Abune Abib
Abba Bula, who was surnamed ‘Abib departed on Tikmet 25. The name of the father of this holy man was Abraham, and that of his mother was Harik. They were natives of the country of Rome, and came from the borders of Lupi. Since there was a persecution in the days of the Emperor Maximianus they continued to fly from city to city. As they lacked a son they entreated God, with fasting and prayer, to give them a son. The angel of the Lord appeared to them in a dream, and gave them a vine cluster which was full of grapes. When the blessed woman conceived, a large tree which was near their house blossomed; on the leaves thereof were written in the language of Rome the following words:
“Bula servant of God, and the saint of the God of Jacob, Who dwell in Zion.” When the child was born they left him for some time without making him a Christian. Then our Lady Mariyam appeared to the Archbishop of Rome, and commanded him to go to the house of Abraham and baptize the child. Whilst his arrival, there he made him a Christian and called his name “Bula.” When the father and the mother of the child heard [this] they marveled because he had called the child by that name without their having told him the name. The archbishop had prayed and bread for the Offering and a cup of wine came down from heaven. He consecrated them and administered to them the Holy Mysteries. The boy then becomes one year old he spoke plainly and said, “One is the Holy Father, One is the Holy Son, One is the Holy Ghost.”
After a while, his father and his mother died, on the seventh day of the month of Hedar. When the boy was ten years of age there arrived a wicked governor who ordered [the people] to worship idols. Abba Bula heard about it, and went to the governor, cursed his filthy idols. The governor saw the small stature of the boy and he marveled greatly. He then commanded [his soldiers] to drive nails into him, to scrape his body, to strip off his skin, to saw off his hands, his feet, to beat his back with whips, to cast him on the wheel among the sharp knives and spikes, and to drag him along the road of the city; [and they did so]. This time, Saint Michael came, saved him, and healed him. Then Bula went to another wicked governor and reviled him, that the governor was wroth with him and cut off his head with the sword. He was crowned on the eighteenth day of the month of Miyazya.
Saint Michael came down from heaven and raised him up unharmed. He took him into the desert. he arrayed him in the garb of the monk, and put upon him a mark in appearance like the sign of the Cross, and he said to him, “God has commanded thee to be a companion of the Saints.”
Abba Bula went up into a dry (i.e., withered) tree, and he dwelt therein fighting incessantly. Whenever he remembered the Crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ and His Passion, he always cast himself down from the top of the tree. One day having cast himself down Satan was strong to kill him, and he died. But our Redeemer Lord Jesus came straightway, raised him up, and he said to him, “your name shall not be ‘Bula’ only, but ‘ ‘Abibha,’ for you shall become many fathers.” Abba Bula loved Christ much more. He was always beating his face, and cutting his flesh with knives, every member of him, and he beat his back with seven hundred stripes; Through these acts he died three times and our Redeemer raised him up again. On each occasion the Lord showed him how he had been born of a virgin. On other days, He showed him how he was seized by the Jews and His Passion. And for this reason Bula lived without eating and without drinking for forty two years. He never lay on his side for six and sixty years. He also kept his head fixed for twelve years and six months, until his brains perished.
One day when he saw the Passion of our Lord, he place a sword upright before him and then fell upon it and died. Our Lady Mariyam then came with angels to the place where his body was, and she said to him, “Peace be to you, O my beloved”; and his body spoke and said to her, “Peace be to you, O Queen of the world.” She laid her hands upon his body and healed him.
When his days were ended, and it was time for him to depart from this world, our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him having in His hands shining crowns set with gems of various kinds, and shining raiment. He said to him, “Come to Me, O My beloved ‘Abib, so that thou may enjoy never-ending pleasure. I swear to you by Myself that whosoever call upon thy name I will forgive him his sins. Whosoever commemorates you, or show mercy on the poor, or clothes the naked, or feed the hungry, or gives drink to the thirsty man, or build a shrine for thee, or writes the story of thy strife, or read it or hear it, I will forgive his sins even to the tenth generation.” Having said this He kissed his mouth, and bearing him upon His breast carried him up into the air. When he heard the praise of the angels, his soul tore itself away from his body, and entered the heavenly Jerusalem.
Salutation to ‘Abib!’
Salutation to the twelve handmaidens, and to the three and forty men, and to the three hundred and sixty women, who under the influence of ‘Abib became martyrs.
Source:- The Ethiopian Synaxarium, Tikmet 25.