These illustrious
Martyrs contested in the city of Edessa in Syria. Shamuna and Guria contested
during the reign of Diocletian, in 288; after many tortures, they were cast
into prison, then beheaded. Saint Habib, a deacon, contested in the days of
Licinius, in the year 316, and was burned alive; he was buried with Saints Shamuna
and Guria. On account of a renowned miracle they worked, they are invoked for
help in marital difficulties. A certain Goth had come with the Roman army to
Edessa and was quartered in the house of a pious widow named Sophia. The Goth
asked Sophia for the hand of her daughter, Euphemia; after resisting for a long
time, Sophia at last agreed. When it was time for the army to return home,
Sophia made the Goth vow on the shrine of the holy Martyrs Shamuna, Guria, and
Habib, to keep Euphemia as the apple of his eye. As he was nearing his home,
however, the treacherous man revealed to Euphemia that he already had a wife.
Euphemia was compelled to serve the Goths wife, who dealt with her mercilessly
out of jealousy. Euphemia was by this time pregnant and when the Syrian girl
brought forth a child who looked remarkably like his father, the wife’s worst
fears were confirmed. She began to persecute Euphemia in every way imaginable.
Finally her anger a jealously reached such a pitch the she determined to kill
the baby. To this end she procured poison; and having sent Euphemia on an
errand she fed it to the infant. When Euphemia returned to her quarters she
found her baby dead and a kind of froth on his mouth. She took a cloth and
wiped the froth from the baby’s mouth. The next time she gave wine to her
mistress she dipped the cloth in the cup saying, “Let God be the judge. If she
be innocent all will be well.” Upon drinking the wine, the wife of the Goth
became ill and died. She was placed in the family tomb. But her relatives were suspicious
of the slave girl and shut her up in the same tomb a few days later, leaving
her to die. So here was this poor child shut in a dark tomb with a rotting
corpse and she lamented and prayed saying “Where now are the Saints of my
homeland, where their promised protection and help?” And as Euphemia was thus
praying, she was miraculously conveyed to Edessa, and was found by the shrine
of the holy Martyrs and was reunited with her mother through their holy
prayers. The Goth eventually returned to Edessa, was brought before the judges
and condemned to death for his crimes.
