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WHEN, in course of time, the Christians increased in number, and
began to form churches, and appointed priests and deacons, the Magi,
who as a priestly tribe had from the beginning in successive generations
acted as the guardians 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
Caesar of the Romans, and with communicating the affairs of the
Persians to him. Sapor believed these accusations, and at first,
ground the Christians with excessive taxes, although he knew that the
generality of them had voluntarily embraced poverty. He entrusted the
exaction to cruel men, hoping that, by the want of necessaries, and
the atrocity of the exactors, they might be compelled to abjure their
religion; for this was his aim. Afterwards, however, be commanded
that the priests and conductors of the worship 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
cooperation of the Jews, quickly destroyed the houses of prayer.
Symeon, on his apprehension, was bound with chains, and brought
before the king. There the man evinced his excellence and courage;
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, "Formerly I was not led away bound in
order that I might abjure the truth of God, and therefore I did not
then object to pay the customary respect to royalty; but now it would
not be proper for me to do so; for I stand here in defense of
godliness and of our opinion." When he ceased speaking, the king
commanded him to worship the sun, promising, as an inducement, to
bestow gifts upon him, and to hold him in honor; but on the other
hand, threatening, in case of non-compliance, to visit him and the
whole body of Christians with destruction. When the king found that
he neither frightened him by menaces, nor caused him to relax by
promises, and that Symeon remained firm and refused to worship the
sun, or to betray his religion, he commanded him to be put in bonds
for a while, probably imagining that 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 forbade 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
had worshiped 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 since 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 me, and it would
have been easy to bear. 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, he spared the old man,
and strove with all his strength, by alternate gentleness and
harshness, 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 be so foolish as 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 one of the most faithful eunuchs, and bade
him say to Sapor, "From my youth until now I have been well
affected, O king, to your house, and have ministered with fitting
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 kingdom, 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 knavery that he has ever committed in
the palaces, 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; for 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 so
became imitators of his fortitude.
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