Monday, September 21, 2026

It is the 21^st of September 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org. I'm your guest host, Sam Leanza Ortiz.

I’m glad to be back with you this week, as Dan’s away. I think we’ve got some fun shows ahead, and we’re starting off strong with a two-fer. Today, we’re covering two early Christian saints, indeed one of the earliest of all the Christian saints––as it is the feast day of both Matthew the Evangelist and one of his converts, Ephigenia of Ethiopia. Their stories intersect somewhere––perhaps in Africa, perhaps western Asia––but as these traditions come down, they tell a story of devotion to the faith in the face of real danger.

The more widely celebrated saint of the day is Matthew the Evangelist, author of the Gospel that bears his name and one of the twelve called by Jesus. In the book of Matthew, he is first introduced in the ninth chapter, seated at the tax booth when Jesus tells him to follow him.

In the other synoptic Gospels (Mark and Luke), he is called “Levi,” the son of Alphaeus, and, by extension, we can assume, the brother of James. In each account, immediately following Matthew/Levi’s calling, Jesus reclines and dines with many tax collectors and sinners, surely including Matthew himself. Because of this traditional association, Matthew is the patron saint of tax collectors and accountants.

There is not much additional information about Matthew/Levi’s life before Jesus, other than his most likely hailing from Galilee, where Jesus meets him. Following the Ascension, he is counted among the remaining disciples in the book of Acts. Both Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria mention Matthew in their writings, noting that he remained in Judea for about a decade after the resurrection, until persecution drove him east. The vast majority of accounts name “Ethiopia” as Matthew’s destination, but that term does not mean the nation-state as we understand it today. In fact, it may not have even meant somewhere in Africa, as some scholars suggest that “Ethiopia” in the ancient world could have referred to an area in Persia near the Caspian Sea.

Wherever Matthew really did go, we’re led to believe he stayed there for the rest of his earthly life. The Golden Legend, a crucial, if not always technically accurate collection of hagiographies from the Middle Ages, made much of Matthew’s journey to “Ethiopia.” The Legend has him meeting the eunuch servant of Candace, the queen of Ethiopia, the man converted in Acts 8 after Philip appears to him. This interaction bears much fruit among the people of Ethiopia, not least because Matthew tames dragons among them. More seriously, in the wake of this miraculous work, he preaches a sermon, during which the son of Queen Candace and her husband, King Egippus, dies. Matthew, at the eunuch’s behest, raises the king’s son, and the royal family seeks to worship Matthew as a God, but Matthew ultimately points them to Christ, and Egippus, Candace, and their daughter, Ephigenia, and many others repent and are baptized in this thirty-third year of Matthew’s Ethiopian ministry.

After her baptism, Ephigenia, a virgin herself, took vows before God and was entrusted with the care of two hundred virgins, who were all consecrated to lives of prayer and work, effectively making her an abbess before religious orders were a formal vocation.

After the death of King Egippus, the new king Hiraticus wanted to marry Ephigenia and tried to get Matthew to convince her to marry him. Having consecrated her, Matthew refused, instead inviting Hiraticus to Sunday Mass, where Matthew explained why she could not marry. Angry that Matthew would not help him, Hiraticus had Matthew put to death while he was observing the Eucharist.

As for Ephigenia, Hiraticus set enchanters upon her to press her into marrying him, and set ablaze the house in which she and the virgins lived, but the “holy apostle” put out the fire and instead set Hiraticus’s palace on fire, killing all but Hiraticus and his son. Because of this, Ephigenia is seen as an “advocate against fires and protector of the home.” Hiraticus’ end is contested, but he ceases to be the king, and the people make Ephigenia’s brother, the one whom Matthew had raised, king over all the people.

Ephigenia’s sainthood is primarily celebrated in Western Christian traditions, with little mention in Eastern contexts, except that her feast day falls on the same date as Matthew’s on the Orthodox calendar, November 16. Her earliest mention is in the Golden Legend, over 1000 years after her death, but it would not take long for Christians to find hope in her story once she was remembered.

She is often depicted as an African woman in a Carmelite habit, and in 1575, a confraternity of Carmelites in Cádiz chose her as their patron. From Cádiz, millions of black Africans would stop on their journey to enslavement in the New World, seeing the images of a black saint who would stay with them. Devotion to her in Brazil grew rapidly in the eighteenth century, when freed Africans formed the Venerable Brotherhood of Saint Elesbao and Ephigenia, which would minister to those suffering in bondage.

Celebrations of Ephigenia still occur today in South American countries, bringing communities together to reflect on the intersection of African culture and Christianity that has shaped those places.

So, wherever you are today, whether you’re diving into the Gospel of Matthew, or filing your taxes, or a homeowners’ insurance claim, think of Matthew the Evangelist and Ephigenia of Ethiopia on this, the 21^st of September, their joint feast day.

The last word for today comes from the daily lectionary, from Psalm 119:

⁹⁷ Oh, how I love your law!
I meditate on it all day long.
⁹⁸ Your commands are always with me
and make me wiser than my enemies.
⁹⁹ I have more insight than all my teachers,
for I meditate on your statutes.
¹⁰⁰ I have more understanding than the elders,
for I obey your precepts.
¹⁰¹ I have kept my feet from every evil path
so that I might obey your word.
¹⁰² I have not departed from your laws,
for you yourself have taught me.
¹⁰³ How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
¹⁰⁴ I gain understanding from your precepts;
therefore I hate every wrong path.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 21^st of September 2026, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

This show has been produced by Christopher Gillespie.

This episode has been written and read by Sam Leanza Ortiz, filling in for Dan van Voorhis, who, at the time of this episode airing, knew that his beloved Los Angeles Rams were currently at the bottom of the NFC West.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.