“The prophet contended and vanquished his opponent, who, however, bought his own safety and that of the tree by the promise of a large weekly treasure. After seven days the holy victor again visited the tree to claim the gold or fell it to the ground; but Satan persuaded him to hazard another struggle on the promise that, if he conquered again, the amount should be doubled. This second encounter proved fatal to the youth. He was put to death by his spiritual antagonist, and the result confirmed the tribes over whom he had ruled in their worship of the tree and its tutelary demon.”[81] According to this legend, the Šatan parasts are the victims of their young prophet who, as long as he was actuated by a disinterested zeal for religion, was victorious over the principle of evil; but failed as soon as that zeal gave place to a sordid cupidity for earthly treasure. I have dwelt upon the superstitious theories of the Yezidis themselves regarding their religious origin, not because these theories have an importance in themselves, but because of their bearing upon the views advanced by modern scholars. The scholars have based their theories on some of these conflicting stories without sufficient criticism. I shall dwell upon this more at length later on. II THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION But the myth of the Yezidis is not the only account that attempts to trace their religious origin; the eastern Christians have a tradition that gives a different interpretation. It is to the effect that the people in question were originally Christians, but that ignorance brought them into their present condition. The tradition runs that the shrine of Šeiḫ ‘Adi was formerly a Nestorian monastery which was noted for the devotion of its monks, but that these were tempted by the devil and left their convent. The Church of the Monastery was dedicated to St. Thaddeus or Addai,[82] one of the seventy-two disciples who, after the ascension of our Lord, was sent to King Abgar of Edessa. It is said that the temple of ‘Adi has a conventicle resembling that at Jerusalem.[83] The story of how the cloister was deserted is as follows: