reciting the formula of cheirotony. Eutropius being thus consecrated, ordained ten others, who were deputed to various parts of the east, to spread their doctrines. The first Phantasiast bishop of the Hamyarites was Sergius, who was succeeded on his death, four years afterwards, by a bishop of the name of Moses.[1]
The difference between the Romans and Arabs was further widened by an accidental circumstance. The Saracen chiefs were seldom included in the treaties of peace between Rome and Persia, and being at continual variance with each other, were often the cause of misunderstanding, and even of open war, between the two rival empires. At the time of the Persian embassy under Mebodes to the court of Justinian, Amrus, the Persian phylarch, made a demand on the emperor for a sum of money, which he alleged to be due to him for some service he had done for the empire.[2] On the refusal of Justi-
- ↑ Jo. As. Episc. ap. Asseman. tom. ii. The monks of Sinai appear at this time to have been Melchites, and perhaps this was the cause of their being exposed to the depredations of the Arabs, on which account Justinian built them a monastery. — Cum autem audiissent monachi montis Sinæ de bona imp. Justiniani intentione, quamque condendis ecclesiis et monasteriis struendis delectaretur, ad ipsum profecti, conquesti sunt Arabes Ismaelitas ipsis damnum inferre, penum ipsorum devorando, locaque diruendo, cellasque ingredientes, quiequid ibi esset diripere, et in ecclesias irruentes eucharistiam deglutire. Eutychius, tom. ii. p. 161. ex versione Pocock.
- ↑ Menander, excerp. Legat. p. 82, et seq.
