{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/202/2020143.htm","path":"chr/ecf/202/2020143.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/202/2020143.htm","text":"Chapter XVIII.\u2014Events at Edessa: Constancy of the Devout Citizens, and Courage of a Pious Woman.\nBut we must here mention certain circumstances that occurred at Edessa in Mesopotamia. There is in that city a magnificent church 611 dedicated to St. Thomas the Apostle, wherein, on account of the sanctity of the place, religious assemblies are incessantly held. The Emperor Valens wishing to inspect this edifice, and having learnt that all who usually congregated there were opposed to the heresy which he favored, he is said to have struck the prefect with his own hand, because he had neglected to expel them thence also. As the prefect after submitting to this ignominy, was most unwillingly constrained to subserve the emperor\u2019s indignation against them,\u2014for he did not desire to effect the slaughter of so great a number of persons,\u2014he privately suggested that no one should be found there. But no one gave heed either to his admonitions or to his menaces; for on the following day they all crowded to the church. 612 And when the prefect was going towards it with a large military force in order to satisfy the emperor\u2019s rage, a poor woman leading her own little child by the hand hurried hastily by, on her way to the church, breaking through the ranks of the prefect\u2019s company of soldiers. The prefect irritated at this, ordered her to be brought to him, and thus addressed her: \u2018Wretched woman! whither are you running in so disorderly a manner?\u2019 She replied, \u2018To the same place that others are hastening.\u2019 \u2018Have you not heard,\u2019 said he, \u2018that the prefect is about to put to death all that shall be found there?\u2019 \u2018Yes,\u2019 said the woman, \u2018and therefore I hasten that I may be found there.\u2019 \u2018And whither are you dragging that little child?\u2019 said the prefect: the woman answered, \u2018That he also may be made worthy of martyrdom.\u2019 613 The p. 105 prefect on hearing these things, conjecturing that a similar resolution actuated the others who were assembled there, immediately went back to the emperor, and informed him that all were ready to die in behalf of their own faith. He added that it would be preposterous to destroy so many persons at one time, and thus persuaded the emperor to control his wrath. In this way were the Edessenes preserved from being massacred by order of their sovereign.\nThe kind of church here meant was a memorial structure to a martyr, erected where his relics were deposited, and was called \u039c\u03b1\u03c1\u03c4\u03cd\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd . See Bingham, Christ. Antiq. VIII. 1.\n104:612\nThe same church which above was called a \u03bc\u03b1\u03c1\u03c4\u03cd\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd from its origin, is here called \u03b5\u1f50\u03ba\u03c4\u03ae\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 \u03c4\u03cc\u03c0\u03bf\u03c2, from its use (\u2018a place of prayer\u2019).\n104:613\nGibbon, in his Decline and Fall, chap. 16, quotes a number of extracts from Sulpicius Severus and Ignatius, showing the honor in which martyrdom was held in the early church, and the eagerness with which it was sought. To check the excess of zeal which was thus manifested, the Council of Elvira, in 306 a.d., passed a canon (its sixtieth) to the following intent: \u2018that if any one should overthrow idols, and should therefore be put to death, inasmuch as this is not written in the Gospel nor found done among the apostles at any time, such a one should not be received among the martyrs.\u2019","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. II: The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus.: Events at Edessa: Constancy of the Devout Citizens, and Courage of a Pious Woman.","type":"page"}