Page:The History of Armenia - Avdall - Volume 1.djvu/322

 then. On his aniVal at N^ushapuh he took the captive priests^ and bringingf them to a distant place, he there martyred them, on the 26tfa of Hirotiz (July), A. D. 454.

An individual of the name of Khujik, who was secretly a christian, buried their bodies. Levond the priest, being the most distinguished among these martyrs, they were henceforward called Levondians. Denshapuh also tortured two of their pupils, Khoren and Abraham, and caused them to be driren into Assyria.

In the meantime the Armenian chiefs, who had a. d. 45li come into Persia under the most solemn assur*- ances of safety, languished in a deep and gloomy dungeon,^exposed to all the vicissitudes of heat and cold, without bedding of any description ; scantily fed, and at times enduring the eztre* mities of hunger and thirst. They bore all without murmuring, confiding in the omniscience of the Most High. The ruthless Hazkert still added to their miseries, by tormenting them, through the medium of Mibmerseh, on account of their religion, offering to restore them to their coun* try and families, with power and honour, if they would turn to the faith of the Magi. But all was ineflfectual ; they remained stedfast in thehr attachment to those doctrines which their ancestors had perished in defending. After a confinement <^ four years, they were a.d.4Si^

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