Already in the times of Al-Hakam I The Maliki school, which advocated a strict following of the prefects of the Koran, gained strength among the Islamic community. The pressure on the Mozarabs, especially from Córdoba, began to suffocate.
In 822, Al-Hakam I dies bloodthirsty. and he is succeeded by his son Abd al-Rahman II , a good ruler who is involved in the radicalization towards Christians. The Mozarabs began to express their discomfort. A Cordovan priest, Perfect , dared, in public, to brand Muhammad a false prophet (blasphemy against Muhammad is punishable by death) and was beheaded in 850. It only served to make matters worse, those who volunteered for martyrdom increased every day and death sentences grew dangerously.
Álvaro de Córdoba and the priest Eulogio they led the peaceful resistance against the repression of the idealized "religious freedom". Seeing that it was getting out of hand, Abd al-Rahman II with the Mozarabic bishops convened the First Council of Córdoba in 852. The bishops discouraged martyrdom, but the emir did not obtain what he was looking for:condemnation of defiant conduct and future acts of martyrdom provocation.
In 852 Abd al-Rahman II dies and Muhammad I comes to the throne who, looking more like his grandfather, will continue with the repression. The deaths continued, the priest Rodrigo, Isaac, the virgin Flora, the nun María… Eulogio was collecting in the book «Memories of the martyrs » all these facts; he began to gain importance among the Mozarabs, and was even elected bishop of Toledo in 858, he charged that he never held office because he needed the emir's approval and he opposed it. The following year he was accused of hiding in his house a convert (the young Lucrecia ). The poor thing was executed as an apostate following Islamic law, but Eulogio had a chance. He was brought before the emir and this is what happened:
Emir :I understand that the commoners and the idiots are going to uselessly hand over his head to the executioner; but you, who are respected throughout the world because of your virtue and wisdom, is it possible for you to commit such a folly? Listen to me, I beg you; give in for a single moment to irremediable necessity, utter a single word of retraction, and then think what suits you best; I promise not to bother you again.
Eulogio :I can't and I don't want to do what you propose. Oh, if you only knew what awaits us worshipers of Christ! If I could transfer to your chest what I feel in mine! Then you would not talk to me as you talk to me and hasten to gleefully lay down those worldly honors. Despise the pleasures of a godless life; believe in Christ, true king of heaven and earth; reject the prophet who has cast so many peoples into eternal fire.
Needless to say, he was sentenced to death. Eulogius (today Saint Eulogius) was beheaded in March 859. From that moment the resistance movement was orphaned and gradually faded away.