SAINT MOURA - MART MOURA
Born: 3rd Century
Upper Egypt
Died: 283
Ansena, Egypt
Honored: in Eastern Orthodox, Oriental and Catholic Churches
Majorshrine: Different places in Lebanon
Feast: May 3, September 25
Attributes: Martyr
----------------------------------------------------
Saint Moura, also known as Mart Moura, is a martyr of the 1st centuries of Christianity honored in the Middle East. Her feast is celebrated on the 3rd of May and on the 25th of September. Several churches are dedicated to her especially in North Lebanon and a Monastery in Ehden.
Father Youakim Moubarac presents the life of Mart Moura as follows:
Moura is a Christian from Upper Egypt married to a deacon called Timothy. When Diocletianus came to power and wanted to erase any trace of Christianity, the governor Urban invited Timothy and his wife to embrace paganism. They refused with courage, were crucified and died from slow death around 283. It is also supposed that this martyrdom took place under Decius.
The Maronite calendar of saints mentions her feast day on the dates of October 10th and September 25th. It is also mentioned on the 3rd and the 7th of May. The Bollandists kept the date of May 3rd (WHIZZ, II, 381; cf. KUE, I, 151).
The martyrdom of Timothy and Moura took place in Ansena, a city of Upper Egypt known as Antinopolis in the Roman world.
If the martyrdom of Saint Moura took place under Decius, then it should be prior to June 251, the date of the death of this emperor.
If the martyrdom presumed date of 283 AD is correct, it should then have taken place under the reign of Carus or his sons Carinus and Numerian.
Places of worship:
Several churches are dedicated to Mart Moura among the Maronites of North Lebanon, in Tourza, Mayfouq, Kfarsghab, Karm el Mohr, Kobayat, Bakarzala, Rachiine, Miziara, Bnachii. There is also a sanctuary in Kahf Al Malloul.
The Church of Kfarsghab hosted a Maronite Synod in 1598.
The church of Bnachii is the object of an important devotion in the Zgharta District for its miraculous reputation.
There is also a famous monastery dedicated to her in Ehden. It is in this monastery that the Lebanese Maronite Order was founded in 1694 by three Maronite young men from Aleppo, Syria under the patronage of Patriarch Estephane El Douaihy (1670–1704).
