Esther John

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

Life

She grew up in a family of seven children in British India and went to a state primary school and at the age of seventeen to a Christian school and converted secretly. Due to the partition of India in 1947, the family moved by sea from Madras to Karachi. Her teacher at Madras had the missionary Marian Laugesen contacted, who also took Qamar. In 1954, she left her family, as they wanted to forcibly marry 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 their family and eluded this on June 30, 1955, and moved to the Punjab. In Sahiwal she worked in a mission hospital and celebrated their first Christmas. She felt herself called to the teacher and took classes at a Bible school in Gujranwala in 1956. Upon completion in 1959, she moved to Chichawatni in Sahiwal and lived and taught there on a mission station. The family relationship was still strained. On February 2, 1960 Esther John was found brutally murdered in their home in Chichawatni, the circumstances are not known. She was buried in Christian Sahiwal.

Ceremony at the west portal of Westminster Abbey

A special honor Esther Johns is its inclusion 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 located on the west side. The portal is framed by depictions of the four Christian virtues truth, justice, mercy, and peace, and of ten martyrs of the 20th century.