Was There a Syriac Lectio Divina?

Abstract

Abstract This chapter reviews past scholarship in order to craft a methodology for the study of East Syrian contemplative reading. Research on early medieval Europe and Egypt offers valuable analogous models. Scholars have traced the development of Benedictine lectio divina from its Evagrian sources in fourth- and fifth-century Egypt. These studies prompt this chapter to ask if there was a Syriac lectio divina. While there are no prior monographs on reading in Syriac monasticism, this chapter gathers together a number of studies on Syriac biblical interpretation, Syriac monastic literacy, and the mystical theologies of Isaac of Nineveh and Dadishoʿ of Qatar. Collectively, these studies suggest that a tradition of contemplative reading was widely known in the Church of the East by the seventh century. From that evidence, this chapter maps out the need for a broader narrative describing how contemplative reading came to be established in the Church of the East up to that time. Next, the chapter turns to survey the relevant Syriac technical vocabulary related to monastic reading in order to arrive at a working definition of East Syrian contemplative reading. The chapter concludes that although it might be convenient to speak of “a Syriac lectio divina”, it is more accurate to define the Syriac tradition as “ascetic reading” (a category coined by Brian Stock) or “contemplative reading” (a term suggested by the sources). Attention to particular historical contexts reveals that East Syrian contemplative reading was a sibling to Latin lectio divina, independently developed from the same Egyptian tradition.