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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 12 June the martyrdom of *Mēnios (perhaps the martyr buried at Abu Mena, S00073, or the martyr of Laodikeia, S01051), *Papias (martyr, S01046), *Matthew (martyr, S01047), *Dīos (presbyter and martyr in Kaisareia of Cappadocia, S01043), and *Zēnobios (martyr in Isauria, S01044). Preserved in a manuscript written in Edessa (northern Mesopotamia) in 411.

Evidence ID

E01514

Type of Evidence

Liturgical texts - Calendars and martyrologies

Major author/Major anonymous work

Syriac Martyrology of 411

ܘܒܬܪܥܣܪܐ ... ...ܘܤ ܡܢܐܘܤ ... ... ܘܦܦܝܐ ܘܡܝܬܐܘܤ. ܘܒܩܣܪܝܐ ܕܩܦܕܘܩܝܐ ܕܝܘܤ ܩܫܝܫܐ. ܘܒܐܝܣܘܪܝܐ ܙܢܘܒܤ.

'And on the twelfth (day) – …,
Mēnios, … … and Papias, and Matthew, and at Kaisareia in Cappadocia, the presbyter Dīos, and in Isauria, Zēnobios.'


Text: Nau 1912, p. 18.
Translation: S. 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 the two main sections - the main one, devoted to the Christian martyrs of the Roman empire, and the shorter one, devoted to the Christians executed in the Sasanian empire. The former section 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 martyrs Mēnios, Papias, Matthew, Dīos and Zēnobios 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
S00073Menas, soldier and martyr buried at Abu MenaUncertain
S01043Dios, presbyter and martyr of Caesarea/Kaisareia of CappadociaܕܝܘܤCertain
S01044Zenobios, martyr in IsauriaܙܢܘܒܤCertain
S01046Papias, martyrܦܦܝܐCertain
S01047Matthew, martyrܡܝܬܐܘܤCertain
S01051Menios, martyr of LaodiceaUncertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Sergey Minov, Cult of Saints, E01514 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E01514