Seven Sleepers of Ephesus in the Quran: Difference between revisions

While the complete story of the Seven sleepers was not first written down until the 6^th century, the story was known in Syria by the middle of the 5^th century.  It is first mentioned by Bishop Stephen of Ephesus (c. 448-451 CE) <ref>{{cite web|url= |title= Ephesus after Antiquity: A Late Antique, Byzantine and Turkish City|publisher= Cambridge University Press|author= Clive Foss|date= 1979|page= 43|archiveurl= |deadurl=no}}</ref> and it is also referenced by Bishop Zachariah of Mitylene (c. 465-536 CE).<ref name="Mitylene"> {{cite web|url= http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/zachariah02.htm|title= Zachariah of Mitylene, Syriac Chronicle: Book II Chapter 1|publisher= M.A. Methuen & Co|author= F. J. Hamilton, D.D. and E. W. Books (trans.)|date= 1899|archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tertullian.org%2Ffathers%2Fzachariah02.htm&date=2013-12-04|deadurl=no}}</ref> During this time period, a number of theological controversies were taking place in Syrian Christian communities.<ref>{{cite web|url= |title= The Church of the Ancient Councils|publisher= Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press|author= Peter L’Huillier|date= 1996|pages= 199-201|archiveurl= |deadurl=no}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= |title= The Acts of the Council of Chalcedon vol. 3|publisher= Liverpool University Press|author=Richard Price and Michael Gaddis|date= 2007|pages= 1-3|archiveurl= |deadurl=no}}</ref> Among these was a debate over the nature of the resurrected body. Called the Origenist controversy, after the heretical Christian writer and cleric Origen, this theological disagreement began in Egypt during the late 4^th century and by the middle of the 5^th century had spread into Asia Minor. Origenists claimed that the resurrected body of the believer was not the same physical body they had during life. Stephen records that the bishops of his time regarded the miracle of the Seven Sleepers as a divine answer to the controversy. In his work, Zachariah of Mitylene uses the case of the Seven Sleepers as evidence toward defending the orthodox position on the resurrection: