Syriac Christianity Research Articles

“Superiority is due to us, and the king should come from among us”: The Arab Conquests and Conflicts of the Early Umayyad Era in a 7th-Century Syriac Universal History of Yoḥannān bar Penkāyē

Abstract The last few decades have seen considerable interest in non-Muslim sources that contain material on the earliest stage of Islam. This paper examines one such witness, The Book of the Main Points by Yoḥannān bar Penkāyē, a 7th-century Syriac universal history, that provides an account of the Arab conquests, the first decades of the Umayyad caliphate, with a special focus on the events of the Second Fitna. The paper includes a commentary on selected passages from the History concerning the conquests and early Muslim rule, a comparative study of Syriac Christian sources on the Second Fitna, and a lexico-historical sketch of the phenomenon of the šurṭa (slaves and prisoners of war) fighting on the side of al-Muḫtār during the Second Fitna.

Syriac Exegesis of the Qurʾān

Abstract Christian authors writing in Syriac after the Islamic conquests frequently invoked the Qurʾān to validate the truth of Christian beliefs – such as the Trinity and the Incarnation – and to read the Qurʾān in a manner that removes any criticism of Christians and Christianity. The most comprehensive work of this genre is Against the Arabs of the prolific 12th-century Syrian Orthodox writer, the monophysite bishop of Amida, Dionysius bar Ṣalībī. Hitherto, scholarly attention has been given to exploring Bar Ṣalībī’s Qurʾān quotations vis-à-vis the canonical Qurʾānic text and to identifying the sources from which Bar Ṣalībī quoted the Qurʾān. Building on the current state of research, the aim of the present article is to attempt to provide an analysis of Against the Arabs’ approach to some relatively problematic passages, cruces interpretum, in the Qurʾān. Through studying a number of Qurʾānic verses in Syriac translation, and as commented upon in Against the Arabs, the article highlights the textual problems detected in Against the Arabs and shows that they are genuine problems which are also discussed in the tafsīr (Qurʾān commentary) literature. Put differently, the article demonstrates that – although motivated by different causes – Against the Arabs and the Muslim exegetical literature were both intrigued by the same problems in the Qurʾān but, naturally, reacted to them in different ways. More generally, it is hoped that through showcasing aspects of Against the Arabs’ hermeneutical engagement with the Qurʾān the article will allow us to “hear” the Qurʾān as it was received and interpreted by Syriac Christianity in the High Middle Ages.

In What Extend Does the Establishment of the Silk Road Affect the Spread of East Syriac Christian Between the 7th and the 10th Century

This research is about the role of the silk road on the spread of Stentorian. Throughout the researched three important Archaeological sites, and analyzed the key East Syriac Christian Artifacts in these sites. Throughout the analyze of these artifacts by analyzing their values and limitations to define whether the source can be trusted. By evaluating the information the source given and conclude whether the site is an important East Syriac Christian Site. A pattern with all these Archaeological site are all a part of the silk road, therefore that East Syriac Christian is spreading all along the silk road and the silk road helped the spread of East Syriac Christian can be confirmed. The East Syriac Christian Monument in Xian, the East Syriac Christian Artifacts in Dunhuang, East Syriac Christian CHRISTIANITY IN CENTRAL ASIA. To evaluate the relationship between the silk road and the spread of East Syriac Christian, it can give us a further understanding of the spiritual side of the things that silk road spread.

Revisiting the Institution of Bnay and Bnoth Qyōmo in the Syriac Tradition

A group of Syriac Christian believers existed during the fourth century called the Bnay Qyōmo (with their female counterparts known as the Bnoth Qyōmo): the Sons and Daughters of the Covenant. There has been considerable controversy about the nature of this archaic Syrian monastic movement or, as it is known to some scholars, the Syriac “Proto-Monastic Tradition”. The controversy has not only been about the name, but also the origin, habits, and ascetic way of life of the Bnay Qyōmo. The intention of the present article is not to elaborate on the various terminology used to describe the Bnay Qyōmo or the nature of their vows and expected duties as introduced by Aphrahat and other Syrian Fathers, for these have been studied by many scholars. Rather, the intention of this article is to review some of the material discussing this group by key Syriac Fathers to present a fresh reading of the historical record to better apprize the order’s regulations and its social and ecclesiastical roles within the Syriac-speaking Church during the fourth and fifth centuries AD. The main Syriac writers who dealt with this topic were Aphrahat, known as “the Persian Sage” (ca. 260–345), and Rabūla, Bishop of Edessa (flor. 420s). Whilst the order appears to have declined by about the eighth century, understanding the roles of the Bnay Qyōmo during the earlier period (the focus of this writing) is crucial for explaining the development of the Syriac Tradition.

Judeo-Syriac in late antiquity and the Middle Ages

In 2012 the term ‘Judeo-Syriac’ was coined independently by two scholars to refer to Syriac written in Jewish Aramaic/Hebrew script, in texts from late antiquity, on the one hand, and in medieval texts, on the other. In this article the differences between these two types of Judeo-Syriac are established, particularly in respect of their sociolinguistic contexts. The earlier context involves the Jews of Edessa and its environs, for whom Syriac was their mother tongue, and who, as evidenced by the Peshitta Old Testament, normally used Syriac script; their use of Jewish script in funerary inscriptions was exceptional. The later context involves Jewish scholars, for whom Syriac was not their mother tongue, engaging with Syriac Christian scholarship, initially through direct contact with Christian scholars. The textual products of such collaborations resulted in Judeo-Syriac texts that continued to be copied by Jewish scholars who had little knowledge of Syriac in Syriac script.

‘Bookish’ Borrowings and Novelty in a Chinese-Christian Manuscript from Dunhuang

The trade routes of late antique and early medieval Eurasia conducted far more than goods. Exchanges occurred between a number of prominent book cultures with origins or, at least, ties to the Indian, Iranian and Chinese worlds. A Christian scroll (Pelliot chinois 3847) discovered in the famed Library Cave near Dunhuang is the product of such interactions in both its materiality and its written content. This Chinese manuscript of East Syriac Christians bears three texts, at least some of which were composed during the late eighth century of the Tang period (618–907). This article focuses on three terms used in the postscript of P.3847. Although a relatively well-known Dunhuang manuscript, the ‘bookish’ terminology of the postscript deserves consideration in its own right; this includes the only known occurrence of the Chinese term bei pijia 貝皮夾. From this study, insight is gained into both the semantic depth of these Chinese terms and the Christian appropriation of them.

Christ as Charioteer: An Expanded Image in Early Armenian Literature

ABSTRACT Beginning with the perception of God as warrior in the Hebrew Bible, the article explores the image of God as charioteer in a spectrum of theophanic texts, both biblical and parabiblical, underlying Jewish apocalyptic traditions translated into Christian beliefs surrounding the Cross as means of heavenly ascent. Equating the Cross with the tetramorphic chariot-throne of God in Ezekiel’s visions, an interpretive tradition mediated primarily through Syriac Christianity and rooted in the Christology of the New Testament, Armenian interpreters expanded the tradition. A close reading of early Armenian texts conveying the reception and transmission of the imagery of Christ as charioteer shows an expansion to a point of reordering the chariot’s heavenly ascent to earthly descent, a divine visitation to the land of Armenia, thus driving the tradition to a sort of realized eschatology.

An Unpublished Anti-Jewish Syriac Dialogue from Turfan

Abstract This article presents the unpublished Syriac text of an anonymous anti-Jewish dialogue preserved fragmentarily in the manuscript SyrHT 94 [T II B 50 = 1682] from the Berlin Turfan-Collection. The dialogue, which combines scriptural and rational polemical arguments, is an important witness to the development of the adversus Judaeos literary tradition among Syriac Christians during the Islamic period. The text is accompanied by an English translation and a brief discussion.

Sefer Yeṣirah’s Dating, Geographic Provenance and the Open Question of Its Composer’s Religious Affiliation and Identity

Abstract In 2018, Weiss has ended centuries of speculation about the enigmatic Hebrew Sefer Yeṣirah’s dating and geographical provenance, demonstrating with a high level of confidence (specifically on the basis of Sefer Yeṣirah’s Syriac grammarian loanwords) a seventh-century C.E. Syrian origin. Weiss and others have also shown that Sefer Yeṣirah’s closest parallels are in Syriac Christian grammarian and theological sources. Given that abundant evidence points to a Rabbinic form of Judaism present in ancient Syria, the theory of a Jewish composer is odd because of the text’s non-Rabbinic character. Similarly, the theory of a Syriac Christian or “Jewish-Christian” author is odd in view of the text’s composition in Hebrew instead of Syriac. It remains for future research to solve this final enigma of the religious identity of Sefer Yeṣirah’s composer.

When Identity Shifts to Violence: Historical and Hagiographical Cases from Syriac Churches in Interaction with Confessional and Religious Rivals

This article briefly epitomizes violence in the broad context of Eastern Christianity, and secondly deals with the transfer of this phenomenon in Syriac Christianity, for the reason that this has not been studied as much as in the Byzantine literature. The purpose is to demonstrate that identity-based violence was a feature included in the narratives of antique and medieval Eastern Christian discourses, this being closely linked to the struggle for ecclesiastical primacy and political power. The paper discusses paradigmatic cases, methodologically studied in their context, of Christian individuals and religious characters that suffered or acted against rivals with violence. The main focus is on historical and historiographical sources illustrating: (1) Syriac communities and factions defending their identity through language or acts of violence; and (2) identity-based confrontations within the Syriac family: factions within the same community, or sister Churches that became rivals (Syriac Orthodox against East Syrians) instrumentalizing the language of violence, mostly actions of destruction, against their opponents. The conclusion indicates that perseverance in defending the truth, as part of their identity, made the communities opt for confrontation, and when one endured violence, one accepted this on the models of the martyrs and the imitatio Christi.

A House Filled with Light: The Birth of Moses in Late Antique Contexts

Abstract In a homiletic cluster expounding upon the first two chapters of Exodus, Bavli Sotah 12a–b includes a tradition describing light filling the house upon Moses’s birth. While this appears to be a standard trope of the heroic nativity, this motif is uncommon. It is found only in Second Temple accounts of Noah’s birth, and in depictions of the birth of Zoroaster and apocryphal infancy gospels that were popular among Syriac Christians (and later concerning the birth of Muhammed). After examining the textual evidence pointing to the uniquely Babylonian provenance of this talmudic tradition, I explore the variations on the motif in these other birth narratives. I argue that these similarities suggest a desire on the part of the rabbis to depict the focal hero of the rabbinic imagination in cosmological and even divine terms similar to those of competing religions, though it deviates from the usual midrashic depictions of Moses.

A Lost Source for Syriac Christianity in the Umayyad Era. The Ecclesiastical History of Daniel Son of Moses of Ṭur ʿAbdin (8th century)

A Lost Source for Syriac Christianity in the Umayyad Era. The <i>Ecclesiastical History </i>of Daniel Son of Moses of Ṭur ʿAbdin (8th century)

John the Baptist and Fasting

The Gospels passages describe John the Baptist’s ascetic behaviour in the Judean desert, eating locusts and wild honey, wearing garments made of camel hair. The food choices of St. John are analysed in comparison with the practice of nazirite, and also on the light of Eastern tradition, mostly spread in Syriac Christianity, which interpretation differs, underlining a particular form of ascetism completely characterised by vegetables. Commentaries, mostly dating back to the 4th and 5th centuries, explain the word ‘akrides’ as a particular vegetable. Furthermore, the celebration of St. John’s Eve, as a result of medieval western development, is nowadays characterized by abundance of food, in contrast, with the Gospel description of the life of the Baptist, are compared with the tradition of charivari, known since the Middle Ages.

Book Review: Jews and Syriac Christians: Intersections across the First Millennium

Book Review: Jews and Syriac Christians: Intersections across the First Millennium

The Basilica of Betä Sämaʿtiʾ in its Aksūmite, Early Christian, and Late Antique Context

The ancient Kingdom of Aksūm, located in Ethiopia and Eritrea, was one of the most influential civilizations of the first millennium ce. More than a dozen Aksūmite structures attest to the spread of Christianity from the fourth to the seventh centuries ce. Among these structures, a basilica recently discovered at the site of Betä Sämaʿtiʾ in northern Ethiopia first constructed during the fourth century ce constitutes one of the earliest examples of Christian architecture in Ethiopia. In this paper, we place the basilica of Betä Sämaʿtiʾ in the context of early Ethiopian Christian architecture while highlighting the importance of this new finding for broader studies on the early developments of the basilica form in the Afro-Eurasian Late Antique world. In doing so, we shed light on the connection between Syriac Christianity and the Kingdom of Aksūm and the neighboring Kingdoms of Nobadia, Makuria, and Alodia, which emerged in Nubia after the collapse of Meroe in the fourth century. We also emphasize the adaptation of indigenous pagan elements in influencing the first monotheistic structures of Ethiopia, offering an overview of the shift from paganism to monotheism in the Horn of Africa.

Aaron Michael Butts, new Professor of Semitic Studies with a focus on Ethiopian and Eritrean studies at Universität Hamburg, with the project BeInf—Beyond Influence: The Connected Histories of Ethiopic and Syriac Christianity

Academic News

Invitation to Syriac Christianity. An Anthology, ed. Michael Philip Penn, Scott Fitzgerald Johnson, Christine Shepardson, and Charles M. Stang. Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2022, xxviii, 431 pp.

The fact that Christianity during late antiquity and the Middle Ages cannot be observed from a Western perspective alone is increasingly recognized in current research. The volume under review makes an important contribution to this change of perspective since it offers insights into the literary production of one of the oldest Christian traditions that has been often overlooked in Western historiography. The churches of the Syriac traditions constituted an important branch of Christianity besides the commonly more well-known Latin and Greek traditions. During the medieval period, Syriac Christians were not only present in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East but also in India and along the routes of the Silk Road extending as far as China. For the first time, this volume, edited by four experts in the field of Syriac Studies, provides a collection of excerpts from the whole range of Syriac literature in English translation which is easily accessible, thus creating a highly valuable sourcebook for the study of Syriac Christianity.

Jephthah’s Daughter, Sarah’s Son: The Death of Children in Late Antiquity. By Maria E. Doerfler

Maria Doerfler takes on the cheerless topic of childhood mortality in her first book, winner of the AAR’s Best First Book Award for 2022. Doerfler writes gracefully and sensitively, opening up a world unfamiliar to many of us: Syriac Christian theological treatises, homilies, and sermons, particularly the work of Ephrem Graecus, Jacob of Serugh, Narsai, and other eastern Christian writers from the fourth to sixth centuries. Some of these sources have long been available but have not yet been mined for the particular focus that consumes Doerfler; others, she makes available to English-language readers for the first time. She deftly weaves together fragments of a hidden phenomenon: despite its ubiquity, the death of children—not to mention societal responses to it—remains largely absent from both the literary and the archaeological record. Death in childhood was all too common in antiquity, but for most of us, it remains something to which we mercifully cannot relate. It is that emotional distance that made this topic one that was, prior to Doerfler’s book, uncharted territory within scholarship, and it is that same emotional distance that makes this issue possible to bear today. Like the authors she discusses, Doerfler never succumbs to sentimentality nor to morbid description.

Иудейская литература периода Второго Храма как возможный источник для концепции Ефрема Сирина о боговдохновенном учителе-писце (на примере шестого гимна «О Распятии»)

In his 6th Hymn De crucifixione that is consecrated to the interpretation of three days problem of Jesus’ resurrection, the Syriac poet-theologian Ephrem the Syrian (4th c.) functions as a teacher of astronomical and calendric lore. The article focuses on the probable sources of the construction of Ephrem’s authority as a teacher in this hymn. The author demonstrates that the astronomical discourse in the Syriac hymn is constructed with the specific structural devices, e.g., the first-person discourse, the term “calculation” and metaphorically expressed with the image of the scribe. These elements have obvious parallels within the Jewish Aramaic texts of the Second Temple, e.g., “the Aramaic Astronomical Book” and “the Document of Levi”. Like in Ephrem’s Hymn De crucifixione, in these texts are used the astronomical and other arithmetical calculations. The Jewish scribes who composed these works, transformed the old Babylonian mathematical lore into new narrative forms. In the course of this, these real scribes used fictive authority of the biblical figures associated with writing, e.g., Moses, David, Enoch, Noah and others. The author gives heed to the similar use of these biblical figures in Ephrem’s hymns and draws a conclusion about the self-definition by Ephrem as the scribe who is inspired by God and obtain a capability to interpretate God’s “secrets”. As a result, Ephrem “blends” the Christological typological interpretation of the “secret” or “symbol” with ancient Jewish and Mesopotamian connotations. Hence, in his sixth Hymn De crucifixione, the Syrian poet functions not as a theologian but as a teacher with quasi-prophetic status who is aligned with Moses and David and imitates their writing and interpretative activities. In the opinion of the author, these conclusions could shed light not only on the origins of Ephrem’s works, but on the origins of the Syriac Christianity as a whole.

Presentism and the Study of Late Antiquity

Presentism and the Study of Late Antiquity