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The sad declension of the nation and the ruthless persecution of Antiochus had already roused his keenest indignation, when a royal commissioner, Apelles, arrived at Modin, charged to carry out the edict against the Jewish religion, and to require the people to offer idolatrous sacrifice. Knowing his influence in the place, the commissioner used his utmost efforts to induce Mattathias to conform to heathen customs. But it was in vain. The aged priest not only declared his resolution to live and die in the faith of his fathers, but when an apostate Jew approached the altar which Apelles had erected to offer sacrifice, struck him down, and then, aided by his sons and the men of the town, rushed upon the commissioner himself, slew him and his retinue, and tore down the altar (1 Macc. ii. 15–29). The first blow thus struck, he called upon all such of his fellow-townsmen as were zealous for the Law of Moses to follow him, and, unfurling the banner of the national Faith, fled to the dark and rugged mountains of Judæa, where he was soon joined by many who feared God, and hated idolatry.