In company with one hundred bishops and priests St. Shumon was brought before the king. Again he was told that he could save the life of himself and his people by worshiping the sun. St. Shumon replied, "We have one God and Jesus Christ our Savior as the object of our worship. Our Lord teaches us to be faithful to kings and to pray for them, but we are forbidden to worship any creature." Then the king commanded that all of them be beheaded next day. The night in a dungeon was spent in prayer and song and words of advice from St. Shumon in love and tears of sorrow. The patriarch consoled his followers by referring to the fact that St. Paul and apostles spent many nights in prison. He said, "The prison is heaven because the presence of our Lord is with us. This is our last night on earth; to-morrow we will be crowned." Taking the New Testament in his hand he preached to his condemned disciples of the suffering and death of Christ and then administered the Lord's supper. At the close of his prayer he thanked Christ that they were worthy to be His martyrs, and further prayed, "Watch with me, O Lord, help our infirmity, The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Thanks be to God that we are to become martyrs on the same day of the week as did Christ." In the morning he, with his 100 followers stood before the king. The bishops were first beheaded, and St. Shumon spoke to each one as follows: "My son, close your eyes, and after one minute you will be with Christ." St. Shumon had asked to be beheaded first that he might not see the death of his beloved followers, but he was not heard. At last came his turn with two chief bishops. When he alone was left he sang a song of thanks to God that out of 100 martyrs, not one had denied the faith. His song was as follows: "Praised be Thy power our God; let the kingdom of our Savior be victorious. Thou quickener of life, thou hast prepared a crown for Thy martyrs." Then he was beheaded with an axe.
Another severe persecution was in the 14th century by Tamerlane. In 1848 two Kurdish dukes Baddirkhunback and Nurullaback and their armies came whirling down from the Kurdish mountains and in one month massacred 25,000 Assyrians. The spirit of martyrdom still lives in this people, as was shown in 1893, when two men and a girl were killed as martyrs. No doubt there are to-day singing praises before the throne of God, hundreds of martyrs from this nation.
CHAPTER VIII.
THEIR CONDITION AT THE TIME AMERICAN MISSIONS WERE STARTED.
The colleges of the Assyrians were destroyed four hundred years before the American missionaries came. Not a single school was left, and the only effort at education was by monks teaching dead languages to aspirants for the priesthood. Learned bishops and monks who were full of the spirit of Christ in spreading the gospel at home and abroad had all vanished. Some of the clergy could not understand what they read. Priests and their parish became blind to the Word of God, as their books had been burned in times of persecution by the Mohammedans in order to keep them ignorant. Sometimes there was only one priest in a dozen villages. The clouds of ignorance spread over all the nation. Their sun went down. Regeneration and conversion were unknown to them. Traditions prevailed among priests and laymen. They trusted in saints and in ancient and holy church buildings. In their ignorance they offered sacrifice to martyrs and built tombs to prophets; put more hope in the merit of fasting than in Christ. A small number of New Testament manuscripts, which were written in dead languages were used only in taking oaths. Sometimes laymen kneeled before them and kissed them instead of obeying the truth that was written in them. The candlestick of the church was turned down and the light quenched. Moreover the Mohammedans had threatened to massacre them if they did not accept that faith. The Assyrians had lost about all of their Christianity except the name. Among 100,000 Christians in Kurdiston and 60,000 in Persia there was only one lady who could read, and she was a nun, sister of the patriarch. The words of the daughter-in-law of Eli when she said, "The glory is departed from Israel." could have been applied to this nation.
PART VI.
CHAPTER I.