Jacob of Serugh's Syriac Homily (memrā) on *Shmona and Gurya (martyrs in Edessa, S00081) retells the story of the conversion and martyrdom of Shmona and Gurya, while celebrating the martyrs' steadfastness. Written in northern Mesopotamia in the late 5th/early 6th c.
Evidence ID
E02529
Type of Evidence
Liturgical texts - Hymns
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Major author/Major anonymous work
Jacob of Serugh
Jacob of Serugh, Homily on Shmona and Gurya
Willingly accepting suffering "for love of God's Son's sake', the martyrs are presented as 'walls of our country, which became for us a shelter from all robbers' (pp. 96-97 of Cureton's translation). In the following exposition of the martyrs' life and death, the author refers to the main narrative elements of their martyrdom as found in the Martyrdom of Shmona and Gurya (E00167) (pp. 98-104). The poet puts a particular emphasis on the image of the martyr as one of the key figures in the conversion of Edessa to Christianity: 'By your deaths, oh ye blessed men, Edessa waxed rich, for well ye ornamented her with your crown and suffering. Ye are her beauty, her bulwark ye, her salt ye are likewise; her wealth, her store, her boast, and all her treasury. Ye are the stewards of her faith; for by your suffering the bride ye did array with beauty' (p. 105).
Summary: S. Minov
Liturgical ActivitiesChant and religious singing
Non Liturgical ActivityComposing and translating saint-related texts
Chant and religious singing
Sermon/homily
Non Liturgical ActivityComposing and translating saint-related texts
Saint as patron - of a community
Source
The Homily on Shmona and Gurya is a poetic celebration of the martyrdom of two Christians, who were executed in the city of Edessa in 309/11. An original Syriac composition, it was almost certainly produced by the West-Syrian poet Jacob of Serugh (c. 451-521). From the presentation of the saints' story in the Homily one can conclude that Jacob derived his information about the martyrs from the Syriac Martyrdom of Shmona and Gurya (E00167). The Homily belongs to the literary genre of memrā, a narrative poem that employs couplets all in the same syllabic meter. Such poems, which appear to have been recited rather than sung, were presumably used in the liturgy, though there is no evidence from Late Antiquity of exactly how it happened.There is not yet a critical edition of the Homily. Its Syriac text was published for the first time by Cureton on the basis of a single manuscript, British Library, Add. 17158, dated to the 6th or 7th c. (see Wright 1870-1872, vol. 2, 681-683). The Homily is attested in several others manuscripts, such as Damascus Patr. 12/13, Jerusalem, St Mark Monastery 156, Vatican syr. 117 and several others (see Vööbus 1973-1980, vol. 2, 128-129, 164-165, 176-177).
Syriac text: Cureton 1864, 96*-107*; English translation: Cureton 1864, 96-106. For general information on Jacob and his oeuvre, see Brock 2011; Lange 2004; Alwan 1986.
Discussion
The Homily presents so far the only specimen of the liturgical commemoration of Shmona and Gurya from Late Antiquity. Similarly to several other of Jacob's homilies dedicated to saints, it contains neither references to the saints' miracles nor appeals for his intercession.Bibliography
Main editions and translations:
Cureton, W., Ancient Syriac Documents Relative to the Earliest Establishment of Christianity in Edessa and the Neighbouring Countries, from the Year after Our Lord’s Ascension to the Beginning of the Fourth Century (London / Edinburgh: Williams and Norgate, 1864).
Further reading:
Alwan, K., “Bibliographie générale raisonnée de Jacques de Saroug († 521),” Parole de l’Orient 13 (1986), 313-384.
Brock, S.P., “Ya‘qub of Serugh,” in: S.P. Brock, A.M. Butts, G.A. Kiraz and L. van Rompay (eds.), Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2011), 433-435.
Lange, C., “Jakob von Sarug, † 521,” in: W. Klein (ed.), Syrische Kirchenväter (Urban-Taschenbücher 587; Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 2004), 217-227.
Vööbus, A., Handscriftliche Überlieferung der Mēmrē-Dichtung des Ja‘qōb von Serūg. 4 vols (CSCO 344-345, 421-422, Subs. 39-40, 60-61; Louvain: Secrétariat du CorpusSCO, 1973, 1980).
Wright, W., Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum, Acquired since the Year 1838. 3 vols (London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1870-1872).
Record Created By
Sergey Minov
Date of Entry
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00081 | Shmona and Gurya, martyrs of Edessa | ܓܘܪܝܐ ܘܫܡܘܢܐ | Certain |
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