[3] This view is based on Syriac accounts of martyrdoms, but these may have been written some time after the events, and may present only the Roman viewpoint.

[4] The theme of Shapur's persecution being a reaction to Constantine's conversion emerged only during the reign of Theodosius II (r. 402–450), and must be treated with some skepticism.

[5] However, there is no doubt that Shapur II severely persecuted the Christians from 339 until his death in 379, and the 5th-century Syriac Passions most likely were the source for Sozomenos's account in his Ecclesiastical History, and have been carried forward into Greek translations.

[6] Sozomen (c. 400–450 AD) wrote in his Ecclesiastical History, Chapter XIV - Conduct and martyrdom of Milles the Bishop, multitude of bishops slain in Persia by Sapor, besides obscure individuals, I shall briefly state that the number of men and women whose names have been ascertained, and who were martyred at this period, has been computed to be upwards of sixteen thousand, while the multitude of martyrs whose names are unknown was so great that the Persians, the Syrians, and the inhabitants of Edessa, have failed in all their efforts to compute the number.

One hundred Christian soldiers, for the most part Greeks, made prisoners by the Persian King Sapor II in his war with the emperor Constantius.

On April 22 the Roman Church commemorates the Passion of a vast number of Christians, massacred in Persian under King Sapor II on Good Friday.

Among them were Milles, Acepsimas, Mareas, Bicor and twenty other Bishops, about two hundred and fifty priests and deacons, and very many monks and nuns.

Barbasceminus, Bishop of Seleucia, was one of the most distinguished of the Persian Martyrs of the fourth century under the persecuting King Sapor II.

(March 29)King Sapor II of Persia, in the eighteenth year of his reign, raised a fierce persecution against the Christians.

While travelling about and encouraging the Christians of his neighbourhood (nine of whom received the Crown of Martyrdom), they were arrested and after bravely enduring every form of torture, laid down their lives for Christ's sake.

A band of Martyrs in Persia who endured savage torture and in the end were beheaded under Sapor II, the persecuting monarch (A.D.

The same day, many holy martyrs who, the year following the death of Saint Simeon, and on the anniversary of the Passion of our Lord, were put to the sword for the name of Christ throughout Persia, under king Sapor.

The Jews, to whom she was very favourable, easily persuaded her that her sickness was the effect of a magical charm or spell, employed by the sisters of the blessed Simeon, to be revenged for their brother’s death.

But she refused the offer with indignation, saying, that she was the spouse of Jesus Christ, to whom she had consecrated her virginity, and committed her life; and that she feared not death, which would open to her the way to her dear brother, and to eternal rest from pain.

They hereupon made their report to the king, as if they had been convicted of the crime; but he not believing them guilty, was willing their lives should be spared, and their liberty restored to them, on condition they would offer sacrifice to the sun.

For me courageously to die is to live; but life, purchased by baseness, is worse than any death.” When they were come to the place of execution, each person was tied to two stakes, and with a saw sawn in two; each half, thus separated, was cut into six parts, and being thrown into so many baskets, were hung on two forked stakes, placed in the figure of half crosses, leaving an open path between them; through which the queen superstitiously passed the same day.

Saint Maruthas adds, that no sight could be more shocking or barbarous, than this spectacle of the martyrs’ limbs cruelly mangled, and exposed to scorn.