Home › Multilingual Archive Index › Saizana

Saizana

Saizana (unvocalized Ge'ez: ሠዐዘነ śʿzn)^[1] was an Aksumite brother of Ezana, Emperor of Ethiopia, who changed the official religion to Christianity

According to Tyrannius Rufinus, he was converted to Christianity with his brother Ezana by Frumentius. With his brother, he resisted the attempts of Emperor Constantius II to relieve Frumentius of his post as bishop and replace him with an Arian.

He was sent by Ezana with his brother Hadefa (also spelled Adiphan, Adefa) to quell an uprising by the Beja, where they were victorious, and 6 Beja tribes (4400 people) were relocated to a province called Matlia, possibly in modern Begemder.^[2]

He is considered a saint by the Coptic Church, with a feast day of October 1.

References

• Holweck, F. G. A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints. St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co. 1924.

1. ^ E. Bernard, A.J. Drewes, and R. Schneider, Recueil des inscriptions de l'Éthiopie des périodes pré-axoumite et axoumite. Tome I: Les inscriptions. Paris: Diffusion de Boccard, 1991, p. 247.
2. ^ Stuart Munro-Hay. Aksum: An African Civilization of Late Antiquity. Edinburgh: University Press. 1991.