Venerable Abraham the Recluse and his niece, Blessed Maria of Mesopotamia

Abraham came from a wealthy family near Edessa in Mesopotamia. His Life, attributed to Ephrem the Syrian, tells that on the day of his wedding he left home and walled himself into a cell outside the city, where he lived for some fifty years; ordained against his will, he spent three years winning over a pagan village and then returned to his cell.

He raised his orphaned niece Mary in a cell next to his. After some twenty years she was seduced, fled and became a prostitute in a distant city. Abraham, disguised as a soldier, found her at an inn, revealed himself and brought her home; she lived on in repentance. Both died c. 360.