MIRACULOUS MIRACLES™

Saint — The 21 Coptic Martyrs of Libya

All Saints
The 21 Coptic Martyrs of Libya
Various — primarily 1979–1992 (the 21 individuals) — February 15, 2015, beach near Sirte, Libya
Sts. Milad Makeen Zaky and Companions — 'In the Name of Jesus Christ'
Church of the Martyrs of Faith and Homeland, El-Aour, Minya Governorate, Egypt, Egypt
Feast
February 15
Canonized
Canonized as martyrs by the Coptic Orthodox Church on February 21, 2015 (six days after their deaths); inserted into the Roman Martyrology by Pope Francis on May 11, 2023, after a joint Catholic-Coptic declaration as 'martyrs of the universal Church'
✠ MartyrTwenty-one Coptic Christian migrant workers killed by ISIL on the Mediterranean shore near Sirte, Libya, 2015 → The Martyrs
Life

The 21 Coptic Martyrs of Libya were 20 Coptic Orthodox Christian migrant workers from Upper Egypt — primarily from the small village of El-Aour in the Minya Governorate — and one Ghanaian Christian (Matthew Ayariga), all of them low-wage construction-and-cleaning labourers working in the small Libyan coastal town of Sirte. They were captured by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters in two raids in late December 2014 and January 2015.

After approximately six weeks of captivity — during which ISIL captors repeatedly demanded that they renounce Christianity, threatening immediate execution, and pressured them to convert to Islam — the 21 were marched to the Mediterranean shore near Sirte on February 15, 2015. ISIL released a 5-minute video documenting the execution: the 21 men kneeling in identical orange jumpsuits on the beach, each beside a masked ISIL fighter holding a knife. They were systematically beheaded. The video records each of the 20 Egyptian Coptic Christians dying with the name Yasua' (Arabic for Jesus) on their lips. Matthew Ayariga, the Ghanaian — when asked at the last moment whether he too was a Christian or whether he, not being from a Christian background, would prefer to renounce — is shown saying simply: 'Their God is my God.' He was beheaded with the others.

The Coptic Orthodox Church under Pope Tawadros II formally canonized the 21 as martyrs on February 21, 2015 — six days after the killings — adding them to the Coptic Synaxarion. The Catholic Church under Pope Francis added them to the Roman Martyrology on May 11, 2023, after a joint Catholic-Coptic declaration recognizing them as 'martyrs of the universal Church.' This is the only formal recognition by the Roman Catholic Church of a group of non-Catholic Christians as saints of the universal Church in the post-Reformation period — a historic ecumenical declaration. Their remains were returned from Libya to Egypt in 2018 and now rest in the new Church of the Martyrs of Faith and Homeland at El-Aour, Minya, dedicated specifically to them.

Miracles & Phenomena

  • Matthew Ayariga's confession

    The Ghanaian migrant worker Matthew Ayariga's response when asked at the last moment whether he too was Christian — 'Their God is my God' (an echo of Ruth 1:16) — and his subsequent execution alongside the 20 Egyptian Coptic Christians, has been recognized by both the Coptic and Roman Catholic Churches as the foundational ecumenical witness of the group.

  • The video confession of faith

    The released ISIL video of the executions records each of the 21 dying with the name of Jesus on his lips — confirmed by Coptic Egyptian linguistic experts who reviewed the audio and identified the individual confessions of faith. The video — though horrific — has been treated by Coptic and Catholic Christians as the foundational witness-document of the cult.

Relics
  • Body
    Relics of the 21 Coptic Martyrs of Libya
    Church of the Martyrs of Faith and Homeland, El-Aour, Minya Governorate, Egypt

    Their bodies — recovered from Libya by Egyptian and Libyan authorities in October 2017 after the ISIL retreat from Sirte — were returned to Egypt and reburied in the new Church of the Martyrs of Faith and Homeland at their home village of El-Aour, completed in 2018 specifically to house their relics. The site has become a major pilgrimage destination for Coptic Christians and for Catholic ecumenical pilgrimages.

Iconography
  • The 21 in orange jumpsuits on the beach

    Twenty-one Coptic Christian migrant workers in identical orange jumpsuits kneeling in a row on the Libyan beach, the Mediterranean waves behind them, the name of Yasua' (Jesus) inscribed in Arabic and Coptic across the upper register — the iconography of the contemporary ecumenical-recognized martyrdom.

Patronages
Coptic Christians of Upper EgyptMigrant workers killed for their faithChristian unity (Catholic-Orthodox recognition)Persecuted Eastern ChristiansDiocese of Minya (Coptic Orthodox)
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