BAHRAM V of PERSIA. – Persecutor, son of Yazdegerd, whom he succeeded as emperor of Persia from the year 420 to 438. He continued with ever-increasing severity the persecution begun against the Christians under his father, during which numerous bishops and priests perished and especially officials and nobles who had converted, such as James the Notary, Hormisdas, Suene, and James the Intercisus (Theodorus, Hist. ecol., V, 38). Many escaped death through apostasy; others, crossing the western frontier, took refuge in Roman territory. The Persians demanded the return of the exiles from the Romans.
War soon broke out between the two empires, with an unfavorable outcome for the Persians, and Bahram, forced to make peace, had to promise to leave his subjects religious freedom (422). During the war, Bishop Acacius of Amida succeeded in ransoming 700 Persian prisoners with the proceeds from the sale of the vessels and vestments of his church (Socrates, Hist. ecles., VII, 21).