Martyrdom of Barsamya
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.[1]
Publications
Found stored in the British Museum, a single Syriac manuscript (Brit. Mus. Add. 14, 645) dated to 936 AD was discovered. In his Ancient Syriac Documents (London, 1864), William Cureton translated the text to English.[2] In 1871, B. P. Pratten introduced his English translation to be published for the Ante-Nicene Fathers.[3] In his Acta SS. Martyrum Edessenorum (1874), Moesinger published a Latin translation.[2]
Narrative overview
In the fifteenth year of Trajan's reign, the Edessan Bishop Barsamya had converted the pagan high priest Sharbil to Christianity. After Judge Lysinas heard of Sharbil's conversion by Barsamya, he ordered the torture of Barsamya. As he was being tortured, letters were sent across the Roman Empire to the high-judicial authorities from the Roman emperor and his proconsul member Lusius with a new decree pertaining to the punishments of Christians according to the laws presented in the decree. Once Lysinas received the letter, he halted Barsamya's torture and had him brought to his court hall. Lysinas read the letter to Barsamya and was set free for not violating the laws according to the decree. Lysinas was relieved of his duties after, and Barsamya continued to live on in Edessa as bishop.[4]
Composition, historicity, and affiliations with other Syriac texts
The setting for the Martyrdom of Barsamya is set in the fifteenth year of Trajan's reign. The conclusion of the texts also states that a Zenophilus and a Patrophilis claim to be the authors of the text. By interviewing eyewitnesses Diodorus and Euterpes as their source, Zenophilus and Patrophilis were able to write the the text.[4] However, biblical scholars doubt the authenticity of the text. The texts writing style is similar to that of the other doubted texts Acts of Sharbel and the Teaching of Addai,[5] and scholars have compared these texts to more considerable authentic Syriac Christian texts such as the Acts of Shmona and Gurya and the Martyrdom of Habbib. In account of the martyrs themselves, Gurya, Shmona, and Habbib's names are present in a Syriac martyrology calendar manuscript dated to 411 AD as the names Sharbel, Barsamya and Addai are not.[6][7] Unique to the Teaching of Addai, the first Christian converts names are also mentioned in the Acts of Sharbel and the Martyrdom of Barsamya. Inscriptions of these names can be found in once pagan regions of Edessa dating back to the fourth and third century AD and are rarely mentioned in Syriac sources from the fifth century AD and after.[8][9]
Scholars have also specifically pointed out that literary concepts from the Martyrdom of Barsamya and the Acts of Sharbel are very similar to that of the Acts of Shmona and Gurya and the Martyrdom of Habbib. With such similarities, scholars have deduced that the Sharbel, Barsamya, and Teaching of Addai texts were written by the same group of pagan authors inspired to integrate their pagan ideology into the Christian community through the use of these texts. Scholars date the Martyrdom of Barsamya, the Acts of Sharbel, and the Teaching of Addai to have been written in the early fifth century AD. More certainly, scholars agree that the Martyrdom of Barsamya and the Acts of Sharbel are fictitious.[8][10][11][12][5]
See also
Citations
- ↑ Attridge & Hata 1992, p. 223.
- 1 2 Lightfoot 1889, p. 69.
- ↑ Roberts et al. 1887, p. 105.
- 1 2 Lightfoot 1889, pp. 67 & 68.
- 1 2 Wiles, Yarnold & Parvis 2001, p. 59.
- ↑ Millar 1993, p. 486.
- ↑ Valantasis 2000, p. 413.
- 1 2 Attridge & Hata 1992, pp. 223, 224, & 228.
- ↑ Ferguson 1999, p. 269 & 270.
- ↑ Ferguson 1999, p. 274.
- ↑ Millar 1993, pp. 463 & 464.
- ↑ Valantasis 2000, p. 414.
Sources
- Attridge, Harold W.; Hata, Gōhei (1992). Eusebius, Christianity, and Judaism. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 9780814323618.
- Ferguson, Everett (1999). Doctrinal Diversity: Varieties of Early Christianity. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9780815330714.
- Lightfoot, Joseph Barber (1889). The Apostolic Fathers: A Revised Text with Introductions, Notes, Dissertations, and Translations. London: Macmillan Publishers.
- Millar, Fergus (1993). The Roman Near East, 31 B.C.-A.D. 337. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674778863.
- Roberts, Alexander; Donaldson, Sir James; Coxe, Arthur Cleveland; Menzies, Allan (1887). The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Buffalo, New York: The Christian Literature Company.
- Valantasis, Richard (2000). Religions of Late Antiquity in Practice. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691057514.
- Wiles, Maurice F.; Yarnold, Edward; Parvis, Paul M. (2001). Studia Patristica. Peeters Publishers. ISBN 9789042908819.
External links
- Further, the Martyrdom of Barsamya, the Bishop of the Blessed City Edessa English translation by B. P. Pratten (1871)