Orthodox · † 523
Martyr Arethas and with him 4299 Martyrs
Commemorated: November 6 (October 24, Old Style)
Life
Arethas (al-Harith) was the aged leader of the Christian city of Najran in southern Arabia. In 523 the Himyarite king Yusuf Dhu Nuwas, who had adopted Judaism, besieged the city, promised the inhabitants safety if they surrendered, and then put to death the Christians who refused to renounce their faith.
Arethas, said to be ninety-five, was beheaded with many others; the church calendar counts 4,299 martyrs. Letters and Syriac accounts of the massacre spread quickly through the Christian world, and c. 525 King Kaleb (Elesbaan) of Aksum in Ethiopia crossed the Red Sea and overthrew Dhu Nuwas.
Places
- Place of birth: Najran
- Place of death: Najran
Retold briefly in our own words from: the Lives of the Saints by St Dimitry of Rostov (1902–1916); the Roman Martyrology (1916).
The commemorations of the day: Ponomar (ponomar.net), CC BY-SA 3.0.
Places and years: Wikidata (CC0), each saint matched by hand.