E01479: The early 5th c. Syriac Martyrology commemorates on 20 April the martyrdom of *Prosdokās and Beronikē (martyrs of Antioch, S01008) and a *Rōmanos.
online resource
posted on 2016-06-07, 00:00authored byerizos
ܘܒܥܣܪܝܢ ܒܢܝܣܢ ܒܐܢܛܝܟܝܐ ܦܪܘܣܕܘܩܤ ܘܒܪܢܝܩܐ ܘܪܘܡܢܝܘܤ.
'And on the twentieth (day) of Nisan (i.e. April) – at Antioch, Prosdokās, and Beronikē, and Rōmanos.'
Ed. Nau 1912, p. 15; trans. S. Minov.
History
Evidence ID
E01479
Saint Name
Prosdokās, Beronikē and Rōmanos, martyrs at Antioch : S01008
Romanos from Caesarea, martyr in Antioch, ob. 303 : S00120
Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Edessa
Edessa
Edessa
Ἔδεσσα
Edessa
Major author/Major anonymous work
Syriac Martyrology of 411
Cult activities - Festivals
Saint’s feast
Source
The Syriac Martyrology of the year 411 is the earliest liturgical calendar preserved in Syriac. It appears in the manuscript BL Add. 12150. The manuscript's colophon relates that it was produced in the city of Edessa in the year 411. Composed during the last decades of the fourth or the first decade of the fifth century, the Martyrology is divided into the two main sections - the main one, devoted to the Christian martyrs of the Roman empire, and the shorter one, devoted to the Christians executed in the Sasanian empire. The former section is derived from a lost Greek martyrology. For more information, see E00465
Syriac text: Wright 1865-1866; Nau 1912, pp. 11-26; Brock and van Rompay 2014, pp. 389-392; English translation: Wright 1865-1866, pp. 423-432; French translation: Nau 1912, pp. 11-26; German translation: Lietzmann 1903, pp. 9-16; Latin translation: Mariani 1956. For general information, see Taylor 2012, pp. 80-81; Schäferdiek 2005.
Discussion
The Martyrology provides the earliest evidence for the liturgical commemoration of the martyrs Prosdokās, Beronikē and Rōmanos among Syriac-speaking Christians.
The exact identity of the first martyr, whose name in Syriac is 'Rōmanīōs,' is not certain. In our choice of 'Rōmanos,' we follow the conjecture made by Wright 1865, p. 426. However, Nau emends it to 'Dōmnios,' following the lead of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum, where the following group of martyrs appears: 'In Ant. Syriae Prosdoci, Veronicae et Domninae filiae ejus' (Nau 1912, p. 15).
Bibliography
Main editions and translations:
Brock, S.P., and van Rompay, L., Catalogue of the Syriac Manuscripts and Fragments in the Library of Deir al-Surian, Wadi al-Natrun (Egypt) (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 227; Leuven: Peeters, 2014).
Lietzmann, H., Die drei ältesten Martyrologien (Kleine Texte für Theologische Vorlesungen und Übungen 2; Bonn: A. Marcus und E. Weber, 1903).
Mariani, B., Breviarium syriacum seu martyrologium syriacum saec. IV (Rerum ecclesiasticarum documenta, Series minor: Subsidia studiorum 3; Roma: Herder, 1956).
Nau, F., Martyrologes et ménologes orientaux, I–XIII. Un martyrologie et douze ménologes syriaques édités et traduits (Patrologia Orientalis 10.1 [46]; Paris: Firmin-Didot, 1912).
Wright, W., “An Ancient Syriac Martyrology,” Journal of Sacred Literature and Biblical Record NS VIII, 15 (1865), 45-56; 16 (1866), 423-432.
Further reading:
Schäferdiek, K., “Bemerkungen zum Martyrologium Syriacum,” Analecta Bollandiana 123:1 (2005), 5-22.
Taylor, D.G.K., “Hagiographie et liturgie syriaque,” in: A. Binggeli (ed.), L’hagiographie syriaque (Études syriaques 9; Paris: Paul Geuthner, 2012), 77-112.