Shortly after the Muslim conquest of Armenia, Constantine-Silvanus was inspired by the gospel and Pauline epistles to found the Paulician movement, an adoptionist Christian sect that rejected feudal land-ownership, social inequality and the superstititions of the church. From 660, workers, low clergy and smallholders throughout Armenia began to convert to Paulician Christianity. But in 687, Silvanus was arrested by imperial authorities, tried for heresy and stoned to death. The sect continued to grow in Armenian communities throughout the Byzantine Empire, but in the early 9th century they became subject to persecution by the empire. By 843, over 100,000 Paulicians lost their lives and all of their property and lands were confiscated by the empire. The Paulicians then fled to the Emirate of Armenia, where they built the cities of Amara and Tephrike, establishing an independent Paulician territory. However, their power was finally broken at the Battle of Bathys Ryax, where they experienced heavy casualties. Many of the remaining Paulicians were resettled in Thrace, where their ideas spread across the Balkans and into Europe, influencing the formation of Bogomilism and Catharism. Others fled east to Arminiya, where the movement evolved into Tondrakianism.