her listing in the Roman Martyrology 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 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, 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 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."
Saint Ephigenia is also listed in Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints :
"Iphigenia. 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 :"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, 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 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."
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, 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," supposedly in Ethiopia, described as a land that was inhabited by tribes of cannibals:"After departing from Jerusalem, the holy Apostle Matthew preached the glad tidings of the Gospel in many lands. Proclaiming the good news of Christ, he passed through Macedonia, Syria, Persia, Parthia and Media, establishing Churches there and in other places...He travelled all about Ethiopia, which had fallen to him by lot, and enlightened it with the light of the knowledge of the Gospel. Finally, guided by the Holy Spirit, he arrived in the land of the cannibals, who were a dark-skinned and savage people. There he entered a city known as Mirmena and, having converted several souls to Christ, he appointed Platon, his fellow traveller, to be their bishop, and built a little church...The wife and son of Fulvian, the prince of that city, were possessed by demons...The apostle rebuked the unclean spirits and expelled them; and those who were healed fell down before the apostle and meekly followed after him..."
Be that as it may, a certain "Saint Iphigenia the Virgin-Martyr" is yet referenced in the Greek Orthodox calendar for November 16. Nowhere else is her memory referenced.
The Prologue from Ohrid compiled by Nikolai Velimirovic does not include St. Ephigenia, either on her own or within the life of Saint Matthew.
The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America does include St. Ephigenia of Ethiopia on its calendar of Saints, along with her traditional Latin biography, "commemorated on November 16 ". Similarly, Saints Mary and Martha Monastery in Wagener, South Carolina, does list St. Iphigenia, Princess of Ethiopia on the Western date of September 21, although the Orthodox Church in America's online Synaxarion does not mention St. Iphigenia in its recollection of the Life of St. Matthew the Evangelist, including his period in Ethiopia.