Page 109 - Edessa, 'The Blessed City'-01, by J. B. Segal (Oxford, 1970). Chapters 1-3

96 THE BLESSING OF JESUS AND THE TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY
rebukes Philoxenus. The bishop of Mabbog, he states, 'was at that time in
Edessa—of whom beyond all others it was thought he had taken upon
himself to labour in teaching—yet he did not speak on this subject more than
one day'. Paul, who had obtained the see of Edessa in 501, also professed
support for Monophysite doctrines. But in 519 occurred another of the
sudden reversals of fortune that make the ecclesiastical history of this time
so bewildering. The successor of Zeno, Anastasius, had been inclined to
favour the Monophysites. The following emperor, Justin I, however, eager
to reconcile the western and eastern Churches, insisted on recognition of the
decisions of the Council of Chalcedon, and there arose the Melkite, or
Imperial group, to maintain these decisions.
There opened now a long period of fierce persecution of Monophysites.
The oppression is well documented, though allowance must be made for
the bias of our Monophysite sources. Among the most implacable leaders of
this campaign, in north Mesopotamia, were the Patriarch of Antioch,
Euphrasius, his successor, Ephraim of Amid, Count of the Orient (of whom
even his enemies wrote that he was 'just in his deeds, not greedy of bribes,
able and successful'), Asclepius, Bishop of Edessa, and Abraham bar Kilai,
Bishop of Amid. We are given a list of fifty-four Monophysite bishops,
including the great Severus of Antioch, who were removed from their sees.
Not only monks and nuns, but also laymen were driven from their homes.
They were beaten with swords and sticks, they suffered hunger and thirst
and exposure; soldiers harried them, giving them no time to eat or to rest.
Even persons with whom Monophysites found shelter were punished. Many
priests perished miserably in exile. Philoxenus of Mabbog died at Gangra,
suffocated by smoke from the kitchen of the hospice, over which he was
incarcerated. John of Telia travelled widely in secret, ordaining priests and
deacons and encouraging his fellow Monophysites to hold fast to their
beliefs.1 In February 537, he was apprehended in the mountains of Persian
Mesopotamia and extradited; he died, after torture, a year later at Antioch.
In these events Edessa was closely involved. Its inhabitants had largely
declared for Monophysitism. In 519 Bishop Paul was taken by force out of
the Baptistry, where he had sought refuge, and was deported to Syria.
Permitted to return after forty days, he still refused to accept the Synod of
Chalcedon and was sent into exile at Euchaita in 522. His successor Asclepius
became hated for his violent onslaughts on Monophysites, in which he used
also local army detachments. Edessan monks, notably those of the Monastery
of the Orientals, a few miles south of the city, were expelled. In April 525,
Asclepius seized ten monks and threatened them with torture on the following
day, unless they would accept Melkite tenets. During that night, however,
the river Daisan overflowed into the city, and there was great destruction of
1 See p. 151 below.

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