The Tale of Milidus

They said of Milidus, that while he was living on the frontiers of Persia with two disciples, two sons of the emperor came on their usual hunting expedition, and put nets around an area of forty miles, and speared whatever they trapped.

They found the monk and his disciples within this area. When they saw his hairy and forbidding face, they were astonished and said, "Are you a man or a demon?"

He said, "I am a sinful man, and I have come out here to repent of my sins. I worship Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God."

They said to him, "There is no god but sun, fire and water. Worship them and sacrifice to them."

He replied, "You are wrong, they are only creatures. I beg you, be converted and recognize the true God who made these and everything else."

But they mocked him and said, "Are you saying that the true God is a condemned and crucified man?"

"Yes," said Milidus, "I say that the true God is He who crucified sin and killed death."

So, they tortured Milidus and the two monks to force them to sacrifice. After many tortures they beheaded the two monks but they went on torturing Milidus day after day. Then, they fastened him in one place and fired arrows into him, one in front and one behind, so that he looked like a signpost.

He said to them, "Because you have conspired to shed innocent blood, tomorrow, at this very moment of the day, your mother shall lose her children and your care for her, and you will spill each other's blood with your own arrows."

They thought his words were nonsense and the next day went out again to hunt. It happened tht a stag escaped from their net, and they mounted their horses and chased him. Each fired an arrow which hit the heart of the other, and so they died as Milidus had forseen.