Welcome to Academia

Sign up to get access to over 50 million papers

By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Use

Continue with Email

Sign up or log in to continue.

Welcome to Academia

Sign up to continue.

Hi,

Log in to continue.

Reset password

Password reset

Check your email for your reset link.

Your link was sent to

Please hold while we log you in

Academia.eduAcademia.edu

Outline

Children and Violence in Syriac Sources: the Martyrdom of Mar Talya of Cyrrhus in the Light of Literary and Theological Implications

2010

Cite this paper

Parole de 1 'Orient 31 (2006) 309-326 CHILDREN AND VIOLENCE IN SYRIAC SOURCES: THE MARTYRDOM OF MAR TALYA' OF CYRRHUS IN THE LIGHT OF LITERARY AND THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS BY Cornelia B. horn Scope of Discussion This article investigates the characterization of the child-martyr in the Martyrdom of Mar Talya' of Cyrrhus. A careful study of the language and imagery of the text reveals that the author was motivated not exclusively, but still distinctly by theological concerns when choosing to present the story of the suffering and death of a child. In modern times, the child-martyr Mar Talya' is an almost unknown saint in the Syriac tradition. Among modern-day Syrian Christians, the story of a martyred child that most promptly comes to people's minds is that of the three-year-old Cyriacus and his mother Julitta1. Bedjan's Acta Sancto- rum et Martyrum Syriace likely has a share in keeping knowledge of their story alive in the communities2, a story which otherwise is also known from 1) Attested by personal communication with several of the parishioners at Mar Barsai- mo Syrian Orthodox Church in Scarborough, ON, Canada. i am very grateful for the warm welcome that the members of that church, young and old, under the leadership of Fr. Stepha- nos, extended to me at the occasion of a visit in early January, 2003. For a discussion of cases and principles of the presentation of the martyrdom of children in early Christianity see Cornelia Horn and John martens, «Let the Little Ones Come to Me»: Children in the Early Christian Community (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press,forthcoming), ch. 6. 2) See ^^■^« - ai_sirfnc\ oQcuLfnaa ,nm lineman rica±=r& ,ctciu^j-a ^u^jlAi (ed. Paulus Bedjan, Acta Martyrum et Sanctorum Syriace [O. Harrassowitz, Paris and Leipzig, 1890- 1897; reprinted G. Olms, Hildesheim, 1968], vol. 3, pp. 254-283); see also Bibliotheca Ha- giographica Orientalis (= BHO), Subsidia Hagiographica 10 (Apud Editores [i.e., Socii Bol- landiani], Bruxelles, 1910), p. 47, entry 194. Of the three Syriac manuscript witnesses to the text that are discussed in A. Dillmann, «Uber die apokryphen Martyrergeschichten des Cyra- cus mit Julitta und des Georgius», Sitzungsberichte der Berliner Akademie der Wissenschjf- ten, Phil.-hist. Classe (1887) 339-356, Bedjan published only the witness of the Berlin MS Sachau 222. For a description of that manuscript, see Eduard Sachau, Verzeichniss der Syrischen Handschriften (Asher & Co., Berlin, 1899), vol. 1, pp. 289-291, especially here 290. 310 CORNELIA B. HORN Armenian, Coptic, and Arabic sources , and which ultimately may have had its origins in a composition in Greek by the sixth-century Theodore of Ico- nium4. A preliminary study of the stories of both of these child-martyrs sug- gests that the Martyrdom of Mar Talyd1 of Cyrrhus was one of the literary sources used for the composition of the Martyrdom of Cyriacus and Julitta as told in Syriac. A full source-critical study of the Syriac Martyrdom of Cyriacus and Julitta cannot be provided here5. Rather, a careful investiga- tion of the Martyrdom of Mar Talyd' of Cyrrhus is one of the necessary steps on the way towards clarifying and perhaps resolving the question of what the interdependence of martyrdom accounts of children in the Syriac tradition upon one another may have been. This contribution first addresses the manuscript sources available for the Martyrdom of Mar Talyd' of Cyrrhus. Then it presents highlights of the text's literary structure while at the same time investigating some of the cha- racteristics of the portrayal of the child-martyr as presented in the account. This discussion also involves the study of theological implications that un- 3) For the Armenian text of the Martyrdom of Cyriacus and Julitta, see Uuifip bt ilLjutjuipuubriLfapLbp uppng ^suulpqbtppp puur[buj[p fr 6iu/2qbtppiug[Vark' ew vkayaba- nut^iwnk' srbots: hatentir k'aghealk" Icharentrats], [Vitae etpassiones sanctorum selectae ex Eclogariis], ed. by Ghewond M. Alishan, 2 vols. (Mechitarists, Venice, 1874), vol. 1, pp. 691- 697; see also BHO, pp. 46-47, entry 193. For the edition of what likely are fragments of a Coptic tradition of the Martyrdom of Cyriacus, see Elinor M. Husselman, «The Martyrdom of Cyriacus and Julitta in Coptic», in Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 4 (1965) 79-86 with plates xxxi-xxxii. GeorgGRAF, Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Li- teratur, vol. 1: Die Ubersetzungen, Studi et Testi 118 (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Citta del Vaticano, 1944), 500, has identified seven different recensions of the martyrdom account in Arabic, preserved in nine different manuscripts 4) See Hans-Georg Beck, Kirche und theologische Literatur im Byzantinischen Reich, Byzantinisches Handbuch 2.1 (C. H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Munich, 1959), 406. For identifications of the relevant texts as well as elements of the larger hagiographical text corpus on Cyriacus and Julitta, see Francois Halkin, Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca, Subsidia Hagiographica, n° 8a, 3 vols. (Societe des Bollandistes, Bruxelles, 3rd ed. 1957), vol. l,pp. 111-112, entries 313y-318e. 5) Of particular interest thus far has been the so-called «Prayer of Cyriacus», for which W. E. Crum, Review of «Coptic Texts in the University of Michigan Collection, edited by W. H. Worrell and collaborators, pp. xiii + 375. (University of Michigan Studies, Humanistic Se- ries, vol. xlvi.) Ann Arbor, 1942. $5», in Journal of Theological Studies 44 (1943) 122-128, here 122-123, sees parallels in the «Hymn of the Soul» (or perhaps better known as the «Hymn of the Pearl») contained in the Acts of Thomas. For a discussion of Jewish origins of the Martyrdom of Cyriacus and Julitta see Hugo GRESSMANN, «Das Gebet des Kyriakos», in Zeitschrift fur die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der dlteren Kirche 20 (1921) 23-35, especially 30-34. CHILDREN AND VIOLENCE IN SYRIAC SOURCES 311 derlie the author's choice in focusing his hagiographical work on the presen- tation of the life-witness of a child. Finally, the article will briefly and mere- ly in a preliminary fashion address certain parallels in structure and motifs between the Martyrdom of Mar Talyd' of Cyrrhus and the Martyrdom of Cyriacus and Julitta. The final word on this last question has to be reserved for future studies. The Martyrdom of Mar talya' of Cyrrhus: Textual Sources The Martyrdom of Mar Talya' of Cyrrhus is attested in three Syriac ma- nuscripts5. Syriac MS BM Add. 12,174, a collection of lives of saints and martyrdom accounts written in Estrangela and dated to 1508 A. Gr. / 1197 A.D.7, contains the complete text of the martyrdom on fols. 426r-430r. A si- gnificantly earlier, but largely corrupted witness to the text is preserved on three vellum leaves, constituting MS BM Add. 14,670. The leaves are num- bered fols. 23-25. Based on the shape of the Estrangela script, Wright dated this second manuscript to the sixth or seventh century8. The manuscript contains only a few fragments of the Martyrdom of Mar Talya1 of Cyrrhus. Yet the text is badly damaged, partially stained and mutilated, and thus ra- ther difficult to read. Jean Maurice Fiey, who did not seem to be aware of the manuscript 6) Jean Maurice FlEY, «Talia (di Cyr)», in Enciclopedia dei Santi. Le Chiese Orientali, Bibliotheca Sanctorum Orientalium (= BSO) vol. 2 (Citta Nuova, Roma, 1999), cols. 1140- 1141, here 1140, assumed that an Arabic version of the Martyrdom of Mar Talya' of Cyrrhus was preserved at Saint Mark's Monastery in Jerusalem in Karshuni MS38, a collection of 125 saints' lives translated from Syriac into Arabic by the monk Besara of Aleppo in the Monaste- ry of Deir az-Zacfaran between 1732 and 1733. See Anton Baumstark, Georg Graf, and Anton Rucker, «Die literarischen Handschriften des jakobitischen Markusklosters in Jerusa- lem», in Oriens Christians n.s. 2 (1912) 120-130 and 317-333; n.s. 3 (1913) 128-134 and 311-327; here n.s. 3 (1913), 312. According to Baumstark, Graf, and Rucker, «Die litera- rischen Handschriften», n.s. 3 (1913) 325, entry # 101, however, this story is to be identified as a Karshuni version of the Martyrdom of Cyriacus and his mother Julitta. For bibliographi- cal access to the manuscripts at St. Mark's Monastery, see also AlainDesreumaux and Fran- coise Briquel-Chatonnet, Repertoire des Bibliotheques et des Catalogues de Manuscrits Syriaques (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, 1991) 151-152. 7) MS BM Add. 12.174, fol. 452v. See also W. WRIGHT, Catalogue of the Syriac Ma- nuscripts in the British Museum, vol. 3 (London, 1872) 1123 and 1137. Two notes on that same page inform the reader of an attestation by Michael the Great, Patriarch of Antioch from 1478-1511 A. Gr. / 1167-1200 A.D., that the deacon Saliba of the monastery of Barsauma in Melitene paid for the writing of the manuscript, while Saliba's cousin, the monk Joseph, was the actual scribe. 8) Wright, Catalogue, 1153. 312 cornelia b. horn evidence to the story preserved at the British Museum9, indicated the exis- tence of a further witness to the Syriac text. A manuscript from the Monaste- ry of Deir az-ZaTaran, also dated to 1197 A.D., which is said to be preserved at the Syrian Patriarchate in Damascus, also appears to contain the complete text10. While MS BM 12,174 fol. 452v preserves information about the scribe of the manuscript, a certain monk by the name of Joseph11, evidence from within that manuscript's text of the Martyrdom of Mar Talya1 of Cyrrhus al- so contains some information about the original author of the martyrdom ac- count. The concluding remarks of the text mention a certain Hakkema, an eyewitness of the events, who afterwards collected Talya"s relics, and brought them to a city named Romania12, where he erected a martyrion for the dead child13. Fiey made a case for situating Romania in the region of the Tur cAbdin, even finding the ruins of a church, which he thought might fit the context, between Sawur and Qullet14. It would be desirable to pursue and explore his suggestion further15. According to the martyrdom account, an annual feastday in commemoration of the little martyred boy attracted the attention and participation of people from far and wide in ancient days16. While Hakkema seems to have been the original author of the mar- tyrdom account, the present form in which the text appears is redacted, in- cluding comments towards the end of the text on Hakkema's death as well as a description of benefits Talya"s devotees could expect to receive. Of these additional comments, a first should be ascribed to the redactor17, and a se- cond one to the scribe18. 9) Fiey, «Talia (di Cyr)», 1140. 10) Fiey, «Talia (di Cyr)», 1140. See Desreumaux and Briquel-Chatonnet, Reper- toire des Bibliotheques, 125-128, for bibliographic access to the collection of Syriac manus- cripts there. Thus far, I have not been able to verify or further specify Fiey's information. 11) See also above, n. 7, for Michael the Great's witness to Joseph's identity as cousin of the deacon Saliba. 12) MS BM 12.174, fol. 429v, col. B. 13) MS BM 12.174, fol. 429v, col. B. 14) Fiey, «Talia (di Cyr)», 1140-1141. 15) Andrew Palmer, Monk and mason on the Tigris frontier: The early history of Tur 'Abdin, University of Cambridge Oriental Publications 39 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England and New York, 1990), fig. 1, following p. xix, spells the names as Sawro and Qeleth, locating them about 30 to 35 km north-north east of Mardin. Palmer does not identify any site in that area as «Romania». 16) MS BM 12.174, fol. 429v, col. B. 17) MS BM 12.174, fol. 430r, cols. A-B. 18) MS BM 12.174, fol. 430r, col. B. children and violence in syriac sources 313 Characteristics of the Child-Martyr: Literary Representation and Theological Implications of the Theme in the Martyrdom of Mar Talya' ofCyrrhus That a young child is suffering martyrdom is communicated to the rea- der of the Martyrdom of Mar Talya' of Cyrrhus at least on two levels. The first is a literal, explicit way, in which themes expressive of ideas and expe- riences related to "childhood" are stated directly in the text. A second way by which the concern with the theme of the child as martyr is present in the text is in the form of allusions to motifs that are expressive of notions or motifs of childhood. Some of these motifs are drawn from biblical models, others become decipherable if one considers basic elements of child psycho- logy and child behavior, which, as one may argue, have remained fairly constant throughout the centuries19. Already from the text's headline, the reader of Syriac notices that the martyrdom to be recounted is that of a child. The name of the martyr is sta- ted as «Talya'», or «Child»20. This designation is not meant to be merely an epithet. Rather Talya' is explained as being the boy's baptismal name, which he received when he was Christened shortly after birth21. The name fulfills a double role in the story, on the one hand simply naming the boy, on the other hand programmatically identifying his deeds and sufferings as those of the blameless and blessed child, a figure who is representative of the fulfill- ment of God's promise of redemption to mankind22. The author's reference 19) For a list of seemingly constant patterns in children's experience that «transcend| ] the boundaries of time and culture», including the role of the experience of gender, the fact that children play, as well as their experience of some kind of abuse, see briefly N. RayHiNER and loseph M. Hawes, «Standing on Common Ground: Reflections on the History of Chil- dren and Childhood)), in Children in Historical and Comparative Perspective. An Internatio- nal Handbook and Research Guide, ed. by loseph M. Hawes and N. Ray Hiner (Greenwood Press, New York, Westport, Connecticut, and London, 1991), 1-9, here 6. 20) MS BM 12.174, fol. 426r, col. a. 21) MS BM 12.174, fol. 426v, col. a. As much as the comment regarding Talya"s bap- tism right after birth may indeed reflect a practice of baptizing children early on, in the con- text of the martyrdom account, and in the light of other parallels to the infancy narrative in Luke's gospel, instances of which will be discussed below, this baptismal reference here could also be understood as establishing a literary parallel to lesus's circumcision eight days after his birth, i.e., in immediate proximity to his birth. See Luke2:21. 22) Christianity did not invent the motif of the child as bringer of blessings or salvation. Famous, for example, is the child in Virgil's fourth eclogue. See Virgil, Eclogae 4.1-63 (ed. Robert Coleman, Vergil: Eclogues, Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics [Cambridge Uni- versity Press, Cambridge and New York, 1977], 52-54). For a helpful study of that passage in its classical context, see Eduard Norden, Die Geburt des Kindes. Geschichte einer religiosen Idee (Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1st edition Darmstadt, 1924, 3rd reprint of the 1st 314 cornelia b. horn to the incarnation of the Son of God through Mary, which is incorporated into a basic outline of Christ's life and death23, and which is placed before the account of the promise and birth of the martyr Talya' himself, early on already alerts the reader to the possibility of a parallel between Christ and the child-martyr. According to the hagiographer, Talya" s birth happened in response to fifty-two years of prayer on the part of his parents, a couple who until then had been childless24. A voice had announced before his birth that as a two- year-old one Talya' would put unjust kings to death and ((overturn their idols»25. For the reader who is familiar with Simeon's prophecy over the child Jesus as the one «destined for the falling ... of many in Israel» (Luke 2:34), the prediction made with regard to Talya'does not sound that much different from Simeon's statement. Opposition between the supporters of the cause of the seemingly weak and powerless ones and the people and forces at the center of secular and religious power in a world not saturated by the Christian faith was predicted in both cases. Talya"s martyrdom account heightened this contrast by situating the conflict more immediately during the earliest years of the life of the protagonist. Thus, a result that seemed predictable, in the end turned upside down. The child that should have been on the losers' side overturned seemingly unalterable reality through its victo- ry. As unpredictable as his birth was - a miracle in the case of Talya'as much as in the case of Jesus - so also was the effect of the child's activities not calculable by human reasoning. The prediction of Talya" s birth was announced by the voice of a lamb26. An early Christian audience would not only have noticed the sym- bolism of a young animal as a sign of helplessness and dependence on adults for food and shelter, but would readily have understood the image of the lamb as a symbol of Christ and his sacrificial suffering. Alongside Justin Martyr in his Dialogue with Trypho, for example, some may even have thought of the image of the paschal lamb27, or may have contrasted the edition, 1958). See also Coleman, Vergil: Eclogues, 150-154. 23) MS BM 12.174, fol. 426r, col. B. 24) MS BM 12.174, fol. 426v, col. A. 25) MS BM 12.174, fol. 426v, col. A. 26) MS BM 12.174, fol. 426v, col. A. 27) Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 40 (ed. Miroslav Marcovich, Iustini Mar- tyris. Dialogus cum Tryphone, Patristische Texte und Studien 47 [Walter de Gruyter, Berlin and New York, 1997], 136-137; tr. Thomas B. Falls, rev. and with a new introduction by Thomas P. Halton, ed. by Michael Slusser, St. Justin Martyr. Dialogue with Trypho, Se- children and violence in syriac sources 315 «voice of the lamb» with the voiceless «sheep that is silent before its shea- rers» (Isaiah 53:7), an image that from the time of the discussion between the apostle Philipp and the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:27-35 on would be readily applied to the suffering Christ in the Christian tradition28. The parallel to be drawn between Talya' and Christ is supported by a further observation. When the voice of the lamb greeted the parents with the words, «Behold, great joy is to you», an audience well-versed in Scripture may have felt reminded of the angel's words, «Behold, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people» (Luke 2:10), words announced to the shepherds who were keeping watch with their flock on the fields outside of Bethlehem29. Not only the wording of the greeting, but also the author's choice of a lamb, as opposed to any other kind of animal, reinforced the pa- rallel to the scriptural scene of the shepherds watching their flock at the time of Christ's birth. At their first, confrontational encounter, the two-year-old Talya" s ap- pearance before the governor was accompanied by the destruction of sixty of the two hundred idols in the governor's temple30. Revealing his ignorance of a connection between the demolition of the idols and Talya"s practice of mocking the gods, the governor addressed Talya' merely as «Infant», a term that shows that the governor thought Talya' was harmless and not to be taken seriously. He was only concerned with what he had heard about Talya"s mocking of the gods. The questions he asked also show that he assumed that lections from the Fathers of the Church 3 [The Catholic University of America Press, Wa- shington, D.C., 2003], 61-62). See also the edition and commentary in Philippe BOBICHON, Justin Martyr: Dialogue avec Tryphon. Edition critique, traduction, commentaire, Paradosis 47.1-2 [Departement de Patristique et d'Histoire de l'Eglise de l'Universite de Fribourg / Academic Press Fribourg, Fribourg, 2003), vol. 1, pp. 282-284 and vol. 2, 689-694. See also the discussion in Robin Margaret Jensen, Understanding Early Christian Art (Routledge, London and New York, 2000), 141-143, especially 142. 28) See, for example, Gregory of Nyssa, De tridui spatio. For discussion, see Stuart G. HALL, «The Interpretation of the Old Testament in the Opening Section of Gregory of Nyssa, De Tridui Spatio (De Tridui Spatio 273,5-277,9)», in The Easter Sermons of Gregory of Nyssa: Translation and Commentary, Proceedings of the Fourth International Colloquium on Gregory of Nyssa, Cambridge, England, 11-15 September, 1978, ed. by Andreas Spira and Christoph Klock, with an introduction by G. Christopher Stead, Patristic Monograph Series9 (Philadelphia Patristic Foundation, Cambridge, Mass., 1981), 139-152, here 145-147; Franz NlKOLASCH, Das Lamm als Christussymbol in den Schriften der Vater, Wiener Beitrage zur Theologie 3 (Verlag Herder, Wien, 1963), 25-40; and Hubertus Drobner, Gregor von Nyssa: Die drei Tage zwischen Tod und Auferstehung unseres Herrn Jesus Christus, eingeleitet, ubersetzt undkommentiert (Brill, Leiden, 1982), 62. 29) Luke 2:4, 2:6, and 2:8. 30) MS BM 12.174, fol. 426v, col. B. 316 cornelia b. horn the child had to have learned how to mock idols from someone else and had to have been encouraged by someone else to do so. Whether children could be held responsible and thus accountable for what they did was not clear to him31. His comments to Talya' grant the reader insight into some of the ideas about children that were held at the time of the composition of the text. The- se comments also allow one to see that in settings of persecutions of chil- dren, at least in the minds of some, questions arose with regard to whether or not a young person could be held responsible for the convictions he or she expressed or for the actions arising from such convictions. Implied here was the question of whether or not one was justified to persecute and thus to exert violence in the first place also upon children. The governor assumed that Talya' had learned from his parents to scoff at the gods and confess Christ. This comment indicates that religious forma- tion and education was seen as part of the responsibility of the parents and as one of the customary realms of the parents'exercise of influence over their children. In the ancient world, parents were not the only, but significant transmitters of religion from one generation to the next32. Potential changes of religion therefore affected and had to be dealt with within the context of family actions and decisions. This view of parental influence and responsi- bility, embodied in the governor's comments, elicited daring, even insulting comments from Talya" s side. Although Talya'did not reject his family of birth, he saw himself primarily as a member of another family, namely God's. The author of the Martyrdom of Mar Talycf of Cyrrhus portrayed his young hero as responding to the governor with great assurance. Talya' is made to sound more like a self-conscious adult than a young, perhaps still somewhat unpolished believer. When asked for his name, he identified him- self as a «servant of our Lord Jesus Christ» and explained that his name, 31) Ancient discussions of human development do not readily appear to have included considerations of this question. See, for example, Philo of Alexandria, On the Creation of the Cosmos 103-105 (tr. David T. runia, Philo of Alexandria. On the Creation of the Cosmos according to Moses. Introduction, Translation and Commentary. Philo of Alexandria Com- mentary Series 1 [Brill, Leiden, Boston, and Koln, 2001], 74-75), who discusses a division of ten developmental stages a ten years. See also the discussion in Horn and Martens, "Let the Little Ones Come to Me, " ch. 1. 32) For a recent study of the role of the family in the transmission of religious identity in Greek and Roman antiquity see also Jan N. Bremmer, «The family and other centers of religious learning in antiquity», in Centres of Learning: Learning and Location in Pre- Modern Europe and the Near East, ed. by Jan Willem Drijvers and Alasdair A. MacDonald, Brill's Studies in Intellectual History 61 (E. J. Brill, Leiden and New York, 1995), 29-38. children and violence in syriac sources 317 Talya', was supplied to him by the Holy Spirit . The arrangement of these statements certainly demonstrates self-esteem on the part of the speaker. Yet its significance goes beyond that. Rather, the author of the martyrdom shows Talya' as revealing his awareness of his exclusive reliance on the two basic sources of strength and support a Christian has, Christ and the Holy Spirit. Moreover, the reference to the explicit selection of Talya"s name by the Holy Spirit at baptism underscores Talya" s pronounced understanding of himself as God's child. He felt claimed by God, because God, as opposed to his physical parents, had named and thus claimed him. The source of strength this child-martyr ultimately had in his struggles and sufferings was in part this awareness of his being a «child of God». Assumptions about little children permeate the text, both explicitly and implicitly, and help to illustrate how being a child was not and did not at all have to be a defining moment of whether or not one was able to act with po- wer and strength. While continuing in his attempt to convince Talya' to desist from his resistance, the governor reminded the boy of his young age and that therefore he did not know what he was saying. For a while, Talya' tricked the governor by pretending to agree to the governor's evaluation and suggestions with regard to how to change the situation. Whereas the text does not spell it out, the reader nevertheless notices that the governor's inability to perceive the deception in Talya" s behavior was a sign that not Talya1 but the governor was the ignorant one. The governor, still not knowing what was going on, first alerted the public to Talya" s presumed change of mind and then publicly «walked [with Talya'] to the house in which the gods were»34. By way of the description of audible signs, the reader then receives confirmation of what he or she has suspected already all along the way, namely that despite their outer appearance, Talya' and the governor had switched roles. Perhaps one might also say that the visible, outer characteristics of their appearance were insuffi- cient to explain and define their real level of understanding and control of the situation. Once inside the temple of the gods, Talya' spoke with a loud voice, asking for strength from God in order not to be a weak child but a strong per- son. Indeed, the idols fell down and were destroyed through the child's pre- sence. What the idols could not do on their own, namely fall to the ground35, Talya' through God's strength made them do. For once, this showed that even the idols were dependent upon the child Talya'. 33) MS BM 12.174, fol. 426v, col. B. 34) MS BM 12.174, fol. 427r, col. B. 35) See also MS BM 12.174, fol. 427r, col. A. 318 cornelia b. horn There are other aspects of the overturning of perceived realities that are embedded in the scene. Some of these might also be qualified as elements of action comedy. When the governor36 saw what had happened to his gods, he loudly cried out, «A11 my gods were cast down»37 thus acting not much dif- ferent from a little child whose toys had just been destroyed. The judgment on that behavior followed immediately in the form of Talya' responding, «Did I not say to you that your gods have no use?» Thus he showed not only to the governor but also to everyone else, who really was the ignorant one and who was not. This episode is one of the means by which the author calls into question the applicability of customary definitions of what a child is and what a child might be good for. Quite skillfully, the author here advanced the case for the compatibility of the categories of «martyr» and «child», gi- ven that a child was not necessarily to be defined as an ignorant, weak hu- man being. Among the biblical images that support and strengthen the identity of the martyr as a child is that of the Three Youths in the fiery furnace, known from the Book of Daniel38. Already when reference is made in the Mar- tyrdom of Mar Talya1 of Cyrrhus to the heating of the oven for tortures39, a Christian or Jewish audience would have recalled the scene in Daniel 3:19. When the governor reminded individual inhabitants of his kingdom that they and their children and wives depended on the governor and the sacrifices to the gods for food, and thus ought to participate in the state-sponsored cult of the gods, inspired by Talya" s daring response other formerly compliant citi- zens also declared the gods to be useless40. They elaborated that Talya"s God was the really mighty one, given that he had delivered his protegee from the furnace, as he had delivered Daniel, and that he had raised him from death, as he had done so for Jesus. Although neither Daniel nor Jesus are named explicitly, it is clear that their experience is the foil against which one is supposed to read the references. Later on, when Talya' was praying to God in the midst of his sufferings, he directly referred to the Three Youths in 36) The text here speaks of a «judge», yet it seems that «judge» and «governcr» desi- gnate one and the same person in this text. 37) MS BM 12.174, fol. 427r, col. B. 38) See Daniel 3:19-30. Among patristic authors, John Chrysostom seems to be the one who emphasized most the possibility of seeing the three youths as children. For a recent study of Daniel 3 in Chrysostom, see L. Brother, «'Et la fournaise devint source', L'episode des trois jeunes gens dans la fournaise (Dan. 3) lu par Jean Chrysostome», in Revue d'histoire et dephilosophie religieuse 71 (1991) 309-327. 39) MS BM 12.174, fol. 427r, col. A. 40) MS BM 12.174, fol. 428v, col. A. children and violence in syriac sources 319 the fiery furnace . As in Daniel, also in Talya"s case a heavenly being came for his rescue. In the Martyrdom of Mar Talyd' of Cyrrhus, however, the surprise rescue took place in a rather comical scene, in which an angel came down with a water pitcher from which he sprinkled water onto the heated gridirons. This repeated insertion of potentially funny scenes into the text gives rise to the question of what kind of entertainment quality and purpose the text was intended to serve. It is not unlikely that the author also had en- visioned and anticipated children among his audience. Despite the author's interest in elevating the child-martyr above and beyond the restraints of the accustomed and expectable behavior of «normal» children, the text also contributes some data towards answering the question of how children, who were suffering persecution, may themsel- ves have dealt with the stress and pain of their experience. The author incor- porated a few hints into his text that allow the reader to sense the likely struggle with emotions that even the most courageous child-martyr would have experienced. When Talya' had learned that his parents were killed, ac- cording to the author of the text he gave praise to God. In the words he is gi- ven in the text, Talya' referred to God's power, strength, and might in his prayers. These words suggest a conscious or unconscious attempt on his part to receive strength and support from God. While his parents had been mur- dered and thus were no longer available as a source of support, God remai- ned, now more than before also functioning as a substitute parent for him. The author does not describe any tears or acts of mourning on Talya" s part. Rather, he characterizes Talya' as someone who was aware that the governor had been trying to break his resistance by attacking his parents. Thus, on the rational level, through the control of his emotions in prayer, Talya' is presen- ted as having attempted to counter the governor's efforts, while being fully aware that the governor wanted to create fear in him. For one brief moment, however, the control Talya' had shown broke down when the boy was mira- culously freed from prison at night. He went to the gate of the governor's palace and cried out in a loud voice, holding the governor responsible for the stoning of his parents. By depicting such a scene of a child crying out in front of the governor's palace, the author found a way to suggest that even such a courageous, ultimately victorious little child, at this instance was overcome by his grief over the loss of his parents. Here, the depiction of the influence of family relationships is used to highlight Talya" s unadulterated humanity. When facing his perfection as martyr, though, Talya' acknow- 41) MS BM 12.174, fol. 428v, col. A. 320 cornelia b. horn ledged that only those who «forsake houses and parents and brethren and everything [else] because of Christ and because of [Christ's] good tidings», are worthy of Christ42. Throughout the text avails itself of athletic imagery, which is used to express the customary and desired result that the martyr will gain his crown after having suffered long enough and successfully. At a few instances, ho- wever, the assumptions underlying the depictions of Talya' as an athlete also help to emphasize his youthful character, especially in the scene in which he literally jumped into the furnace43. Instead of critiquing him as one who sought out martyrdom44, the text leaves the reader with the impression that this ability to act quickly and with the energy of a young person is to be seen as something desirable, as a sign of the confidence of faith, not as a risk and liability. Spread throughout the text, the theme of «inheritance» emerges several times. In the course of the exchanges between the governor and Talya', the governor repeatedly tried to lure Talya' over to his side by promising him the inheritance of his kingdom, sometimes combined with promises of power45. From the perspective of a young child, a promised future as the heir to the kingdom might sound like a dream come true. It certainly was intended as a strong incentive towards worshipping the king's idols. Yet comments incor- porated into the framework of the story both at the beginning and at the end of the text suggest that the interpretation of this theme of «inheritance» was not supposed to remain merely at the level of inheritance in this life. In the paradisiacal setting of the beginning of the martyrdom account, God had promised Adam that through the redemption worked by the Son of God, Adam would be enabled to «return to [his] inheritance))46. Towards the end of the story, a choir of heavenly powers welcomed Talya' as the «heir of 42) MS BM 12.174, fol. 429v, col. A. See also Matthew 10:37, 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23, and Luke 14:26. 43) MS BM 12.174, fol. 427r, col. A. 44) Likely the earliest expression of this critique of voluntary martyrdom is recorded in the Martyrdom ofPolycarp 4 (ed. P. Th. camelot, Ignace d'Antioche, Polycarpe de Smyrne, Lettres; Martyre de Polycarpe, SCh 10 [Editions du Cerf, Paris, 3rd, rev. ed. 1958], 248; tr. Cyril C. Richardson, Early Christian Fathers [Touchstone and Simon & Schuster, New York, 1996], 150). 45) MS BM 12.174, fol. 426v, col. B; fol. 427r, col. A (connection between inheritance and power is spelled out); and fol. 427r, col. B. 46) MS BM 12.174 fol. 426r, col. B. children and violence in syriac sources 321 paradise» . Another voice was heard, inviting him to «come to [his] inheri- tance of the kingdom»48. In the light of these comments it becomes clear that what was at stake for the child, when the king held out to him the prospect of the inheritance of his kingdom, was a choice between a future in worldly pleasures versus a future as the heir of the kingdom of God in heaven. By reaching the inheritance of paradise at the end, Talya' experienced the ful- fillment of the promise made to Adam. Thus the child-martyr, in a sense, is the second Adam. By dying in resemblance to Christ through his martyrdom, Talya' also became like Christ, a goal and achievement he certainly shared with all other martyrs in the early Christian world, who also strove to imitate Christ through their death in witness for him49. Thus, in this martyrdom ac- count the child-martyr Talya' functions as a representative both of Adam and of Christ, the Son of God. In the second half of the martyrdom account, the parallel between Talya' and Christ emerges with increasing clarity. The governor had had Talya' sawn into three pieces and had his dead body thrown out of the city. Yet when two fishermen found the boy, in a scene reminiscent of the not-so- uncommon finding of abandoned, neglected, and at times mistreated chil- dren in the ancient world50, Talya' was perfectly restored to life. Like Christ, he was killed and raised to new life. In contrast to Talya', who not only was a young child, but who had regained complete possession of the fullness of life, when the governor heard of Talya"s resurrection, he became blind, a circumstance which either ought to be read as a sign of his continued resis- tance to seeing the truth, or possibly to be interpreted as a manifestation of 47) MS BM 12.174 fol. 429v, col. A. 48) MS BM 12.174 fol. 429v, col. B. 49) Two striking examples of literary representations of early Christian martyrs as imi- tators of Christ's death are Polycarp and Blandina. The author of IhsMartyrdom ofPolycarp, for example, has Polycarp pray that he make take «part ... in the cup of thy Christ» {Martyrdom of Polycarp 14.2 [ed. camelot, Ignace d'Antioche, Polycarpe de Smyrne, Let- tres; Martyre de Polycarpe, 262,1. 7; tr. richardson, Early Christian Fathers, 154), an al- lusion to the scene described in Matthew 26:39 and 26:42, Mark 14:36, and Luke 22:42. Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History V.41 (ed. Eduard Schwartz, Theodor Mommsen, and Friedhelm Winkelmann, Eusebius Werke. Band 2.1. Die Kirchengeschichte, GCS n.s. 6.1 [Akademie Verlag, Berlin, 1999], 418) describes Blandina's death as a reenactment of Christ's crucifixion. 50) John boswell, The Kindness of Strangers: the Abandonment of Children in Western Europe from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance (Pantheon Books, New York, cl988) is likely the best known study on the subject. Yet see more recently also Timothy S.Miller, The Or- phans of Byzantium: Child Welfare in the Christian Empire (The Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D.C., c2003), whose book significantly contributes and furthers the study of the subject matter through his consideration of evidence from the Christian East. 322 cornelia b. horn his decline in physical health and a process of aging. Doctors were brought in from Tarsus and Antioch, but their use of medicines taken from dead bo- dies, remained ineffective. Thus the governor realized that he depended on the child, Talya', i.e., on «born again» or spiritually created and given life, for healing. As Talya" s prayers indeed worked healing for him, the governor to his surprise lost his ability to speak, and thus, in a quite literal sense of the word, became an infans. Once more, the author seems to call into question whether preconceived categories of who was the child and who was the res- ponsible adult were still applicable in such a setting. The parallel between Talya' and Christ is highlighted even further, when the two fishermen sang God's praises because he had manifested his salvation in the young boy. Talya' was cited to appear before the governor at the ninth hour, the hour of Christ's death51, for his final punishment. In con- trast to the governor, as whose father Satan is mentioned in the text52, Talya' is presented as the one who, like Christ at the moment of his death, trusted in God's love in the very midst of the tortures. Talya' explicitly referred to two types of suffering: the endurance of the piercing of his side and the fact that his body was being stretched out on the wood53. These same kinds of tortu- res Talya' wished to share with Christ54. Talya' found his end, having stakes fastened to his body, six on either side, and thus having his body torn apart55. Although he was not technically nailed to a cross, his sides were poked through and his body burst being stretched apart by the stakes. Similar to Christ, who «breathed his last»56, at his death Talya' ((surrendered his spirit»57. Like a good martyr, «he received the crown of victory))58. As a child, he not only became the ((heir of paradise))59, but also was acknow- 51) See Matthew 27:46-50; Mark 15:34-37; and Luke 23:44-46. 52) MS BM 12.174, fol. 426v, col. B; and fol. 429r, col. A. See also John 8:44. 53) MS BM 12.174, fol. 429r, col. A. 54) MS BM 12.174, fol. 429r, col. A. 55) MS BM 12.174, fol. 429v, col. A. 56) See Mark 15:37 and Luke 23:46. 57) MS BM 12.174, fol. 429v, col. A. 58) MS BM 12.174, fol. 430r, col. A. The motif of being crowned is frequent in mar- tyrdom literature. For references and discussion, see also Cornelia Horn,'Weaving the Pil- grim's Crown: Rufus's Views of Peter's Journeys in Late Antique Palestine,' in Symposium Syriacum VIII: The University of Sydney, Department of Semitic Studies, 26 June-1 July, 2000, ed. by Rifaat Ebied and Herman Teule, with the collaboration of Peter Hill and Jo- seph Verheyden, The Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 56.1-4 (2004), 171-190. See fur- ther bibliography indicated therein. 59) MS BM 12.174, fol. 429v, col. A. children and violence in syriac sources 323 ledged as «a fragrant blossom» and without concerns and troubles now «dances in the kingdom of heaven»61. The redactor who added a few of his own comments to Hakkema's ac- count rephrased Mark 10:15 (see also Luke 18:17), «unless you become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven»62. He expressed his hope that Talya"s devotees could «inherit the portion that is with the holy ones and with the holy one my Lord the Child (i.e., Talya')»63. A Few Comments on Obvious Parallels between the Martyrdom of Mar Talya' of Cyrrhus and the Martyrdom of Cyriacus and Julitta The cult of Mar Cyriacus appears to have been significantly more wide- spread among speakers of Syriac than that of Mar Talya'of Cyrrhus. Nu- merous churches are dedicated to the memory of Mar Cyriacus, whereas the celebration of Mar Talya" s commemoration appears to have been restricted to the martyrion erected by Hakkema in Romania. Both cults though re- member a child-martyr, who died during his third year of life. Both children are said to have died by suffering extreme tortures. In both martyrdom ac- counts, the tortures the children suffered included the acts of cutting into pieces the child's body and burning the child in a furnace. Both children died from their tortures and were resurrected, only to die again in the end to complete their martyrdom. And last not least, in both accounts the gover- nor's name was Alexander64. Compared to the Martyrdom of Mar Talya' of Cyrrhus, the account of the martyrdom of Cyriacus and Julitta in Syriac, as accessible in Bedjan's edition, leaves the reader with the strong impression that the text is a patch- work of an only partially coherent, and in the end insufficiently redacted text. That in itself invites the assumption that the more coherent text, i.e., the Martyrdom of Mar Talya1 of Cyrrhus, very well could have been one of the sources for it. The cult of Cyriacus in the Greek tradition is traceable back at least to the sixth century65. Bedjan based his edition of the Syriac text of the 60) MS BM 12.174, fol. 429v, col. A. 61) MS BM 12.174, fol. 429v, col. B. 62) At MS BM 12,174,.fol. 429v, col. B, the text speaks of a voice that invites Talya' to «come to the inheritance of the kingdom with your parents». 63) MS BM 12.174, fol. 430r, col. A. 64) AMS iii, p. 254 (Martyrdom of Cyriacus and Julitta); MS BM 12.174, fol. 426v, col. A (Martyrdom of Mar Talya" of Cyrrhus). 65) beck, Kirche und theologische Literatur, 406. 324 cornelia b. horn Martyrdom of Cyriacus and Julitta on Berlin MS 75 (Sachau 222), folios 234v-247r, copied in A. D. 188 1 66. The existence of several earlier Karshuni versions of this martyrdom, however, suffices here as proof for the likeli- hood that a Syriac text of the Martyrdom of Cyriacus and Julitta existed earlier than 188 1 67. The earliest known manuscript of the Martyrdom of Mar Talya' of Cyrrhus, as seen above, dates back to the sixth or seventh century. Thus, the likelihood of influence of one Syriac account upon the other, mere- ly based on the manuscript evidence or upon the evidence to be derived from the practice of the martyrs' cult remains inconclusive. Greater clarity might be gained from a detailed comparison of the texts with one another. While this discussion cannot deliver in extenso on such a desideratum, it can point to a few examples, which suggest the proposed re- lationship. The Martyrdom of Mar Talya1 of Cyrrhus early on speaks of God as «sen[ding] his word to blessed Mary» in order to fulfill «his true promise» made to Adam, namely that he would «send[ his] beloved son» for Adam's redemption68. As the text continues and speaks of Talya', it clearly portrays the child's birth as the fulfillment of an announcement made through the words of the lamb to Talya"s parents. Thus on the level of the literary structure of the text the promise motivates the account of the birth of a child, actually of two children, and fits in quite well with the whole of the story. The Martyrdom of Cyriacus and Julitta, on the other hand, does not include information about the child before age two. No promise or annunciation of his birth is recounted in the earlier part of the text. Nevertheless, close to the end of the text, the little Cyriacus is described as «holy youth, born from a promise»69. The reader is left to assume that knowledge about this promise has to be supplied from elsewhere. 66) See also Sachau, Verzeichniss der SyrischenHandschriften, vol. 1,289-191, sect. 18 (p. 290) and p. 291 (date of MS). 67) See Berlin MS 110 (Sachau 7), completed in A.D. 1699 (see Sachau, Verzeichniss der Syrischen Handschriften, vol. 1, 376-388, reference to martyrdom account on p. 380, date on p. 387); Berlin MS 112 (Sachau 109), completed in A.D. 1730 (see Sachau, Verzeichniss der Syrischen Handschriften, vol. 1, 393-401, reference to martyrdom account on p. 397, date on p.'400); and Berlin MS 326 (Ms. Orient, fol. 1408), completed in A.D. A.D. 1715 (see sachau, Verzeichniss der Syrischen Handschriften, vol. 2, 897-898, reference to martyrdom account on p. 897, date on p. 898). 68) MS BM 12.174, fol. 426r, col. B. 69) Martyrdom of Cyriacus and Julitta (ed. bedjan, Acta martyrum et sanctorum Sy- riace, vol. 3, p. 282). CHILDREN AND VIOLENCE IN SYR1AC SOURCES 325 While the symbolism attached to the number three, clearly a reference to the Trinity, plays a noticeable role in both stories, the Martyrdom of Mar Talya' of Cyrrhus makes the coherent statement that Talya" s body was «cut asunder and torn into three pieces»70. As cruel and destructive as such an act may be, the narrative account of it makes very good sense. In the account of the martyrdom of Cyriacus and Julitta, on the other hand, at one instance the governor commands that torture devices be brought in. The preceding con- text does not contain any specific references to any parts of Cyriacus's body. Nevertheless, the text states that the torturers brought the devices «close to [the martyrs'] bodies to crush the three parts»71. Although one might venture to suggest that perhaps at this point in the story the author revealed his an- thropological view of the human person being composed of body, mind, and soul, without this or similar constructions the text does not make much sense in the way it stands on the page. To consider whether perhaps a detail from a story as recounted in the Martyrdom of Mar Talya1 of Cyrrhus might have been on the author's or on the redactor's mind, which may have slipped into the text without being properly merged into the whole of the narrative is not the only, but at least a possible explanation. The two examples provided here could be amplified. While one probably will not be able to prove the imme- diate dependence of Cyriacus's martyrdom account in Syriac garb on that of the account of the death of Mar Talya' of Cyrrhus, the evidence still seems to point to a relatively great likelihood for the case. Conclusions The comparative study of the Martyrdom of Mar Talya' of Cyrrhus in tandem with the Martyrdom of Cyriacus and Julitta would benefit next from a detailed analysis of the portrayal of the child-martyr in the latter of the two texts. In some instances, the evidence suggests that the author or redactor portrayed the governor as more keenly aware of the problem he faced, if he was to be overcome by the resistance of a mere child. The analysis of the contrast between the two texts with regard to their approach to the topic of children's martyrdom seems necessary in order to evaluate further what le- vel of dependence or interrelation might exist between the two texts. If one were to expand the inquiry into the possibility of a literary con- nection between both works further, perhaps one should also consider 70) ms BM 12.174, fol. 427v, col. B. 71) Martyrdom of Cyriacus and Julitta (ed. BEDJAN, Acta martyrum et sanctorum Sy- riace, vol. 3, p. 267). 326 cornelia b. horn whether authors writing in the Syriac language may at times have availed themselves of a relatively fixed and perhaps even characteristic set of themes when they treated the topic of children's martyrdom. That there are mar- tyrdom accounts of children, like that of Abd Al-Masih72, that do not follow a model that might be discernible in the two texts discussed here does not invalidate the argument. Perhaps it would be going too far to postulate the existence of a sub-genre within Syriac martyrdom accounts of children on the basis of two texts that functioned as that sub-genre's only representa- tives73, given that the possibility exists that one text may simply have been composed under the influence of the other. Yet it seems to be a hypothesis worth considering further. The here established parallels between the Mar- tyrdom of Mar Talyd' of Cyrrhus and the martyrdom account of Mar Cyria- cus, as well as the texts and their topic as such, certainly deserve the atten- tion of scholars of Syriac literature. Saint Louis University Cornelia horn Department of Theological Studies Humanities Bldg. # 124 3800 Lindell Boulevard Saint Louis, MO 63108-3414 - U.S.A. E-mail: cbhorn68@hotmail.com horncb@slu.edu 72) See Josephus Coruly, «Acta Sancti Abdu'l Masich: Aramaice et Latine», in Analecta Bollandiana 5 (1886) 5-52. 73) The case Sidney H. Griffith, «The Monk in the Emir's Majlis: Reflections on a Popular Genre of Christian Literary Apologetics in Arabic in the Early Islamic Period», in The Majlis: Interreligious Encounters in Medieval Islam, ed. by Hava Lazarus-Yafeh, Mark R. COHEN, Sasson SOMEKH, and Sidney H. griffith, in Studies in Arabic Language and Li- terature 4 (Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 1999) 13-65, made could be taken as a well developed model for the kind of hypothesis that would have to be proven here.

Welcome to Academia

Sign up to get access to over 50 million papers

By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Use

Continue with Email

Sign up or log in to continue.

Welcome to Academia

Sign up to continue.

Hi,

Log in to continue.

Reset password

Password reset

Check your email for your reset link.

Your link was sent to

Please hold while we log you in