St Matruna
On the 10th day of the Coptic month of Tute we celebrate the martyrdom of Saint Matruna.
Matruna was a maid-servant to a Jewish lady. She was born of Christian parents, but her mistress repeatedly attempted to entice her to adopt the Hebrew religion, but she remained faithful to her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This strong belief in Christianity enraged her mistress who would humiliate her, treat her badly, and over-burden Matruna with servitude.
One day she accompanied her mistress to the Jewish temple. She did not enter but went to a Christian church. And when her mistress asked her where she had been and why she did not enter the Synagogue with her? Matruna replied, "God had departed far from the synagogue that is yours, how shall I enter it? Whereas the place that should be entered is the church which the Lord Christ has bought with His blood." Her mistress became angry at this and beat her harshly, then imprisoned her in a dark place where she spent four days without food or drink. This demonic mistress then took Matruna out and beat her painfully, then returned her back to her imprisonment where she died.
After her death, her mistress feared that the authorities would hold her accountable for her death. She took Matruna’s body to the top of her house and threw her down so that it would be said that she had fallen by accident. Accursed by God, her feet slipped and she fell to her death.
Lessons from this story
Can you forgive a person that beat you, tortured you or even killed you? This is what it means to be Christian - to be like Christ. Matruna, like Christ, was beaten, tortured and eventually killed - though innocent of any crime. During all of this Christ, hanging from the cross, prayed for forgiveness to those “who know not what they do.” So this begs the question, can you be like Christ in this example? Let me take this one step further. Consider this, when a person, so enraged with hate and anger, kills a Christian, that Christian will then pray for forgiveness for that killer. This is not hard for us to know for the Bible tells us so. We can not defeat anger with anger, for that only enrages the devil more. But when “turn the other cheek” and show love, faith in Christ and compassion for those in pain - we defeat the devil, robbed him of all power and truly become “like Christ.”
The lives of Saints are people like you and me who have just fully immersed their life with a complete devotion to living fully like Christ.
Prayer
May the intercessions of St Matruna continue to strengthen us against the rising angers against those that wrong us and help us find the light that leads to eternal life with Jesus Christ. Amen.