The Syriac Martyrdom of *Šāhdost (catholicos and martyr in Persia, S01581) recounts the martyrdom in 342 of Šāhdost, catholicos of the Church of the East, and of 128 other Christians in the city of Seleucia-Ctesiphon under Shapur II (r. 309-379). Writtenin Sasanian Persia during the late 4th or 5th c.
E04170
Literary - Hagiographical - Accounts of martyrdom
Persian martyrdom accounts
Martyrdom of *Šāhdost
Summary:
The narrative introduces Šāhdost as the bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, who succeeded the martyred catholicos Shimun bar Ṣabbae [S00592]. One day, Šāhdost gathers his clergy and relates to them a vision that he had during the night, in which he saw a ladder standing on the earth and reaching to heaven. At the top of the ladder was standing his martyred predecessor Shimun/Symeon, who was calling Šāhdost to ascend and join him. The bishop interpreted the vision as a portent of the coming persecution and of his own martyrdom. He encourages his audience, and asks for the dream to be fulfilled. (pp. 276-277 in Bedjan's edition)
Šāhdost is arrested 'in the second year of the persecution,' when the king was in the city of Seleucia-Ctesiphon. Together with the bishop, 128 other Christians, clergy as well as lay people, are said to have been arrested. They are chained and put in prison, where they stay for five months. (pp. 278-279)
In prison, the Christians are tortured severely, and offered the choice to worship the sun or to die. Speaking on behalf of all of them, Šāhdost confirms their commitment to their belief in one God and their refusal to worship the sun and fire. When his words are passed to Shapur, the king threatens the Christians with death, but again they refuse to comply. (pp. 279-280)
The king then sentences the Christians to death by the sword. The king's officials take them outside the city for execution. When they reach the place of execution, the martyrs pray and bless God, before being killed. The execution is reported to have taken place on 'the twentieth of the lunar (month) of Shbat'. (p. 280)
The narrative concludes with a brief note that Šāhdost was not executed with the rest of the martyrs, but was taken to the city of Bet Lāpāṭ in the province of Khuzistan, where he was beheaded with the sword. (pp. 280-281)
Summary: S. Minov
Composing and translating saint-related texts
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Zoroastrians
Monarchs and their family
Source
The Martyrdom of Šāhdost is an account of the arrest and execution of Šāhdost, catholicos of the Church of the East, and the group of 128 Christians. They were arrested and imprisoned in the second year of the 'Great Persecution' of the shah Shapur II (r. 309-379), i.e. the year 342. Except Šāhdost, all the martyrs were executed outside the capital city of Seleucia-Ctesiphon. The execution is said to have taken place on 'the twentieth of the lunar (month) of Shbat' (February 20). As for the bishop, he is said to have been taken to the city of Bet Lāpāṭ in the province of Khuzistan, a winter residence of Sasanian kings, where he was beheaded with the sword.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. A relatively early date of the Martyrdom could be argued on the basis of the fact that Šāhdost is commemorated in the Syriac Martyrology of 411 [see E01590].
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 (on the basis of Vatican Syr. 161), it has been reedited by Bedjan 1890-1897, who also used the 19th-century manuscript Berlin, Königliche Bibliothek, or. oct. 1256 [= Assfalg 26] (see Assfalg 1963, pp. 53-56).
Syriac text: Assemani 1748, vol. 1, pp. 88-91, Bedjan 1890-1897, vol. 2, pp. 276-281; Latin translation: Assemani 1748, vol. 1, pp. 88-91; French translation: Lagrange 1852, pp. 74-77, Leclercq 1904, pp. 176-178; German translation: Braun 1915, pp. 93-96; modern Arabic translation: Scher 1900-1906, vol. 1, pp. 268-271. For general information, see Fiey 2004, p. 165; Wiessner 1967, pp. 105-128.
Discussion
The Martyrdom bears witness to the cult of the martyred catholicos Šāhdost, which apparently developed soon after his death, during the last decades of the 4th or the early 5th century in the capital city of Seleucia-Ctesiphon.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).
Braun, O., Ausgewählte Akten persischer Märtyrer (Bibliothek der Kirchenväter 22; Kempten / München: Jos. Kösel, 1915).
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).
Wiessner, G., Untersuchungen zur syrischen Literaturgeschichte I: Zur Märtyrerüberlieferung aus der Christenverfolgung Schapurs II (Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen, Philologisch-historische Klasse III.67; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1967).
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
19/10/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S01581 | Shahdost/Šāhdost/Sadoth, katholicos and martyr in Persia, ob. 342 | ܫܗܕܘܣܬ | Certain |
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