From the Prologue of Ochrid
These were all commanders of the Byzantine Emperor Theophilus. When Emperor Theophilus lost the battle against the Saracens near the city of Amorion, the Saracens took the city and captured many Christians, among them these commanders. The other Christians they either slew or sold into slavery, while the commanders they cast into prison, where they were held for seven years. Muslim leaders came many times to counsel them to accept the faith of Muhammad, but the commanders would not hear of it. When the Saracens told the commanders that Muhammad was the true prophet and not Christ, the commanders asked them: if two men were disputing over a field, and one said, "the field is mine," and the other said, "no, it is mine" — and one of them had many witnesses that the field was his, while the other had not a single witness except himself — what would you say: whose is the field? The Saracens answered: surely, his who has many witnesses! — You have judged rightly, the commanders answered them. So it is with Christ and Muhammad. Christ has many witnesses — the ancient prophets, whom you yourselves acknowledge, all of whom from Moses to John the Forerunner bear witness to Him; whereas Muhammad bears witness to himself alone that he is a prophet, and has not a single witness. — The Saracens were put to shame, but then they tried again to defend their faith thus: that our faith is better than the Christian faith is shown by the fact that God gave us victory over you, and gave us the finest lands in the world, and a kingdom far greater than the Christian one. To this the commanders replied: if that were so, then the idol-worship of the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, and Romans, as well as the fire-worship of the Persians, would all have been true faiths, for at one time each of these peoples conquered the others and ruled over them. It is evident that your victory and power and wealth do not prove the truth of your faith. And we know that God sometimes grants victory to Christians, and sometimes permits suffering and affliction in order to correct them and bring them to repentance and cleansing from sins. After seven years they were beheaded, in the year 845. Their bodies were thrown into the river Euphrates, but floated to the other bank, where Christians gathered them and buried them honorably.
