Ancient
Syriac Documents.
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Martyrdom of the Holy Confessors Shamuna, Guria, and Habib, from Simeon Metaphrastes.
In the six hundredth year
from the empire of Alexander the Macedonian, when Diocletian had been
nine years sovereign of the Romans, and Maximian was consul for the
sixth time, and Augar son of Zoaras was prætor, and Cognatus was
bishop of the Edessenes, a great persecution was raised against the
churches in all the countries which were under the sway of the
Romans. The name of Christian was looked upon as execrable, and
was assailed and harassed with abuse; while the priests and the
monks, on account of
their staunch and unconquerable stedfastness, were subjected to
shocking punishments, and the pious were at their wits’ end with
sadness and fear. For, desiring as they did to proclaim the truth
because of their yearning affection for Christ, they yet shrunk back
from doing so for fear of punishment. For those who took up arms
against true religion were bent on making the Christians renounce
Christianity and embrace the cause of Saturn and Rhea, whilst the
faithful on their part laboured to prove that the objects of heathen
worship had no real existence.
At this period it was that an accusation was
preferred before the judge against Guria and Shamuna. The former
was a native of Sarcigitua, and the latter of the village of Ganas; they were, however, both brought up at Edessa—which they call Mesopotamia, because it is situated between the Euphrates and the Tigris: a city previously to this but little known to fame, but which after the struggles of its martyrs obtained universal notoriety. These holy men would not by any means spend their lives in the city, but removing to a distance from it, as those who wished to be remote from its turmoils, they made it their aim to be manifest to God only. Guria’s purity and lovingness were to him a precious and honourable possession, and from his cultivation of the former the surname of the pure was given him: so that from his name you would not have known who he was, but only when you called him by his surname. Shamuna devoted his body and his youthful and active mind to the service of God, and rivalled Guria in excellence of character. Against these men an indictment was laid before the judge, to the effect that they not only pervaded all the country round about Edessa with their teaching and encouraged the people to hold fast their faith, but also led them to look with contempt on their persecutors, and, in order to induce them to set wholly at nought their impiety, taught them agreeably to that which is written: “Trust not in princes—in the sons of men, in whom is no safety.” By these representations the judge was wrought up to a high pitch of madness, and gave orders that all those who held the Christian religion in honour and followed the teaching of Shamuna and Guria, together with those who persuaded them to this, should be apprehended, and shut up in safe keeping. The order was carried into effect; and, seizing the opportunity, he had some of them flogged, and others tortured in various ways, and induced them to obey the emperor’s command, and then, as if he were behaving kindly and mercifully, he allowed others to go to their homes; but our two saints, as being the ringleaders and those who had communicated their piety to others, he ordered to be still further maltreated in prison. They, however, rejoiced in the fellowship of martyrdom. For they heard of many in other provinces who had to pass through the same conflict as themselves: among them Epiphanius and Petrus and the most holy Pamphilus, with many others, at Cæsarea in Palestine; Timotheus at Gaza; at Alexandria, Timotheus the Great; Agapetus at Thessalonica; Hesychius at Nicomedia; Philippus at Adrianopolis; at Melitina Petrus; Hermes and his companions in the confines of Martyropolis: all of whom were also encircled with the crown of martyrdom by Duke Heraclianus, along with other confessors too numerous for us to become acquainted with. But we must return to the matters of which we were before speaking.