Martyrdom of Jacob and His Sister Mary, a Covenanter

The Martyrdom of Jacob the Priest and of Mary His Sister, a Daughter of the Covenant. In the time of the seventh persecution, Jacob the Priest of the village of Tel Shalila and Mary his sister, a Daughter of the Covenant, were seized by the command of Arsalay Tamshabor. And with evil blows and merciless tortures they were tormented by him, while he sought to make them deny their faith. But they strengthened their hands in their God, and with a pure and upright heart they trusted in him, and they called upon him for the consolation of their covenant, and they asked from him strength and help. And when this rebel saw that they would not be turned from their truth by anything, he commanded a certain freeborn man of the world, whose name was Mahdad, who was called by a Christian name but not by Christian deeds, to go and take off their heads. And this man, because he was bribed, placed his death before his life, and cut off his hope for the sake of gain. And he went and cut off the heads of both of them with a sword, in the village of Tel Darra, which is on the Great Zab. The saints were then crowned on the seventeenth of the month of Adar, on a Sunday.