Narrative overview
The narrative pertains to a Gothic soldier in the Roman army stationed at Edessa to help repel the Huns. He is billeted with a widow named Sophia, and wishes to marry her only daughter Euphemia. Sophia takes him to the tombs of the Confessors Shmona, Gurya, and Habib, where she makes him promise to protect Euphemia. [2]
The Goth takes Euphemia to his home only to have her enslaved to his Gothic wife. Euphemia's infant is then poisoned by the wife, but Euphemia revenges when she kills the wife by using the same poison. Euphemia is then shut in the tomb of the wife, but after praying to the Confessors, she is instantly transferred back to tombs of the Confessors and returns to her mother Sophia in Edessa.
The Goth sometime later returns to Edessa and is confronted by Euphemia and Sophia. Both make an affidavit against him concerning Euphemia's affliction, and though the bishop of Edessa Eulogius intervened, the Stratelates of Edessa has the Goth beheaded.
Ephrem the Syrian, also known as Saint Ephrem, Saint Ephraim, Ephrem of Edessa or Aprem of Nisibis, was a prominent Christian theologian and writer, who is revered as one of the most notable hymnographers of Eastern Christianity. He was born in Nisibis, served as a deacon and later lived in Edessa.
Syriac literature is literature in the Syriac language. It is a tradition going back to the Late Antiquity. It is strongly associated with Syriac Christianity.
Athanasius II Baldoyo, also known as Athanasius of Balad, and Athanasius of Nisibis, was the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 684 until his death in 687.
Abibus of Edessa, also known as Abibus the New, Habib the Deacon or Saint Habibus the Martyr, was a 4th-century Syrian Christian deacon, confessor and martyr, who according to the Martyrdom of Habib the Deacon, was executed at Edessa by immolation under Roman Emperor Licinius. He is venerated as a saint by the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches.
Christian Palestinian Aramaic (CPA) was a Western Aramaic dialect used by the Melkite Christian community in Palestine and Transjordan between the fifth and thirteenth centuries. It is preserved in inscriptions, manuscripts and amulets. All the medieval Western Aramaic dialects are defined by religious community. CPA is closely related to its counterparts, Jewish Palestinian Aramaic (JPA) and Samaritan Aramaic (SA). CPA shows a specific vocabulary that is often not paralleled in the adjacent Western Aramaic dialects.
British Library, Add MS 12150 is the second oldest extant Syriac manuscript and the oldest codex bearing a date in any language.
Barḥadbshabba ʿArbaya was a teacher, historian and biblical commentator of the Church of the East.
Marutha of Tikrit was the Grand Metropolitan of the East and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church of the East from 628 or 629 until his death in 649. He is commemorated as a saint by the Syriac Orthodox Church.
Athanasius I Gammolo was the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 594/595 or 603 until his death in 631. He is commemorated as a saint by the Syriac Orthodox Church in the Martyrology of Rabban Sliba, and his feast day is 3 January.
Julian I was the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 591 until his death in 594/595. He is commemorated as a saint by the Syriac Orthodox Church.
Dionysius II was the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 896/897 until his death in 908/909.
Ahudemmeh was the Grand Metropolitan of the East in the Syriac Orthodox Church from 559 until his execution in 575. He was known as the Apostle of the Arabs, and is commemorated as a saint by the Syriac Orthodox Church.
The Acts of Sharbel or the Hypomnemata of Sharbel is a Syriac Christian martyrdom text pertaining to a pagan high priest who was martyred for converting to Christianity. The setting takes place at Edessa during the fifteenth year of Roman Emperor Trajan's reign and during the third year of King Abgar VIII's reign but is dated by scholars to the 5th century AD.
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.
The Martyrdom of Habib the Deacon is a Syriac Christian martyrdom text. It pertains to the martyrdom of Habib, a deacon from the village Telzeha. Habib's martyrdom according to the text, occurs during the reign of Licinius. His martyrdom was first only known in an abridged version until a manuscript was discovered in the eighteen-hundreds from a collection of documents stored in the British Museum. The date and accuracy of the text is disputed, but Habib's martyrdom is accepted by scholars as having taken place.
The Martyrdom of Barsamya is a Syriac Christian text. The text is set at Edessa during the reign of Roman Emperor Trajan but is dated by biblical scholars to the fifth century AD.
John bar Aphtonia (c.480–537) was a Syriac monk of the Miaphysite persuasion who founded the monastery of Qenneshre around 530. A key figure in the transmission of Greek thought and literary culture into a Syriac milieu, his monastery became the intellectual centre of the West Syriac world for the next three centuries.
Cyrus I was the bishop of Edessa. He succeeded Eulogius, who died on Good Friday 387.
George was the Syriac Orthodox bishop of the Arabs around Aleppo and the upper Euphrates from 686 or 687 until his death. A polymath steeped in ancient Greek philosophy, his writings are an important source for Syriac history and theology.
The Book of the Himyarites is an anonymous Syriac account of the persecution and martyrdom of the Christian community of Najran in the Kingdom of Himyar around 523 AD and the ensuing Aksumite interventions. It was written sometime between the sixth and tenth centuries in a Syriac Orthodox milieu.
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