Arabic Gospel Lectionaries at Sinai

Robert Turnbull

doi:10.21071/cco.v16i0.1087

Abstract

Recent studies grouping Arabic Gospel manuscripts into families by Valentin (2003) and Kashouh (2012) have excluded lectionaries. This restriction in scope is understandable but it means that the use of these translations in Arabic Christian worship remains to be explored. A full study of all the surviving Arabic Gospel lectionaries is clearly desirable. This study seeks to provide a small step in that direction by grouping the Arabic Gospel lectionaries currently held at St. Catherine’s monastery at Sinai into their own families according to their types and textual affinities. Twelve distinct families are distinguished and in many instances their sources from families of continuous-text Arabic Gospel manuscripts are identified.

Highlights

For exampleYvonne Burns, “A Comparative Study of the Weekday Lection Systems found in some Greek and Early Slavonic Gospel Lectionaries” (University of London, 1975)
Estudios recientes de Valentin (2003) y Kashouh (2012) han agrupado los manuscritos árabes de los Evangelios por familias pero han excluido los leccionarios
The Arabic tradition is of notable significance since some early Arabic Gospel manuscripts are one of the handful of sources in the study of the ancient liturgical system of Jerusalem and we can expect that the Arabic lectionary tradition can give us more insight into this early system and the subsequent process of Byzantinization.[4]

Summary

For example

Yvonne Burns, “A Comparative Study of the Weekday Lection Systems found in some Greek and Early Slavonic Gospel Lectionaries” (University of London, 1975). Tradition can give us more insight into this early system and the subsequent process of Byzantinization.[4] some significant families of the Arabic Gospels are only preserved in a few manuscripts and in some cases only one codex.[5] There may be many more witnesses to these significant texts awaiting discovery in the lectionary tradition and potentially altogether new translations. A full study of all the surviving Arabic Gospel lectionaries is clearly desirable. This study seeks to provide a small step in that direction by grouping the Arabic Gospel lectionaries presently kept at St. Catherine’s in Sinai into families and exploring how these groups relate to the families of continuous-text Arabic Gospel manuscripts

Methodology

37. The other potential manuscript regrettably not available in this study was

19 See especially

Findings

Conclusion