Английская Википедия:Acts of Pusai
The Acts of Pusai or Martyrdom of Pusai is a Syriac narrative about the martyrdom of a Christian saint named Pusai. English-speaking literature refers to this work by a variety of names, including the Martyrdom of Pusai-Qarugbed, on account of Pusai's title Qarugbed, "Head of the Craftsmen",[1] and as the "Martyrdom of Pusay[2] (or Phusik,[3] Pusayk,[2] Pusices,[4] Pusik",[5] Posi[6]). Other variants include Acts of Mar Pusai[7] and the Passions of Pusay.[8]
Narrative overview
The Sassanian Persian kings Shapur I (ruled 239-270 CE[9]) and Shapur II (ruled 309-379[10]) both struggled against the Roman Empire and deported prisoners of war to other areas within their own empire.[11][12] The Acts of Pusai seems to have mixed these two rulers into a single "Shapur" in producing the narrative about Pusai, who is said to have descended from Roman captives of Shapur.[13]
According to the Acts, Pusai married a Persian woman, converted her to Christianity, and baptised their children.[7] Pusai and his family were relocated by Shapur to the new settlement of Karka d'Ledan, near Susa.[7] The intention of Shapur was to bring deportees from a variety of regions to the new city so that they would intermarry and therefore lose interest in returning to their homelands.[14] The narrator records that while Shapur did this for self-interested reasons, God used this intermingling to spread Christianity.[14] There Pusai worked as a skilled craftsman in the making of fine cloth.[14] The king took notice of his skills, and promoted him and regularly gave him gifts.[14]
Pusai was martyred in the year 341.[15] Shapur began persecuting Christians, and when Pusai witnessed the martyrdom of one Christian, Pusai encouraged the man, soon to be killed, to close his eyes and think of Christ.[16] Pusai was immediately reported to Shapur, who had him arrested.[16] He was interrogated by Shapur, and argued against Shapur's Zurvanite religious ideas.[17] Instead of renouncing his faith, Pusai announced that he was willing to die for it, and was killed by having his tongue torn from his mouth.[16] His daughter Martha, who had taken a lifetime religious vow of celibacy, was taken into custody and put to death a little later.[18]
References
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
- ↑ 2,0 2,1 Шаблон:Cite book
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
- ↑ L. Van Rompay, "Shemʿon bar Ṣabbaʿe" in Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition, edited by, Sebastian P. Brock, Aaron M. Butts, George A. Kiraz and Lucas Van Rompay, last modified 2016-09-22-16:00.
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
- ↑ 7,0 7,1 7,2 Шаблон:Cite book
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite encyclopedia
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
- ↑ For the deportations under Shapur I, from eastern Roman provinces, see Шаблон:Cite book
- ↑ For Shapur II's fighting with Rome, and his deportation of Armenians, see Шаблон:Cite book
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
- ↑ 14,0 14,1 14,2 14,3 Шаблон:Cite book
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
- ↑ 16,0 16,1 16,2 Шаблон:Cite book
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
