The Faith of the 21 Martyrs of Libya

Summary

Fr. Anthony Mourad recounts the witness of the 21 men killed by ISIS in Libya in 2015: 20 Coptic Orthodox Christians from Egypt and Mathew Ayairga from Ghana. He describes their refusal to renounce Christ, Mathew’s choice to remain with them when he was offered release, and the faith of the families who continue to honor their husbands and fathers as martyrs. The account presents martyrdom not as the achievement of religious celebrities, but as the final act of ordinary men whose habits of prayer prepared them to remain faithful.

Key Points

Workers Far From Home

• The Egyptian men had gone to Libya for construction work so they could send money home to families living with very little.
• ISIS abducted and tortured them. Mourad says their captors repeatedly offered food, warmth, and release in exchange for renouncing Christianity and reciting the Islamic profession of faith.
• He explains that others gave in under the pressure, while the 20 who remained chose fidelity to Christ despite seeing a way out.

Mathew Chose to Stay

• Mathew Ayairga was a Ghanaian man who was not one of the Coptic Christians. Mourad explains that his name led the captors to assume he was Christian.
• When the mistake was recognized, Mathew was reportedly told that he could leave. Instead, he chose to remain with the prisoners and identified their God as his God.
• He did not claim deep knowledge of Christian doctrine. His decision came from seeing the prisoners’ faith under suffering and choosing to share their fate.
• The Coptic Orthodox Church received him as one of its own because he stood beside its sons and confessed their God.

Prayer in Captivity

• Mourad relays testimony about extraordinary events during the men’s captivity. As they prayed Kyrie eleison together, witnesses reported shaking ground, unexplained light, thunder, and storms.
• He says one of the captors later converted after being unable to dismiss what he had witnessed.
• These reports are presented as signs that God remained close to the prisoners. Their rescue did not come through escape from death, but through the strength to remain faithful within their trial.

The Shrine and the Widows

• During a documentary trip to Egypt with Coptic Orthodox Answers, Mourad visited the cathedral and shrine built in honor of the martyrs.
• He and Fr. Gabriel Wissa met privately with six of the martyrs’ widows. They spoke honestly about continuing hardship while also describing their husbands as active intercessors for their children before God.
• The families take pride in telling the children that their fathers were crowned as martyrs. That hope does not remove grief, poverty, or practical difficulties.
• The local Church and community respond as one family, helping the widows and caring for their children.

A Brother’s Grief and Hope

• The priest who guided the visit was the brother of the martyr Abanub Ayad Atiya.
• He told his mother that, if he had been a better Christian, perhaps she could have celebrated two sons giving their lives for Christ.
• His mother answered that God knew she could bear losing only one son and had left the other to comfort her.
• Their exchange shows a form of Coptic piety that holds sorrow and hope together without pretending that martyrdom is painless.

Ordinary Men Who Remained Faithful

• The widows described their husbands as regular working men, not theologians, preachers, or candidates for priesthood.
• Their faith took an ordinary shape: prayer before icons, reading the Bible, following a daily rule, caring for their children, and going to bed.
• Mourad connects their hidden greatness with Matthew 11:11, where Jesus says that even the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the Baptist.
• Their witness suggests that courage in an extreme trial grows from small acts of fidelity practiced long before the trial arrives.

A Witness Shared Across Churches

• The video closes by noting Pope Francis’s decision to add the 21 martyrs to the Roman Martyrology.
• Their recognition offers common ground between Catholics and Coptic Orthodox Christians. Before debating divisions, Christians can first recognize Christ’s work in people who gave their lives rather than deny him.
• The martyrs belong to the 21st century. Their story is presented as evidence that the ancient Christian witness of Egypt remains alive now.