When Constantine learned of this, he escaped from Edessa and travelled to Byzantium, where he met his father Qustus, who then ceded the throne to him. A short time later Qustus died, and Allah afflicted King Alanius with terrible diseases: his flesh disintegrated and rotted away, leaving him sprawled helpless, so loathsome that no one dared approach him. People were astonished at what had overtaken him, and even his enemies felt compassion for the agony he endured.

He reflected and said to himself, “Perhaps this suffering is because I kill the Christians.” So he wrote to all his governors, ordering them to release the Christians from prison, treat them honourably, refrain from harming them, and ask them to pray for him in their worship. The Christians duly prayed for the king and pleaded on his behalf. Allah thereupon restored his health, bringing him back to a state of well-being and strength better than before.

Yet once he recovered and regained his vigour, he returned to wickedness greater than the first. He dispatched orders to all his governors to kill the Christians, decreeing that no Christian should remain alive in his realm or dwell in any of its cities or villages. The slain were so numerous that they were loaded onto carts and hurled into the seas and deserts. Saint George and his brother were put to death in Cappadocia.