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The three Ethiopian books of Meqabyan (quite distinct works from the other four books of Maccabees), which are canonical in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, also refer to the Maccabee martyrs. The first of these books states that their father was a Benjamite named Maccabeus and that three of the brothers, who are called Abya, Seela, and ...
The Orthodox Church celebrates the Holy Maccabean Martyrs on August 1. The Roman Catholic Church also includes them in its official list of saints that have August 1 as their feast day. From before the time of the Tridentine calendar, the Holy Maccabees had a commemoration in the Roman Rite liturgy within the feast of Saint Peter in Chains.
While the Maccabees had lost control of the cities, they seem to have built a rival government in the countryside from 160–153 BCE. The Maccabees avoided direct conflict with the Seleucids, but the internal Jewish civil struggle continued: the rebels harassed, exiled, and killed Jews seen as insufficiently anti-Greek. [35]
During the Maccabean Revolt from 167 to 160 BCE, during at least seven wars between the Jews and the Seleucid Greeks, tens of thousands of Jews died in battle or were killed as martyrs, including some of the original Maccabees. Some of the best known Jewish martyrs of this period is the story of the woman with seven sons and Eleazar (2 Maccabees).
In the narrative of 2 Maccabees, the wrath of God in allowing the persecution turns to mercy after the example of the martyrs, resulting in the eventual success of the Maccabean Revolt. [2] The depiction of Eleazar's death bears some similarities to the death of Socrates, with both being exemplars of Hellenistic ideals of a noble and proper ...
The content of 6 Maccabees is a mix of Jewish and Christian. There is an emphasis on keeping the Jewish law, [5] but also references to Jesus, Paul and Stephen, to the intercession of saints and to the construction of churches commemorating the Maccabean martyrs. [2]
1 Maccabees is only very rarely quoted or referenced by the Church Fathers in the era of early Christianity. When Christians of the Roman Empire discussed the Maccabees, it was usually in reference to the "Maccabean martyrs" described in 2 Maccabees 6 and 2 Maccabees 7, as they were seen as models and precursors to Christian martyrs. As 1 ...
What 2 Maccabees covered in one chapter and a half, 4 Maccabees extends to a full 14 chapters of dialogue and philosophical discussion. 4 Maccabees recasts the story as one of reason and logic: the martyrs will be rewarded in the afterlife, so it is rational to continue to obey Jewish law, even at the risk of torture and death.