A Syriac poem (memra) called “On Blessed Martyrs” survives in a single late antique manuscript (Vatican Syriac 120, later copied by Vatican Syriac 364). The manuscript contains primarily poems written in a seven-syllable meter. All are attributed to “Isaac,” or not attributed at all. We can zoom out from this poem and contextualize it literarily alongside a number of other late antique poems devoted to the martyrs generally. These poems are attributed to Ephrem or Narsai or Jacob or stand without specific attribution. In most cases, these poems name no specific martyrs and allude to no specific martyrial narrative. It is likely that the poetry was written for practical, liturgical reasons—to adorn the Feast of All Martyrs, a feast that in early Syriac calendars is attested on at least two different dates. These martyrial poems, and the feast for which they were likely composed, have rarely been grouped together, and rarely received scholarly attention.

By situating Vatican Syriac 120’s “On Blessed Martyrs” alongside this other poetry and in the context of the Feast of All Martyrs, this talk tries to imagine how martyrial poetry worked in the late antique Syriac feasts of martyrs. I argue that by highlighting a poem that tends to no specific martyr, and that tells no specific martyrial narrative, we can gain insight into what the feasts of the martyrs meant generally—insight into how the martyrs were wielded catechetically and how they were attached to the affections of late antique audiences.

Jeffrey Wickes