The life of Arethas and Companions
Offered peace if the city surrendered, the citizens accepted terms against Arethas's own counsel, and Dhu Nuwas broke his word once inside, ordering the massacre of the Christian population. Arethas was brought before the king and pressed to renounce Christ to save his life; he refused, declaring that to die for Christ was to find life, and was beheaded along with a great number of his companions.
Several thousand Christians of Najran, including women, children, and clergy, were killed in the days that followed, many burned in their own churches. Word of the massacre reached the emperor in Constantinople, who sent the Christian king of Aksum in Ethiopia to depose Dhu Nuwas and end the persecution. The martyrdom of Najran is among the best documented of the early Church's persecutions, recorded within years of the events by eyewitnesses and contemporaries; relics of Saint Arethas are still kept today on Mount Athos.
