Abdas, (also Abda, Abdias, and Audas) was

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

Susa Susa ( ) was an ancient city in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris, between the Karkheh River, Karkheh and Dez River, Dez Rivers in Iran. One of the most important cities of the Ancient Near East, Susa served as the capital o ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Socrates of Constantinople Socrates of Constantinople ( 380 – after 439), also known as Socrates Scholasticus (), was a 5th-century Greek Christian church historian, a contemporary of Sozomen and Theodoret. He is the author of a ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' ("Church Hist ...

calls him "bishop of

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

".Socrates Scholasticus, ''Ecclesiastical history''
vii. 8
He was executed under the orders of

shah Shāh (; ) is a royal title meaning "king" in the Persian language.Yarshater, Ehsa, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII, no. 1 (1989) Though chiefly associated with the monarchs of Iran, it was also used to refer to the leaders of numerous Per ...

Yazdegerd I Yazdegerd I (also spelled Yazdgerd and Yazdgird; ) was the Sasanian King of Kings () of Iran from 399 to 420. A son of Shapur III (), he succeeded his brother Bahram IV () after the latter's assassination. Yazdegerd I's largely-uneventful reig ...

after refusing to rebuild a

Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, Zoroaster ( ). Among the wo ...

fire temple A fire temple (; ) is a place of worship for Zoroastrians. In Zoroastrian doctrine, ''atar'' and '' aban'' (fire and water) are agents of ritual purity. Clean, white "ash for the purification ceremonies sregarded as the basis of ritual lif ...

that he had destroyed.

Life

Abdas was born in fourth-century Chaldor to a

mother, who educated him in matters of virtue. After Abdas reached adulthood, he was ordained a Christian priest, and built up in his hometown a monastery and a school, which grew to have around 60 teachers. Abdas baptized many converts in Chaldan, which caused the magi to arrest him. In prison, Abdas was subjected to humiliations, hunger and pain, but remained a Christian until his release. Abdas became a bishop in

.Oussani, Gabriel. "Persia." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911 Abdas was an associate of

Maruthas of Martyropolis Maruthas or Marutha of Martyropolis was a Syriac monk who became bishop"The Armenian Life of Marutha of Maipherkat", Ralph Marcus, ''The Harvard Theological Review'', Vol. 25, No. 1 (Jan., 1932), 47. of Maypherkat in Mesopotamia ( Meiafarakin) ...

. Abdas is supposed to have helped Maruthas in driving out a demon from King Yezdegerd's son. However, his impetuosity, put an end to the good relations between the Persian king and the Christian community. In , Abdas, in cooperation with a band of Christian priests and laymen, levelled a Zoroastrian

, for which they were summoned to court to answer for their actions. Yazdegerd I reputedly asked Abdas; "Since you are the chief and leader of these men, why do you allow them to despise our kingdom, to transgress against our command, and to act in accordance with their own will? Do you demolish and destroy our houses of worship and the foundations of our fire temples, which we have received from the fathers of our fathers to honor?" While Abdas hesitated to answer, a priest in his entourage replied back, saying "I demolished the foundation and extinguished the fire because it is not a house of God, nor is the fire the daughter of God." Demolishing a fire temple was reportedly a way of broadcasting the "victory of Christianity." Abdas ultimately refused to have the fire temple rebuilt, and was as a result, he was subsequently executed. Abdas' companions included the priests Hashu and Isaac, the secretary Ephrem, the hypodeacon Papa, the laymen Daduk and Durdan, and Papa, a brother of Abdas himself were also killed. His feast day is 16 May.Odden, Per Einar. "Den hellige Abdas av Susa og ledsagere (d. 420)", Den katolske kirke, December 28, 2015
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Notes

References

* * Maronite Heritage, http://www.maronite-heritage.com/LNE.php?page=16May *

De Lacy O'Leary De Lacy Evans O'Leary (1872–1957) was a British Orientalist who lectured at the University of Bristol and wrote a number of books on the early history of Arabs and Copts. Personal life De Lacy Evans O'Leary was born in Devon in 1872, the eldes ...

; ''The Syriac Church and Fathers'' (2002) *

Theodoret Theodoret of Cyrus or Cyrrhus (; AD 393 – 458/466) was an influential theologian of the School of Antioch, biblical commentator, and Christian bishop of Cyrrhus (423–457). He played a pivotal role in several 5th-century Byzantine ...

''Ecclesiastical history''
Blomfield Jackson (translator) (1892) * Holweck, F. G., "A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints". St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co., 1924. {{DEFAULTSORT:Abda 4th-century births 420 deaths Persian saints 5th-century deaths 5th-century Christian martyrs Year of birth unknown People executed by the Sasanian Empire Christians in the Sasanian Empire Bishops of Susa