The Greek Martyrdom of *Phebronia (virgin and martyr of Nisibis, S01588). Skeleton entry
E07114
Literary - Hagiographical - Accounts of martyrdom
Martyrdom of Phebronia (BHG 659-659c)
We have not examined this text. Stavroula Constantinou provides a brief summary of the Martyrdom, which we reproduce here:
'At the age of two, she enters a nunnery at Nisibis. Byene, the abbess of the nunnery, brings her up very strictly, never allowing her to see any men. As she grows up, Febronia becomes a very beautiful and pious nun. While time passes peacefully in the nunnery of Byene, the pagan emperor Diocletian, a great persecutor of Christians, sends his soldiers to Nisibis to arrest all the Christians of the area. Being informed of Diocletian's intentions, all the priests and their bishop followed by most of the nuns of Byene's convent run away. Only Byene, Thomaïs and Febronia, who is recovering from a serious illness, stay behind. When Diocletian's soldiers arrive at the convent, they only arrest Febronia. She is led to martyrdom where she is killed after undergoing horrendous tortures.' (Constantinou 2005, 26-27.)
Source
For the manuscript tradition, see:http://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/notices/oeuvre/15599/
For the edition, see Bibliography.
The Martyrdom of Phebronia is first attested in two Syriac manuscripts dating from the late 7th century (see $EXXXXX). For the question whether the Martyrdom was originally composed in Greek or in Syriac, see Chiesa, P., Le versioni latine della Passio Sanctæ Febroniæ: storia, metodo, modelli di due traduzioni agiografiche altomedievali (Biblioteca di Medioevo latino 2; Spoleto, 1990), 353-355; cf. also Devos 1962, 44-45; Halkin 1958, 299; Simon 1924, 69-76.
Discussion
The otherwise unattested toponym Sibapolis, where the text locates the martyrdom of Phebronia, is in all likelihood merely a corrupted form of Nisibis which has proliferated in the Greek manuscript tradition; the name Nisibis is attested in the Syriac tradition as well as a part of the Greek tradition (see Halkin 1958, 295-296 n.9).Bibliography
Text:AASS, Iun. V, 17-35 (3rd ed. VII, 16-31). (without the prologue - see BHG II, 208)
Further reading:
Constantinou, S. Female Corporeal Performances. Reading the Body in Byzantine Passions and Lives of Holy Women (Uppsala, 2005), 26-27 and (passim) 30-58.
Devos, P. "Sainte Anastasie la vierge et la source de sa Passion BHG 76z", Analecta Bollandiana 80 (1962), 37-45.
Halkin, F. "La Passion grecque des saintes Libyè, eutropie et Léonis", Analecta Bollandiana 76 (1958), 294-300.
Simon, P. "Note sur l'original de la Passion de sainte Fébronie", Analecta Bollandiana 42 (1924), 69-76.
Nikolaos Kälviäinen
16/11/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S01632 | Phebronia, virgin and martyr of Nisibis | Certain |
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Nikolaos Kälviäinen, Cult of Saints, E07114 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E07114