E01937: Greek inscription invoking the help of *Mary (Mother of Christ, S00033), possibly for a miaphysite presbyter. Found at Ḥimṣ/Emesa (northwest Phoenicia). Dated 568/569.

online resource

posted on 2016-10-18, 00:00 authored by pnowakowski

+ ἁγία
Μαρία
βωήθ[ι]
Λεωντί[ῳ]
κὲ Σεργί[ῳ] πρε(σβυτέροις).
ἐπὶ τοῦ
εὐλαβ(εστάτου)
Χριστο-
φόρου
πρε(σβυτέρου), τοῦ
πωʹ ἔτο(υς).

4. πρε(σβυτέρῳ) Mouterde

'+ O Holy Mary, help Leontios and Sergios, the presbyters! Under the most pious presbyter Christophoros, in the year 880.'

Text: IGLS 5, no. 2236.

History

Evidence ID

E01937

Saint Name

Mary, Mother of Christ : S00033

Saint Name in Source

Μαρία

Related Saint Records

https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/Mary_Mother_of_Christ/13729186

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.) Inscriptions - Funerary inscriptions

Language

Greek

Evidence not before

568

Evidence not after

569

Activity not before

568

Activity not after

569

Place of Evidence - Region

Syria with Phoenicia

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Ḥimṣ/Emesa

Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)

Ḥimṣ/Emesa Thabbora Thabbora

Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs

Prayer/supplication/invocation

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy

Source

Basalt stele, weathered on its right-hand side. There is no published description. Reportedly found in a vaulted underground chamber.

Discussion

Mouterde notes that the inscription might be authored by a miaphysite, as Mary is here addressed ἁγία Μαρία/'the Holy Mary' and not Θεοτόκος/'the God-Bearer'. Cf. E01949 where a church of 'the Holy Mary' is founded in nearby Khirbet et-Tīn under a bishop of Emesa; also E01953.

Bibliography

Edition: Jalabert, L., Mouterde, R., Mondésert, C., Les inscriptions grecques et latines de la Syrie, vol. 5: Émésène (BAH 66, Paris: P. Guethner, 1959), no. 2236. Lammens, H., , Le musée belge: revue de philologie classique 5 (1901), 264, no. 1 (after a copy and a squeeze). Further reading: "Émésène", DACL, col. 2723.