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SEVEN SLEEPERS OF EPHESUS, THE

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 710 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SEVEN SLEEPERS OF See also:

EPHESUS, THE , according to the most See also:common See also:form of an old See also:legend of Syrian origin, first referred to in Western literature by See also:Gregory of See also:Tours (De glor. mart. c. 95), seven See also:Christian youths of Ephesus, who, in the Decian persecution (A.D. 250), hid themselves in a See also:cave. Their hiding-See also:place was discovered and its entrance blocked. The martyrs See also:fell asleep in a mutual embrace. Nearly 200 years later a herdsman of Ephesus rediscovered the cave on See also:Mount Coelian, and, letting in the See also:light, awoke the inmates, who sent one of their number (Jamblicus) to buy See also:food. The lad was astonished to find the See also:cross displayed over the See also:city See also:gates, and, on entering, to hear the name of See also:Christ openly pronounced. By tendering See also:coin of the See also:time of See also:Decius at a See also:baker's See also:shop he roused suspicion, and was taken before the authorities as a dishonest finder of hidden treasure. He confirmed his See also:story by leading his accusers to the cavern where his six companions were found, youthful and beaming with a See also:holy radiance. The See also:emperor See also:Theodosius II., See also:hearing what had happened, hastened to the spot in time to hear from their lips that See also:God had wrought this wonder to confirm his faith in the resurrection of the dead. This See also:message delivered, they again fell asleep. Gregory says he had the legend from the See also:interpretation of a certain Syrian "; in point of fact the story is common in See also:Syriac See also:sources.

It forms the subject of a See also:

homily of See also:Jacob of Sarug (ob. A.D. 521), which is given in the Acta sanctorum. Another Syriac version is printed in See also:Land's Anecdota, iii. 87 seq.; see also Barhebraeus, Chron. See also:eccles. i. 142 seq., and compare See also:Assemani, Bib. Or. i. 335 seq. Some forms of the legend give eight sleepers—e.g. an See also:ancient MS. of the 6th See also:century now in the See also:British Museum (See also:Cat. Syr. See also:MSS. p. 1o90).

There are considerable See also:

variations as to their names. The legend rapidly attained a wide See also:diffusion throughout Christendom ; its currency in the See also:East is testified by its See also:acceptance by See also:Mahomet (See also:sus. xviii.), who calls them A,Fhab al-Kahf, " the men of the cave." According to See also:Biruni (See also:Chronology, tr. by Sachau, p. 285) certain undecayed corpses of monks were shown in a cave as the sleepers of Ephesus in the 9th century. The seven sleepers are a favourite subject in See also:early See also:medieval See also:art. The story is well told in See also:Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the See also:Roman See also:Empire, ch. xxxiii.

End of Article: SEVEN SLEEPERS OF EPHESUS, THE

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