Page 99 - Edessa, 'The Blessed City'-01, by J. B. Segal (Oxford, 1970). Chapters 1-3

86 THE BLESSING OF JESUS AND THE TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY
And when he arrived at the place where they were going to burn him, he stood up and
prayed, and all those that were going out with him. . . . And while Habbib was standing
they dug a place, and took him and set him up in the midst of it, and they fixed up by
him a stake. . . . And when the fire burned and its flames ascended fiercely they called
out to him, 'Open your mouth'. And the moment he opened his mouth his soul mounted
up; and they exclaimed, both men and women, with the voice of weeping. And they
drew him up out of the fire, and they threw over him fine linen and choice unguents and
spices, and they seized upon some of the faggots for burning him and they carried him,
both brethren and laymen, and wrapped him up and buried him by Gurya and Shmona,
the martyrs, in the same grave in which they were placed, on the height which is called
Beth Alah Qiqla, saying over him psalms and hymns, and carrying his burnt body in
procession affectionately and honourably. And even some Jews and pagans took part in
shrouding and burying his body with the Christian brethren. . . . There was one spec-
tacle of grief spread over all those within [the community] and those without, and tears
were running down from all eyes, while everyone was giving glory to God. . . .
Now the impression we receive from these vivid accounts is clear: this was
not so much a struggle between Christians and pagans as between Edessans
and alien rulers. The Abgar and Addai stories tell of king and Apostle, the
Sharbil, Babai, and Barsamya 'martyrologies' are of High Priest and bishops.
But the Gurya and Shmona and Habbib narratives are of simple village folk,
well versed in the text of the Syriac Bible, but men of little influence except
that of their own merit and their own actions. The execution of Gurya and
Shmona was carried out stealthily so that it should not arouse the anger of
the city folk. Executioner and the Roman soldiery alike sympathized with the
martyrs, 'called them happy . . . and secretly cherished and honoured them,
while afraid of the Imperial authority'. Even the Governor was reluctant to
enforce the decrees of the Emperor. The Edessans evidently had no fear in
showing respect to the martyrs' remains. So, too, Habbib was escorted to his
death by a crowd of Christians, and after his death he was buried with honour
and even with the participation of Jews and pagans. The Christians showed
no hesitation in declaring their faith, 'because those who were persecuted
were more numerous than those who were persecuting'. Edessa was now a
Christian city.
The shadowy figures of the Doctrine of Addai and of the Acts of Sharbil,
Babai, and Barsamya belong to legend—like the early figures of the Aryu
dynasty at Edessa and the 'bishops', Hystasp and 'Aqi, of the Bardaisan
biographies. But with Shmona, Gurya, and Habbib the Church of Edessa
had reached historical times. Bishop Qona, who began to build the Cathedral
of Edessa in, probably, A.D. 313, started a line of bishops of Edessa that was
sometimes disturbed, but was not broken for a thousand years.1 Edessa was
represented at the Council of Nicaea in 325, and at all important ecclesiastical

1 Qona has been credited by one scholar with standard text; there is, however, no concrete
the promotion of the Separate Gospels as the evidence for the hypothesis.

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