NINE SAINTS. – Called of Rome (= Constantinople), Monophysite monks who, according to legend, arrived in Ethiopia in 454 from Syria, whence they had been driven by the anti-Monophysite persecution that followed the condemnation of Eutyches by the Council of Chalcedon (451). Their names are: 1. Za Miká'el 'Arágaavi; 2. Pan-tálewon; 3. Ishaq Garimá; 4. Afsé; 5. Gubá; 6. Aléf; 7. Yem'ata; 8. Liqános; 9. Sehma.
They settled in the ancient Kingdom of Axum, where they founded flourishing monasteries. Tradition attributes to them the translation into Ge'ez (ancient Ethiopic, now used only in ecclesiastical and scholarly contexts) of the Old Testament from the Greek of the Septuagint. This version appears to have been made from the text in use in the Church of Antioch (the text of St. Lucian or the Syro-Western text) rather than the Alexandrian text. This translation marks the beginning of Ethiopian literature.