E05968
Literary - Hagiographical - Accounts of martyrdom
The Syriac text of the Martyrdom is preserved in no less than eleven manuscripts. Its earliest textual witness, so far, is represented by ms. British Library Add. 12142, dated to the 6th century (see Wright 1870-1872, vol. 3, 1092-1093).
The Syriac version of the Martyrdom is comprised of two parts, the Conversion of Kyprianos and Ioustina (for summary and discussion, see E01164) and the Martyrdom of Kyprianos and Ioustina (for summary and discussion, see E01165). The date of the martyrdom, given in ms. British Library Add. 12142, as well as in the printed texts, is 15 June.
There is no critical edition yet of the Syriac version of the Martyrdom. It was published first in Bedjan 1890-1897, vol. 3, 322-344, on the basis of ms. Berlin, Königliche Bibliothek, Syr. 75 [Sachau 222]; subsequently in Lewis 1900, vol. 1, 185-203 (trans.), vol. 2, pp. 245-278 (Syr.), on the basis of ms. Sinai, Monastère Sainte-Catherine, Syr. 30 [Kamil 74]. For a discussion of the Syriac version, see also Ryssel 1903.
Composing and translating saint-related texts
Discussion
The Syriac translation of the Martyrdom bears witness to the spread of the cult of Kyprianos and Ioustina among Syriac-speaking Christians during the 5th or, at latest, 6th century, and is the earliest witness of the saints' cult in this milieu.Bibliography
Main editions and translations:Bedjan, P., Acta martyrum et sanctorum. 7 vols (Paris / Leipzig: Otto Harrassowitz, 1890-1897).
Lewis, A.S., Select Narratives of Holy Women from the Syro-Antiochene or Sinai Palimpsest as Written above the Old Syriac Gospels by John the Stylite, of Beth-Mari-Qanûn in A.D. 778. 2 vols (Studia Sinaitica 9-10; London: C.J. Clay and Sons, 1900).
Further reading:
Ryssel, V., “Der Urtext der Cyprianuslegende,” Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen 110 (1903), 273-311.
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
23/08/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00866 | Theoktistos, martyr near Nikomedia | ܬܐܘܩܛܣܛܐ | Certain | S01704 | Kyprianos and Ioustina/Iustina, martyrs of Antioch | ܩܘܦܪܝܢܐ ܘܝܘܣܛܐ | Certain |
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