The Acts of Sharbel was first translated in English by William Cureton in his Ancient Syriac Documents. He had used a single manuscript from the British Museum. It is written in Syriac and is dated from the fifth or sixth century AD. B. P. Pratten also introduced an English translation to be published in the eighth volume of the Ante-Nicene Fathers. In 1874, Moesinger published a Latin translation in his Acta SS. Martyrum Edessenorum.
Narrative overview
The text begins with the current timeline of Trajan's fifteenth year as the Roman Emperor and the third year of King Abgar VIII's rule. On the eighth day of the new year, the populous commenced a celebration and worship of multiple gods. Particularly, the statues of gods Bel and Nebo were placed at the altar centered in the city. The high priest of the gods, Sharbel, was in charge of preparations of the altar. While organizing the altar, a Christian bishop named Barsamya had suddenly walked upon the altar to engage Sharbel publicly. Barsamya preached to him and the public, and doing so, Sharbel was greatly astonished by Barsamya's teachings he converted to Christianity at that very moment. After Sharbel's conversion, he would later be prosecuted and put to torture until his death by the orders of judge Lysanias. Sharbel's sister Babai caught his blood while he was beheaded. Seeing this, the executioners decide to kill her. The bodies of Sharbel and his sister would later be stolen from the executioners by a group of followers to be buried. The narrative is concluded with a Marinus and Anatolus claiming to have authored the text.
Composition and historicity
Despite the setting taking place during the reign of Trajan, biblical scholars consider the text spurious and date its composition to the 5th century AD. Because of similar historicity, scholars associate the Acts of Sharbel with the Martyrdom of Barsamya and also compare these texts often to more considerable authentic Syriac Christian writings such as the Acts of Shmona and of Gurya and the Martyrdom of Habib in order to determine their textual historicities. In account of the martyrs themselves, Gurya, Shmona, and Habbib's names are present in a Syriac martyrology dated to 411 AD which list names of martyrs from Edessa. Likewise in his Carmina Nisibena, Ephrem the Syrian mentions the others but not Sharbel or Barsamya. The names of Addai's first Christian converts unique to the Doctrine of Addai are also written in the Acts of Sharbel and the Martyrdom of Barsamya. These names can be found inscribed in former pagan regions of Edessa dating back to the third and fourth century AD and aren't found much in Syriac sources from the fifth century AD or later. Sebastian Brock states that all three texts originated from the group of authors. He also states that the names of Addai's first Christian converts mentioned in the Acts of Sharbel and the Martyrdom of Barsamya were written with literary concepts similar to that of the Syriac Christian texts Acts of Shmona and of Gurya and the Martyrdom of Habbib, which he concluded the authors of the Acts of Sharbel and Martyrdom of Barsamya were either inserting the ideal that they already had a martyr prior to Shmona, Gurya and Habbib, or were inserting the ideal that their pagan ancestors were converted to Christianity at an early period.
Bel and Nebo
In the Acts of Sharbel, the text mentions Bel and Nebo as the deities primarily worshipped on the eighth of Nisan in Edessa. Bel and Nebo are Babylonian idols worshiped in the New Year. The Acts of Sharbel accurately timed the ceremonial worship of these idols during the period of the Babylonian festivities.
