Constantine Writes to Sapor for the Christians of Persia

Constantine, the Roman emperor, was angry and took it hard when he heard of the sufferings the Christians were enduring in Persia. He very much wanted to help them, but did not know how to do it. About this time some ambassadors from the Persian king arrived at his court. After granting their requests and sending them home, he thought it a good opportunity to approach Sapor on behalf of the Christians in Persia. He wrote to him, declaring that it would be a very great favor, and one he could never fully put into words, if Sapor would be kind to those of his subjects who admired the teaching of the Christians. “There is nothing in their religion,” he said, “that deserves blame. They make their petitions to God with bloodless prayers alone, for he takes no delight in the shedding of blood, but takes pleasure only in a pure soul devoted to virtue and to religion. So those who believe these things deserve praise.” [a]

The emperor then assured Sapor that God would be gracious to him if he treated the Christians gently, and he offered the example of Valerian and of himself as proof. He himself, by faith in Christ and with the help of God’s favor, had set out from the shores of the Western Ocean and brought the whole Roman world under obedience. He had ended many wars against foreign peoples and against usurpers, and yet he had never turned to sacrifices or divinations; for victory he had used only the symbol of the cross at the head of his armies, and prayer free of blood and defilement. Valerian’s reign had prospered as long as he refrained from persecuting the church. But afterward he began a persecution against the Christians, and God’s vengeance handed him over into the hands of the Persians, who took him prisoner and put him to a cruel death. It was in this vein that Constantine wrote to Sapor, urging him to look kindly on this religion; for the emperor extended his watchful care over all Christians in every region, whether Roman or foreign.