ESL Discussion

Hello Friends , yesterday I was reading discussion of Dara .. written on Sleep ..Suddenly, The seven Sleepers came into my mind and decided to blackening on this event. I hope you like it. Here you go ;

Seven Sleepers ,

CHRISTIAN VERSION   :  The story of seven young man who were accused of belonging to the Christian community at the time of the persecutions by the Roman Emperor Trajan Decius.He reigned from  249 to 251 AD. At this time ,a group of young Christian men were given some time to renounce their faith.Rather  than do that,they distributed his wealth among the poor and hid in a mountain cave,where they began to pray.During the prayer,they become overcome by great sleepiness.When they were found sleeping in the cave ,at the behest of the emperor the entrance to the cave was sealed.An alternative version of this story claims that Decius ordered the incarceration of young men in a cave as punishment for their beliefs.Many years passed,and Christianity from a persecuted religion became the state religion.After over 250 years, during the reign of Thedosius II (i.e.between 408 and 450 ), a landowner decided to demolish walled up the entrance to the cave,because it planned to use it as a cowshed .He was genuinely suprised to find seven men sleeping inside .They woke up with the conviction that they slept  for just one day.As they were tormented by hunger ,they sent one volunteer to the city to buy some food .He was to be exremaly careful not to get caught by the pagans.When the man entered EPHESUS ,he noticed with great astonishment that there were crosses on many buidings in the city.The biggest sensation was caused by his attempt to pay for the food with old coins from the time of Decius.City residents called the local bishop ,who heard the story of seven young men.

ISLAMIC VERSİON   :  The Islamic version of the story of the Young Sleepers is very well known in the Muslim world as it is quoted in the Koran in Sura 18, verses 9 to 26 .In this version the exact number of sleepers is not given because it is known only to Allah.According to this version of the story young men slep for 300 or 309 solar years.The addition to the Islamic version is a faithful dog that accompanied young men on their way to the cave and slept at this entry.People passing nearby saw the sleeping dog and were afraid  to look inside because they thought it guards the secrets of the cave. In this version young men are called 'the people of the cave ''.

Compiled from religion books and encyclopaedias by Adriano Martelli...