Saints Behnam, Sarah, and the Forty Martyrs were 4th-century Christians who suffered martyrdom during the reign of
Shapur II
Shapur II ( pal, 𐭱𐭧𐭯𐭥𐭧𐭥𐭩 ; New Persian: , ''Šāpur'', 309 – 379), also known as Shapur the Great, was the tenth Sasanian King of Kings (Shahanshah) of Iran. The longest-reigning monarch in Iranian history, he reigned fo ...
. They are venerated as saints in the
Oriental Orthodox Church
The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 60 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches are part of the Nicene Christian tradition, and represent o ...
.
Biography
According to their hagiography, Behnam and Sarah were born in the 4th century, and were the children of
Sennacherib
Sennacherib (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: or , meaning " Sîn has replaced the brothers") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of his father Sargon II in 705BC to his own death in 681BC. The second king of the Sargonid dynast ...
, King of
Assyria
Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the A ...
, who ruled under the ''
Shah
Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...
anshah'' Shapur II of
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. Whilst hunting with forty slaves, Behnam was separated from his entourage, and was forced to spend the night in the wilderness.
He received a dream in which an angel instructed him to seek Saint
Matthew the Hermit on
Mount Alfaf, as he could heal Behnam's sister Sarah, who was afflicted with leprosy.
Behnam met with his entourage the next day, and they searched and discovered the hermit in a cave, where he explained
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
to the prince. Behnam demanded proof, and Matthew told him to bring Sarah to him to be healed of her leprosy.
Behnam and his entourage returned to the city and told his mother of his dream and the saint.
His mother allowed Behnam and Sarah to return to the saint in secret, and he healed Sarah of her leprosy, after which Behnam, Sarah, and the forty slaves were baptised.
Matthew used water from a spring that appeared after he hit the ground with his staff. The king learned of his children's conversion and threatened to punish them if they did not abandon Christianity.
Stalwart in their faith, Behnam, Sarah, and the forty slaves, fled to Mount Alfaf, but were slain by soldiers sent by the king.
Sennacherib was afflicted by madness after the death of the martyrs. An angel appeared before Behnam's mother and told her the king would only be cured of his madness if he converted to Christianity and prayed at the site of the martyrs' death. Behnam's mother and Sennacherib followed the angel's instructions, and the king was cured. They were then baptised by Saint Matthew at
Assur
Aššur (; Sumerian: AN.ŠAR2KI, Assyrian cuneiform: ''Aš-šurKI'', "City of God Aššur"; syr, ܐܫܘܪ ''Āšūr''; Old Persian ''Aθur'', fa, آشور: ''Āšūr''; he, אַשּׁוּר, ', ar, اشور), also known as Ashur and Qal'a ...
. At the request of Saint Matthew, Sennacherib constructed a monastery atop Mount Alfaf, that would later become known as the
Monastery of Saint Matthew. The king also constructed a monument on the site of the martyrs' death called ''gubba'' ("pit" in Syriac). A wealthy pilgrim called Isaac later visited the site of the martyrs' death in the hope it would exorcise the devil from his servant, and constructed a monastery named as Beth Gubbe near Behnam's tomb upon receiving instructions to do so from the saint in a dream. This became known as the
Monastery of Saints Behnam and Sarah.
Hagiography
The life of the martyrs is recorded in at least twenty
Syriac Syriac may refer to:
*Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic
*Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region
* Syriac alphabet
** Syriac (Unicode block)
** Syriac Supplement
* Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
manuscripts. The earliest surviving manuscript is named the ''History of Mar Behnam and Sarah''. The German historian Gernot Wießner argued it was composed in
Late Antiquity
Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...
, but it has since been proven by more recent studies that it was written in 1197. It was written by an adherent of the Syriac Orthodox Church, and details of the saints' lives are also recorded in other Syriac manuscripts from the late 12th and early 13th centuries. The hagiography may have been written to establish the pre-Islamic foundation of the Monastery of Saints Behnam and Sarah, and thus prevent confiscation from Muslim rulers.
A mention of a church of Saint Behnam at Tripoli in 961 by
Bar Hebraeus
Gregory Bar Hebraeus ( syc, ܓܪܝܓܘܪܝܘܣ ܒܪ ܥܒܪܝܐ, b. 1226 - d. 30 July 1286), known by his Syriac ancestral surname as Bar Ebraya or Bar Ebroyo, and also by a Latinized name Abulpharagius, was an Aramean Maphrian (regional primat ...
in his ''Chronography'' has been argued to suggest that an oral version of the saints' lives had existed prior to the earliest surviving manuscript. Two homilies ( syr, mêmrê) on the martyrs named ''On the Martyrdom of Behnam and his Companions'' are known to have been written by
Jacob of Serugh
Jacob of Sarug ( syr, ܝܥܩܘܒ ܣܪܘܓܝܐ, ''Yaʿquḇ Sruḡāyâ'', ; his toponym is also spelled ''Serug'' or ''Serugh''; la, Iacobus Sarugiensis; 451 – 29 November 521), also called Mar Jacob, was one of the foremost Syriac poet-theo ...
. The 15th century author
Ignatius Behnam Hadloyo
Ignatius Behnam Hadloyo ( syr, ܦܛܪܝܪܟܐ ܒܗܢܡ ܚܕܠܝܐ, ar, البطريرك بهنام الحدلي) was the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1445 until his death in 1454.
Biography
Behnam was born ...
also wrote two poems on Behnam, of which five copies survive.
Names and places in the hagiography were derived from pre-existing traditions, as demonstrated by the name Sarah, which is known to be the traditional name given in Syriac hagiographies to the sister of a male martyr, such as the Saints Zayna and Sarah, and was derived from
Sarah
Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a piou ...
, wife of
Abraham
Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jew ...
. Also, as a consequence of the Christianisation of Assyria, figures and sites from Assyrian history were integrated into Christian narratives, and thus Assur was mentioned as the place of the king's baptism, and the name Sennacherib used for Behnam and Sarah's father was inspired by the Assyrian king
Sennacherib
Sennacherib (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: or , meaning " Sîn has replaced the brothers") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of his father Sargon II in 705BC to his own death in 681BC. The second king of the Sargonid dynast ...
(r. 705-681 BC).
The French historian
Jean Maurice Fiey Jean Maurice Fiey (30 March 1914 – 10 November 1995) was a French Dominican Father and prominent Church historian and Syriacist.
Biography
Fiey was born in Armentières on 30 March 1914, he entered the Dominican Order at an early age and rece ...
noted that the Forty Martyrs of
Bartella
Bartella (; ar, برطلّة) is a town that is located in the Nineveh Plains in northern Iraq, about east of Mosul.
Bartella was liberated from ISIL control on October 20, 2016 by Iraqi Special Operations Forces along with the Nineveh Plain ...
, the village near the monastery of Saints Behnam and Sarah in Iraq, are also commemorated on 10 December in the ''
Martyrology of Rabban Sliba
The ''Martyrology of Rabban Sliba'' is a book containing the names and feast days of a number of martyrs of the Syriac Orthodox Church. It was edited by P. Paul Peeters, S.J., and published in '' Analecta Bollandiana'' #27 in 1908.
Saints inclu ...
'', composed in the late thirteenth century or early fourteenth century.
Sarah is also separately commemorated in some Syriac Orthodox calendars on 22 November.
Relics
The relics of Behnam and Sarah are kept at the
Monastery of Saints Behnam and Sarah in Iraq. Some relics of the saints are also contained in the
Monastery of Saint Menas in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
. As well as this, the Syriac Orthodox Church of the Forty Martyrs at
Mardin
Mardin ( ku, Mêrdîn; ar, ماردين; syr, ܡܪܕܝܢ, Merdīn; hy, Մարդին) is a city in southeastern Turkey. The capital of Mardin Province, it is known for the Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location on ...
in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
purports to contain the remains of Saint Behnam.
References
Bibliography
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Oriental Orthodox saints
4th-century births
4th-century deaths
4th-century Christian martyrs
Christians in the Sasanian Empire
People executed by the Sasanian Empire
Converts to Christianity from Zoroastrianism
Groups of Christian martyrs
Angelic visionaries
Mesopotamian saints