2019-01-06T11:55:00-08:00
The story of the People of the Cave from Christian sources
It is the official version from the Center for Syriac Studies of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East.
We will cut the text as it is found on their official website
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Introduction:
It is no heresy if we say that Syriac Christian literature is full of exciting stories, whether set in Syriac or transferred to it, so that readers may derive great spiritual benefits from reading them. It was passed down by tongues, passed down through generations, and a large part of it was written down during the era of its heroes, or a short or long period after them. It deals with the biographies of some of the early fathers, distinguished men of the Church, martyrs, confessors[1], saints, virtuous hermits, and virtuous women.
There is no denying the addition or decrease that occurred in some of these stories, which came about through some writers and scribes who gave free rein to their imagination, so it swam in the atmosphere of imagination, and added to the events news that is closer to myths than to historical reality. Despite all of this, the historian who is interested in examining it can Searching for the truth is to encounter it in the abstract and accept it alone and reject everything else.
One of the wonderful Syriac stories is the story of the People of the Cave, which we will discuss and study here in detail because of its historical importance.
The story in the Syriac text
When Decius the Impious (249-251 AD) reigned over the Roman Kingdom, and visited the city of Ephesus, he issued an order to its nobles to slaughter sacrifices to idols, and ordered the killing of Al-Nasarah who did not submit to his command. A large number of them were killed and their bodies were thrown to crows, eagles, eagles, and other raptors. He tried, with promises and threats, to convince seven [2] young men of the nobles, and brought them to him, to deny their Christian religion, which they held firmly to, and to offer sacrifices to idols, but they refused. So he removed the silk badges from their shoulders, took them out from before him, and gave them a few days in the hope that they would change their minds and submit to his command.
King Decius set off to visit other cities neighboring Ephesus, intending to return to them again for the purpose mentioned above.
The opportunity was ripe and favorable for the seven young men to associate their faith with works of mercy, so they took gold and a lot of money from their fathers’ houses, and gave it in charity to the poor, secretly and publicly. They took refuge in a large cave, on Mount Ocholon, continuing to pray.
Yamlikha, one of them, was wearing the clothes of a hidden beggar. He would enter the city to buy food for them, expect news, find out what was going on in the king’s palace, and return to his companions and tell them about what was in the city and the events that were taking place. One day, King Decius returned to Ephesus and searched for the seven boys, but he did not find them. Yamlikha was in the city at that time, and he left it in panic, escaping from death himself, unable to do anything, and with a little food, and he went up to the cave where his companions were, and told them about the king’s entry into the city, and his search for them, so they were overcome with fear, and they knelt on the ground, covering their faces in the dust, praying to Allah. With sadness and depression, then they ate the food that Imlikha brought them. While they were chatting, drowsiness took over them, and a blissful slumber overcame them. They lay quietly in the sleep of death, without realizing their death.
Since the king did not find them in the city, he brought their relatives, and they told him that the boys had fled to a cave in Mount Ankilos. So the king ordered the door of the cave to be blocked with stones so that they would die, and the cave would become a grave for them, not knowing that Allah had separated their souls from their bodies for a divine purpose that was announced years later. Miraculously amazing.
(Anthodorus) and (Arbus), the king’s servants, were Al-Nasarah, and they hid their faith for fear of him. They consulted together and wrote a picture of the faith of these confessors on lead sheets, which were placed inside a copper box, sealed, and placed in the structure at the entrance to the cave.
Decius perished, and many kings succeeded him on the Roman throne, until the faithful king Theodosius the Younger (450+) sat in power, and many heresies appeared during his reign, to the point that some of them denied the resurrection of the dead. The king’s thoughts were confused, and grief overtook him. He dressed himself in sackcloth, spread ashes, and asked From the Allah to illuminate the path of faith before him.
Allah inspired (Adulis), the owner of the pasture in which the cave was located, where the confessors lay, to build there a barn for the livestock. So the workers removed the stones from the door of the cave, and when it was opened, Allah commanded that the young men who had fallen asleep be resurrected alive, so their souls returned to their bodies, and they awoke, and peace be upon him. They looked at each other as they did every morning, and no sign of death appeared on them. Neither their appearance nor the clothes they had been wearing had changed since they fell asleep. They looked as if they had slept in the evening and woke up in the morning.
Yamlikha got up as usual every morning, took some money and left the cave, heading towards the city to buy food. When he approached its door, he was astonished to see the sign of the cross carved at the top, so he turned to another of its doors and saw the same scene. He entered the city and did not recognize it, as he saw new buildings in it that denied him, and he heard people swearing in the name of Jesus Christ. He asked one of the passers-by about the name of the city, and he answered him. Its name is Ephesus, so Imlikha became more confused and said to himself: For my life, I do not know what happened to me. Have I lost my mind and lost my senses? I better hurry out of this city before madness overtakes me and destroys me.
As Yamlikha was rushing to leave the city, he approached one of the bakers, dressed as a beggar, to buy bread. He took out a dirham from his pocket and gave it to him. He looked at it and saw that it was large in size, and its stamp differed from the stamp of the dirhams circulating in their time. He was very surprised and handed it to his colleagues. They looked at Yamlikha and said: He has found a treasure hidden for a long time. They arrested him and started asking him: Where are you from? I found a treasure from the treasures of the first kings, and the people rallied around him, and some of them accused him of madness, and finally they came to the bishop of the city, and he was visiting at that time the governor of Ephesus. Allah’s providence wanted to bring them together at that hour so that the treasure of the resurrection of the dead would be revealed to all the peoples, so Yamlikha confessed before them that it was A man from the people of Ephesus, and that he had not found any treasure, and that the dirhams he had were of the same currency as that city, and he had bought bread with the same, just one day before, and the governor said to him: The picture of the dirhams indicates that they were minted years before the reign of King Decius. Did you exist, many generations ago, while you were still young? When Yamlikha heard that, he prostrated before them and said: Answer me, gentlemen, a question, and I will reveal to you what is hidden in my heart. Tell me about King Decius, who was in this city yesterday evening. Where is he now? The bishop answered him, saying: King Decius died generations ago, and Yamlikha said: My news is too difficult for anyone to believe. Come with me to the cave in Mount Ankelos, so I can show you my companions, and we will know from them all the certain thing. As for me, I know one thing, which is that we escaped. A few days ago from King Decius, and yesterday evening I saw Decius entering the city of Ephesus, and I do not know now whether this city is or not.
The bishop’s mind was preoccupied when he heard Yamlikha’s words, and after deep thought he said: It is a vision that Allah is showing us today through this young man, so let us go with him to see the reality of the matter. He said this and got up, and the governor and a crowd of people got up with him, and when they reached the cave, they found on the right side of its door a copper box with two silver seals on it. The bishop took it, and stood in front of the entrance to the cave. He called the men of the city, led by the governor, and raised the seals in front of them, and opened the box. He found two lead tablets and read what was written on them: “The confessors Maximilian, the son of the governor, Imelicha, Martinian, Dionysius, John, Seraphion, Constantius, and Antoninus, fled into this cave in the face of King Decius. He blocked the cave for them with stones.” He also wrote in the last lines of the two tablets a picture of the faith of the confessors. When this writing was read, the listeners were amazed, and they entered the cave and saw the confessors sitting majestically, with their faces shining like fresh roses. They spoke to them and heard from them the news of the events that took place during the reign of Decius.
A letter was immediately sent to King Theodosius, the content of which was: (Let Your Majesty hasten and come and see the dazzling wonders that Allah Almighty has revealed during your auspicious era. The light of the promise of life has shone from the dust and the rays of the resurrection of the dead have shone from the darkness of the graves with the resurrection of the pure bodies of the saints.)
When King Theodosius was informed of this news, while he was in Constantinople, he rose from the ashes in which he had spread, thanked Allah, and came, along with the bishops and the leaders of the people, to Ephesus, and they all ascended to the cave that contained the confessors on Mount Ankylos and saw them. The king embraced them and sat with them on the dust. And talk to them. Then the confessors bid farewell to the king, the bishops, and the people, and surrendered their souls into the hands of Allah. So the king ordered that coffins of gold be made for them, but the boys appeared to him in a dream at night, and told him that our bodies emerged from dust, not gold, so he left us in our cave on the dust.
The Council of Bishops approved a holiday for these confessors. The king distributed huge amounts of alms to the poor, released the bishops captured in exile, and returned with the bishops to Constantinople, overwhelmed with the joy of the king’s faith, glorifying Allah Almighty for everything that had happened.
The oldest person to write the story in Syriac
This story has reached us in authentic Syriac language, prose and composition. As for the prose, it was written for us by Zakaria the Eloquent (536 +) and John of Ephesus (587 +), both of whom are trustworthy historians, and they are close to the time of the incident. Since the historian is a witness to the historical event, we must know something about the lives of each of them, in order to value their testimony.
As for Zakaria the Eloquent, he was born in Gaza. He studied grammar, rhetoric, jurisprudence, and philosophy in the schools of Alexandria and Beirut. He practiced law in Constantinople, then he was ordained a bishop on the island of Mudallali after the year 527 AD. The most important of his works is a religious and civil history that he wrote in Greek, in which he covered in detail the events of the period between the years 450 and 491. It was translated into Syriac in summary, and its Greek original was lost. Then the monk who wrote the apocryphal book The History of Zakaria transferred it in its entirety to his valuable historical collection that he wrote in Syriac in the year 569 AD. Perhaps this author He is the one who translated the eloquent history of Zakaria into Syriac. This book was published by Land, then by Brooks, in two volumes, translated into Latin in the year 1919, and Zakaria died in the year 563 AD[3], as we mentioned above.
As for John of Ephesus, he was born around the year 507 in the town of Akal in the province of Amed. He became a monk during his youth, delved into the sciences of the Bible, and mastered the Syriac and Greek languages. He was ordained bishop of Ephesus in the year 558 AD and was attributed to it and to Asia Minor. He died in Around the year 586 AD or 587 AD. Among the epithets that were given to him was “the author of the histories of the pledge of allegiance.”
Patriarch Ephrem I Barsoum said about it[4]: “John compiled an ecclesiastical history in three volumes, each containing six books or chapters. The first and second are from the reign of Julius Caesar until the year 571, and the third includes news of the church and the world from the year 571 to 585 and is 418 pages long. . The first volume is missing, and almost its entirety was transferred to the history written by the monk Al-Zoqanini in 775 AD[5]. As for the third, it has reached us, and a few chapters have been omitted from it… John was a historian, honest, investigative, and diligent, appreciating events from the Orthodox point of view, but he was honest.
As for the Syriac poetic text of the story of the People of the Cave, it is by the inspired Syriac poet Mar Ya’qub al-Suruji (521+), who composed a pure poem in the Twelver meter, in seventy-four lines. Although he allowed his thought to swim in imagination, he retained the main elements of the story[6]. ]
Yaacoub Al-Suruji was born in the village of Qurtum on the bank of the Euphrates in the year 451 AD. He studied theology, philosophy, and linguistics at the Edessa School. He became a monk, became a hermit, and was ordained a priest. Then he assumed the rank of “periodotus,”[7] meaning visitor, to the town of Hura, in the year 519. He was ordained bishop of Batnan Suruj and moved to his Allah in 521 AD, and the church celebrated his feast.
It was based on the Twelver Sea, which he devised and was known as the Surji Sea after him. His poems were collected and amounted to seven hundred and sixty, some of which may have verses of two or three thousand or more. It dealt with the most important events of the Holy Bible, faith, virtues, resurrection, repentance, renunciation of the world, and veneration of the saints. His prose works include letters and sermons for holidays. It has interpretations, all of which are created with a solid qazal[8].
When did the people of the cave sleep?
Syriac historians unanimously agree that the Sleep of the People of the Cave occurred during the reign of King Decius (249-251 AD), while their awakening occurred during the reign of King Theodosius the Younger (450)[9]. Mar Yacoub al-Suruji (521+) says in his aforementioned poem about the time of their sleep: Its translation: “When Decius went out to visit the villages and cities of his kingdom, he entered Ephesus, inflicted great terror on it, and held a celebration for Zeus, Apollon, and Artemis… There were young noblemen who refused to submit to his command and did not submit to him like the rest of their companions. They brought faith, and they were the meek sheep, and they insisted not to incense in front of him. Gods.”
He says about the time of their awakening: “The eras of the pagan kings passed and their authority disappeared, and peace prevailed in the Holy Church in the world. And the Allah wished to awaken them to the glory of (His Holy Name) and reveal them to the believers to honor them.” He added: “They took the two tablets of lead and read them, and from them they learned their names and their work, so they immediately informed the great king Theodosius so that he would come immediately and see them.”
We must summarize for the honorable reader the minutes of the lives of the two kings, Decius the Sinful (249-251) and Theodosius the Faithful (408-450), because of their strong historical connection with the People of the Cave, and at the same time we learn about the history of the two eras in which these two kings lived, and in the first of which the People of the Cave slept. They woke up the second time, and thus the features of the story became fully clear in our minds.
Dagius:
Decius took over the Roman Kingdom in the year 249 AD. He sparked violent persecution against Al-Nasarah because of his hatred for his predecessor, Caesar Philip the Arab, who benevolent to them. In the year 250, he issued a decree ordering the eradication of Christianity, and made the central authority in the state take it upon itself to force Al-Nasarah to abandon their religion and offer incense and liquor to the gods. The decree, which was described as terrifying and horrifying, stipulated that Al-Nasarah be tortured if they did not worship idols. Many leaders of the church were martyred, including Fabianus, Bishop of Jerusalem. Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, fled into the wilderness. Thousands of believers were also martyred, and others were displaced from before the Taghut (Dometic), and this hardship did not last long, as Decius was killed in the year 251 AD while fighting the Ghouta and the Balkans at the mouth of the Danube, and with his death the sting of persecution subsided[10].
Theodosius the Younger:
As for Theodosius the Younger, who was Theodosius II, son of Argadius, he reigned in the year 408-450 AD, and in his time the pillars of Christianity were consolidated. He fasted a lot, especially on Wednesdays and Fridays, and he regularly read the books of the Bible until he memorized them by heart. One day it was said to him: “Why don’t you kill anyone?” He replied: “I wish I could raise the dead.” And because of his adherence to the ideals of virtue, he forbade the people from attending stadiums and amusement parks on Sundays and holidays, saying: “There is a time for worship and a time for amusement.” He gathered famous jurists and compiled in the year 435 a collection of laws attributed to him that he promulgated. In the year 438, he had great respect for the relics of the saints. He ordered the transfer of the relics of John Chrysostom to Constantinople with reverence and honor. He cried when he saw them, asking Allah to forgive his parents who had persecuted John. He also transferred the remains of the forty martyrs from Sebastia to the outskirts of Constantinople. The relics of Saint Ignatius of Light were also transferred during his reign from Rome to Antioch. Theodosius died on July 28, 450 AD[11].
The duration of sleep of the People of the Cave:
In the eloquent history of Zakaria (536 +), the following is stated: “In the year 38 of King Theodosius, a controversy occurred regarding the subject of the resurrection of the dead… and Allah inspired (Idelis), the owner of the area in which the cave was located, to build a barn for livestock and etc…”[12].
Since Theodosius reigned in the year 408 AD, as we mentioned earlier, 38 years are added to it, so the total is 446 years, from which 250 years are subtracted, which is the year of the persecution of the Al-Nasarah by Decius and the flight of the boys to the cave and their sleep, so 196 years remain, which is the approximate period of time the boys slept in the cave until they were resurrected.
The eloquent Zakaria himself specifies the duration of sleep in two separate numbers. One time he says: “Approximately (190) years,” and another time he says (120) years. The publisher of his history corrects this year and makes it (190) the same as the previous one. In narrating the story, Zakaria says: “The governor answered Dionysius (one of the cave boys), saying: How can we believe your words, when the writing and seal of this coin go back two hundred years ago?”[13].
Ibn al-Abri (1286 +) says: “After one hundred and eighty-eight years of the youth’s slumber, in the thirty-eighth year of the reign of King Theodosius the Younger in his days, the debate intensified on the subject of the resurrection of the dead and the king’s doubts… Allah breathed life into those who had fallen asleep, and they woke up as if they were waking up from their sleep.”[14] .
As for Al-Rahwi Anonymous (1234 +), he says in his history: “The duration of the youth’s slumber was 370 years.”[15] Some Syriac texts specify the period of slumber at (372)[16].
Al-Zoqanini (775 AD) says in his history: “He took (Yamlikha) from the coin of that time, which was placed in the bag, in denominations of sixty-two and forty-four, which were minted during the reign of the king, which was before the days of the confessors, which was three hundred and seventy years ago.”[17]
As for Mar Yacoub Al-Sarouji (521 +), he says in his poem: “One of the young men had a few pieces of coin, as proof of the miracle. After the passage of time, the coin remains stable, and from it the date on which this coin is minted is known.” He says in the closing verses of the poem: “From the beginning until now, what happened to you (young people) has happened to any human being. You have been resurrected (alive) after three hundred and seventy years from the time of your sleep.”
We conclude from all of this that the Syriac texts did not agree among themselves on determining the period during which the people of the cave slept, but they stated that their sleep occurred during the reign of Decius (249-251) and that their awakening occurred during the reign of Theodosius the Younger (408-450). The difference in years resulted from the difference The date of minting the coins found with the boys in the cave, in their various denominations, is nothing more than that.
Where did the people of the cave lie?
All Syriac sources support that the people of the cave rested in a cave located on a hill called Mount Ankilos on the outskirts of the city of Ephesus.
Mar Yacoub al-Suruji (521 +) said at the beginning of his poem about the People of the Cave, which I translated: “I would like to tell the listeners the news of the young men, sons of the leaders who are from Ephesus.” He said, through one of the young men, addressing his companions: “There is a rocky cave here at the top of the mountain. Let us go up, brothers, and hide in it for a while.” He also said, through Yamlikha, while addressing the bishop of the city: “I am from the city of Ephesus, and I am the son of Drophorus, one of its leaders.” He also said about the tablet. “On it they wrote: These young men from Ephesus fled before the face of Decius.”
Zakaria Al-Fasih (536 +) said: “The history of the seven martyrs who were sent in the cave of Mount Ankilos in the city of Ephesus”[18].
This Ephesus is an ancient Greek city located on the western shore of Asia Minor. It was famous before Christ for its port, its profitable trade, and the Temple of Artemis. The Apostle Paul preached the Christian religion to it in the year 54 AD, educated its people, and wrote a letter to it in the year 61 AD. The city later became one of the important centers of Christianity, and the Third Ecumenical Council was held there in the year 431 AD. The sea receded from it, and its economic glory disappeared, and nothing remained in it except the ruins. Nearby is also a Turkish town called (Agia Seluk) [19] which is visited by tourists to see its pagan and Christian monuments, especially the streets of the ancient city of Ephesus, the Temple of Artemis, the Cathedral of St. John the Theologian, and the burials of the People of the Cave. . In 1962 and 1968, I made two visits to the ruins of the city of Ephesus and its paintings, and I saw with my own eyes the burials of the people of the cave and their cave.
It is worth noting that Mr. F. Miltner, who was responsible for the discoveries made in Ephesus by the Austrian Archaeological Institute before World War II, and who briefly published the results of his research, stated: The ruins of the church that he discovered are in the place traditionally known to be the place where the miracle occurred (B. People of the Cave) near the Panayir Dagh Cave indicate that the construction of this church dates back to the fifth century AD[20]. This statement establishes the argument that the city of Ephesus was the home of the People of the Cave and the scene of the miraculous stages of their sleep and resurrection. The story in Syriac mentions that King Theodosius the Younger had built a church near their cave, and the ruins of this church must have been discovered by the Austrian mission mentioned above.
Number of people in the cave and their names:
Syriac historians did not agree on the number of cave boys and their names. It was stated in the eloquent History of Zakaria (536 +) the following: “And these are the names of the seven young men who fled (before the face of Decius): Eucleides, Demides, Eucnes, Stephanes, Phrythides, Sebtis, and Cyriacus[21] but then he says, “And they raised their friend Dionysius the young man.” The wise, quick, and bold is their representative.”[22] While Zakaria had neglected the name of Dionysius in the previous table, he mentions it again in the lead plaque that was found on the door of the cave, where he enumerates the names as follows: “Euclides, Dionysius, Eugenes, Stephanes, Phrytes, Sebtis, and Cyriacus”[23] and it is clear here that The name Dionysius replaced the name Demides, and perhaps the two names are for the same person.
As for the monk Al-Zoqanini (775 AD), whose history includes the entire book of John of Ephesus (587 +), as previously mentioned, he begins the story by saying: “A chapter from the story of the eight young men from Ephesus, namely: Maximilian, Imelicha, Martalus, Dionysius, John, Seraphion, and Axistdinus. And Antoninus the Martyr, sons of the nobles of Ephesus”[24].
As for Mar Yacoub Al-Suruji (521+), he does not mention in his aforementioned poem their number or names except two names, first: Yamlikha, where he says in his own words, “One of them, whose name is Yamlikha, and he is a brave boy, answered and said: I will go down to Ephesus and steal the news.” His companions answered him, “Then buy.” We have bread to eat.” Second: The name Martolus, where he says: “One of them, whose name is Martolus, answered and said to his brothers: I have a coin (dirhams) that I took with me when I went out here, so he can take a millicha from it and buy food for us. In the interrogation of the governor, Lemlikha, he says: He immediately asked him about the names of his companions, and the boy listed before him the names of all his brothers and their number, and how they escaped and where they disappeared.
As for Ibn al-Abri (1286 +), he says: “In the days of King Decius, the seven young men fled from Ephesus and hid in a cave…[25]. He says in another place: “At this time… the seven young men from Ephesus who had fled during the persecution of Decius and hid in a cave in a mountain were raised from among the dead.”[26] Here, Ibn al-Abri recounts their story in detail and names their agent who descended on the city as (Dionysus). The number of the people of the cave, according to the Syriac narratives, is seven or eight, and their names are also different. Perhaps this slight difference was due to the Greek environment and their Greek names, so the Syriac scribes listed them and distorted some of them. It would have been better for historians and scribes to be more precise in listing the names of the boys and their number. Historians today tend to accept the opinion of those who say that there were seven, as proven by Latin and Greek accounts.
Bishop of Ephesus and the People of the Cave:
The story mentions the name of Maurice as bishop of Ephesus. He interrogated one of the boys and then went with the governor of the city to the cave. While history mentions that the Bishop of Ephesus, who attended the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus in the year 431 AD, was grateful[27]. As for its bishop who lived during the era of sending the Cave Boys, he was Stephen, who attended the Second Council of Ephesus in 449 AD and attended the Council of Chalcedon in 451[28].
The monk Al-Zoqanini (775 AD) also mentions in his history the name of Maurice, Bishop of Ephesus, while Zakaria the Eloquent (536 +) did not name him.
Since history proves that the name of the bishop of the city in that period of time was Stephen, some of them believe that the name Maurice came from (Moors. S). The word (Moore) means master and always precedes the names of the senior Christian clerics among the Syriacs, and (S) is the two letters that The name (Stephens) begins with them. Perhaps the name was shortened by some scribes according to the custom followed by the Syriac scribes. When the word or name falls at the end of the line, it is shortened by two or more letters and a small line is placed above it. With time, the scribes took from one another, just as the successor historians quoted from the predecessors. The name was changed and became (Maurice) instead of (More Stephen).
The People of the Cave in the Syriac Calendar:
At the end of the Syriac story, we read the following: “A council of bishops approved a great feast for these confessors.” Perhaps this council was private, local, not general, but we see the Eastern churches of all sects celebrating their feast.
Their feast was mentioned in the ancient Syriac calendar on October 24. For the Chaldeans, October 4 is the feast of the eight boys from Ephesus[29]. Their commemoration is also mentioned among the Greek Orthodox on August 4, and on October 22 is the commemoration of the seven holy boys who were in Ephesus[30].
On March 7, the Maronites celebrate the feast of the Seven Boys from Ephesus[31].
Since the Syriac Church used to allocate a special ritual[32] on the occasion of the feasts of its saints that it celebrated on their feasts, therefore we found the ritual of the Feast of the People of the Cave[33] and studied it. We saw that it recounts the details of the story as it appeared in the Syriac tradition, showing the seven boys’ adherence to their faith, and how Their escape in fear of Decius in the month of March, to a cave in a mountain near Ephesus, and their slumber for (350 years) and when they woke up, the weather called them martyrs.
Footnotes
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([1]) – A confessor is one who was persecuted for the sake of religion and was not martyred.
([2]) Some sources mention eight instead of seven.
([3]) – Al-Lu’lu’ al-Manthur fi Tarikh al-Lu’l-Munthur fi Syriac Literature, by Patriarch Aphrem I Barsoum, Aleppo, 1956. pp. 315-316 and 320-321
([4]) – Al-Lu’lu’ Al-Manthur, pp. 331-332.
([5]) A distinguished monk from Zouknin Monastery near Amed wrote a large history in two volumes from creation until his time. He quoted the ancient historians to John the Asiatic in the year 587+, and after that he stopped at a few pieces of information and did not check the exact date. When his time approached the year 720, he expanded his discussion of the religious and worldly events and natural beings that occurred in it, and presented detailed facts related to the last days of the Umayyad dynasty and the beginning of the Abbasid dynasty until the time of the Mahdi. Many of them are unique, and you will not find them in any Syriac, Greek, or Arabic history. It has a copy in the Vatican, No. 162, written before the year 932 AD (Al-Lu’lu’ al-Manthur, pp. 399-400).
([6]) – The poem has a precious manuscript in the Vatican Library under the number (115) Siriaco. Its copyist and date of writing are not known. Al-Sam’ani estimates its date to be in the seventh or eighth century. It was published by the Italian Orientalist Guidi, and a second copy belonging to our Monastery of Saint Mark in Jerusalem was copied by the confinement of the Monastery of the Resurrection in the year 1898 AD = 1587 AD, and from her the copy of Deir al-Zaafran was written, and from her the copy of the author was written by the hand of Al-Abidyaqun Ibrahim Joshqan Al-Arnasi. Another copy also belongs to the Vatican Library, and its copy date is estimated to be in the sixteenth or seventeenth century AD.
([7]) – Priodotus is a Greek word that means deputy bishop or chief priest. He may be called in Syriac the sa’ur, which is the priestly monk whom the bishop sends on some parish missions (the scattered pearls).
([8]) – Al-Lu’lu’ Al-Manthur, pp. 273-280.
Monk (Bishop) Boulos Behnam, Khamayel al-Rayhan or the Orthodoxy of Mar Yacoub al-Sarouji, the two files, Mosul 1949. The Gift of Faith or the files, Mar Yacoub al-Sarouji, Bishop of Tanan, to Patriarch Yaacoub III. Damascus 1971.
([9]) – The History of Zakaria Al-Fasih – Louvain Edition, 1953, vol. 1, pp. 107 – 114. The History of the Monk Al-Zoqanini in the year 775 AD, Louvain Edition, 1953, pp. 195 – 206. The History of the Unknown Host (one of the monks of the Monastery of Qartmain in the year 1234 AD, Louvain Edition, 1953, vol. 1, p. 179). The History of Patriarch Michael the Great (1199+), Paris edition, p. 183, quoted by Zakaria al-Fasih, and The History of the Patriarchs by Ibn al-Abri (1286+), translated by the Patriarchs Pubius and Theodotos.
([10]) – History of the Patriarchs – by the Maphrian Gregory John Ibn Al-Abri – in the translation of Babola and Fabius. And the precious pearls in the brief history of the church by Patriarch Aphrem I Barsoum, Homs, 1940, p. 272, and the history of the Syriac Church of Antioch by Patriarch Yaacoub III – Beirut, 1953, vol. 1, pp. 138-140, and the pure excerpt from the history of the Christian Church, by Father Issa Asaad, Homs, 1924, pp. 24 and 25. And the Church of the City of Allah, Antioch, by Dr. Asad Rustom – Beirut 1950, vol. 1, pp. 98-103.
([11]) – The precious piece in the history of the Church, Bishop Isidorus – Misr, 1915, vol. 1, pp. 576 – 577. And the history of Syria, by Bishop Youssef Elias Al-Debs – Beirut, 1899, vol. 2, vol. 4, pp. 276 – 269, from “the historian Socrates, vol. 7, vol. 18 – 23, and the historian Zozomin.” K 9 F 1”.
([12]) – The History of Zakaria Al-Fasih – Louvain Edition, 1953, Volume 1, pp. 114 and 115
([13]) – It has p. 119
([14]) – History of the Patriarchs – by Ibn al-Abri in the translation of Theodotus.
([15]) Louvain Edition 19, p. 179.
(4)ـ Patristic Studies By Ernest Honigmann Vatican 1953 PP 136 – 137
([17]) – Chapeau edition in Louvain, 1953, p. 189.
([18]) – The History of Zakaria Al-Fasih, p. 106
([19]) – Ayassoluk is a small town located northeast of the ruins of Ephesus, at a distance of a mile from it. The word Ayasluk is a corruption of a church containing Ayos Yohannes Theologos, meaning Saint John the Theologian. This was the name of the great cathedral that was built at the beginning of the sixth century AD in the days of Justinian I. (Beirut Research Journal, 1948, year 1, vol. 3, p. 69, The Story of the People of the Cave in History, by Professor Anis Fariha) Ibn Battuta mentioned it in his journey, and among what he said about it: “…and we walked to the city of Aya Suluq, a large, ancient city revered by the Romans, and in it was a large church built of stones. The majestic one, and the length of the stone is ten cubits, and what is below it, is carved with the most exquisite carving..?” The Journey of Ibn Battuta, published in Beirut in 1964, p. 303.
([20]) – Patristic Studies P. 128
([21]) – The History of Zakaria Al-Fasih – Louvain 1953, vol. 1, p. 109.
([22]) – It has p. 111.
([23]) – It has p. 120.
([24]) – History of Al-Zoqanini – Chapeau edition in Louvain in 1953, vol. 1, p. 165. He repeats the same names on p. 204.
([25]) – History of the Patriarchs, by Ibn al-Abri, translated by Phobius.
([26]) – It is in the translation of Theodotius.
([27]) – History of the Syriac Church of Antioch, vol. 2, p. 55, History of the City of Allah, Antioch, vol. 1, p. 315, Al-Tarfa Al-Naqih, vol. 1, p. 111, Al-Kharida Al-Nafisa, vol. 2, p. 492, and Dhakhir Al-Adhan by Pastor Boutros Nasri, Mosul edition, 1905, vol. 1, p. 135. .
([28]) – History of the Syriac Church of Antioch, vol. 2, pp. 116 and 157.
([29]) – Martyrs of the East, Mosul edition, 1906, vol. 2, p. 420, on a list of holidays and memorials according to the Chaldean ritual, taken from an old Calendar preserved in the library of the Monastery of Saint Yaacoub Al-Habis, next to Sa’rad. Another Kalendar is included in an ancient Enjil preserved in the Chaldean Patriarchal Cell in Iraq.
([30]) – Al-Naama Al-Dimashqiya Magazine, issue 55, January 1966, pp. 35 and 37.
([31]) – The Maronite calendar printed in Al-Ishahim in Romans in the year 1624.
([32]) – In church custom, ritual refers to the rituals of religion.
([33]) – Library of the Maronite community in Aleppo, manuscript numbered 686, written by Shimon, son of Pastor Haroun, son of Father John, known as Ibn Kaabush, from the village of Hadshit, from Jubbet Bsharri, Mount Lebanon, in the year 1853 AD – 1542 AD.
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It is possible that the story of the People of the Cave occurred in Misr. We will extract these texts from the official Coptic sources.
17- The Tenth Persecution during the reign of Diocletian in the year 284 AD. | The Coptic calendar begins to mark the martyrs
A look at our historical heritage that takes us back to the year 284 AD. In which Diocletian ascended the imperial throne in Rome, we see that at first he showed great sympathy with the Al-Nasarah, and in 286 AD. He brought Maximian along with him to rule to be Emperor of the East, and from that time on Al-Nasarah tasted the cup of martyrdom and were baptized with it again, like Zoe, the jailer’s wife, who took care of the martyrs under her husband’s guard and then converted to Christianity. She was hung on a tree burning with fire in its trunk, then thrown into a river with a large stone suspended. In her neck.
In the year 286 AD. The last of the Theban military battalion, all of whose members were from Luxor, was martyred because they refused to submit to Emperor Maximian’s order to offer sacrifices to idols and swear an oath to end Christianity in Gaul – to which the members of this battalion were sent – and that was on September 22, 286 AD.
Diocletian, along with his colleague Galerius, issued a decree demolishing all Christian churches, burning church books, and deeming Al-Nasarah outlaws.
On November 25, 311 AD. By order of Emperor Maximian, who ruled over the East, Pope Peter, the seventeenth patriarch, was martyred in the succession of St. Mark the Apostle.
Eusebius, the church historian, says that in Misr there was an innumerable crowd of believers, along with their wives and children, who suffered all kinds of torture and death for the sake of their faith.
In the era of Diocletian, Arianus, the governor of Ansena, tortured a large number of Al-Nasarah in Upper Misr, including: the martyr Dulaji, the mother, and her children, Saint Abu Qalta, Bishop Bidhaba, the bishop, and thousands upon thousands of others.
History states that this governor became a Christian after a wonderful miracle happened to him, after which he believed in Christ. He sent a letter to Emperor Diocletian in which he declared his faith and regretted all the persecution he had inflicted on Al-Nasarah, so the emperor ordered him to be killed.
The apologist and scholar Tertullian says about his assessment of the number of Christian martyrs in Misr: “If the martyrs of the whole world were placed on one side of the scale, and the martyrs of Misr on the other, the Egyptians would prevail.”
The number of Coptic martyrs is estimated at about eight hundred thousand people.
The scholar Tertullian also expressed the strength of Christianity, the purity of its virtues, and the extent of its spread without any temporal support. He was the one who lived through the persecutions without seeing their end – by saying, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”
The Christian’s abstention from some pagan life practices was enough to expose him, and thus he died every hour. (See more about this topic here on the St-Takla website in the articles and other books sections). Thus, testimony took place throughout the day, every step entailing a good confession and faithful witness to Allah. Therefore, the sword of death was always hanging over the necks of Al-Nasarah – according to the expression of the scholar Tertullian – because it is not permissible for a believer to share with the pagans in clothing, food, or any appearance, in addition to the believers’ abstention from Some crafts were related to idolatry, and abandoning them suddenly exposed them to public prosecution.
Eusebius of Caesarea in his Ecclesiastical History, the scholar Tertullian, and the martyr Justin Martyr in his apologetics mentioned how Al-Nasarah were excluded from public positions, yet they loved the empire and prayed for justice and peace, but they did not worship emperors, showing extreme zeal for the faith.
Christianity was considered the most heinous crime for which everyone who called on the name of Christ would die. In addition, the mobs and mobs persecuted the church more severely, and history is repeating itself, sometimes by storming and plundering, and sometimes by smashing, burning, and robbing, as happened in the time of Pope Dionysius of Alexandria.
Finally, we must point out that these persecutions are the war that the beast made with the Lamb, with a woman sitting on it drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus (Revelation 17:3).
Church tradition states that in the year 313 AD. In the city of Milan, a decree was issued for tolerance with Al-Nasarah, known as the “Milan Edict,” granting religious freedom to Al-Nasarah. This was at the hands of the Allah-loving Emperor Constantine, who is considered the last of the pagan emperors and the first of Al-Nasarah.
The feeling of bitterness was exacerbated by the long persecution that the Church had suffered. Tertullian, Justin Martyr, and Lactantius, the defender, were the first to defend freedom of belief, and they confronted the pagans by saying that (religion is fundamentally a matter of free will and that it spreads by persuasion, not by imposition, by teaching, not by coercive force).
Written by our father Athanasius Fahmi George