Holy fathers slain at Sinai and Raithu
The Holy fathers slain at Sinai and Raithu are saints venerated together on January 14 by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches.
Background
The holy monastic fathers were slain at Sinai and Raithu. There were two occasions when the monks and hermits were murdered by the barbarians. The first took place during the reign of Diocletian, about the year 296, when forty fathers were killed at Mt. Sinai, and thirty-nine were slain at Raithu on the same day.[1]
Their names are given as Isaiah, Sabbas, Moses and his disciple Moses, Jeremiah, Paul, Adam, Sergius, Domnus, Proclus, Hypatius, Isaac, Macarius, Mark, Benjamin, Eusebius, Elias, and others (4th-5th century).[2]
The martyrs of Raithu were killed about the middle of the 5th century.[3]
The killing of both groups of martyrs is attributed to the tribe called the Blemmyes, from parts of Arabia.