The Acts of Shmona and of Gurya is a Syriac Christian martyrdom text. The setting takes place at Edessa during Roman Emperor Diocletian's Great Persecution.
Contents
Publications
The Acts of Shmona and of Gurya was only known to exist in a Syriac manuscript. The manuscript was first translated to English by Francis Crawford Burkitt in his Euphemia and the Goth with the Acts of Martyrdom of the Confessors of Edessa (London, 1913). It wasn't until Ernst von Dobschütz had published his German translation of the Syriac manuscript, that a Greek, Armenian, and a Latin manuscript became known to the public in his Die Akten der edessenischen Bekenner Gurjas, Samonas and Abios aus dem Nachlass von Oscar von Gebhardt (Leipzig, 1911). Dobschütz had obtained the manuscripts from leftover works by Theologian Oscar von Gebhardt who had passed away in 1906.
Narrative overview
The introduction of the text begins with mentioning names of current figures at the time in which the martyrdom began such as Diocletian, Aba, Bishop Qona, and Abgar son of Zora During the Diocletianic Persecution, the two martyrs were compelled to worship the sun in Edessa, but they refused to do so. An extensive discussion had occurred between the martyrs and the Eddessian governor Mysianus on why the two martyrs refused to worship the sun. They were killed after that.
Evidence of the martyrs
The historicity of the text is considered reliable. Relics of the two martyrs were found in Edessa, and Ephrem the Syrian mentions the martyrs as heroes of Edessa celebrated there. They are also honored in the Syriac Martyrologies. Ignatius Ephrem II Rahmani mentions the martyrs in his Carmina Nisibena (1866), and the names of the two martyrs were written on a fourth century AD calendar which list names of martyrs from Edessa.
Connection with other texts
The text is often compared with the Acts of Sharbel in biblical academic sources in order to determine the reliability and existence of the martyrs. The historicity of the Acts of Sharbel is universally excepted as fictitious by biblical scholars as similar concepts of literary can be found between the two texts, and the names affiliated with the Acts of Sharbel were not found on the martyrdom calendar as Shmona and Gurya are.