Esther John

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Esther John , born as Qamar Zia ( December 14, 1929 - February 2, 1960 ) was a Pakistani nurse and martyr of the Anglican Church.

Life

Esther John at Westminster Abbey, middle statue

She grew up in a family of seven children in British India and attended a state elementary school and a Christian school at the age of seventeen and secretly converted. Due to the partition of India in 1947, the family moved by sea from Madras to Karachi . Her teacher in Madras had contacted the missionary Marian Laugesen, who Qamar found. In 1954, she left her family because they wanted to forcibly marry her to a Muslim. She found Laugesen and worked in various Christian institutions. She was baptized and took the name Esther John. She was still under pressure from her family, and on June 30, 1955, she escaped and moved to Punjab. In Sahiwal she worked in a missionary hospital and celebrated her first Christmas. She felt called to be a teacher and took courses at a Bible school in Gujranwala in 1956. After graduation in 1959, she moved to Chichawatni near Sahiwal, where she lived and taught at a missionary station. The family relationship was still tense. On February 2, 1960, Esther John was found brutally murdered in her home in Chichawatni, the details of the circumstances are unknown. She was buried as a Christian in Sahiwal.

Honor at the west portal of Westminster Abbey

A special honor for Esther John is her acceptance as a martyr of the 20th century at the west portal of Westminster Abbey in London . The statues were unveiled by Queen Elizabeth in 1998. The main entrance is on the west side. The portal is framed by depictions of the four Christian virtues Truth , Justice , Mercy , Peace and ten martyrs of the 20th century.

Maximilian Kolbe Manche Masemola Janani Luwum Elisabeth von Hessen-Darmstadt (1864–1918) Martin Luther King Óscar Romero Dietrich Bonhoeffer Esther John Lucian Tapiedi Wang Zhiming
Martyrs of the 20th century at Westminster Abbey (west wall; from left to right):

Maximilian Kolbe , Manche Masemola , Janani Luwum , Elisabeth von Hessen-Darmstadt , Martin Luther King , Óscar Romero , Dietrich Bonhoeffer , Esther John, Lucian Tapiedi and Wang Zhiming .

Web links

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  1. ↑ Chandler, Andrew (Ed.) The Terrible Alternative. Christian Martyrdom in the Twentieth Century. Cassell, London and New York, 1998.
  2. ↑ www.westminster-abbey.org
personal data
SURNAME John, Esther
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Qamar Zia
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Pakistani nurse and martyr of the Anglican Church
DATE OF BIRTH December 14, 1929
DATE OF DEATH February 2, 1960