Martyrdom of Habib the Deacon

The Martyrdom of Habib the Deacon is a Syriac Christian martyrdom text. It pertains to the martyrdom of Habib, a deacon from the village Telzeha. Habib's martyrdom according to the text, occurs during the reign of Licinius. His martyrdom was first only known in an abridged version until a manuscript was discovered in the eighteen-hundreds from a collection of documents stored in a museum. The date and accuracy of the text is disputed, however, Habib's martyrdom occurring is accepted by scholars.

Manuscript history
Aerial shot of the British Museum, London

Habib's martyrdom account was first only known in an abridged version written by Symeon the Metaphrast.[1] It was not until 1864 that the manuscript (Add 14645, folios 238b–245a)[2] of the Martyrdom of Habib was edited by Dr. Wright and translated to English by William Cureton in his Ancient Syriac Documents (London, 1864).[1] The manuscript is written in the Syriac language and dated to 936 AD,[2] and was part of a collection of documents obtained by the British Museum from Egypt.[3] The documents though were originally from the archives of Edessa mentioned by Eusebius in his Church History (I. 13. 5).[3] Francis Burkitt published an English translation in his Euphemia and the Goth with the Acts of Martyrdom of the Confessors of Edessa (London, 1913).[4] Ernst von Dobschütz edited the Greek traditions about the martyrdom, and Richard Valantasis would also publish an English translation in his Religions of Late Antiquity in Practice (New Jersey, 2000) by incorporating Francis C. Burkitt's translation together with Ernst von Dobschütz's enumeration.[5]

Narrative overview

The text begins with the reign of Roman emperor Licinius who had commenced repairs to altars of pagan deities everywhere and the worshiping of Jupiter.[1] At the time, Habib who was from Telzeha, encouraged Christians in different villages not to worship those deities. His actions were soon reported to Licinius who ordered a search and execution of Habib. Habib's friends and family were arrested in Telzeha. After, Habib went to Edessa from the village Zeugma to surrender himself to Theotecnus, the caretaker to the governors home. Theotecnus encouraged him to leave in fear of his life, but Habib refused because he wanted to preserve his salvation. He was then taken to the governor for an extensive trial, then he was imprisoned, tortured, and put to death by being set ablaze.[1] Much of the populace was emotionally distressed about his death. Both pagans and Jews sympathized with him after his death, so they covered his body after.[6]

Connection with other Syriac texts
See also: Euphemia and the Goth

The Martyrdom of Habib along with the Acts of Shmona and of Gurya are claimed to be authored by a Theophilus who also claims to have witnessed the martyrdoms.[7] Scholars compare both texts with the spurious 5th century AD texts Acts of Sharbel and the Martyrdom of Barsamya in order to determine the reliability of the texts.[8] In the Doctrine of Addai, a list unique to the text concerning the names of Addai's first Christian converts who are of nobility are also mentioned in the Acts of Sharbel and the Martyrdom of Barsamya.[9] According to Sebastian Brock, all three texts were authored by the same group.[10] He continues to state that Addai's first Christian converts mentioned in the Acts of Sharbel and the Martyrdom of Barsamya were implemented in the texts with literary concepts from that of the Martyrdom of Habib and the Acts of Shmona and of Gurya. Because of this, Brock concludes the authors of the Acts of Sharbel and the Martyrdom of Barsamya were either integrating the ideal that their pagan ancestors converted to Christianity at an early period, or the upper class of Eddasa had a martyr prior to Shmona, Gurya, and Habib.[9]

Evidence of Habib's martyrdom

The reliability of the text is not universally accepted.[6] Scholars though acknowledge the occurrence of Habib's martyrdom.[10] Ephrem the Syrian mentions Habib in his Carmina Nisibena (33:13),[11] and relics of Habib were found in Edessa.[12] His name is also written in the Menologion of Basil II,[1] and on a martyrdom calendar manuscript dated to the fourth century AD which list names of martyrs from Edessa.[11]

Date of Habib's martyrdom

The precise date of the martyrdom is doubted.[13] Francis Burkitt estimated the date of Habib's persecution in 310 AD, a year after Shmona's and Gurya's martyrdom by using draconian measures with the transmitted text. Richard Valantasis though doubts the dates in the text as he points out, the opening sentence places Habib's martyrdom in the Greek year 620 which is 308 AD, four years before Licinius and Constantine the Great were consuls together. Valantasis suggest that Licinius wouldn't have initiated a persecution as he would've been signing the Edict of Milan with Constantine in 313 AD, seven years before Licinius would actually initiate a minor persecution. Valantasis further suggest that the best starting-point to figuring out the date of Habib's death would be as the martyrdom text states, his death on the second of Elul, the same day that Constantine departed Spain to fight Licinius at Rome.[13]

Citations
  1. Wace 1911, p. H.
  2. Valantasis 2000, p. 415.
  3. Coleman-Norton 2018, p. 94.
  4. Efthymiadis 2016, p. 278.
  5. Valantasis 2000, p. 415 & 416.
  6. Heal & Kitchen 2013, p. 22.
  7. Valantasis 2000, p. 413.
  8. Millar 1993, p. 486.
  9. Attridge & Hata 1992, p. 228.
  10. Attridge & Hata 1992, p. 223.
  11. Attridge & Hata 1992, pp. 223 & 224.
  12. Saint-Laurent 2015, p. 40.
  13. Valantasis 2000, p. 414.

Bibliography
  • Attridge, Harold W.; Hata, Gōhei (1992). Eusebius, Christianity, and Judaism. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 9780814323618.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Coleman-Norton, P.R. (2018). Roman State & Christian Church Volume 1: A Collection of Legal Documents to A.D. 535. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 9781532666155.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Efthymiadis, Stephanos (2016). The Ashgate Research Companion to Byzantine Hagiography. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-04396-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Heal, Kristian S.; Kitchen, Robert A. (2013). Breaking the Mind. CUA Press. ISBN 9780813221663.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Millar, Fergus (1993). The Roman Near East, 31 B.C.-A.D. 337. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674778863.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Saint-Laurent, Jeanne-Nicole Mellon (2015). Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520284968.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Valantasis, Richard (2000). Religions of Late Antiquity in Practice. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691057514.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Wace, Henry (1911). Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature. Delmarva Publications, Inc.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link) - Type "Habib" in the left search bar that states "Search in this book."
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