The Syriac Martyrdom of *Badmā (abbot and martyr in Persia, S01574) recounts the martyrdom in 375/376 of the abbot Badmā from the city of Bet Lāpāṭ in the province of Khuzistan under Shapur II (r. 309-379). Written in Sasanian Persia during the late 4th or 5th c.
E04149
Literary - Hagiographical - Accounts of martyrdom
Persian martyrdom accounts
Martyrdom of Badmā
Summary:
The narrative opens with an account of the martyr's life prior to his arrest and execution. Badmā, offspring of a rich and noble family, embraces the ascetic way of life after converting to Christianity. He founds a monastery outside of his city of Bet Lāpāṭ, where he accepts the poor and needy. (pp. 347-349 in Bedjan's edition)
Arrested together with seven other monks, he spends four months in prison, beaten and tortured. Badmā is brought to the royal court in Bet Lāpāṭ, together with another Christian prisoner, a certain Narsā, also arrested for refusing to return to Zoroastrianism. The king makes an offer to Narsā that he would be set free if he will carry out the execution of Badmā. Fearing for his life, Narsā accepts the offer and kills Badmā with the sword. The execution of the martyr is reported to have taken place on the 10th day of the lunar month of Nisan. The martyr's body is taken away during the night, apparently by the local Christians, and buried. (pp. 349-351)
The narrative concludes with a brief note about the fate of the seven monks, who were imprisoned together with Badmā. They are said to have stayed in the prison for a little more than four years, until the death of king Shapur. After which they were released. (p. 351)
Summary: S. Minov
Composing and translating saint-related texts
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - abbots
Torturers/Executioners
Zoroastrians
Source
The Martyrdom of Badmā is an account of the conversion, ascetic life, trial and execution of Badmā, an abbot from the city of Bet Lāpāṭ in the province of Khuzistan. An offspring of the rich and renown family, Badmā converted to Christianity and embraced ascetic way of life, founding a monastery outside his city. He was arrested and imprisoned together with seven other monks during the 'Great Persecution' of the shah Shapur II (r. 309-379). Badmā was brought for a trial to the royal court in Bet Lāpāṭ, where he was sentenced to death and, then, killed with the sword by the apostate Narsā. The execution is said to have taken place on 'the tenth of the lunar (month) of Nisan' (April 10). While it is difficult to establish the work's date with certainty, the second half of the 4th, or the 5th century seem to be a likely time of the Martyrdom's composition.The Martyrdom is attested in a number of manuscripts, the oldest of which is British Library Add. 14654, datable to the 5th or 6th century (see Wright 1870-1872, vol. 3, pp. 1081-1083). There is not yet a critical edition of the text. Published for the first time in Assemani 1748, it has been re-edited by Bedjan 1890-1897, who also used the 19th c. manuscript Berlin, Königliche Bibliothek, or. oct. 1256 [= Assfalg 26] (see Assfalg 1963, pp. 53-56).
Syriac text: Assemani 1748, vol. 1, pp. 165-167; Bedjan 1890-1897, vol. 2, pp. 347-351; Latin translation: Assemani 1748, vol. 1, pp. 165-167; French translation: Lagrange 1852, pp. 145-148, Leclercq 1904, pp. 220-222; modern Arabic translation: Scher 1900-1906, vol. 1, pp. 368-371. For general information, see Fiey 2004, pp. 44-45.
Discussion
The Martyrdom bears witness to the local cult of the martyr Badmā, which apparently developed during the last decades of the 4th or the early 5th century in Khuzistan, most likely in the city of Bet Lāpāṭ.Bibliography
Main editions and translations:Assemani, S.E., Acta Sanctorum Martyrum Orientalium et Occidentalium in duas partes distributa, adcedunt Acta S. Simeonis Stylitae. 2 vols (Roma: Typis Josephi Collini, 1748).
Bedjan, P., Acta martyrum et sanctorum. 7 vols (Paris / Leipzig: Otto Harrassowitz, 1890-1897).
Lagrange, F., Les Actes des martyrs d’Orient, traduits pour la première fois en francais sur la traduction latine des manuscrits syriaques de Étienne-Evode Assemani (Paris: Librairie Ecclésiastique et Classique d’Eugène Belin, 1852).
Leclercq, H., Les martyrs: Recueil de pièces authentiques sur les martyrs depuis les origines du christianisme jusqu’au XXe siècle. Tome 3: Julien l’Apostat, Sapor, Genséric (Paris: H. Oudin, 1904).
Scher, A., Kitāb sīrat ’ašhar šuhadā’ al-Mašriq al-qiddisīn. 2 vols (Mossoul: Imprimerie des pères dominicains, 1900-1906).
Further reading:
Assfalg, J., Syrische Handschriften: syrische, karšunische, christlich-palästinensische, neusyrische und mandäische Handschriften (Verzeichnis der orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland 5; Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 1963).
Fiey, J.-M., Saints syriaques (Studies in Late Antiquity and Early Islam 6; Princeton, NJ: Darwin Press, 2004).
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).
Sergey Minov
13/10/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S01574 | Badmā/Badimos, abbot and martyr in Persia under Shapur II | ܒܕܡܐ | Certain |
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