Syriac Text Research Articles

Linguistic Co-existence in Constantinople: Greek and Latin (and Syriac) in the Acts of the Synod of 536 C.E.

This paper considers the interplay of Latin and Greek in the workings of both State and Church in sixth-century Constantinople, and the way that these two languages are represented in the written records of each. The richest source of evidence is provided by the Acts of the Church Councils and Synods, because at the end of a session, or of a multi-authored document, it was the custom for those involved to make a one-sentence statement of assent in their own handwriting. These processes also leave room for reflections of the use of Syriac (but not for items of actual Syriac text), but of no other language.

Anti-Judaism and Christian Orthodoxy: Ephrem's Hymns in Fourth-Century Syria (review)

Reviewed by: Anti-Judaism and Christian Orthodoxy: Ephrem's Hymns in Fourth-Century Syria Adam H. Becker Christine Shepardson, Anti-Judaism and Christian Orthodoxy: Ephrem's Hymns in Fourth-Century Syria. North American Patristics Society Patristic Monographs Series 20 Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University Press, 2008 Pp. xii + 191. $34.95. This is a book that needed to be written. It fruitfully synthesizes two disparate scholarly trends. The first is the historiographical transformation of Ephrem of Nisibis from an obscure, eastern, Semitic, turgid poet of little relevance to mainstream patristics into a pro-Nicene exponent of an anti-Arian Christianity akin to the fourth-century Greek fathers. The second trend concerns the increased focus over the past ten years on Jewish-Christian relations with particular attention to the social context and rhetorical function of Christian anti-Jewish literature. The latter trend is especially relevant to Ephrem because scholars have long noted the severity of his anti-Judaism. In this revised dissertation Christine Shepardson provides a brief, readable monograph, accessible to scholars of Syriac literature, patristics, and the history of late antiquity. The first chapter presents the background and context of Ephrem's works and sets the stage for Shepardson's broader argument that "Ephrem's Syriac texts demonstrate his passionate participation in the imperial theological struggles of the fourth century, as well as his relation to his Greek-speaking contemporary Athanasius" (3). In Chapter Two she places Ephrem's often vitriolic writing within the tradition of early Christian anti-Judaism, especially that of the ante-Nicene period, and then examines Ephrem's anti-Jewish language and motifs. Ephrem's rhetoric depicting Jews and Christians as clearly distinct categories, Shepardson argues, does not represent social reality, but rather is an ideological attempt to impose a binary opposition on the more blurred communal boundaries of fourth-century Nisibis and Edessa. Ephrem's claims about Jews are really about the limits of Christianity, and Shepardson rejects the claims of earlier scholars such as Edmund Beck—the modern editor of Ephrem's works—that Ephrem was responding to aggressive Jewish proselytism. She then turns to "Ephrem's Use of Scriptural History" (Chapter Three) and addresses the broader category of "Jew" developed by Ephrem through his exegesis, especially of paradigmatic [End Page 477] biblical events such as the episode of the golden calf and the Jewish rejection of Jesus. The book takes a more innovative turn in its analysis of the relationship between Ephrem's anti-Judaism and his polemic against "Arian" Christianity (Chapter Four). The "Jews" are no longer simply the actual Jews and Judaizing Christians of Ephrem's community; the category "Jew" has expanded to fit Ephrem's "Arian" Christian opponents as well. This chapter also compares Ephrem's attacks on "Arians" to those of Athanasius, the Cappadocians, and John Chrysostom, thus demonstrating the usefulness of reading Ephrem next to the fourth-century Greek fathers. In the final, brief chapter, Shepardson makes the case that Ephrem and Syriac Christianity must be removed from its isolation from the Roman Empire and early Christianity. While Shepardson's book suggests that an ideological counterposition developed in reaction to a certain social reality and yet ultimately affected that reality, she is in fact only addressing images, inasmuch as most of our evidence unfortunately consists of these highly ideological texts. Nonetheless, her presentation would have benefited from a closer look at the evidence for actual Jews in the region, which, aside from one long footnote (17–18 n. 62), she fails to do. The tenor of those scholars who argue for looking at Ephrem next to contemporary Greek authors is accurate, but it would be helpful if we had a better sense of how this "Nicene Roman Empire" was imagined by someone like Ephrem (despite 106 n. 1). Does he ever mention Nicaea? Furthermore, Ephrem's works are engaged in a deep theological mode that may help us to understand better his anti Judaism (e.g., "truth" and "symbol" in Hymns on Unleavened Bread 19 [32]; "hidden" and "revealed" [54, 90]). Shepardson is, however, more interested in the possible function of his arguments, that is, as tools for creating starker communal boundaries, than in how anti-Judaism...

I Carmi siriaco ed ebraico di Francesco Donati in onore di P. Mario da Calascio

This article presents the Italian translation of two songs (carmina) composed in Syriac and in Hebrew by the Dominican Father Francesco Donati in honor of his Franciscan friend Father Mario from Calascio. These texts may be found in their original language in the first pages of Father Mario’s Biblical Concordance (cf. Liber Annuus 55, 217ss). The Syriac text has not yet been published, but has been translated into Italian by I.C. Mansourati and into Latin by R. Köbert. Both of these translations are published here along with the Italian translation that was based on Köbert’s Latin version. The Hebrew song is translated for the first time.

Genre without a Name: Was There a Hebrew Term for “Apocalypse”?

AbstractAlthough the term for “apocalypse” is not attested as a title or genre definition in the extant corpus of Hebrew or Jewish Aramaic documents, some early Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic texts may contain rudimentary evidence in favor of the existence of a Hebrew or Jewish Aramaic equivalent for the term. Moreover, its reconstruction can contribute to better understanding of certain wide spread apocalyptic imagery, which must be closely connected to the semantics of this term.

The Testimonium Flavianum in Syriac and Arabic

‘Agapius of Hierapolis’ and Michael the Syrian's versions of the Testimonium Flavianum, a passage about Jesus from Josephus' Jewish Antiquities, both derive from the Syriac translation of Eusebius of Caesarea's Historia Ecclesiastica. Michael's Testimonium is more authentic than Agapius' Testimonium, and it is more authentic than the textus receptus in reading that Jesus was ‘thought to be the Messiah’. Some features of Agapius' Testimonium previously considered to be more authentic than the textus receptus can be explained by distinctive readings in the Syriac text that Agapius used.

The Poet as Preacher: St. Ephrem the Syrian's HymnDe VirginitateXXXI as a Coherent, Aesthetic, and Persuasive Poetic Discourse

This article consists of a translation and poetic analysis of Ephrem the Syrian's teaching song On Virginity 31. The Syriac text and an English translation are provided and short notes are given on the structure of the hymn. Its rhetorical and persuasive qualities are subsequently investigated with the aim of substantiating the claim that the hymn's rhetorical features such as polarities, metaphors, analogies, parallels, antitheses, allusions to scripture, and direct appeals on the audience must have had a great impact and an enduring effect on Syriac Christianity.

Reform, Queenship and the End of the World in Tenth-Century France: Adso’s “Letter on the Origin and Time of the Antichrist” Reconsidered

Over the last two thousand years, western political discourse has frequently reserved a special place for the Antichrist. From the early Christian thinking which identified him with the Roman Emperor Nero to the more recent political invectives which railed against supposed modern incarnations such as Saddam Hussein and Ronald Reagan, Christ‟s final enemy has become a byword for ultimate human evil and has therefore proved to be an evocative, flexible and timeless vehicle for polemic of all kinds 1 . In the history of ideas about the Antichrist, few authors have been as influential as Adso, usually identified as abbot of the monastery of Montier-en-Der in the Champagne region from 968 until 992, and best-known as author of the “Letter on the Origin and Time of the Antichrist”, composed between 949 and 954 at the request of Queen Gerberga of West Francia. Adso‟s short treatise describes how the Antichrist will be born in Babylon under diabolical influence to Jewish parents, how he will “win over kings and princes to his cause”, and how, preceded by two prophets, he will be received in Jerusalem as a false messiah before being killed by Christ in advance of Judgement Day. None of this will take place, according to the treatise, while the “Roman Empire” (represented by the kings of the Franks) persists, or before its final ruler abdicates on the Mount of Olives and thus “consummates the Christian Empire” 2 . The key to the tract‟s influence lay not in any originality of thought (most of what it said was drawn from canonical texts like the commentary on 2 Thessalonians by the ninth-century theologian Haimo of Auxerre and the myth of the Last Emperor preserved in Latin versions of the seventh-century Syriac text known as the Pseudo-Methodius) or aesthetic virtue (Adso‟s attempt to reconcile diverse

Il libro di Naum secondo la versione siriaca (Peshitto)

In this article the fully vocalized Syriac text of the Prophet Nahum has now been published. In previous issues of the review Liber Annuus the books of Amos, Jonah, Hosea and Micah have already been published following the same method. All these contributions are freely available on the internet.

Il libro di Abacuc secondo la versione siriaca (Peshitto)

In this article the fully vocalized Syriac text of the Prophet Habakkuk has now been published. In previous issues of the review Liber Annuus the books of Amos, Jonah, Hosea and Micah had already been published following the same method. All these contributions are freely available on the internet.

Mauro Maggi. « New Persian glosses in East Syriac texts of the eighth to tenth centuries », in : Ludwig Paul, ed., Persian origins: Early Judaeo-Persian and the emergence of New Persian: collected papers of the symposium, Göttingen 1999. Wi

Mauro Maggi. « New Persian glosses in East Syriac texts of the eighth to tenth centuries », in : Ludwig Paul, ed., Persian origins: Early Judaeo-Persian and the emergence of New Persian: collected papers of the symposium, Göttingen 1999. Wi

The Discourse on Priesthood (Bl Add 18295, ff. 137b-140b): An Anti-Jewish text on the abrogation of the Israelite Priesthood

This previously unpublished Syriac text consists of two parts, a dialogue between a Jew and a Christian concerning the abrogation of the Israelite priesthood by that of Jesus Christ in heaven and a list of key points where the former and the latter priesthoods differ. Although his main source is the pseudo-Pauline Epistle to the Hebrews, the author of this text was influenced by Greek philosophical logic and may have written this text with the aim of debating with Jews.

La tabla del cielo: una nota sobre Corán, azora 5,111 ss.

This article examines the hypothesis of a possible influence of a passage from a little known Syriac text, entitled The Gospel of the Twelve Apostles, on an episode concerning Jesus and the Apostles in the Fifth Surah of the Qur’an.

Sobria Ebrietas According to some Syriac Texts

Sobria Ebrietas According to some Syriac Texts

Il libro di Osea secondo la versione siriaca (Peshitto)

Every attempt to vocalize the Aramaic Bible is a challenging task, but at the same time stimulating. In this article, the Syriac texts of Hosea is presented here fully vocalized according to the western system and with the indications of rukkökhö and quååöyö within the context itself. It is forseen, moreover, that the publication of the Syriac texts of the Minor Prophets will soon follow in the near future. This paper follows up on the Syriac text (Peshitto) of Amos and Jonah already published in the previous volume of Liber Annuus.

Thomas and Tatian: The Relationship between the Gospel of Thomas and the Diatessaron

The relationship between the Coptic Gospel of and the synoptic gospels has been a matter of long-standing debate. Some maintain that the sayings of Jesus in Thomas reflect a line of transmission independent of the synoptic tradition; others contend that the Coptic collection is finally a reworking of the Greek synoptic gospels. This book proposes a third possibility: namely, that the Gospel of depends on a second-century Syriac gospel harmony, Tatian's Diatessaron, written in 175 C.E. Following a linguistic analysis of Thomas, the author argues that the Coptic collection is actually a translation of a unified Syriac text which at places followed the wording and sequence of the Diatessaron, The book argues for a late second-century C.E. dating of Thomas, rules out Thomas as a meaningful source for Historical Jesus research, and suggests possible links between Thomas and other mystical literature of the ancient near east. Paperback edition is available from the Society of Biblical Literature (www.sbl-site.org).

I libri di Amos e di Giona secondo la versione siriaca (Peshitto)

Every attempt to vocalize the Aramaic Bible is a challenging task, yet at the same time stimulating. In this article, the Syriac texts of both Amos and Jonah are presented here fully vocalized according to the western system and with the indications of rukkokho and quaaoyo within the context itself. It is forseen, moreover, that the publication of the Syriac texts of the Minor Prophets will soon follow in the near future.

2000 NAPS Presidential Address Spoken Words, Voiced Silence: Biblical Women in Syriac Tradition

Biblical women have a distinctively prominent verbal role in late antique Syriac homilies and hymns. Syriac writers granted these women a rhetorical voice often lacking in their biblical narratives, through the favored technique of imagined speech; and those words found a performative voice when women's choirs sang certain of these hymns in the liturgies of civic churches. This study asks how women's speech was represented in these Syriac texts, how that representation functioned in Christian teaching, and how the ritual performance by women's liturgical choirs contributed to the social meaning of women's voices in the late antique Syrian Orient.

Tatian's Diatessaron and the Old Testament Peshitta

Did Tatian consult the Syriac version of the OT when drawing up his Gospel harmony? This question, first raised almost a century ago,1 has not become irrelevant since then, in spite of much progress in research on both the Diatessaron and the OT Peshitta.2 In a study of OT quotations contained in the Old Syriac and Peshitta Gospels, the present writer, following in the footsteps of F C. Burkitt and S. P. Brock, undertook to show that Tatian did make use of the OT Peshitta.3 I concluded that Tatian, in his Diatessaron, frequently inserted OT Peshitta readings as a rendering of OT quotations instead of translating the Greek text as read in the Gospels.4 This position has recently been challenged by R. Shedinger on methodological grounds: since no Western witnesses of the Diatessaron were used to show dependence on the OT Peshitta, and since Shedinger's own analysis of quotations in the Western harmonies produced no traces of such dependence, the hypothesis became, in his view, untenable.5 The present article offers a renewed survey of relevant readings. In the first section, the Eastern evidence is briefly reevaluated. As will be seen, this evidence cannot be brushed aside as easily as has been done by Shedinger. The second and third sections introduce new material from Western sources that is supportive of the hypothesis. Although the thesis of Tatianic dependence on the OT Peshitta cannot, in the absence of the original text of the Diatessaron, be proven absolutely, the conclusion must be that what textual evidence we have is strongly supportive of it. I. Traces of the Old Testament Peshitta in Eastern Witnesses of the Diatessaron Historical research shows that Tatian's harmony was probably from the start a Syriac writing.6 The impact of the work is felt primarily in the Syriac-- speaking area, while the Greek church appears to have had no firsthand knowledge of it. To prove Syriac origin on a textual basis is hard, since no complete original text of the Diatessaron has been preserved.7 It may fairly be stated, however, that the textual evidence is generally supportive of the hypothesis,8 and that no textual facts oppose it, not even the Greek fragment of the Diatessaron found in Dura Europos.9 If the Diatessaron was written in Syriac, precedence must be conceded to the Eastern sources. Although even the earliest Syriac witnesses show clear signs of having been modified later in the direction of Greek manuscripts of the Gospels, they nevertheless offer the possibility of retracing part of the wording of the Diatessaron itself. 10 The Arabic and Persian harmonies are more problematic, both because these texts are of a later date and because they are translations. But at least they depend directly on a Syriac text, whereas Western harmonies are mostly translations twice or thrice removed from the original. It is good method, therefore, to build a hypothesis regarding Tatian's sources first and foremost on the basis of the Eastern evidence. Ephrem's Commentary on the Diatessaron On the supposition of a Syriac original, the only direct witness to the text of the Diatessaron is to be found in Gospel quotations in early Syriac texts. Early Syriac authors, particularly Aphrahat and Ephrem, quote the Gospel primarily, or even exclusively, according to the Diatessaron.11 Even these quotations show us a text adapted to that of the Greek Gospels,12 but they are generally, and rightly, considered to be our best source. When Burkitt first addressed the question of the possible influence of the OT Peshitta on the Diatessaron, it is to these quotations that he turned for a solution.13 The results were disappointing. Ephrem's Commentary on the Diatessaron was then available only in an Armenian translation, which did not permit a clear conclusion; as to Aphrahat, the evidence seemed to indicate a positive answer, but it was hard to be certain.14 Returning to the problem three-quarters of a century later, Brock found himself in a much more favorable position. …

The Gospel of Thomas and Early Stages in the Development of the Christian Wisdom Literature

This work addresses the theological background of the Gospel of Thomas and its relationship to personified wisdom tradition on the one hand, and to the Syriac Christian tradition of the divine redeemer on the other. The Gospel of Thomas shares a number of unique characteristics with the Syriac literature of the second and third centuries C.E. , such as interest in personal asceticism as a means to attain divine wisdom, personal deification, and view of Christ as a state of being most clearly expressed in the man Jesus, but also accessible to his followers. All of these characteristics distinguish the Gospel of Thomas from the personified wisdom tradition, which in some cases explicitly rejects them (the Gospel of John). On the other hand, the Gospel of Thomas is organized as a collection of independent sayings ( logoi sophon ) pronounced by Jesus, while the third-century Syriac writings usually have a poetic or semipoetic form ( The Hymn of the Pearl , the Odes of Solomon ). In addition, despite significant similarities, the theological message of the Syriac literature appears more "mature" and articulated than the doctrine of the Gospel of Thomas . One may conclude that the Gospel of Thomas belongs to the early stages in the development of Christian doctrine that would eventually evolve into a full-fledged theology in the later Syriac texts. Its message was either redefined in Syriac tradition of the divine redeemer or rejected as a result of adaptation of personified wisdom tradition by the mainstream church.

The Man of Edessa, Bishop Rabbula, and the Urban Poor: Church and Society in the Fifth Century

The Man of God of Edessa, Bishop Rabbula, and the Urban Poor: Church and Society in the Fifth Century Han J. W. Drijvers (bio) The history of the Man of God from the city of Rome who was victorious and crowned by works of poverty in the city of Edessa in the days of the illustrious and holy priest Mar Rabbula, bishop of this city of Edessa, 1 as the heading of the Syriac text reads, is the earliest version of the well-known medieval legend of Saint Alexius. 2 The saint, offspring of a very wealthy Roman family, hated riches and choose a life of complete renunciation of worldly goods and of fasting. He ought to be called an angel, the hagiographer tells us, because he despised all the pleasures of this world. 3 [End Page 235] His parents possessed all the wealth and fame of this world, but their marriage was childless. Through many prayers, tears, and vows they at last got a son, who would become our saint. When this boy had reached the appropriate age, he was sent to school but did not pay any attention to mundane knowledge and instead devoted himself very seriously to the study of more lasting divine things. His father and mother were rather worried about this strange behaviour and, believing him to be simple-minded, tried to cheer him up by sending him beautiful slave girls which he, however, with lowered eyes sent away. His parents, however, did not give up their hope—most parents never do—found him a wife and arranged a pompous wedding to which the entire city was invited. The first day of the wedding feast, when the bride was to arrive and make her appearance, the bridegroom asked one of his best men to accompany him to the harbor. There the bridegroom took a walk all alone and prayed to God for the fulfilment of his true desire, a chaste life. God sent a ship at his prayer; he boarded it, and it brought him to Seleucia, the harbour of Antioch in Syria. 4 He traveled eastwards and at last arrived in Edessa, the city of the Parthians, where he spent the rest of his life begging. During the daytime he stayed in the church. Although a beggar he accepted nothing from anybody and spent the day fasting. At the beginning of the evening he took a standing-place at the door of the church and begged for alms from the devout. When he, however, had received enough for a simple daily meal, he closed his hand. When eventually he had got more than he needed, he gave the surplus to the poor, who abided in the church yard and among whom he lived. At night, when all the other poor were asleep, he stood up and passed the night praying, standing against a wall or a column with outstretched arms in the form of a cross. 5 Before dawn he entered the church to attend the first service, the officium nocturnum, and stayed there during the rest of the day. He told nobody about his former status and grandeur and did not even reveal his name, so that no one could discover his former glory. The saint’s parents naturally were overwhelmed by grief about their prodigal son and despatched their slaves to search for him in all harbours and in all countries. A Christian slave, one of the [End Page 236] saint’s former servants, arrived at Edessa in his search and informed Rabbula, the glorious Edessene bishop, about the Man of God and his high descent. But Rabbula obviously could not find him and did not even believe this strange story. Needless to say, the servants did not recognize their former master in the humble beggar in rags who stood at the entrance of the church. One night, however, the paramonarius, the doorkeeper of the church saw the humble saint standing and praying with outstretched arms like the crucified among the sleeping poor. Once his attention was drawn to it, he observed the same scene every night, so that he at last approached the saint and asked him from where he was...