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BABAI the GREAT's Life of GEORGE and the PROPAGATION of DOCTRINE in the LATE SASANIAN EMPIRE

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BABAI THE GREAT'S liFE OF GEORGE AND THE PROPAGATION OF DOCTRINE IN THE LATE SASANIAN EMPIRE GERRIT J. REININK University of Groningen Magundat-Anastasius, one of the last Christian martyrs in the Sasanian empire, 1 was executed by order of the shah Chosroes II on 22 January 628.2 His biographer reports that the holy martyr at the time of his execution rendered thanks to God that his desire to suffer martyrdom for the sake of Christ was now fulfilled. 3 The seeds of his wish to become a martyr for Christianity were, in fact, already sown before his baptism. After his desertion from the Persian army, Magundat found shelter with a Persian Christian goldsmith in Hierapolis (Mabbug).4 In this town he visited the Christian churches, where he saw the pictures of the holy martyrs,5 and, having been informed about the meaning of these representations, Magundat's interest in these holy men was aroused.6 Later on, after having received baptism in Jerusalem and having entered the monastery of Anastasius to the north of the Holy City/ Magundat, now called Anastasius, read the Lives of the holy martyrs of the Church and began secretly to cherish the desire to become likewise a martyr for I For an introduction to the history and literature of the East Syrian martyrs, see now J. Rist, "Die Verfolgung der Christen im spatantiken Sasanidenreich: Ursachen, Verlauf und Folgen", Oriens Christianus 80 (1996), pp. 17-42. 2 An excellent edition of Anastasius' Lift and related texts now by B. Flusin, Saint Anastase Ie Perse et l'histoire de la Palestine au debut du VII' siecie, I: Les textes; II: Commentaire (Paris, 1992). Henceforth I quote Flusin's edition/translation of Anastasius' Lift (= les Actes anciens) by the abbreviation AL. 3 AL 38; Flusin, Saint Anastase I, pp. 82-5. 4 AL 8; Flusin, Saint Anastase I, pp. 48-9. 5 ••• 'tu<; iO"'topiu<; 'trov ayiOlv IlUP'tUPOlV i:wpu ... ; cf. Flusin, Saint Anastase II, p. 228, n. 45. 6 AL 9; Flusin, Saint Anastase I, pp. 50-51. 7 For this monastery, in which Anastasius stayed for seven years (620-627), see Flusin, Saint Anastase II, pp. 185-8; J. Patrich, Sabas, Leader if Palestinian Monasticism. A Comparative Study in Eastern Monasticism, Fourth to Seventh Centuries, Dumbarton Oaks Studies 32 (Washington D.C., 1995), pp. 327-8. 172 GERRIT J. REININK Christ.S Just how this wish of Anastasius was realized, forms the sub­ ject of the account given by his biographer. Just as Anastasius' attention was drawn to the martyrs by looking at their pictures in the churches, and just as his wish for imitatio of their lives was kindled by reading their "written pictures" in the monastery, so the hagiographer by writing the Lift if Anastasius is painting an icon of a holy man, a portrait of spiritual authority, in which the readers or auditors should recognize that the subject of this Lift occupies a legitimate place in the choir of his holy predecessors. 9 The Lift ifAnastasius, written in Greek in the Chalcedonian monas­ tic milieu of Palestine, not long after the saint's death in 628,10 is not the only surviving representantative of the genre to date from the late Sasanian period. Also in the East Syrian milieu of Persia there were composed Lives of converts from Zoroastrianism who suf­ fered martyrdom under Chosroes II. II One of these works, the Lift if Mihr-Mah-Gushnasp-George, 12 is of paramount importance, since it forms a first-class source of information for one of the most crucial periods in the history of the East Syrian Church. 13 Moreover, as compared with the other late Sasanian lives of the martyrs this Lift 8 AL 12; Flusin, Saint Anastase I, pp. 54-5. 9 See in particular Flusin's remarks on the literary genre in Saint Anastase II, pp. 194-6. 10 Flusin, Saint Anastase II, pp. 192-3. 11 In addition to the Lift if Mihr-Mah-Gushnasp-George (see below), Babai the Great wrote the Martyrdom if Ya;:;doi-Christina of Bet Garmai, of which only the Preface has been preserved; ed. by P. Bedjan, Acta Martyrum et Sanctorum, IV (Paris, 1894), pp. 201-7. The exact date of Christina's death is unknown. The work was probably written after the Lift if George, since Babai does not mention it in the Preface of the latter (cf. below, n. 22). For a general view of the Lives written by Babai (most of them lost today), see G. Chediath, The Christology if Mar Babai the Creat, Oriental Institute of Religious Studies 49 (Kottayam, 1982), pp. 35-8. The Lift if Mahanush­ Isho'sabran (died 620/1) was written by Isho'yahb of Adiabene, probably before his election as Catholicos in 649; edited with French summary by J.B. Chabot, "Histoire de Jesus-Sabran, ecrite par Jesus-yab d'Adiabene", Nouvelles archives des missions scientifiques et litter-aires 7 (1897), pp. 485-584. For a discussion of the martyrs under Chosroes II, see Flusin, Saint Anastase II, pp. 118-27. 12 According to Ph. Gignoux, "Titres et fonctions religieuses sasanides d'apres les sources syriaques hagiographiques", Acta antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 20 (I983), pp. 191-2, George's original Persian name was rather "Mihr-Mah-Gushnasp" than Mihramgushnasp", as he is usually called in the modern literature. 13 Cf. J. Labourt, I.e christianisme dans l'empire perse sous la 4J;nastie sassanide (224-632) (Paris, 1904), pp. 217-31, esp. pp. 225-9; A. Guillaumont, Les "Kephalaia Gnostica" d'Evagre le Pontique et l'histoire de l'Origenisme chez les Crecs et chez les Syriens, Patristica Sorboniensia 5 (Paris, 1962), pp. 193-5. .
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