Dan (ancient city)

Dan (Hebrew: דן‎), is a city mentioned in the Bible, described as the northernmost city of the Kingdom of Israel, belonging to the Tribe of Dan. The city is identified with the tel known as Tel Dan ("Mound of Dan" תל דן in Hebrew), or Tel el-Qadi تل القاضي ("Mound of the Judge") in Arabic.

Identification and names

The American naval officer William F. Lynch identified Tell el Kadi as the site of ancient Dan in 1849. Three years later, Edward Robinson also made the same identification and this identification is now securely accepted.

The Hebrew Bible states that the site prior to its conquest by the Tribe of Dan was known as Laysha; with variant spellings within Judges, Joshua and Isaiah. The name Tel Dan is a modern Israeli name for the site.

Geography

Dan is situated in Israel, in the area known as the Galilee Panhandle. To the west is the southern part of Mount Lebanon; to the east and north are the Hermon mountains. Melting snow from the Hermon mountains provides the majority of the water of the Jordan River, and passes through Dan, making the immediate area highly fertile. The lush vegetation that results makes the area around Dan seem somewhat out of place in the otherwise arid region around it. Due to its location close to the border with Syria and Lebanon at the far north of the territory which fell under the British Mandate of Palestine, the site has a long and often bitterly contested modern history, most recently during the 1967 Six-Day War.

Saint Abraham (Ethiopian)

Abraham is a saint of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. His feast day is celebrated May 5.

References

Sapor of Bet-Nicator

Sapor of Bet-Nicator (also known as Shapur of Bet-Nicator) was the Christian bishop of Bet-Nicator.

He was reported with 4 companions to King Shapur II, on the basis of their having preached against the Zoroastrian religion. After being subjected to prolonged torture, Bishop Sapor died in prison on November 20, 339.

His companions in martyrdom included Abraham.

There is no record of a feast day for these individuals.

References

Abraham in the Catholic liturgy

Abraham figures prominently in Catholic liturgy. Of all the names of the Old Testament used in the liturgies of the Roman Rite, a special prominence accrues to those of Abel, Melchisedech, and Abraham through their association with the idea of sacrifice and their employment in this connection in the most solemn part of the Canon of the Mass. Abraham's name occurs so often and in such a variety of connections as to give him, among Old Testament figures, a position of eminence in the liturgy, perhaps surpassed by David alone.

Roman Martyrology (Martyrologium Romanum)