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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


from its origins to circa AD 700, across the entire Christian world


Name

Shmona and Gurya, martyrs of Edessa

Saint ID

S00081

Number in BH

BHO 363-366, BHG 731-735

Reported Death Not Before

303

Reported Death Not After

310

Gender
Male
Type of Saint
Martyrs, Ascetics/monks/nuns
Related Evidence Records
IDTitle
E00072The Syriac Chronicle of Edessa records that the church of the 'Confessors' [the Edessan martyrs, *Shmona and Gurya (S00081) and *Habbib (S00090)] was built in Edessa (northern Mesopotamia) by bishop Abraham in 345/346. Written in Edessa, in second half of 6th c.
E00220The Syriac Story of Euphemia and the Goth celebrates the Edessan martyrs, *Shmona and Gurya (S00081), and *Habbib (S00090), who protect a woman, who is married to a Gothic soldier stationed in Edessa, taken to his homeland and mistreated there (despite the Goth's prior oath to the saints); but she is then miraculously transported, where eventually the Goth returns, only to be exposed and punished by death. Written in Edessa (northern Mesopotamia), probably in the 6th c.
E01211The Syriac Chronicle of Pseudo-Joshua the Stylite recounts how in 503, after their unsuccessful siege of the city of Edessa (northern Mesopotamia), the troops of the Persian king Kavadh I destroyed the martyria-churches of *Sergios (soldier and martyr of Rusafa, S00023) and of the 'Confessors' (*Shmona and Gurya, and *Habbib, martyrs of Edessa, S00090 and S00081) located outside the city. Written in Edessa, 506/515.
E01582The early 5th c. Syriac Martyrology commemorates on 15 November the martyrdom of *Sekoundos and Orontios (martyrs in Antioch, S01109) and of *Shmona and Gurya (martyrs in Edessa, ob. 309/10, S00081). Preserved in a manuscript written in Edessa (northern Mesopotamia) in 411.
E02529Jacob 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.
E03927The Church Calendar of Ioane Zosime, compiled in Georgian in the 10th c., based however on 5th-7th c. prototypes from Palestine, commemorates on 15 November *Philip (the Apostle, S00109), *Gregory (the Miracle-Worker, bishop and missionary in Pontus, ob. 270, S00687), *Justinian (Roman emperor, ob. 565, S01572), *Shmona and Gurya (martyrs of Edessa, S00081).
E03931The Church Calendar of Ioane Zosime, compiled in Georgian in the 10th c., based however on 5th-7th c. prototypes from Palestine, commemorates on 19 November *Thalelaios (martyr of Aigai in Cilicia, S01137), *Proklos (bishop of Constantinople, ob. 446, S01597), *Shmona and Gurya (martyrs of Edessa, S00081), and *Obadiah (Old Testament prophet, S01420).