In that division of the world which was performed by lot through the Apostles for the preaching of the word of God, when different provinces had fallen to different ones—Parthia to Thomas, Ethiopia to Matthew, and Hither India adjoining it is said to have been allotted by lot to Bartholomew—between that India and Parthia, but lying in a long inner tract, lies Further India, inhabited by many and various tongues and peoples, which, as being far removed, no plowshare of Apostolic preaching had reached; yet in the times of Constantine it received the first seeds of the faith from a certain such cause. A certain philosopher named Metrodorus is said to have penetrated to Further India for the sake of inspecting places and exploring the world.
By his example a certain Tyrian philosopher named Meropius, also invited, wished for a similar cause to go to India, having with him two boys, whom, as being his kinsmen, he was instructing in liberal letters. Of these the one who was younger was Edesius, the other was called Frumentius. Therefore, having viewed and taken cognizance of those things on which his mind fed, when the philosopher had begun to return, for the sake of water or other necessaries the ship in which he was carried put in at a certain port. It is the custom of the barbarians there that, whenever the neighboring peoples have announced that the treaty between themselves and the Romans has been broken, all who are found among them from among the Romans are slain. The philosopher's ship was attacked: all together with him alike were killed.
The boys, found under a tree meditating and preparing their lessons, were saved by the pity of the barbarians and led to the king. Of these he made one, that is, Edesius, his cupbearer. But to Frumentius, whom he had discovered to be as it were keen-sighted and prudent, he entrusted his accounts and his records. From this they were held in great honor and in love with the king. But the king, dying, left his wife with a little son as heir of the kingdom; and to the young men he gave free power to do what they wished. Yet the queen entreated them as a suppliant, as one who had nothing more faithful in the whole kingdom, that they would share with her the care of ruling the kingdom until the son should grow up:
and especially Frumentius, whose prudence might suffice for governing the kingdom. For the other simply exhibited pure faith and a sober mind. And while they were doing this, and Frumentius held the helm of the kingdom in his hands, with God urging his mind and spirit, he began to inquire more anxiously whether there were any Christians among the Roman merchants, and to give them the greatest authority, and to admonish them to make assemblies in each several place, to which they might flock together in the Roman manner for the sake of prayer.
But he himself did far more of the same, and in this way exhorted the others, drawing them on by favor and kindnesses, supplying whatever was needful, providing sites for buildings and other necessities, and striving in every way that the seed of Christians might spring up there. But when the royal boy, for whom they were administering the kingdom, had grown to manhood, then, all things being accomplished and faithfully handed over, although the queen and her son detained them earnestly and begged them to remain, they nevertheless returned to our world. And while Aedesius hastened to Tyre to revisit his parents and kinsmen, Frumentius went on to Alexandria, saying that it was not right to hide the Lord's work.
So he laid the whole matter, as it had been done, before the bishop, and urged him to provide some worthy man whom he might send as bishop, now that many Christians had been gathered and churches built on barbarian soil. Then indeed Athanasius (for he had recently received the priesthood), considering more attentively and favorably Frumentius's words and deeds, said in the council of priests: 「And what other such man shall we find, in whom is the Spirit of God as in you, who can so fulfill these things?」 And having conferred the priesthood upon him, he bade him return with the Lord's grace to the place whence he had come.
And when he had gone as bishop to India, so great a grace of miracles is said to have been given him by God that apostolic signs were wrought through him, and an innumerable multitude of barbarians was converted to the faith. From this time, in the regions of India both peoples of Christians and churches arose, and the priesthood began. These things, as they were thus done, we learned not from common report but from the account of Aedesius himself, who afterward became a presbyter of Tyre, and who had earlier been Frumentius's companion.