Diohenot, that part of Persia being above 'all
other the most christian. Miserable, and almost
innumerable, were the slaiughters tinder the
reign of Sapores, of Bishops, Ministers, Dea-
cons,, Religious men, holy Virgins, and other
Ecclesiastical persons, such as s'tood stedfast
in the d.octrine of Christ, and suffered for the'
saiile. The names of; the Bishops, besides the
multitude- taiken away during this persecution
are recited, as quoted by Mr. John Fox, the
eminent. Marty rologist. Book 1. p. 127, where,
according to, his author Sozomen, • the number
of Bishops and Ecclesiastical persons, amount-
ed to two .hundred and hfty persons, and the
wholp multitude of them that suffered in that
perseciition, the raannenqf their apprehending,
the cruelty of their torpaents, how, qnd where
they ^suffered, it being not possible for any
history to dis^arge, neither were the Persians
thehiselvesy as Soz^mon records, able to recite
them. .'In iine, the multitude and number of
those whom they were able to recite by nara«,
amounted to the sum of sixteen thousand men
and women. The which miserable havoc of the
Christians in Persia, coming to the ears of
Constantine, induced him to. intercede by
letters to Sapores, the King of Persia, in be-
half of the Christians. Thpse circumstances
are a sufficient testimony to verify the early



planting of the Christian Faith in Persia, ex-
clusive of other testimonies. <.i/

Jesujabus, of Adjaben, Patriarch of the
Nestorians, who wrote about A.'D. 630, in a
letter of his, written to the Bishop of Persia,
shews the then state and extent of the churches
in those parts of the East. " Be thou mind-
ful, says he, of these things, O Brother, belov-
ed of God, that forasmuch as ye have shut the
door of the Priesthood against many of the
people of India, and have prohibited the gift of
God for filthy lucre's sake, and the nourishment
of carnal lust ; so have ye closed against your-
selves the door of the gift of the Lord, and
against your own necessities. The state of pub-
lic affairs is even now become desperate with
you, as ye yourselves are best able to know.
