Historical Context
The martyrdoms took place during the persecution of the Jews carried out by the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes, dated by Orthodox tradition to the year 166 before Christ. Antiochus issued decrees forbidding Jewish practices, including the keeping of kosher law and circumcision, and sought to compel the abandonment of the Law of Moses.
According to the account, Antiochus desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem, placed within it a statue of the pagan god Zeus, and demanded that the Jews worship it. The brothers were brought to trial and commanded to eat pig's flesh, which was forbidden by the Law, on pain of death.
The Martyrdom
The teacher Eleazar, a ninety-year-old scribe, was brought to trial first for his faithfulness to the Mosaic Law; he endured tortures and died at Jerusalem. He is also described in 2 Maccabees 6.
The seven brothers were brought to trial in Antioch and refused to eat the forbidden food. They endured severe tortures, including mutilation, and were put to death. Their mother Solomonia accompanied her sons and encouraged them to remain faithful; after witnessing the death of all seven, she stood over their bodies, raised her hands in prayer to God, and died.
Legacy
Their steadfastness is recorded as having inspired Judas Maccabeus to lead a revolt that resulted in the purification of the Temple, an event documented in the books of the Maccabees.
The mother is unnamed in 2 Maccabees but is known by several names across traditions: she is called Solomonia in Eastern Orthodox tradition, Hannah in the medieval Josippon, Miriam bat Nahtom in Lamentations Rabbah, and Shmuni in Syriac Christianity. The names of the brothers likewise vary between traditions; alongside the Orthodox list, Syriac tradition records them through the Fenqitho. Their story is also recounted in the Talmud (Tractate Gittin 57b) and in Lamentations Rabbah.
Relics & Shrines
According to Antiochene Christian tradition, the relics of the mother and her sons were interred on the site of a synagogue in the Kerateion quarter of Antioch, which was later converted into a church.
Additional tombs believed to be those of the martyrs were discovered in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome in 1876. The Maccabean martyrs are venerated on August 1 in both the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic calendars, and remain commemorated in the Traditional Latin Mass.
