Acts of Sharbel
The Acts of Sharbel is a Syriac Christian martyrdom text about a pagan high priest who was converted 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.[1][2]
Publications
The Acts of Sharbel was first translated in English by William Cureton in his Ancient Syriac Documents (London, 1864). He had used a single manuscript written in Syriac dated to the fifth or sixth century AD (Brit. Mus. Add. 14, 644).[3] B. P. Pratten also introduced an English translation, and his translation would be compiled with other Christian texts to be published in the Ante-Nicene Fathers (1871).[4] In 1874, Moesinger published a Latin translation in his Acta SS. Martyrum Edessenorum.[3]
Narrative overview
The text begins with the current timeline of Trajan's fifteenth year as the Roman Emperor and the third year of King Abgar VIII's rule.[1]
On the eighth day of the new year (Nisan), the populous commenced a celebration and worship of multiple gods. Particularly, the statues of gods Bel and Nebo were placed at the altar centered in the city. The high priest of the gods, Sharbel, was in charge of preparations of the altar. While organizing the altar, a Christian bishop named Barsamya had suddenly walked upon the altar to engage Sharbel publicly. Barsamya preached to him and the public, and doing so, Sharbel was greatly astonished by Barsamya's teachings he converted to Christianity at that very moment.[5]
After Sharbel's conversion, he would later be prosecuted and put to torture until his death along with his sister Babai for being Christians by the orders of Lysanias, a judge and by the Edessian governor. After their deaths, the bodies of Sharbel and his sister would later be stolen from the executioners by a group of men to be buried next to Bishop Abshelama's grave in the evening of the Sabbath.[6]
Composition and historicity
Biblical scholars date the Acts of Sharbel to the 5th century AD, the same for the Martyrdom of Barsamya and the Doctrine of Addai based on the fact that these texts were written in a similar textual style; And the names of Sharbel, Barsamya, and Addai were not found on a 4th-century manuscript of a martyrdom calendar which list names of martyrs from Edessa. Names of the first Christian converts unique to the Doctrine of Addai are also written in the Acts of Sharbel and the Martyrdom of Barsamya. These names can be found in once pagan regions of Edessa dating back to the second and third century AD and aren't found much in Syriac sources from the fifth century AD or later. For these reasons, scholars have concluded the historicity of the Acts of Sharbel as fictitious.[7][8][9][10]
With such similar writing styles between the Acts of Sharbel, the Martyrdom of Barsamya, and the Doctrine of Addai, scholars agree that these texts were circulated amongst the same group of authors. Biblical scholars also agree that the Acts of Sharbel and the Martyrdom of Barsamya use similar concepts of Christian literary from the Syriac Christian texts of the Acts of Shmona and of Gurya and the Martyrdom of Habib, which biblical scholars conclude the authors of the Acts of Sharbel and Martyrdom of Barsamya were most likely paganist inserting their ideology into the Christian community.[11][8]
Bel and Nebo
In the Acts of Sharbel and the Doctrine of Addai, both text mention Bel and Nebo as the primarily deities worshipped in Edessa.[12] Bel and Nebo are Babylonian idols worshiped in the New Year (Akitu). The Acts of Sharbel in particular, accurately timed the ceremonial worship of these idols according to Babylonian tradition.[13][14]
See also
Citations
- 1 2 Millar 1993, p. 464.
- ↑ Attridge & Hata 1992, p. 223.
- 1 2 Lightfoot 1889, p. 69.
- ↑ Roberts et al. 1887, p. 105.
- ↑ Drijvers 1980, p. 35.
- ↑ Roberts et al. 1907, p. 684.
- ↑ Attridge & Hata 1992, pp. 223, 224 & 228.
- 1 2 Ferguson 1999, p. 274.
- ↑ Millar 1993, p. 486.
- ↑ Valantasis 2000, p. 414.
- ↑ Attridge & Hata 1992, p. 228.
- ↑ Drijvers 1980, p. 40.
- ↑ Drijvers 1980, p. 43.
- ↑ Boiy 2004, p. 306.
Sources
- Attridge, Harold W.; Hata, Gōhei (1992). Eusebius, Christianity, and Judaism. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 9780814323618.
- Boiy, T. (2004). Late Achaemenid and Hellenistic Babylon. Peeters Publishers. ISBN 9789042914490.
- Drijvers, H. J. W. (1980). Cults and Beliefs at Edessa. BRILL. ISBN 9789004060500.
- 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.
- Roberts, Alexander; Donaldson, Sir James; Coxe, Arthur Cleveland; Menzies, Allan (1907). The Ante-Nicene Fathers: Translations of the Writings of The Fathers down to A.D. 325. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
- Valantasis, Richard (2000). Religions of Late Antiquity in Practice. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691057514.
External links
- Acts of Sharbil, Who Was a Priest of Idols, and Was Converted to the Confession of Christianity in Christ English translation from William Cureton's Ancient Syriac Documents (London, 1864)