Syriac Manuscripts Research Articles

From the Odes of Solomon

The Odes of Solomon are believed to have been written around the year 100 A.D., and include strong parallels to the Dead Sea Scrolls. Scholars have debated whether the Odes should be considered Jewish, Christian or Gnostic, and whether they were first written in Greek, Hebrew or Syriac. Early Christian writings refer to and quote from them. A Syriac manuscript containing the text of most of the Odes was discovered in 1909 by the English scholar J. Rendel Harris, and other partial texts in various languages have also been found. There are 42 Odes. Some fragments are still missing from Odes I and III, and no part of Ode II has yet been found. For these choral settings, I selected text from four of the Odes of Solomon which I found particularly compelling. The anonymous translation I have used comes from The Gnostic Society Library.From the Odes of Solomon is a set of three pieces for unaccompanied mixed choir (SATB). The set was premiered in concert on June 2, 2002, by the Ars Brunensis Chorus under the direction of conductor Roman Valek and choirmaster Dan Kalousek at the Husov Sbor, in Brno, Czech Republic. Their recording is available on CD. The score is published by Ars Nova Music, a division of Ars Nova Press.From the Odes of Solomon is a Project Encore selection.

Classical Syriac Manuscripts at Yale University

Classical Syriac Manuscripts at Yale University

Critique textuelle et traduction du treizième Psaume de Salomon*

Abstract The aim of this article is to analyse Pss. Sol. 13, an intertestamentary text that deals with the question of divine punishment inflicted both on righteous and wicked. In order to better understand the exact message of the text, it is necessary to study in detail the relationship between its ancient witnesses, especially the eleven Greek and five Syriac manuscripts, the original Hebrew text not being available. As a matter of principle, it can be argued that the Syriac version depends either on the Hebrew or on the Greek text. However, a thorough study of the differences between these manuscripts leads to the conclusion that the Syriac version probably depends on the Greek text. In the absence of other witnesses the Greek text remains the only reliable version. At the end of the article, a French translation is offered, followed by some exegetical remarks.

Moving Beyond the Palimpsest: Erasure in Syriac Manuscripts

An examination of the world's largest collection of Syriac manuscripts illustrates how frequently late antique and medieval readers modified many of the most important documents for early Christian studies. Of particular note is the widespread practice of readers erasing small parts of the texts they were reading. Such erasures are especially common in manuscript sections that contain 1) ownership information, 2) prayer petitions or anathemas, and/or 3) contested names or personal attributes. Such erasures challenge the analytical primacy of original authorship and suggest that scholars of early Christianity should attend more closely to the "lives" of the manuscripts upon which our knowledge of antiquity depends. An approach to manuscript culture that focuses less on recovering an ur-text provides important information for how subsequent generations of Christians read manuscripts and how such reading strategies related to such issues as power, performance, and ethics. It also suggests that the literature we label as "early Christian" is often the end product of an extensive transmission history that defies easy periodization.

Fragments patristiques syriaques des Nouvelles découvertes du Sinaï

The Catalogue of the new Syriac manuscripts of Sinai by Mother Philothea completes the series of inventories devoted to the “New Finds” of 1975 and the previous publication of Sebastian Brock (1995). The current article focuses only on the parchment manuscripts of patristic, monastic or hagiographic content described in the Catalogue. It provides a study of each of them, proposing new identifications of texts and authors, specifying the dates and styles of writing, and finally reconstituting the dismembered manuscripts sometimes scattered throughout Europe. The fragments, the majority of which are of Melkite origin, are a major contribution to the knowledge of this religious community.

Les « histoires » syriaques de la Vierge: Traditions apocryphes anciennes et récentes

A review of Syriac manuscripts of the History of the Virgin from the fifth and sixth centuries confirms their classification into two traditions. The «Palm» tradition, which has spread very little in the Syriac world, and the «Bethlehem» tradition. The latter assembles the narrative of the childhood of Mary (the Protevangelium Jacobi) and that of the youth of Jesus (the Infancy Gospel of Thomas) with the narrative in Six Books of the end of the life of the Virgin (the Transitus Mariae), thus demonstrating that the Syriac author wanted to constitute, as early on as in the most ancient witnesses to have reached us, a History of the Virgin in chronogical order, from the time of her birth to her last days. Existing classification proposals of these texts, based on doctrinal (Assumption and Dormition) or literary criteria (S1, S2, S3) having been found not satisfactory, a new classification is submitted. Later on, medieval traditions diverge. On the Eastern Syriac side, one finds a continuous narrative, while Western Syriac traditions’ narrative is divided into numbered books. Western Syriac traditions are found to present two recensions, both in Six Books like the Transitus of the ancient recensions, with which they are therefore frequently confused, although they are different.

Preliminary Notes on a Syriac Treatise about the Medicinal Properties of Foodstuffs

In a series of articles published in the 1970’s, Rainer Degen identified three Syriac manuscripts of a medical treatise probably compiled and translated from Greek sources in 9th century ʿAbbāsid Baghdad by the celebrated physician and scholar Ḥunayn ibn-Isḥāq. The compilation is essentially an abridged Syriac translation of Galen’s treatise On the Properties of Foodstuffs to which the compiler has added thematically related extracts drawn from other Greek medical authorities, including Dioscorides, Hippocrates, Rufus of Ephesus, and several minor authors whose writings were apparently known to Ḥunayn through the Medical Collection of Oribasius. This paper offers a preliminary survey of the structure and content of the Syriac compilation and outlines a few broader literary and historical questions that require further research.

Psalmody and Prayer in the Writings of Evagrius Ponticus (review)

Psalmody and Prayer in the Writings of Evagrius Ponticus. By Luke Dysinger, O.S.B. [Oxford Theological Monographs.] (Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2005. Pp. x, 245.£55.00.) Within months of his death, and possibly earlier, Evagrios Pontikos became a figure of controversy, and that controversy has rarely died down. It is generally blamed for the controversy that erupted in the late fourth century, and provoked the condemnation of some of the Egyptian monks by Pope Theophilos of Alexandria, though, by the time of the condemnation, Evagrios was already dead (on Pope Theophilos, see now Norman Russell's Theophilus of Alexandria [2007], in Routledge's alas doomed series, Early Church Fathers). Evagrios was certainly among the Origenists condemned at the Fifth Ecumenical Synod of 553, though the nature of this Origenism is far from clear. As a result of these condemnations, Evagrios' works struggled to survive in their original Greek, though they were more successful than one might have expected owing to the peerless wisdom they contained, especially for ascetics pursuing the monastic life. However, several important works were lost in Greek and survive only in Syriac and Armenian, mostly, the languages of those independent of the imperial conciliar tradition from Chalcedon onwards (in Armenia, Evagrios receives veneration as a saint). Evagrios once more became controversial in modern times, especially after Antoine Guillaumont discovered in the British Museum Library (as it was then) a Syriac manuscript of the Evagrios' Kephalaia Gnostica. Guillaumont argued that this manuscript contained a more faithful translation of the Greek original than the text already known, and was, moreover, the source of the Origenist opinions condemned by the council of 553. He then proceeded, in a book which transformed studies (Les «Kephalaia Gnostica» d'Evagre le Pontique et Thistoire de l'origenisme chez les grecs et ches les syriens [1962]), to reconstruct the Evagrian system on the basis of the anathemas, supported by passages from Evagrios' authentic works, especially the newly discovered manuscript of the Kephalaia Gnostica. Guillaumont's reconstructed Evagrianism has been widely accepted in the scholarly world, despite the fact that using anathemas as a blueprint for heresy seems methodologically quite unsound, and the further fact that these anathemas date from more than a century and a half after Evagrios' death; his disciples must have been remarkably faithful, for Guillaumont's reconstruction to be valid. Guillaumont's views did not pass without challenge, notably from the scholar-hermit, Father Gabriel Bunge, who has done more than anyone to rehabilitate Evagrios, producing translations and commentaries on his works, as well as sharply argued articles dismantling various aspects of Guillaumont's reconstruction, and in general presenting Evagrios as a great master of the spiritual life, whose wisdom needs to be heard today. If Bunge's impact on Western scholarship has been limited, his reception in the Orthodox world has been much more enthusiastic. Parallel to Bunge's work has been the rediscovery of the importance to Evagrios of the Scriptures. Although much of his scriptural commentary is lost, it seems that Evagrios devoted a great deal of time to the genre of commentary called scholia, brief comments on individual verses, and indeed words. His scholia on Proverbs and Ecclesiastes have been published in Sources Chretiennes, and there has been available for some years now in electronic form to those with persistence enough to track it down a working edition of his scholia on the Psalms, prepared by Marie-Josephe Rondeau on the basis of a manuscript in the Vatican Library. …

Syriac Manuscripts in Mannanam Library

Syriac Manuscripts in Mannanam Library

The Date of the Martyrdom of Lucian of Antioch

Abstract The influential priest and teacher Lucian of Antioch suffered martyrdom during the great ‘Persecution’ set in train by the emperor Diocletian in late February 303, which was finally ended in Asia Minor, the Syrian region and Egypt in the late spring and summer of 313. Lucian was executed in Nicomedia on 7 January: both the place and the day are attested by unimpeachable evidence, including the ancient editor's note on a homily in praise of Lucian delivered by John Chrysostom (PG 50, 519-526 [CPG 4346]), the early martyrology preserved in a Syriac manuscript written in Edessa in 411 (PO 10/1, 12,1 Nau), and the Martyrologium Hieronymianum (ActaSS Nov. II/2, Brussels 1931, 29). The year of Lucian's martyrdom, however, is not explicitly attested and must be inferred from the fact that he was tried and condemned to death by a Roman emperor who was in Nicomedia at the time. Since Lucian can hardly have suffered martyrdom as early as January 305, when Diocletian was certainly in Nicomedia, the only possible years between 303 and 313 when Lucian can have been tried by an emperor in that city immediately before execution on a 7 January are 311 and 312. The majority of modern scholars have plumped for the later of these two years, dating the death of Lucian to 7 January 312. But the earlier date of 7 January 311 argued by Baronius has occasionally been adopted, as by Friedrich Loofs and Karl Baus, while Michael Slusser has recently set out a detailed argument in its favour. Lest Slusser's case be accepted by default, the case for 7 January 312 will here be set out. It is totally compelling.

Athanasiana Syriaca and the library of Dayr al-Suryan

The library of the convent of Dayr al-Suryan, Wadi an-Natrun, Egypt, represents the single most important collection of Syriac manuscripts to have survived into the modern period. Taking as a starting point the preservation in this collection of the Syriac translation of the Festal Letters of St Athanasius (the Greek original of which is lost), the author examines the role of the tenth century abbot Moses of Nisibis in the building of this collection. When the manuscripts added by Moses to the library are viewed in the context of the history of early Syriac literature, it is discovered that the possibility that Moses was able to acquire such a rich body of very early manuscripts precisely because they represented literature of diminished interest in the heartland of Syriac culture, must be given serious consideration.

Studies on the Syriac Apocryphal Psalms

Studies on the Syriac Apocryphal Psalms, by H. F. Van Rooy. JSS Supplement 7. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. Pp. v + 170. Euro64.00. The number 150 is traditionally the rather sacrosanct number of the biblical psalms attributed to King David. Since the time of the earliest editions of the Greek OT, however, scholars have been aware of additional psalms beyond those canonical 150. The five Syriac apocryphal psalms, numbered 151-155, which constitute the subject matter of this monograph, were only first brought to the attention of the scholarly world when the great Maronite scholars, the brothers Assemani, noted their existence in their catalogue of the Syriac manuscripts in the Vatican Library, published in 1759. Surprisingly, it was not until over a century later that the first text of these psalms appeared. And it was not until 1930 when the first edition of these psalms, utilizing five manuscripts, was first published by the great German scholar Martin Noth. Since this time, Hebrew texts of three of these psalms were discovered among the texts found at Qumran, and a new critical edition of these Syriac psalms was published in 1972, as part of the Leiden Peshitta project (vol. IV.6), which is now nearing completion. With all this data now available, Van Rooy here offers the first monograph-length study of these Syriac psalms. The volume is not a systematic monograph, but is actually comprised of eleven distinct studies, most of which have previously appeared in print. Studies 8-11 originally appeared in English, while studies 2-4, and 7 first appeared in Afrikaans but were translated into English; each of these eight studies was revised for this volume. Studies 1, 5, and 6 were prepared specifically for this volume during a research leave at the Leiden Peshitta Institute and are published here for the first time. The eleven studies found in this volume include a translation of these five Syriac apocryphal psalms, three studies of various aspects of the manuscripts in which they are found, three studies specifically of the forms and provenance of Ps 151, followed by a single study of each of the remaining psalms, 152-155. While others have studied these psalms, they were primarily biblical scholars interested in their relation to Greek and/or Hebrew versions. While Van Rooy rehearses these arguments and offers his own thoughts based on his own investigation into these relationships, the real value of this monograph is that it also offers detailed investigations into the provenance of these Syriac psalms within the context of the development of the Syriac biblical text. For example, these Syriac psalms each contain rather lengthy headings that are clearly an inner Syriac development, and contain comments from Eusebius, Athanasius, and Theodore of Mopsuestia. Van Rooy demonstrates that in the course of transmission of the Syriac Bible there was little change in the development of the text of these psalms. Though this might not be unexpected for biblical texts, he nonetheless discerns in the few variants, which otherwise seem of relatively little textual importance, a possibility that there was a second Syriac translation of these psalms, perhaps as part of one of the later revisions of the entire Bible; unfortunately, he does little more than proffer this suggestion. …

The message of a number Psalms as interpreted in Syriac Psalm headings

Following the view of Theodore of Mopsuestia, the translator(s) of the Peshitta Psalter did not accept the historicity of the headings of the Psalms in the Hebrew Psalter. In some manuscripts the Peshitta Psalms do not have headings at all, while in other manuscripts headings are supplied. This paper makes a few remarks on the study of the headings of the Psalms in Syriac and discusses the headings of a number of Psalms in different Syriac traditions, with special attention to the headings in the Syriac manuscript 12t4. These headings can be regarded as a summary of the exegesis of the particular Psalm and they represent different schools of exegetes with widely different interpretations of most of the Psalms.

Die Siriese manuskrip 12t4 - ’n merkwaardige manuskrip uit die twaalfde eeu

This article discusses the Syriac manuscript 12t4, the most important Nestorian Psalm manuscript. A survey is presented of existing descriptions of this manuscript, with special reference to the description of Scher (1907). Important information not mentioned by the descriptions is di.decussed. This information is related to the division of the Psalter into five books, the division of individual Psalms in the Hebrew, Greek and Syriac versions and the headings of the Psalms. With regard to the latter, the format of the headings and the origin of the five different headings are discussed.

Die inleidings en opskrifte van die vyf Siriese Apokriewe Psalms

The existence of the five Syriac Apocryphal Psalms has been known since the eighteenth century. Psalm 151 was included in the Septuagint, whereas Hebrew versions of Psalms 151, 154 and 155 are part of the Psalms Scroll found in Qumran Cave XI. This paper explores the relationship between the headings of these Psalms in different traditions. In the Syriac transmission manuscript 12t4 is of special importance and has a large number of unique readings as well as a number of important marginal notes. There are a number of important differences in the headings of the different traditions. The heading of Psalm 151 in 12t4 was influenced by Athanasius and is also related to the heading in the Septuagint. The heading of Psalm 151 in the other Syriac manuscripts is probably related to a heading in the lost Hebrew Vorlage. The headings of Psalms 152 and 153 are part of an attempt to link these Psalms more closely to Psalm 151 and the Peshitta of 1 Samuel 16 and 17. The relationship between the different headings of Psalms 154 and 155 in 12t4 and the other manuscripts is not easily definable. They are, however, related to the East Syrian headings of canonical Psalms 85 and 86.

Un manuscrit syriaque de Téhéran contenant des apocryphes

This Syriac manuscript of Teheran probably comes from Azerbaidjan. Its colophon dates from 1741-1742; parts of its model from 1243-1244. The codicological description of this manuscript reveals 19 examples of apocryphal, hagiographical and liturgical literature.

A catalogue of the Syriac Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library

Judging from repetitious appearances of her marital arms in the painted line-endings, the Psalter-Hours John Rylands Library Latin MS 117 probably belonged to Jeanne of Flanders (c.1272–1333), daughter of Count Robert III of Flanders and in 1288 second wife to Enguerrand IV of Coucy. Yet the line-endings also contain some 1,800 diminutive painted escutcheons, many of which refer to other members of the local nobility active during the 1280s. This study, based on an exhaustive survey of the total heraldic and codicological evidence, suggests that the majority of the extant Psalter predated the Hours and that the two parts were combined after the 1288 marriage. The ‘completed’ manuscript bears witness to major events that unfolded in and around the Coucy barony over the course of the decade. It suggests a complex relationship between Jeanne of Flanders and a lesser member of the local nobility, a certain Marien of Moÿ, who may have served as her attendant.

A SYRIAC COMMENTARY ON GREGORY OF NYSSA'S CONTRA EUNOMIUM / A Syriac commentary on Gregory of Nyssa's Contra Eunomium

Summary The 9th century Syriac manuscript Add.17196 of the British Library contains the (damaged and incomplete) text of an anonymous commentary on the second part of Gregory of Nyssa's main dogmatic work Contra Eunomium (CPG 3135 and 3136). At the end, part of a memorandum by Severus of Antioch is quoted, which is also found in Peter of Callinicum's Contra Damianum. The commentary itself is of Monophysite origin and seems to be an original Syriac composition. It contains brief quotations from Gregory's text followed by some comments. The quotations raise new questions concerning Syriac translation technique in general and the Syriac translations of Contra Eunomium in particular. The comments show, amongst other things, that the Greek was not always interpreted correctly. Since part of the text is also found in an 8th century manuscript, the date of this manuscript is the text's terminus ante quem.

Syriac fragments in the Wellcome Institute Library

The collections of oriental material in the Library of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine have been described in a previous issue of this journal. They include, among the Semitic language material, a few Syriac manuscript fragments which comprise nine leaves from the Ecclesiastical History of Socrates and a XlXth century letter.The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates commences with the accession of Constantine in 306, following the cessation of Diocletian's persecution of Christians, and traces the history of the church through the reigns of the seven following eastern emperors, the seventh and final book covering the years of Theodosius the Younger (408–450) between his accession and his 17th consulate (439).

The Authenticity of the Recently Discovered Letter Attributed To Cyril of Jerusalem

In 1976, S. P. Brock published a description of a Syriac manuscript which appeared to be a previously unknown letter of Cyril of Jerusalem.' The following year saw the publication of the complete text contained in the ms, together with an English translation.2 Brock concluded that the document was not a genuine letter of Cyril, but a forgery made a generation or so after Cyril's death. Brock's opinion has been widely accepted, and some of the objections to the document's authenticity have been stressed by others.3 Its status as a forgery now seems unquestioned, and the letter's author has begun to be referred to as pseudo-Cyril of Jerusalem.4 The purpose of this article is to challenge what appears to be rapidly becoming a received opinion. The document in question is in the form of a letter written by Cyril shortly after the earthquake which allegedly brought to a halt the attempt made during the reign of the Emperor Julian to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem. The purpose of the letter seems to be to assure its readers that the Jerusalem Christians are safe, and it gives a brief account of the events that took place in Jerusalem immediately following the earthquake. The ms is dated as recently as 1899, but Brock found several reasons for concluding that it had an early original, and this was confirmed when he discovered another copy of the first half of the letter in a 6th century ms, also Syriac, in the British Library. There are some differences between the texts of the two mss, although they are not such as to suggest that one is closer to the original than the other; nevertheless, in quoting from the document I shall follow the 6th century ms as far as Brock's paragraph 7, where its text ends, and the 19th century ms thereafter. The validity of the arguments that follow is not affected by this choice.