of those Holy Saints... My dear children I entrust you in God and ask you to pray for me so that He may grant me the strength and courage, till the shedding of my blood, so I would spend this perishable time in His grace and love." Arrest and trial On June 3, Hilmi Bey was lured away from Mardin and a delegation of officials arrived from Diyarbekir with orders from the Vali and long lists of Christian leaders to arrest. Between 3 and 4 June 1915, Archbishop Maloyan and 420 of the other leading Christians of Mardin were arrested and imprisoned in Mardin Castle. When he was brought to trial, Maloyan stood accused of forming and leading a terrorist organization of Armenian nationalists and of hiding two boxes of guns and ammunition inside his cathedral. Although the Archbishop easily refuted these accusations, he was told, "Become Muslim and declare it or death will be your fate." To the outrage of those present, the Archbishop replied, "Muslim? There is no way I would reject my religion and my Saviour. I have been brought up in the Holy Catholic Church, assimilated the base of its truthful teachings from a young age and became proficient in its undisputable facts until I unworthily become one of its pastors. I consider the shed of my blood for my faith to be the sweetest thing to my heart because I know for sure that if I get tortured for the love of the One who died for me I would become one of the happiest blessed people and I will see my Lord and my God in heaven. You can only beat me and cut me into pieces but I will never deny my religion." One of those present was heard to cry, "Do you disdain our religion?!" Another slapped the Archbishop and shouted, "I swear to Allah to torture you and give you a violent death!" Similarly outraged that the Archbishop had refused to convert to Islam, Mardin's chief of the Ottoman Gendarmerie, Mahmdouh Bey, ordered that Maloyan would first be beaten and then severely tortured by bastinado and the extraction of his toenails. At every blow, the Archbishop was heard to cry, "Oh Lord, have mercy on me! Oh Lord, give me strength!" On June 7, 1915, Hilmi Bey returned to Mardin and, "began energetic efforts to free the Christians, but he was