African Saints (from the Prologue of Ohrid)
November 30 Frumentius (370) He and his brother, Edesius, were traveling withe Meropius to India from Tyre. The ship was wrecked in a storm off the coast of Ethiopia. The Ethiopians killed everyone on the boat except these two brothers who, in time, served in the imperial court. Frumentius began to preach the Gospel to the Ethiopians before he and his brother left the country. He went to Alexandria where Patriarch Athanasius sent Frumentius back to Ethiopia as the consecrated Bishop. Ethiopia converted to the Christian faith and he reposed there in 370.
December 2 Andrew, Heraclemon, John, and Theophilus (4th century) Hermits in Egypt.
December 3 Theodore I (609) Served two years as the Archbishop of Alexandria. Among his tortures by the pagans, Theodore was made to wear a crown of thorns before being beheaded.
December 5 Karion (Carion, or Cyron) and Zacharias (4th century) They were father and son living as monks in Egypt. Zacharias even surpased his father in ascetic discipline. Three lessons of Karion (Carion) and five of Zacharias are listed in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers.
A Word from the Fathers & Mothers
“Neither asceticism, nor vigils nor any kind of suffering are able to save, only true humility can do that.” Amma Theodora, from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers
“You will not be able to obtain (the all-wise knowledge of God) without effort unless you deny yourself the world, and take up the cross, and follow the Savior.” Abba Paphnutius, from the Lives of the Desert Fathers
Desert Fathers Dispatch 