Over
the weekend, I got involved in a thread at the blog, Allan Ruhl - Truth
Without Compromise, under the title: Ibn Khaldun on Christianity
(LINK).
Though
I have been a keen student of Islam for over two decades now, it had been about
six months since I was last engaged in extensive research focusing on Islamic
studies. As my weekend research continued into Monday, I came across a
historical legend—some folk believe that it was an actual event—in a Festschrift
honoring the famous British orientalist, E. G. Browne, that I had never
heard of: The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus.
The
title of the Festschrift is, A Volume of Oriental Studies Presented
to Edward G. Browne On His 60th Birthday (link to PDF copy HERE). The specific
paper that discusses The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, was C. C. Torrey's,
"Three Difficult Passages in the Koran" (pages 457- 471).
I
am a bit embarrassed to admit that I had never heard of this event/legend
before this morning. I have been studying early Christian history for over
thirty years now, yet never came across it. More embarrassing is the fact that
I have read the Qur'an, cover-to-cover, two times and did not realize that this
event/legend is mentioned in Surah 18, The Cave—though not by name. But with
that said, I am quite pleased that I am now fully cognizant of this wonderful
story of seven Christian youths who escaped the Decian persecution of 250 A.D.
by fleeing to a cave outside of Ephesus where they miraculously sleep for some
180-309 years (length varies in different versions), and then emerged from the
cave not having aged a single day. Lending credence to this event is the fact
that the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches have feast days for it—October
22/23, August 2 for the Orthodox, and July 27 for Catholics.
Tony Devaney Morinelli's English translation - LINK 1 ; LINK 2
Orthodox Church of America, online article
Wikipedia entry
Catholic Encyclopedia entry via New Advent
Martyrs For The Faith
Huffington Post, blog contribution by Bob Schulman
Bartłomiej Grysa's, The Legend of the Seven Sleepers in Syriac and Arab Sources
Looking
forward to dialogue on this event/legend...
Grace
and peace,
