Yuliya Minets 

University of Alabama 

How do we know a saint? An ambiguous case of Euphemia of Edessa

The sixth-century Syriac Tale of Euphemia and the Goth is a peculiar narrative set in late-fourth-century Edessa. It builds upon the martyrdoms of Shmona, Guria, and Habbib, important local saints, whose protection over the female protagonist factors in dramatically as a driving force behind the unexpected final development of the story. Yet, except for this intervention of the Edessene martyrs in a deus ex machina fashion, the Tale reads as an amazing short novel in its own right – quite secular and similar to other Greco-Roman novels, but in a distinct Syriac garb.

It has been recently suggested (Grammatikopoulos 2023; cf. Lurie/Лурье 2008) that the story’s protagonist, Euphemia “of Edessa,” was venerated as a saint in the Syrian Orthodox tradition. In addition to contextual assumptions, this is based on two arguments: 1) she is referenced as ܐܬܫܕܩ in the manuscript tradition; 2) Syriac menologia allegedly celebrate her memory on July 11, the very same day when Chalcedonians celebrate the miracle of St. Euphemia of Chalcedon in support of the Chalcedonian statement of faith. 

By philological analysis of ܐܬܫܕܩ -references and by disentangling the manuscript tradition of Syriac menologia, I argue that these conclusions are too far-reaching. The liturgical references to “martyr Euphemia” on July 11 are nothing more than a residue tradition of Chalcedonian Euphemia, present only in a relatively small selection of the miaphysite menologia, while any mention of her miracle is erased. A single manuscript (BnF Syr. 146; 17th c.) that reads “Euphemia the martyr and her mother Sophia who is from Edessa” is a curious later testimony of hybridization of two traditions that bears witness to the reception of the Tale of Euphemia and the Goth in early modern Aleppo but provides little grounds to assume that this Euphemia was venerated as a saint by the Syrian Orthodox. 

In a broader perspective, I suggest that the Tale is part of the largely forgotten legacy of Chalcedonian Edessa. Besides this, the paper questions the assumptions behind a pious figure being a “saint” in the Syriac tradition in ambiguous cases like this.