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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


from its origins to circa AD 700, across the entire Christian world


The early 5th c. Syriac Martyrology commemorates on 28 December the martyrdom of *Paul (the Apostle, S00008) and *Peter (the Apostle, S00036). Preserved in a manuscript written in Edessa (northern Mesopotamia) in 411.

Evidence ID

E01398

Type of Evidence

Liturgical texts - Calendars and martyrologies

Major author/Major anonymous work

Syriac Martyrology of 411

Syriac Martyrology of 411

ܘܒ̈ܬܡܢܝܐ ܘܥܣܪܝܢ ܒܗ ܒܟܢܘܢ ܩܕܝܡ. ܒܐܪܗܘܡܐ ܡܕܝܢܬܐ ܦܘܠܘܤ ܫܠܝܚܐ ܘܫܡܥܘܢ ܟܐܦܐ ܪܝܫ ܫ̈ܠܝܚܘܗܝ ܕܡܪܢ.

'And on twenty-eighth (day) of the Former Kanun (i.e. December) – in the city of Rome, Paul the apostle, and Simon Cephas, the chief of the apostles of our Lord.'


Text: Nau 1912, 11.
Translation: Sergey Minov.

Festivals

Saint’s feast

Source

The Syriac Martyrology of the year 411 is the earliest liturgical calendar preserved in Syriac. It appears in the manuscript BL Add. 12150. The manuscript's colophon relates that it was produced in the city of Edessa in the year 411. Composed during the last decades of the fourth or the first decade of the fifth century, the Martyrology is divided into two sections, a longer section devoted to the Christian martyrs of the Roman empire, and a shorter one, devoted to Christians executed in the Sasanian empire. The section on the Roman empire is derived from a lost Greek martyrology. For more information, see E00465.

Syriac text: Wright 1865-1866; Nau 1912, pp. 11-26; Brock and van Rompay 2014, pp. 389-392; English translation: Wright 1865-1866, pp. 423-432; French translation: Nau 1912, pp. 11-26; German translation: Lietzmann 1903, pp. 9-16; Latin translation: Mariani 1956. For general information, see Taylor 2012, pp. 80-81; Schäferdiek 2005.


Discussion

The Martyrology provides the earliest evidence for the liturgical commemoration of the apostles Paul and Peter among Syriac-speaking Christians.

Bibliography

Main editions and translations:
Brock, S.P., and van Rompay, L., Catalogue of the Syriac Manuscripts and Fragments in the Library of Deir al-Surian, Wadi al-Natrun (Egypt) (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 227; Leuven: Peeters, 2014).

Lietzmann, H.,
Die drei ältesten Martyrologien (Kleine Texte für Theologische Vorlesungen und Übungen 2; Bonn: A. Marcus und E. Weber, 1903).

Mariani, B., Breviarium syriacum seu martyrologium syriacum saec. IV (Rerum ecclesiasticarum documenta, Series minor: Subsidia studiorum 3; Roma: Herder, 1956).

Nau, F.,
Martyrologes et ménologes orientaux, I–XIII. Un martyrologie et douze ménologes syriaques édités et traduits (Patrologia Orientalis 10.1 [46]; Paris: Firmin-Didot, 1912).

Wright, W., “An Ancient Syriac Martyrology,”
Journal of Sacred Literature and Biblical Record NS VIII, 15 (1865), 45-56; 16 (1866), 423-432.

Further reading:
Schäferdiek, K., “Bemerkungen zum Martyrologium Syriacum,” Analecta Bollandiana 123:1 (2005), 5-22.

Taylor, D.G.K., “Hagiographie et liturgie syriaque,” in: A. Binggeli (ed.),
L’hagiographie syriaque (Études syriaques 9; Paris: Paul Geuthner, 2012), 77-112.


Record Created By

Sergey Minov

Date of Entry

25/05/2016

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00008Paul, the ApostleܦܘܠܘܤCertain
S00036Peter, the Apostleܫܡܥܘܢ ܟܐܦܐCertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Sergey Minov, Cult of Saints, E01398 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E01398