Then another king succeeded him and unleashed severe persecution and a long-drawn war against the Christians. During his reign a devastating drought struck, and the people were on the verge of perishing, so they asked the Christians to implore their God. The Christians prayed and besought Allah, whereupon rain fell (1) and both the drought and the plague were lifted.

Ibn al-Batriq (2) says: In those days the Patriarch of Alexandria wrote to the Bishop of Jerusalem, the Patriarch of Antioch, and the Patriarch of Rome about the date of the Christians’ Easter and their fast, and how it is calculated from the Jewish Passover. They composed treatises on the matter (3) that remain in use to this day.

He continues: After the Ascension of Christ, whenever the Christians celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany, they would begin the next day a forty-day fast, breaking it as Christ had done—for when He was baptized in the Jordan He went out into the wilderness and stayed there for forty days (4). Whenever the Jews had completed Passover, the Christians would then celebrate their own Pascha. These patriarchs therefore devised a reckoning for Easter so that the breaking of the fast would coincide with Easter Day. Christ Himself had celebrated with the Jews in their festival, and His disciples maintained that practice until they introduced an innovation concerning the fast: they no longer fasted immediately after Epiphany but shifted the fast to a time in which their feast would not coincide with that of the Jews.

That king died, and another rose to power. In his reign Galen lived, and during his time the Persians emerged, gaining dominance over Babylon, Amid, and Persia. Ardashir then ascended the throne.