Protogenes of Carrhae

Holy Hierarch Protogenes of Carrhae, a confessor bishop, suffered at the hands of the Arians in the second half of the fourth century, together with the Holy Hierarchs Barsus and Eulogius, bishops of Edessa.

The emperor Valens (364-378), wishing to impose the Arian heresy, began a cruel persecution against the Orthodox. From Edessa he drove from the episcopal throne St Barsus, a fighter for Orthodoxy, and sent him into exile on the island of Arad. The Orthodox people received him with great honour. They sent him farther, to Oxyrhynchus in Egypt, where the reception was repeated; then he was banished to the edge of the empire, to the distant city of Phenon, where, worn out by exiles, he died in 378.

In Edessa, Valens unlawfully set on the episcopal throne an Arian, a false bishop named Lupus, who, by name and by deeds, proved a wolf that plundered the flock of Christ's sheep. The Orthodox of Edessa, clergy and laity, ceased to go to the church placed in Arian hands and gathered outside the city, serving in the open air. Learning of it, the emperor ordered the prefect Modestus to kill all the Orthodox gathered at the service. The prefect, moved by pity, warned them not to come, but the faithful, longing to receive a martyr's death for Christ, all came at once to the place of prayer. Modestus set out with armed soldiers; on the way he saw a woman hurrying to the service with a child, so as not to lose the crown of martyrdom. Astonished, he turned back with the soldiers and persuaded Valens to limit the order to the clergy. The clergy were brought to the emperor, led by the old priest Eulogius. Valens wanted them to enter into communion with the false bishop Lupus, but none agreed. Then eighty of the clergy were sent in chains to Thrace. The Orthodox met them on the way with great honour, as confessors, and gave them all they needed. Learning of it, the emperor ordered that they be divided in pairs and sent to distant places.

The page gives no other details of the life of Protogenes. He is commemorated on 7 September, in the new style.