During the reign of Diocletian (284-305) Christians suffered widespread persecution, even to the point of death. The stories of those who confessed their faith up to the point of their execution became sources for inspirational accounts of the feats of these martyrs. These martyrs were venerated and the sites of their executions and their tombs often became pilgrimage destinations. The case was no different in Edessa. The tales of the martyrdoms of Shmona, Guria and Habib were told widely and locals and travelers alike sought out their tombs as a sacred site at which to pray. One particular tale of devotion is that of Euphemia, a young Edessan girl who was delivered by the souls of the martyrs from her abusive husband and his in-laws after she killed his first wife in retaliation against the woman’s murdering of her infant child. In this book the Syriac texts along with translations of the tales of the martyrs themselves as well as the miraculous deliverance of Euphemia are introduced by Professor Burkitt with a commentary focusing on the historicity of the different accounts.

Francis Crawford Burkitt (1864-1935) began his academic career as a student of mathematics. While at Cambridge University he moved to the study of Divinity, eventually becoming the Norrisian Professor. His interest in the text of the New Testament led him to study Syriac manuscripts and to publish widely in the field. He was a fellow of the British Academy.