Martyrs and Confessors Gurias, Samonas and Habib of Edessa

Gurias and Samonas lived as ascetics near Edessa (modern Urfa) when the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian began. The governor Musonius had them hung by their arms with heavy stones tied to their feet and kept them for months in a dark, airless prison, then hung Samonas head down. According to the Life they refused to sacrifice, and on 15 November, in the years c. 299–306, they were beheaded outside the city.

Habib was a deacon from the village of Telzeha near Edessa. In 322, under the emperor Licinius, he was brought before the governor Lysanias, declared himself a Christian and refused to sacrifice. He was sentenced to be burned. He walked to the fire, followed by his mother and relatives, and died in it. The three are remembered together as the martyrs of Edessa.