Persecution at Antioch, and the Faith of Edessa

The emperor went to Antioch and drove out of the churches of that city and of the neighboring cities everyone who held to the Nicene doctrines. He also oppressed them with all kinds of punishments. Some say he ordered many to be put to death in various ways and had others thrown into the river Orontes. He had heard that there was a magnificent house of prayer at Edessa named after the apostle Thomas, and he went to see it. There he saw the members of the catholic church gathered for worship on the plain in front of the city walls, for there too they had been stripped of their houses of prayer. It is said that the emperor scolded the prefect severely and struck him on the jaw with his fist for having allowed these gatherings against his edict. Modestus, for that was the prefect’s name, although he was a heretic himself, secretly warned the people of Edessa not to meet for prayer at the usual place the next day, because he had received orders from the emperor to punish everyone who was caught. He made these threats so that no one, or at least only a few, would be in danger, and in the hope of calming the emperor’s anger. But the people of Edessa paid no attention at all to the threat. They ran together with even more than their usual zeal and filled their usual meeting place. [a]

When Modestus learned what they had done, he could not decide what to do, and he went in perplexity to the plain with the crowd. A woman leading a child by the hand, her cloak trailing behind her in a way unbecoming to a modest woman, forced her way through the ranks of soldiers the prefect was leading, as though she were hurrying on some important business. Modestus noticed her, ordered her to be arrested, and had her brought before him to ask why she was running. She replied that she was hurrying to the plain where the members of the catholic church were gathered. “Don’t you know,” said Modestus, “that the prefect is on his way there to condemn to death everyone who is found at the place?” “I have heard so,” she replied, “and that is exactly why I am hurrying. I am afraid of arriving too late and so losing the honor of martyrdom for God.” When the governor asked her why she was taking her child with her, she replied: “So that he may share in the suffering of all and have a part in the same reward.” Modestus was astonished at this woman’s courage. He went to the emperor, told him what had happened, and persuaded him not to carry out a plan which he showed to be both shameful and disastrous. In this way the whole city of Edessa confessed the Christian faith.