Martyr 6th century

Martyr Syncletica and her two daughters

6th century

Also known as Syncletica of Arabia

A widowed Christian woman and her daughters who suffered under Dhu Nuwas during the persecution of Christians in Arabia.

Feast Day

October 24

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Life

Syncletica was a Christian widow of Najran in Arabia who, together with her two daughters, suffered martyrdom in the early 6th century during the persecution of Christians by Dhu Nuwas (called Dunaan in the Greek synaxaria), the Jewish ruler of the Himyarite Kingdom of southern Arabia.

According to the OCA synaxarion, Syncletica descended from an illustrious family and was widowed at a young age. She devoted herself to the Christian upbringing of her daughters while leading a chaste life, and the three of them died together for their faith.

She is commemorated on October 24 in the Eastern Orthodox calendar alongside the Martyr Arethas and the Martyrs of Najran (Negran), and Blessed Elesbaan, King of Ethiopia, who led the intervention that ended the persecution. As an obscure individual member of this larger martyr cluster, her personal details survive only within the collective calendar entry.

Timeline 3 moments Read Hide

c. AD 522 Dhu Nuwas seizes the Himyarite throne Dhu Nuwas takes power over the Himyarite Kingdom in Yemen and, as a convert to Judaism, issues an edict to eliminate Christianity from his realm.
AD 523 Persecution of Najran Dhu Nuwas executes Arethas, leader of the Christian community of Najran, and besieges the city; Syncletica and her two daughters are among the Christians who suffer martyrdom in this persecution.
AD 525 Aksumite intervention Byzantine Emperor Justin I and King Kaleb (Elesbaan) of Aksum send forces to Yemen; the Aksumite invasion defeats Dhu Nuwas and ends the persecution.

Contributions & Legacy

2 contributions Read Hide

Historical Context

The martyrdom of Syncletica and her daughters belongs to the persecution of the Christians of Najran, a significant Christian center in southern Arabia. The persecutor, Dhu Nuwas (real name Yusuf Asʾar Yathʾar, c. AD 450-530), ruled the Himyarite Kingdom in Yemen from about AD 522 to 530, seizing the throne around AD 522 by assassinating his predecessor. Having converted to Judaism, he issued an edict to eliminate Christianity from his realm.

In AD 523 he executed Arethas (Arabic: al-Harith ibn Ka'b), leader of the Christian community of Najran, together with a large number of followers, and dispatched an army to besiege the city in a siege that lasted six months. Christian sources record death tolls reaching into the thousands; Orthodox tradition numbers the company as the Martyr Arethas and 4,299 Martyrs of Najran. Other named women martyrs of the persecution include the noblewoman Ruhm, executed with her daughter and granddaughter, and Habsa bint Hayyan.

News of the persecution reached the Byzantine Emperor Justin I and King Kaleb (Elesbaan) of Aksum in Ethiopia. In AD 525 an Aksumite invasion defeated Dhu Nuwas, who, according to the account, rode his horse into the Red Sea to escape capture, bringing the persecution to an end.

Sources and Veneration

The principal historical source for the Najran martyrs is the Martyrdom of Arethas, which survives in two recensions: an earlier authentic version dated no later than the 7th century, and a 10th-century revision attributed to Simeon Metaphrastes, with translations in Ge'ez, Arabic, and Greek. The wider company, including Arethas, is venerated in the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox churches.

No Wikipedia article is dedicated to Syncletica herself; she appears only in collective calendar entries, and her individual hagiographic details derive from the OCA synaxarion. No glorification act or documentation of relics has been identified, consistent with her status as an ancient pre-schism martyr.

Notes

Named family group kept as one row.

Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints