the intercourse which these people held with the Osdronians and Armenians; for it is likely that by associating with such divine men they were stimulated to imitate their virtues.

CHAP. IX.-Sapor, king of PERSIA IS EXCITED AGAINST THE CHRISTIANS. SYMEON, BISHOP OF PERSIA, AND USTHAZANES, A EUNUCH, SUFFER THE AGONY OF MARTYRDOM.

WHEN, in course of time, the Christians increased in number, assembled as churches, and appointed priests and deacons, the Magi, who had from time immemorial acted as priests of the Persian religion, became deeply incensed against them. The Jews, who, through envy, are in some way naturally opposed to the Christian religion, were likewise offended. They therefore brought accusations before Sapor, the reigning sovereign, against Symeon, who was then archbishop of Seleucia and Ctesiphon, royal cities of Persia, and charged him with being a friend of the Cæsar of the Romans, and with communicating the affairs of the Persians to him. Sapor believed these accusations, and at first imposed intolerably oppressive taxes upon the Christians, although he knew that the generality of them had voluntarily embraced poverty. He appointed cruel men to exact these taxes, hoping that, by the want of necessaries, and the atrocity of the tax-gatherers, they might be compelled to abjure their religion; for this was his aim. Afterwards, however, he commanded that the priests and ministers of God should be slain with the sword. The churches were demolished, their vessels were deposited in the treasury, and Symeon was arrested as a traitor to the kingdom and the religion of the Persians. Thus the Magi, with the co-operation of the Jews, quickly destroyed the houses of prayer. Symeon, on his apprehension, was bound with chains and brought before the king. There he evinced the excellence and firmness of his character; for when Sapor commanded that he should be led away to the torture, he did not fear, and would not prostrate himself. The king, greatly exasperated, demanded why he did not prostrate himself as he had done formerly. Symeon replied, that formerly he was not led away bound, in order that he might abjure the truth of God, and therefore did not then object to pay the customary

A. D. 343.]

PERSECUTION UNDER SAPOR.

65

respect to royalty; but that on the present occasion it would not be proper for him to do so: for he stood there in defence of godliness and of the one true faith. When he ceased speaking, the king commanded him to worship the sun, promising, as an inducement, to bestow gifts upon him, and to raise him to honour; but on the other hand, threatening, in case of noncompliance, to visit him and the whole body of Christians with destruction. When the king found that promises and menaces were alike unavailing, and that Symeon firmly refused to worship the sun, or to betray his religion, he remanded him to prison, probably imagining that, if kept for a time in bonds, he would change his mind.

When Symeon was being conducted to prison, Usthazanes, an aged eunuch, the foster-father of Sapor, and superintendent of the palace, who happened to be sitting at the gates of the palace, arose to do him reverence. Symeon reproachfully forbad him, in a loud and haughty voice, averted his countenance, and passed by; for the eunuch had been formerly a Christian, but had recently yielded to authority and worshipped the sun. This conduct so affected the eunuch, that he wept aloud, laid aside the white garment with which he was robed, and clothed himself, as a mourner, in black; he then seated himself in front of the palace, crying and groaning, and saying, "Woe is me! what must not await me? for I have denied God, and on this account Symeon, formerly my familiar friend, does not think me worthy of being spoken to, but turns away and hastens from me." When Sapor heard of what had occurred, he called the eunuch to him, and inquired into the cause of his grief, and asked him whether any calamity had befallen his family. Usthazanes replied and said, "O king, nothing has occurred to my family, but I would rather have suffered any other affliction whatsoever than that which has befallen Now I mourn because I am alive, and ought to have been dead long ago; yet I still see the sun which, not voluntarily, but to please thee, I professed to worship. Therefore, on both accounts, it is just that I should die, for I have been a betrayer of Christ, and a deceiver of thee.” He then swore by the Maker of heaven and earth, that he would never swerve from his convictions. Sapor, astonished at the wonderful conversion of the eunuch, was still more enraged against the Christians, as if they had effected it by enchantments. Still, [SOZOMEN.]

me.

F

he compassionated the old man, and strove by alternate gentleness and severity to bring him over to his own sentiments. But finding that his efforts were useless, and that Usthazanes persisted in declaring that he would never have the folly to worship the creature instead of the Creator, he became inflamed with passion, and commanded that the eunuch's head should be struck off with a sword. When the executioners came forward to perform their office, Usthazanes requested them to wait a little, that he might communicate something to the king. He then called upon a certain faithful eunuch to convey the following address to Sapor: "From my youth until now I have been well affected, O king, to your house, and have ministered with care and diligence to your father and yourself. I need no witnesses to corroborate my statements, these facts are well established. For all the matters wherein at divers times I have gladly served you, grant me this reward; let it not be imagined by those who are ignorant of the circumstances, that I have incurred this punishment by acts of unfaithfulness against the state, or by the commission of any other crime; but let it be published and proclaimed abroad by a herald that Usthazanes loses his head for no crime that he has ever committed in the palace, but for being a Christian, and for refusing to obey the king in denying his own God." The eunuch delivered this message, and Sapor, according to the request of Usthazanes, commanded a herald to make the desired proclamation. The king imagined that others would be easily deterred from embracing Christianity, by reflecting that he who sacrificed his aged foster-father and esteemed household servant would assuredly spare no other Christian. Usthazanes, however, believed that as, by his timidity in consenting to worship the sun, he had caused many Christians to fear, so now, by the diligent proclamation of the cause of his sufferings, many might be edified by learning that he died for the sake of religion, and sɔ become imitators of his fortitude.

A. D. 343.]

MARTYRDOM OF SYMEON,

67

CHAP. X.-CHRISTIANS SLAIN BY SAPOR IN PERSIA.

IN this manner the honourable life of Usthazanes was terminated, and when the intelligence was brought to Symeon in the prison, he offered thanksgiving to God on his account. The following day, which happened to be the sixth day of the week, and likewise the day on which, as immediately preceding the festival of the resurrection, the annual memorial of the passion of the Saviour is celebrated, the king issued orders for the decapitation of Symeon; for he had been again conducted to the palace from the prison, had reasoned most boldly with Sapor on points of doctrine, and had expressed a determination never to worship either the king or the sun. On the same day a hundred other prisoners were ordered to be slain. Symeon beheld their execution, and last of all he was put to death. Amongst these victims were bishops, presbyters, and other clergy of different grades. As they were being led out to execution, the chief of the Magi approached them, and asked them whether they would preserve their lives by conforming to the religion of the king and by worshipping the sun. As none of them would comply with this condition, they were conducted to the place of execution, and the executioners applied themselves to the task of slaying these martyrs. Symeon exhorted them to constancy, and reasoned concerning death, and the resurrection, and piety, and showed them from the Sacred Scriptures that a death like theirs is true life whereas to live, and through fear to deny God, is as truly death. He told them, too, that even if no one were to slay them, death would inevitably overtake them, for our death is a natural consequence of our birth, and that, after this short and transitory life, an account must be rendered of our actions; after which, we enter upon another life, wherein virtue receives eternal rewards, and vice is visited with endless punishment. He likewise told them that the most glorious of good actions is to die for the cause of God. The martyrs gladly listened to this discourse of Symeon's, and went forward with alacrity to meet their death. After the execution of three hundred martyrs, Symeon himself was

1 Valesius remarks that his death, rather than his life, is to be regarded as glorious.

;

slain; and Abdechalaas and Ananias, two presbyters of his own church, who had been his fellow-prisoners, suffered with him.'

CHAP. XI.-PUSICIUS, SUPERINTENDANT OF THE ARTISANS OF

SAPOR.

PUSICIUS, the superintendant of the king's artisans, was present at the execution; perceiving that Ananias trembled as the necessary preparations for his death were being made, he said to him, "Oh, old man, close your eyes and be of good courage, for you will soon behold the light of Christ." No sooner had he uttered these words, than he was arrested and conducted before the king; and as he frankly avowed himself a Christian, and spoke with great boldness concerning the truth of his religion and the innocence of the martyrs, he was condemned to a most extraordinary and cruel death. The executioners pierced the muscles of his neck in such a manner as to extract his tongue. At the same time his daughter, who had devoted herself to a life of holy virginity, was arraigned and executed. The following year, on the day on which the Passion of Christ was commemorated, and when preparations were being made for the celebration of the festival commemorative of his Resurrection from the dead, Sapor issued a most cruel edict throughout Persia, condemning to death all those who should confess themselves to be Christians; and it is said that an immense number of Christians suffered

by the sword. The Magi sought diligently in the cities. and villages for those who had concealed themselves; and many voluntarily surrendered themselves, lest they should appear, by their silence, to deny Christ. Of the Christians who were thus unsparingly sacrificed, many who were attached to the palace were slain, and amongst these was Azadas, a eunuch, who was especially beloved by the king. On hearing of his death Sapor was overwhelmed with grief, and put a stop to the indiscriminate slaughter of the Christians; and he directed that the teachers of religion should alone be slain.

1 Some however say that the martyrdom of Symeon and his companions took place in April, A. D. 349.