Acts of Shmona and of Gurya

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

Publications

The Acts of Shmona and of Gurya was only known to exist in a Syriac manuscript.^[1] The manuscript was first translated to English by Francis Crawford Burkitt in his Euphemia and the Goth with the Acts of Martyrdom of the Confessors of Edessa (London, 1913).^[3] It wasn't until Ernst von Dobschütz had published his German translation of the Syriac manuscript, that a Greek, Armenian, and a Latin manuscript became known to the public in his Die Akten der edessenischen Bekenner Gurjas, Samonas and Abios aus dem Nachlass von Oscar von Gebhardt (Leipzig, 1911).^[4] Dobschütz had obtained the manuscripts from leftover works by Theologian Oscar von Gebhardt who had passed away in 1906.^[5][6]

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][lower-alpha 1]} During the Diocletianic Persecution,^[7][1] the two martyrs were compelled to worship the sun^{[lower-alpha 2]} in Edessa,^[2] but they refused to do so. An extensive discussion had occurred between the martyrs and the Eddessian governor Mysianus^[10] on why the two martyrs refused to worship the sun.^[2] They were killed after that.^[11]

Evidence of the martyrs

The historicity of the text is considered reliable.^[12][1] Relics of the two martyrs were found in Edessa,^[13] and Ephrem the Syrian mentions the martyrs as heroes of Edessa celebrated there.^[7] They are also honored in the Syriac Martyrologies.^[7] Ignatius Ephrem II Rahmani mentions the martyrs in his Carmina Nisibena (1866),^[14] and the names of the two martyrs were written on a fourth century AD calendar which list names of martyrs from Edessa.^[1][15]

Connection with other texts

The text is often compared with the Acts of Sharbel in biblical academic sources in order to determine the reliability and existence of the martyrs. The historicity of the Acts of Sharbel is universally excepted as fictitious by biblical scholars^[1] as similar concepts of literary can be found between the two texts,^[16] and the names affiliated with the Acts of Sharbel were not found on the martyrdom calendar as Shmona and Gurya are.^[15]

See also

• Doctrine of Addai
• Rabbula

Notes

1. 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.^[1]
2. The refusal to worship the sun by the two martyrs evidently helps prove a sun-cult tradition had long existed in Edessa.^[8][9]

References

Citations

1. Millar 1993, p. 486.
2. Kaizer 2008, p. 256.
3. Efthymiadis 2016, p. 278.
4. Michelson, David A. "Guria and Shmona (text) — ܓܘܪܝܐ ܘܫܡܘܢܐ". Bibliotheca Hagiographica Syriaca Electronica. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
5. Burkitt 1913.
6. Ockerbloom, John Mark. "Oscar von Gebhardt". onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
7. Valantasis 2000, p. 413.
8. Drijvers 1980, pp. 156 & 157.
9. Layton 1972, p. 361.
10. Heal & Kitchen 2013, p. 22.
11. Reinink 1999, p. 272.
12. Attridge & Hata 1992, p. 223.
13. Saint-Laurent 2015, p. 40.
14. Attridge & Hata 1992, pp. 223 & 224.
15. Attridge & Hata 1992, p. 224.
16. Attridge & Hata 1992, p. 228.

Bibliography

• Attridge, Harold W.; Hata, Gōhei (1992). Eusebius, Christianity, and Judaism. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8143-2361-8.
• Burkitt, Francis Crawford (1913). Euphemia and the Goth with the Acts of Martyrdom of the Confessors of Edessa. Text and translation society. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
• Drijvers, H. J. W. (1980). Cults and Beliefs at Edessa. BRILL. ISBN 9789004060500.
• Efthymiadis, Stephanos (2016). The Ashgate Research Companion to Byzantine Hagiography. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-04396-6.
• Heal, Kristian S.; Kitchen, Robert A. (2013). Breaking the Mind. CUA Press. ISBN 978-0-8132-2166-3.
• Kaizer, Ted (2008). The Variety of Local Religious Life in the Near East: In the Hellenistic and Roman Periods. BRILL. ISBN 9789047433538.
• Layton, Bentley (1972). Studies in the History of Religions. BRILL.
• Millar, Fergus (1993). The Roman Near East, 31 B.C.-A.D. 337. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-77886-3.
• 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.
• 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.
• Valantasis, Richard (2000). Religions of Late Antiquity in Practice. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-05751-4.