Saint Elesbaan, Emperor of Ethiopia

Life

Inflamed with zeal for the faith of Christ, this pious emperor raised an army against Prince Dunaan, the cruel persecutor of Christians in the land of the Homerites. But in the beginning of the war he had no success, and much of his army perished in the waterless desert. Then he wept bitterly before God and vowed to become a monk if God would help him defeat the murderer of Christians. Having defeated Dunaan, Elesbaan returned to Ethiopia and immediately left the imperial court and entered a monastery, in which he practiced asceticism strictly as a true monk for a full fifteen years. God granted him the gift of wonderworking both before and after his death. He reposed in the year 555.