The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

The Syriac Martyrology of 411 (overview)

The Syriac Martyrology of the year 411 is found in one of the earliest Syriac manuscripts - BL Add. 12150 (ff. 251v-254r) from the library of the monastery of Deir al-Surian, a collection of various works, mostly translated from Greek; besides the Martyrology, it includes such compositions as Eusebius' Martyrs of Palestine (E00294), Theophany, and Homily in Praise of the Martyrs (E00462), the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions, and Titus of Bostra's Against the Manichaeans (for a description of the whole codex, see Wright 1870-1872, vol. 2, pp. 631-633). In addition, four fragments of the final folio (f. 255) from this manuscript, that contain names of the Persian martyrs, are still preserved at the monastery of Deir al-Surian (= Syriac Fragment 27; for a description, see Brock and van Rompay 2014, pp. 389-392). As the manuscript's colophon relates, this parchment codex was produced in the city of Edessa in the year 411: 'this volume was finished in the month of the latter Teshrī, in the year 723 [A.D. 411], at Urhāi [Edessa], a city of Beth-Nahrin [Mesopotamia]'. There is no explicit statement in the colophon that the Martyrology was a composition or compilation of the scribe, rather than a straight copy of an earlier text.

The Martyrology is divided into two main sections. The longer first part, organised according to the months of the Syriac calendar, is devoted to 'Western martyrs', i.e. Christians executed in various cities of the Roman empire, mostly (but not exclusively) in Nicomedia, Antioch, and Alexandria. The shorter second part lists 'Eastern martyrs', i.e. Christians who perished in the Sasanian empire, grouping them according to their ecclesiastical rank (bishops, presbyters, deacons, 'sons of the covenant', lay people), without any indication of their commemoration days. It is noteworthy that the Martyrology always refers to the martyrs using the noun mawdyānā (lit. 'confessor') and not sahdā, which later became the standard word for 'martyr' in Syriac.

Scholars agree that the Syriac compiler of the Martyrology relied upon a Greek liturgical calendar for the first part of his work. It appears to be the same source as one used by the compiler of the later Latin Martyrologium Hieronymianum. The exact date of this Greek work is unclear, but it seems to predate the year 360. As for its possible provenance, the city of Nicomedia, whose martyrs figure prominently in the Martyrology, has been proposed. It is remarkable that on 6 June the Martyrology commemorates 'the presbyter Arius' from Alexandria, which refers, most probably, to the famous 4th century heresiarch. This may be taken as evidence that the Greek calendar used by the Martyrology's editor reached the Syriac compiler through the mediation of Arian circles.

As for the second part of the Martyrology, it has been suggested that the names of the Persian martyrs in it might have been made known in Edessa by bishop Marutha of Maypherqat, during his journey back from Persia to the Roman empire in the year 411 (Brock and van Rompay 2014, p. 4).

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