Syriac Sources Research Articles

The importance of Jazeera Rigin in syriac sources

This study is concerned with the position and the importance of Jazeera region in Syriac texts by shedding light on the geographic border in Islamic sources and making a comparison with Syriac sources. The different names by Syriacs historians was according to their mind, the weight of the region has reflection in the Syriac sources and records. Undoubtedly, most of the Syriacs historians had lived in that region, and they were witnesses of the most events, which consists of political and religious events. All the changes which have been brought about in the region have had direct impact on representing the social condition. Most of the population of the region are Syriacs in the Syriac records and writings, that is why the Syriacs are considered as the original people of the region. In addition, the region has been pictured as a main center of Christian religion, Syriac language and culture, as most of the Syriacs historians were religious men, all of their writings were composed with religion. They show more religious conditions of the region in the Islamic authority framework, they refer to many names of the Christian Churches in the region.

Defining “Romans” in the Late Antique Near East: Some Preliminary Thoughts on the “Romans” in Sūrat al-Rūm

Abstract In the opening lines of the sūrah named after the “Romans,” Q Rūm 30, the qurʾānic preacher expresses his solidarity with the “Romans” who had then been defeated by the Persian army. In seeking to better understand these verses, one may start with the question: Who exactly are the “Romans” here? “Roman” was a broad, multifaceted term, as Yannis Stouraitis has lately pointed out, based mainly on sources written after the seventh century and stemming from the Greek-speaking “West” of the Byzantine Empire. In this study, using mainly Syriac sources but also some hitherto unnoticed Greek testimonies coming from the Near East, this semantic variability of the word “Roman” is shown to further expand when going East. Like in most Syriac sources, “Romans” in Q Rūm primarily means members of the Byzantine army (and state apparatus), be they ethnic Greeks, Syrians, or Arabs. At the same time, the “Romans” of this sūrah are all inhabitants, all “citizens” of the Byzantine Empire – not just its armies and magistrates. This latter sense corresponds to the broader sense in which “Romans” is used not only in Syriac, but also in Greek sources (and in other languages of the Late Antique Near East). That broader sense is one that we find in a definition by the Damascene Sophronios of Jerusalem, according to whom “Roman” is anyone “stemming from a city subject to the Romans.” Another qurʾānic passage that refers to the Byzantines (though without naming them), which has very much to do with the same geopolitical context of the Byzantine-Persian wars, Q Māʾidah 5:17, seems to criticize a “Byzantine” confidence in the invincibility of Christ and Mary. Why does the Qurʾān chose to name the Romans when expressing solidarity with them, yet leave them unnamed when criticizing them? Could it be the case that this difference between naming the “Romans” and leaving them unnamed is somehow meant to show that the solidarity with the “Romans,” as declared expressis verbis in the Sūrat al-Rūm, concerns the entire Byzantine world whereas the sharp criticism in al-Māʾidah is not general in the same sense?

The Christology of the Church of the East

After setting out the background of the early history of the Church of the East, this contribution focuses on the Syriac sources of the fifth to seventh centuries which are witnesses to the development of the ‘two-nature’ Christology of the Church of the East, situated outside the Roman Empire during this formative period. Special attention is paid to the ambiguous term qnoma, which is used to render hypostasis in the Chalcedonian Definition, but which, for native Syriac authors, has the different sense of ‘defining characteristic’. The problematic designation ‘Nestorian’ should be avoided since it implies completely different things to different parties. Some final thoughts are given to the ongoing significance of the tradition of the Church of the East in its various present-day manifestations.

ORIBASIUS ON CABBAGE: LIBRI AD EVNAPIVM 3.13.4

AbstractThis article suggests a new reading for Oribasius’ Libri ad Eunapium 3.13.4. Based on evidence from both Greek and Syriac sources, it argues that the variant contained in Oribasius’ Synopsis ad Eustathium should be adopted as the correct reading of the original.

Patriarcat, califat et réseaux : le moment Ḥarrān au cœur de l’Empire (126/744-140/758)

Abstract This paper offers a cross-analysis of Syriac and Arabic sources related to the Jazīra, the northern province of the caliphate, during the second/eighth century. Specifically, it delves into what the author refers to as the “Ḥarrān moment”. It pertains to the period when this regional town was turned to the last capital of the Umayyads, and immediately to the centre of the provincial government of the future caliph al-Manṣūr, prior to his ascent to power in 754-755 CE. The study views the Abbasid revolution as part of a single decade of civil war (fitna) (744-755) and emphasises the continuity between two dynasties, challenging the traditional historiographical divide of the “Abbasid revolution.” The “Ḥarrān moment” marked a significant shift in central political (and ecclesiastical) power from Umayyad Damascus to Abbasid Baghdad. Syriac sources underscore the centrality of the Jazīra and its capital, as well as the similarities in the political and military history before and after 132/750. Moreover, local ecclesiastical chronicles highlight how Ḥarrān became the centre of the Church at that time, partly by chance and partly due to geopolitical and geo-ecclesiological co-construction. It is argued that this results from a period when prelates and patriarchs became more courtiers, and both Marwān II and al-Manṣūr initiated a policy of affiliation of the Syrian Orthodox Church to the Caliphate, particularly through the issuance of diplomas (sigillions). This article demonstrates that the physical encounter of these two central powers, civil and ecclesiastical, in this strategic location during this critical time of interconnected political-military and ecclesiological turmoil and changes of the 740s-750s, is the key to understanding this process. The study specifically examines the similarities between monastic and tribal provincial and infra-provincial networks, which arise from the same political constraints, to explore the formation and crystallisation of parallel regional ecclesiastical and political blocks during the mid-eighth century CE.

TOWARDS A NEW EDITION OF JULIAN'SCONTRA GALILAEOS: ASSESSING THE MATERIAL FROM THE SYRIAC TRANSMISSION OF CYRIL'SCONTRA IVLIANVM

AbstractEmperor Julian's three-book treatiseContra Galilaeossurvives solely in those Christian sources that quoted it in order to respond to its forceful attack on Christianity. The bulk of these survivals comes from Cyril of Alexandria's twenty-bookContra Iulianum. The recent publication of the first modern critical edition of Cyril's work creates the occasion for a fresh study of the remnants of Julian's text that can be recovered from it. This is especially true for Books 11–20 of Cyril's treatise that are themselves lost and survive only in quotations in later Greek and Syriac sources. The present article undertakes a reassessment of the Julianic material preserved via the Syriac transmission ofContra Iulianum, including several passages hitherto unknown or ignored in earlier studies of Julian's treatise. It provides the Syriac text and English translation of eight passages and contextualizes them in the wider argumentative aim ofContra Galilaeos.

La versio Syra minor della vita di Giovanni il Misericordioso

This article seeks to bring to the attention of scholars an unedited Syriac version of the Life of John the Merciful. The text (preserved in the single manuscript Paris, BnF, Syr. 234) represents a shorter recensio of the Syriac translation recently published in CSCO 679. The metaphrasis, which is characterised by a short form and a high number of variants, has been drawn from a model that was very similar to Paris, BnF, Syr. 235. However, an unknown witness preserving an ancient form of the Syriac translation has contributed to the development of this text. It is for this reason that this versio minor retains a lot of original details of the Greek which are unknown to other Syriac sources. The work is interesting because it provides us with a better understanding of the original text of the Syriac Life, but also because it contains some peculiar characteristics due to the creative pen of its author.

Pour un usage critique des sources non musulmanes sur les débuts de l’Islam : compte rendu de Stephen Shoemaker, A Prophet Has Appeared: The Rise of Islam through Christian and Jewish Eyes. A Sourcebook

Abstract This contribution presents some critical discussions on Stephen Shoemaker’s last Sourcebook as well as two of the author’s publications from 2012 and 2018. His thesis defends the possibility of Muḥammad being an “eschatological Prophet” of an ecumenical messianic movement whose supporters attempted to rewrite his confessional message and communal identity to adapt their religious ideology to the reality of their leader’s death. We first recall that Muḥammad appears in the older Syriac sources as a political leader, never as a Prophet, and that the eschatological moment is more probably the late First century than the time of the conquest. Concerning the vocabulary issue, we show that his revolutionary idea of calling the Ṭayyōyē “Nomads” – while “Saracens” inconsistently remains – might be irrelevant, while the systematic translation of mhaggrōyē as muhājirūn, though popular among researchers, is still not firmly grounded. In fact, they seem to have had their specific Christological credo, according to the most ancient sources that designate them as such. As his revisionist theory is almost entirely based on a single Greek short excerpt within the very long Byzantine apologetic Doctrina Jacobi, we remark how he never analyzes this single and isolated source with the hypercritical methodology arabicist accept to apply to Arab-Muslim sources. Finally, this skeptical approach needs to be applied – diachronically – for every middle eastern sources, the Muslim as well as the Christian ones, and thus could show many circulations from the first to the second.

The Importance of Syriac Sources for the Study of Arab History Before Islam

Elinizdeki çalışma Süryânî Hristiyan Arap tarihinin kaynakları hakkında hazırlanmıştır. Bu hususta önemli bilgiler ihtiva eden bu çalışmada hem Süryânî Hristiyanları hem de Süryani olsun Müslüman olsun bütün Araplar için İslâm öncesi tarihleri hakkında önemli bilgiler ihtiva etmektedir. Süryânîce yazılmış kitaplar, İslâm Öncesi Arap Tarihi çalışmaları için önemli kaynaklar arasında görülür. The books written in Syriac are among the important sources for the pre-Islamic Arab History studies. Sür-yânîce iki nehir arasında yaşayan Suriye sakinleri ve özelikle de el-Cezîre bölgesi ile çevre bölgelerin sakinlerinin, milâdî ilk bin yıl boyunca dili olmuştur. Süryânîce yayıldığı günlerde batıda Akdeniz kı-yısına kadar, doğuda Edyabin bölgesine, Van Gölü’nden kuzeyde Ermenistan tepesinden güneyde el-Celîl sınırına kadar yayılmıştı. Süryânî kaynakları hem içerik hem de ifade itibariyle dinî olarak kabul edilir. Bu eserlerin çoğunluğu el-Cezîre bölgesinde ya da el-Râha yakınlarında telif edilmiştir. Bu kay-naklar aktardıkları rivâyetlerin çoğunluğunun mevzusu, tarîhî olaylarla alakalı olup ekseriyet itibariy-le dinî mevzularla iç içedir. Süryânî kaynaklarını iki kısma ayırmak mümkündür: birincisi doğu Sür-yânî (Nastûrî) kaynakları, ikincisi ise batı Süryânî (Ya’kûbî) kaynaklarıdır. Doğu Süryânî kaynakları-nın en önemlisi, nasihat ve ibret için yazılmış olan (Sasaniler Dönemindeki Şehitlerin Tercümesi (Bi-yografileri)) eseridir. Azlığına rağmen Batı Süryânî eserleri büyük bir öneme haiz olmuştur. Çünkü bu eserler tarihi bir üslupla yazılmış olup genel tarih ve şehirlerle ilgili haberlerde büyük ehemmiyete ha-izdir. Bunlardan Yuşa al-Amûdî’nin Yıllıklar’ı, Yuhanna el-Afsûsî’nin Tarih’i, Diyonyisyus al-Talamhûrî’ye nispet edilen tarih yıllıkları, Mikail el-Süryânî’nin ve İbn el-‘Iberi’nin Tarih’ini burada zikredeceğiz ki bunlar araştırma konumuzun hem örneği hem de kaynağıdırlar. Süryânî bir müellif da-ha var ki o da Efesli Yuhanna (Asyalı)’dır. Yuhanna’nın Amed ruhbanlarıyla ve Monofizistleriyle doğ-rudan temas kurması (onların içinde yetişmesi), onun, mezhebine sarılmasına ve daha tutucu olması-na sebep oldu. Miladi 529 yılında Şemmasalığa atandı. Yuhanna hakkında bilgi verdi. Bizans imparato-ru Justinyan’ın vefatından sonra Monofizistlere zulmedildi; işkencelere maruz kaldılar, Efesli Yuhanna da hapse atıldı. Birkaç defa sürgün edildi ve seksen yaşına yaklaşmışken miladi 585 yılının sonlarında vefat etti. Efesli Yuhanna’dan kalan en meşhur eser miladi 575 yılında yazdığı ve Süryânî Kilisesi (Monofizisler) hakkında yazılan en eski kitap olarak kabul edilen “Kilise Tarihi” adlı eseridir.Bu kitap kalan bölümlerinde Gassânî Arapları hakkında önemli bilgiler içerir. Bu kitapta el-Münzir b. el-Hâris el-Gassânî’nin Lahmî Farisî Araplarına karşı yapmış olduğu başarılı savaşlar hakkında da detaylı bilgi-ler bulunmaktadır. Diğer bazı Süryânî kaynaklarında Yemen, Mezopotamya ülkelerindeki sosyal ve ekonomik hayat ve sıradan insanların halleri hakkında bilgiler buluruz. Amed (Diyarbakır) yakınla-rındaki Zevkanin Manastırı’ndan Süryânî Ya’kûbî bir rahip olan başka bir müellif de iki bölümden olu-şan, içerisinde yaratılıştan, miladi 755 yılına kadar geçen haberleri ele alan dev bir kitap yazmıştır. Onun ismi el yazmalarındaki ilk sayfaların kaybolması nedeniyle bilinmemektedir. Onun için tarihçi-ler kitabı yanlışlıkla “Diyûnyisyûs el-Telmehrî’ye nispet etmişlerdir. Bir Süryânî kaynak daha vardır. O da psikopos Steven Ben’ın miladi 932 yılında Karyeteyni’deki Mar Tuma Manastırı’ndayken istinsah ettiği nüshadan nakille A. Moberg’in miladi 1924 yılında neşrettiği “Orjinali yazın”dır. Süryânî Araplar hakkındaki bu yazma eser, Arapların tarihi hakkında bilgi veren, en önemli Süryani kaynaklarından sayılır. Çünkü o, çok farklı bilgiler ihtiva etmektedir. Mesela Monofizist Hristiyanların Yemen’de nasıl yayıldıklarına ve bunun Suriye Araplarına nasıl tesir ettiğine işaret eder. Bu yazma, büyük devletlerin tüccarları arasındaki rekabetten ve bu rekabetin Yemen’deki duruma yansımalarından bahseder. Yazma esere Necrân’da vuku bulan hadiselerin rivayetleri de eklenmiştir. Melik Mesruk’un öldürdüğü kadın erkek şehitlerin ve kahramanların isimleri zikredilir. Bu dönemde Hire’ye Bizans’tan, Fars’tan (İran) ve Habeşistan’dan heyetler gelmişler ve her bir heyet Hire’yi kendi tarafına çekmeye çalışmıştır. Son (dönem) Süryânî kaynaklarında İslâm öncesi Arap tarihi hakkında kaybolan bazı kaynaklarda malumat buluruz. Yakûbî Başpsikopos İbn el-I’beri’ye gelince (ö.m. 1286) o büyük tarihçilerin sonuncuların-dandır. İçerisinde Arap tarihi ve Kilise tarihi (özelikle Devletler ve zamanın muhtasar tarih kitabı) ile alakalı çeşitli bilgiler bulunduğundan dolayı büyük öneme haizdir. Son olarak Süryânîlerin, Araplar ile ortak kökene, bir asla raci dilleri ve gerek doğudaki Nastûrî şekliyle gerekse de Batı bölgelerinde vaki bulunan Monofizist şekliyle olsun ortak Hristiyan akideleri açısından ortak bağları bulunmaktadır.

Inter-Confessional Church History: East Syrian Christian Identity and Islam in the Ecclesiastical History of Kitāb al-Maǧdal

Abstract Kitāb al-Maǧdal is a large East Syrian theological treatise that was composed in Arabic, probably in the late tenth or early eleventh century CE. One section of the work is an ecclesiastical history of the Church of the East. This essay argues that close analysis of this section reveals that elite East Syrian identity in the period overlapped to a significant extent with contemporary Muslim identity, at the level of vocabulary and conceptions of revelation and communal history. In this sense, the work represents a kind of “inter-confessional” history writing. The essay aims to contribute to recent studies of Middle Eastern Christian identity and historiography, which have focused of Syriac sources and/or late antiquity rather than Arabic sources for the Islamic middle periods.

Aphrahat and Pauline Reception: 1 Corinthians 7 and Baptismal Reasoning in East and West

In studies of Pauline reception, most scholars limit themselves to works in the second or early third century (often ending with Irenaeus or the Acts of Paul) and to material from the Latin West and Greek East. Although later Syriac sources are rarely engaged, those who do work on this material have long recognised the importance of Paul's letters for that material. The present argument aims to help broaden the dominant discourse on Pauline reception by attending to early Syriac sources, principally the work of Aphrahat the Persian Sage. I focus in particular on his discussion of baptism and marriage in Dem. 7.18–20, which has confounded scholars over the years. This passage displays a kind of Pauline ‘logic’ indebted to 1 Cor 7.20, which can be discerned among other early Christian applications of that passage in similar contexts, in both East and West.

The Early Islamic Pottery from the Monastery at al-Qusur

The pottery discovered at al-Qusur (Failaka Island, Kuwait) is of first importance to clarify thedating of the Christian settlements of the Arab-Persian Gulf. Firstly attributed to the Sasanianperiod by their excavators on the base of pottery and stucco studies, theses sites were thenattributed to the Early Islamic period by other scholars according to the artefacts published.Complete catalogues of the materiel unearthed on these sites are still lacking. This article offers afirst overview of the pottery discovered at al-Qu??r by the French Mission in Kuwait in 1988–1989and in 2007–2009 in two buildings identified as two churches (A1 and A2), two courtyard houses(B1 and B8), and seven isolated buildings (B2–B7 and B9). The corpus was incomplete due to theloss of sherds from 1988 and 1989 campaigns during the Gulf war and to the treatment of partof the pottery discovered from 2007 to 2009. If quantification was meaningless and petrographyimpossible, this corpus reflects the cultural proximity of the site with Mesopotamia and Persiaand diagnostic sherds such as pitchers with gouged lines or pointed circles with incised lines andgouged motifs, stamped sherds, carinated turquoise-glazed cups, attest that the main occupationof the site is related to an Early Islamic period. This dating is consistent with other Christian sitesin the region, contradicting both Arabic and Syriac sources that propounded the disappearanceof Christianity as soon as the beginnings of Islam.

Stylite (esṭūnōrō) et sa ṣawmaʿa face aux milieux cléricaux islamiques et miaphysites (i er–iie /viie –viiie siècles)

Stylites (esṭūnōrē) represented a major form of eremitism in late antique and early Islamic Syria and Mesopotamia. As archetypes of the Holy Man described by Peter Brown, they were in close contact with rural populations (pagani) and therefore promoted the Christianization of such marginal, non-civic spaces. In doing so, they quickly became authorities competing with urban bishoprics. Many Syriac sources (such as synodical canons) attest to preaching, teaching, arbitration, judgments, and even administrative sentences carried out by these ascetics on columns for faithful crowds (ʿamē) in villages. Consequently, the churches, and especially the Syrian Orthodox Church, tried to use them for local anchorage during the seventh and eighth centuries while, at the same time, seeking to integrate them into stable and enclosed monastic structures. These solitary monks also fascinated Arab populations since St. Simeon both invented this asceticism and converted local Bedouins. Indeed, the Muslim tradition contains important evidence of the influence exerted by the so-called ahl alṣawāmiʿ on Muslims. In this article I demonstrate that during the first two centuries of the hijra, the concept of ṣawmaʿ(a) exactly matches the Syriac understanding of esṭūnō as a retreat on top of a high construction, whether a square tower or a proper column. I rely on poetry, early lexicography, bilingual hagiography and historiography, and especially the Syriac and Arabic versions of Abū Bakr’s waṣiyya, which expressly refers to these monks. I then show how the developing Islamic authorities tried to divert Arab Muslims from these initially privileged and valued figures. To this end, they used the same kinds of arguments as did the canonical anathemas against stylites, who were also often seen as competitors and threats by the official ecclesiasticalauthorities. Scholars of ḥadīṯ, fiqh, and tafsīr developed their own rhetoric, distinguishing, for instance, between good stylites and bad “tonsured” ones, while jurists gradually restricted their initial tax privileges. Finally, the latter, at the end of the second/eighth century, they required Muslims to completely avoid them, completing the process of excommunicating both Christianity and its most revered figure.

Biskupi i mnisi w Kościele Wschodu pod panowaniem Sasanidów = Bishops and monks in the Church of the East in the Sassanian period

This paper studies the relationship between Church hierarchy and monastic groups in the Syriac Church of the East in late antiquity (during the period of the Sassanian rule). Previous scholarship on this subject assumed the existence of a ‘natural’ conflict between the bishops and the monks in the East Syriac world of late antiquity. In this respect, it followed the early medieval eastern Syriac sources, which were created by monks themselves – and in all probability, these authors significantly rewrote the earlier history of their own Church. In this study, instead of relying on later sources, I propose to focus on the evidence that actually survives from late antiquity, that is the normative sources. These are collections of canons produced by the synods of the Church of the East that took place between ad 410 and ad 605. A detailed analysis of these sources leads to the conclusion that the relationship between the bishops and the monks in this particular Church was not characterized by a permanent, ‘natural’ conflict. Rather, subsequent policies that the bishops pursued vis-à-vis the monks were part of larger projects of church reform, that occurred almost one generation after another. These reforms had to do with the dynamic growth of the Church of the East, its integration into the Sassanian society, but also with the increasing challenge posed by the eastward expansion of the Monophysite West-Syriac Church structures and monastic communities, which in many places in Iraq and Iran seemed to threaten the very existence of the Church of the East.

A Winged Word on Marriage

Abstract A foreign saying on marriage became widely known in China through Qian Zhongshu’s 1947 novel Fortress Besieged. As the novelist tells us, this saying has its source in both English and French literature, and in its different versions, marriage is either likened to a besieged fortress or a bird cage. This paper examines the origin and transmission of the saying in Greek, Arabic and Syriac sources, and argues that this saying originated in the so-called literature of the Christianized Socratic-Cynic philosophy, which once flourished in Syria. It became popular in the Byzantine and Arabic world after having been included into several famous Greek and Arabic gnomologies. Then it was introduced into modern languages, developed into different versions, finally came to China and became a household word among Chinese people.

بارزان وأنحائها في كتابات السريان دراسة تحليلية نقدية

للمصادر السريانية اهمية كبيرة في تدوين بعض الحلقات المفقودة من تاريخ كوردستان، فالناطقين بالسريانية من كلدان وسريان وآثوربين (=آشوريين) هم بلا شك جزء من هذا المجتمع الكوردستانى و عاشوا لعشرات القرون جنبا الى جنب مع بقية اطياف المجتمع من كورد وتركمان وعرب وغيرهم، وبالتالي شكلوا مجتمعا متجانسا الى حد بعيد تشهد بذلك أواصر الجيرة والتعاون والمصير المشترك، فضلا عن وجود سمات ثقافية واجتماعية واقتصادية مشتركة بين جميع أطياف هذا المجتمع. وبخصوص المصادر السريانية وتطرقها الى قرية بارزان والمناطق المحيطة بها فانها بدون شك تقدم خدمة كبيرة للباحثينن لكشف بعض الحلقات المفقودة من تاريخ هذه المنطقة القصية وتميط اللثام عن الكثير من الحقائق التي كانت خافية او مطمورة في اخاديد هذه المنطقة الوعرة بتضاريسها والمملؤة بحكمة الاديان السماوية الثلاث.

Древните и средновековните българи в сирийските и сирийско-арменските извори

Древните и средновековните българи в сирийските и сирийско-арменските извори

Bir Irkçılık Söylemi: Hâcerizm

Târih boyunca her toplum için hem önder hem de rehber kabul edilen peygamberler gönderilmiştir. İslâm, Yahudilik ve Hıristiyanlık dinlerinin ortak isimlerinden biri olan İbrâhim, hem Kur’ân-ı Kerîm’de hem de İncil ve Tevrat gibi diğer kutsal kitaplarda hakkında en fazla malumât bulunan peygamberdir. İslâm dininin ulu’l-azm olarak kabul ettiği İbrâhim’in yaşadığı coğrafya ve aile hayatı üç dini de yakından ilgilendirmesi yönüyle pek çok araştırmacının ve din bilimcinin ilgi alanına girmiştir. Bu bağlamda İbrâhim ile beraber Hâcer, Sâre, İsmâil ve İshâk ön plana çıkan diğer isimler olmuştur. İlâhi dinlerin menşei noktasında önemli rol oynayan bu isimlerden Hâcer ve ona nispetle ortaya atılan bir söylem olan Hâcerizm (Hagarism) Batı’da özellikle 1977 yılından itibaren popüler olmaya başlamış ve manipülatif bir yöntem ile İslâm aleyhine kullanılmıştır. Özellikle dini araştırmalar yapanların ilgisini çeken ve üzerinde pek çok yazı kaleme alınan Hacerizm’in ülkemizde pek fazla bilinmemesini dikkate alarak bu çalışmada Hâcerizm’in nasıl ve neden doğduğu ile tarihi gelişimi ele alınmıştır.

Kahl, Oliver: The Sanskrit, Syriac and Persian Sources in the Comprehensive Book of Rhazes. 2015.

<b>Kahl, Oliver:</b> <i>The Sanskrit, Syriac and Persian Sources in the Comprehensive Book of Rhazes.</i> 2015.

Byzantium, Crusades and Native Eastern Christian Churches: Case of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch

95 Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. 41, No.3, Spring 2018 Byzantium, Crusades and Native Eastern Christian Churches: Case of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch Georges Masse* Being part of Byzantium, and starting with the era of the Roman Emperor Justinian the Great, the regions of Syria and Egypt were considered as heretical. Despite all attempts of Byzantium to merge the churches of the region in Orthodoxy, the “Monophysites” native churches, which believed that Christ had only one nature (monophosus), resisted in Syria, Egypt and Armenia. The aim of this paper is to shed light on the forgotten current Christian native churches of the East. In specific, this paper explores how the Syriac church, known today as the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch, an example of the aforementioned “Monophysites” churches, faced the events that took place in this eastern region of Byzantium and preserved its existence, independence and relations with other communities. The outcomes of this research will help unravel current dramatic consequences which may impact the selected church’s survival in a region described today as unstable. The early history of the Native Eastern churches hinged on three big events that played a crucial role in its eventual weakness and decline. The first was the emergence of Byzantium, secondly, the start of Christian Western adventures known as the crusades and thirdly, the dawn of the Islamic Conquest. By the beginning of the fourth century, the world witnessed the emergence and development of the Byzantine Empire accompanied by big internal changes in both the Roman and the Byzantine Empires. The newly *Georges Masse is a professor at the American University of Science and Technology (Beirut-Lebanon) 96 emerging empire, which inherited vast territories and a significant variety of populations from different origins, languages and traditions, began a process of Byzantinization1 that led to internal misunderstanding and conflicts. The conflict culminated when the church and the state attempted to unify “and by force” all native churches under the umbrella of the Byzantium Greek rite. During that era, debates over the understanding of the nature of the Christ had occupied theologians for a long time. To put an end to internal ecclesiastical tension and discussions, the new Byzantine Emperor Marcian called for a new council in Chalcedon in 451. In this council, the largest church council gathering then, a decree was adopted declaring that Christ was to be “acknowledged in two natures, without being mixed, transmuted, divided, or separated.” The direct results of Chalcedon led to a major schism. Several churches rejected the Chalcedon resolution and broke off from the rest of the church; the most significant among the churches, that will be later termed the Monophysites, were The Coptic church of Alexandria, The Armenian Church and The Syriac church of Antioch. The Christological position referred to as Monophysites asserted that in the person of Jesus Christ there was only one divine nature rather than two natures, divine and human. These churches believed that they were preserving and defending the belief in Christ. The reaction of the imperial government, whose main goal was to unify the whole empire under the true faith, was to employ force, oppression and persecution to put down the Monophysites.2 This can be clearly seen by the Emperor’s declaration stating that “no one shall dare speak about the birth of our Lord and Savior except as handed down by the council.” Such statement transformed the council’s decision into an imperial law, and the punishment for those who refused to obey became legal.3 As a result of these policies, Byzantine emperors treated the Syriac and the other churches as well, as heretics from the fifth century onward.4 One must note that the Church of Antioch was not an accidental church; the Holy See of Antioch was established by Saint Peter the Apostle in 37 AD. Therefore, he is considered the first Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox 1 Pirenne Henry, Mohammad and Charlemagne, New York, Meridian books, 1960.p164. 2 Allen P. & Cawte J, Christ in Christian Tradition 2 (London, Oxford, 1987), 94. 3 Moosa Matte, “The Crusades: An Eastern Perspective with Emphasis on Syriac Sources”, Muslim World Journal.vol.93...