Acts of Shmona and of Gurya

The Acts of Shmona and of Gurya[lower-alpha 1] is a Syriac Christian martyrdom text. The setting takes place at Edessa during Roman Emperor Diocletian's Great Persecution.[1][2]

Publications

The martyrdom account of Shmona and Gurya was first only known in an abridged version written by Symeon the Metaphrast,[3] then the Acts of Shmona and of Gurya was discovered on a Syriac manuscript.[1] The manuscript was translated to English by Francis Crawford Burkitt in his Euphemia and the Goth with the Acts of Martyrdom of the Confessors of Edessa (Amsterdam, 1913).[4]

Narrative overview

The introduction of the text begins with mentioning names of current figures at the time in which the martyrdom began such as Diocletian, Aba, Bishop Qona, and Abgar son of Zora[1] During the Diocletianic Persecution,[5] the two martyrs dwelling in Edessa were compelled to worship the sun,[2][lower-alpha 2] but they refused to do so. An extensive discussion had occurred between the martyrs and the Eddessian governor Mysianus[4] on why the two martyrs refused to worship the sun.[2][lower-alpha 3] They were killed after that.[6]

Connection with other Syriac texts
See also: Euphemia and the Goth

The Acts of Shmona and Gurya and the Martyrdom of Habib are claimed to be authored by a Theophilus who also claims to have witness their martyrdoms.[5] Scholars agree that the Acts of Shmona and of Gurya are fairly historically reliable[7][8][9] and record a martyrdom which took place around 297 AD.[7][10] One scholar suggests that it was written in 309 or 310 AD.[11] This makes the Acts one of the first Syriac hagiographies.[12] It became a model for later, less historically reliable martyr stories such as the Acts of Sharbel and the Acts of Barsamya, which are widely regarded to be entirely fictitious.[1][13][14]

There is a list unique to the Doctrine of Addai, which names Addai's first Christian converts who are of nobility; The list reoccurs in the Acts of Sharbel and the Martyrdom of Barsamya. The names can be found in former pagan regions of Edessa.[13] Sebastian Brock states that the Doctrine of Addai, the Acts of Sharbel, the Martyrdom of Barsamya came from the same group of authors.[7] Further, he states the names mentioned in the Martyrdom of Barsmaya and the Acts of Sharbel imitated literary writing styles from that of the Martyrdom of Habib and the Acts of Shmona and Gurya. With such a connection, Brock concludes the authors of the Acts of Shabrel and the Martyrdom of Barsamya were incorporating the ideal that their pagan ancestors had converted to Christianity, or they had a martyr prior to Shmona, Gurya, and Habib.[13]

Evidence of the martyrs

The historicity of the text is considered reliable.[7][1][lower-alpha 4] Shmona and Gurya were reported to be buried at a place called "Beth Alah Qiqla".[15] Relics of the two martyrs were found in Edessa,[16] and Ephrem the Syrian mentions the martyrs in his Carmina Nisibena.[17] The names of the two martyrs are also written on a Syriac calendar manuscript from 411 AD which lists names of martyrs from Edessa,[18][10][19] and their names are written in the Menologion of Basil II.[3]

Notes
  1. On the pronunciation of these names, see Burkitt (1913, p. 185)
  2. Kaizer 2008, p. 256; Though not mentioned in the text, the sun can be alluded to Zeus or equivalent to Bel.
  3. Drijvers 1980, pp. 156 & 157, Layton 1972, p. 361; The refusal to worship the sun by the two martyrs evidently helps prove a sun-cult tradition had long existed in Edessa.
  4. Millar 1993, p. 486; The descriptive account of the cities condition in the text reflect key elements of what life was like in the city during the Diocletianic Persecution.

Citations
  1. Millar 1993, p. 486.
  2. Kaizer 2008, p. 256.
  3. Wace 1911.
  4. Heal & Kitchen 2013, p. 22.
  5. Valantasis 2000, p. 413.
  6. Reinink 1999, p. 272.
  7. Attridge & Hata 1992, p. 223.
  8. Segal 1970, p. 83.
  9. Brock 1992.
  10. Di Berardino & Walford 2008, p. 446.
  11. Segal 1970, pp. 83–84, 184.
  12. Bury et al. 1970, p. 710.
  13. Attridge & Hata 1992, p. 228.
  14. Brock 1968, pp. 305f.
  15. Segal 1970, p. 86.
  16. Saint-Laurent 2015, p. 40.
  17. Attridge & Hata 1992, pp. 223 & 224.
  18. Brock 1992, p. 224/270.
  19. Attridge & Hata 1992, p. 224.

Sources
  • Attridge, Harold W.; Hata, Gōhei (1992). Eusebius, Christianity, and Judaism. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8143-2361-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Brock, Sebastian (1992). "Eusebius and Syriac Christianity". In Attridge, H.W.; Hata, G. (eds.). Eusebius, Christianity, and Judaism. Wayne State University Press. p. 212-234. ISBN 978-0-8143-2361-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link) reprinted in Ferguson, Everett, ed. (1999). Doctrinal Diversity: Varieties of Early Christianity. Garland Pub. p. 258-280. ISBN 978-0-8153-3071-4.
  • Brock, Sebastian (April 1968). "Reviewed Work(s): Untersuchungen zur syrischen Literaturgeschichte I: Zur Märtyrerüberlieferung aus der Christenverfolgung Schapurs II. (Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen, philologisch-historische Klasse, Dritte Folge, Nr. 67.) by Gernot Wiessner". Journal of Theological Studies. Oxford University Press. 19 (1): 300–309. JSTOR 23959602.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Bury, J.B.; Cook, S.A.; Adcock, F.E.; Charlesworth, M.P.; Edwards, I.E.S.; Boardman, J.; Walbank, F.W. (1970). The Cambridge Ancient History: The late Empire, A.D. 337–425. The Cambridge Ancient History. University Press.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Di Berardino, A.; Walford, A. (2008). Patrology: The Eastern Fathers from the Council of Chalcedon (451) to John of Damascus (750). Patrology. James Clarke & Company. ISBN 978-0-227-17265-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Drijvers, H. J. W. (1980). Cults and Beliefs at Edessa. BRILL. ISBN 9789004060500.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Heal, Kristian S.; Kitchen, Robert A. (2013). Breaking the Mind. Catholic University of America Press. ISBN 978-0-8132-2166-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Kaizer, Ted (2008). The Variety of Local Religious Life in the Near East: In the Hellenistic and Roman Periods. BRILL. ISBN 9789047433538.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Layton, Bentley (1972). Studies in the History of Religions. BRILL.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Millar, Fergus (1993). The Roman Near East, 31 B.C.-A.D. 337. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-77886-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Reinink, G. J. (1999). After Bardaisan: Studies on Continuity and Change in Syriac Christianity in Honour of Professor Han J.W. Drijvers. Peeters Publishers. ISBN 9789042907355.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Saint-Laurent, Jeanne-Nicole Mellon (2015). Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-28496-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Segal, J.B. (1970). Edessa 'the blessed city'. Clarendon Press.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Valantasis, Richard (2000). Religions of Late Antiquity in Practice. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-05751-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Wace, Henry (1911). Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature. Delmarva Publications, Inc.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Further reading
  • Burkitt, F.C. (1913). Euphemia and the Goth, with the Acts of Martyrdom of the Confessors of Edessa. London / Oxford: Williams and Norgate.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Drijvers, H.J.W. (1980). Cults and beliefs at Edessa. Études préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'Empire romain. E.J. Brill. p. 156. ISBN 978-90-04-06050-0.
  • Efthymiadis, P.S. (2013). The Ashgate Research Companion to Byzantine Hagiography: Volume I: Periods and Places. Ashgate Publishing Limited. p. 266. ISBN 978-1-4094-8268-0.
  • von Gebhardt, Oscar; von Dobschütz, Ernst (1911). Die Akten der edessenischen bekenner Gurjas, Samonas und Abibos; (in German). J.C. Hinrichs. 8, section 5. OCLC 2044808. The Syriac-Armenian version is given here in German translation only. The Syriac texts, including the "Thauma" (i.e. the story of the miracle performed by the three martyrs for the benefit of Euphemia, known to V. Dobschütz in its Greek version only) were published together with an English translation by F.C. Burkitt under title: Euphemia and the Goth; with the Acts of martyrdom of the confessors of Edessa. . Pub. for the Text and translation society, London, 1913.
  • Nau, François (1912). Un Martyrologe et douze Ménologes syriaques (in French). Paris: Firmin-Didot.
  • Wießner, G. (1967). Untersuchungen zu einer Gruppe syrischer Märtyrerakten aus der Christenverfolgung Schapurs II (in German).
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