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The date of the Martyrdom of Simeon bar Sabba’e and the persecution of Christians in Persia under Shapur II

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Published/Copyright: November 30, 2017
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Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum / Journal of Ancient Christianity
From the journal Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum / Journal of Ancient Christianity Volume 21 Issue 3

Abstract:

The article is a contribution to the more than one-hundred-year-long discussion on the date of death of Simeon bar Sabba’e, metropolitan bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, and the beginning of the persecution of Christians in Persia during the reign of Shapur II. The author stresses the point that the main source on Simeon’s martyrdom is a hagiographical work and, as such, it should be interpreted strictly on the basis of the principles relevant to the genre. Taking some of the hypotheses formulated to date into consideration, the author holds the view that it is not possible to determine the precise date of Simeon’s death. It could only be assumed that it must have occurred somewhere between February 344 and July 345, most likely in late 344.

Keywords: Persecutions of Persian Christians; Simeon bar Sabba’e; Shapur II; Church in Sasanian Persia
Published Online: 2017-11-30
Published in Print: 2017-11-23

© 2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.1515/zac-2017-0032
Keywords for this article
Persecutions of Persian Christians; Simeon bar Sabba’e; Shapur II; Church in Sasanian Persia

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Titelseiten
  2. Artikel
  3. The Doctrine of Original Sin Amongst Augustine’s African Contemporaries: The Case of Evodius of Uzalis’ De fide contra Manichaeos
  4. Revelation 20:12–15: Augustine on the “book of life,” and the conflicting picture of predestination in De civitate dei 20,14–15
  5. The date of the Martyrdom of Simeon bar Sabba’e and the persecution of Christians in Persia under Shapur II
  6. Neue Priester braucht das Land, oder: Wollte Kaiser Julian eine „heidnische Kirche“ schaffen?
  7. The Greek Version(s) of Augustine’s De gestis Pelagii
  8. Review Article
  9. The Future of Apollinarian Research: An Essay Review
  10. Rezensionen
  11. Matthew W. Bates: The Birth of Trinity. Jesus, God, and Spirit in New Testament and Early Christian Interpretations of the Old Testament, Oxford (Oxford University Press) 2015, XII + 234 S., ISBN 978-0-19-872956-3, £ 55,–.
  12. Young Richard Kim: Epiphanius of Cyprus. Imagining an Orthodox World, Ann Arbor (University of Michigan Press) 2015, XVI + 278 pp., ISBN 978-0-472-11954-7, $ 85,–.
  13. David Brakke and Andrew Crislip, eds.: Selected Discourses of Shenoute the Great: Community, Theology, and Social Conflict in Late Antique Egypt, Cambridge (Cambridge University Press) 2015, X + 326 pp., ISBN 978-1-107-02256-0, £ 64,99.
  14. Jean-Pierre Caillet, Sylvain Destephen, Bruno Dumézil und Hervé Inglebert, Hgg.: Des dieux civiques aux saints patrons (IVe – VIIe siècle), Textes, images et monuments de l’Antiquité au haut Moyen Âge 12, Paris (Éditions Picard) 2015, 384 S., ISBN 978-2-7084-1004-6, € 36,–.
  15. Michaela Dirschlmayer: Kirchenstiftungen römischer Kaiserinnen vom 4. bis zum 6. Jahrhundert – die Erschließung neuer Handlungsspielräume, Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum Ergänzungsband. Kleine Reihe 13, Münster (Aschendorff) 2015, X + 268 S., ISBN 978-3-402-10920-5, € 44,–.
  16. Jonathan L. Zecher: The Role of Death in the Ladder of Divine Ascent and the Greek Ascetic Tradition, Oxford Early Christian Studies, Oxford (Oxford University Press) 2015, XX + 252 S., ISBN 978-0-19-872494-0, £ 65,–.
  17. Pauline Allen und Bronwen Neil, Hgg.: The Oxford Handbook of Maximus the Confessor, Oxford (Oxford University Press) 2015, IX + 611 S., ISBN 978-0-19-967383-4, £ 95,–. Paul M. Blowers: Maximus the Confessor. Jesus Christ and the Transfiguration of the World, Christian Theology in Context, Oxford (Oxford University Press) 2016, XVI + 367 S., ISBN 978-0-19-967394-0, £ 65,–.
  18. Stellenregister für Band 21/Index for Volume 21
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