This article presents diplomatic editions and analysis of three additional manuscript witnesses to the Armenian work Questions of St. Gregory, supplementing previously published editions of Recensions I and II. The study examines manuscripts M (Matenadaran 2546, 14th century), JM (Jeselsohn Collection 34, 1353), and W (Vienna Mekhitarist 170, 1500-1524), which represent some of the earliest preserved copies of this question-and-answer text dealing with eschatological themes and biblical interpretation. Manuscript M provides an additional witness to Recension I and preserves a complete leaf of material lost from the previously published Jerusalem manuscript, while JM34, dating to 1353, represents the earliest known copy and belongs to Recension II. The Vienna manuscript W170 contains yet another variant form of Recension II. Through diplomatic transcription, translation, and comparative analysis, the article demonstrates the complex transmission history of this popular Armenian theological work, which found widespread resonance among Armenians from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. The study contributes to understanding Armenian scriptorial practices, textual variations, and the adaptation of biblical and parabiblical traditions for local ecclesiastical contexts, while laying groundwork for future comprehensive editions of this significant text.
In this article, further examples for nautic metaphors in the Coptic-Manichaean Psalm Book are presented. The list given by Nagel some thirty years ago is thus completed.
This contribution outlines an ongoing research project that aims to fill in part of the gap left by the absence of a critical edition and a dedicated critical study of the text of Agapius of Manbij. By exploring the textual witnesses of this work, preliminary remarks and new findings are brought to attention that contextualise our Syro-Arabic work within the milieu of Syriac studies. These findings are further pursued to shed new light on the enigmatic Eastern Common Source and argue for the survival of the presumed lost Chronicle of Theophilus of Edessa.
We propose the reading of a short fragmentary hymn in Greek, found on a papyrus belonging to the Manichaean community of the Roman site of Kellis, and we try to place it in its complex cultural and historical-religious context. The attribution of the text is due to the place of discovery, common to other texts certainly Manichaean, and to extratextual elements (miniature writing) that characterize its production in that area. The text presents itself as a hymn of praise to the figure of the Father, celebrated in his attributes of greatness and transcendence with respect to the faithful who supplicate him, and insists on his uniqueness in the role of organizer of the cosmos. Although it does not use a technical vocabulary, the analysis of the text attentive to doctrinal questions, and the discovery of parallels with Coptic and Iranian poetic texts have contributed to shedding light on the theological meaning of the text and the historical-religious categories underlying it. Furthermore, the material condition in which the text was transmitted, as well as the cultural context of Kellis, have proven to be essential elements of analysis for understanding the text.
The final part of the Sermo de poenitentia by Ioannes Ieiunator Nu eta sigma tau epsilon upsilon tau eta sigma) overwritten by the Palestinian Talmud tractate Horayoth can be found under two palimpsest fragments from the Cairo Genizah discovered at the end of the nineteenth century and then bought from an antiquities dealer by Agnes Smith Lewis and Margaret Dunlop Gibson. Since the early Greek version is missing, this Christian Palestinian Aramaic witness is a welcome addition as the earliest representative of this text (ca. 7th century CE).
In this paper I argue that Sirarpie Der Nersessian's work on Armenian miniature painting can serve as a valuable inspirational stimulus to research on the musicology of the Armenian hymnal and of other liturgical volumes, on several grounds. First (as I demonstrate by means of a particularly poignant example), it is instructive and revealing to examine Armenian codices from several angles simultaneously-considering their iconographic, theological as well as musical elements in tandem with each other. Second, hymnal codices present particular features peculiar to the genre, and warrant further study, following Der Nersessian's own footsteps. Thirdly, interactions in the area of manuscript painting with neighbouring traditions are currently well understood, not least due to her own authoritative contributions, and yet, even though comparable interactions in the realms of Armenian sacred musical practice are no less striking, they have been largely left unexplored. I suggest reasons for this, and present three documentary witnesses attesting to interactions between the Armenian and Byzantine sacred musical traditions.
Arabic grammar defines various types of waw such as waw al-'atf "the conjunctive waw" and waw al-isti'naf "the waw of commencement". This article explores the use of a less well-investigated waw known as the waw explicativum, and suggests that this type of waw can be found in Qur'anic hendiadys constructions. This waw serves an explanatory function by connecting two words from the same or a different semantic field. The whole structure expresses a single complex idea rather than simply two conjoined separate concepts. This article analyzes how hendiadys with the waw explicativum are realized in the Qur'an and the subtle meanings they convey. The analysis shows that Qur'anic hendiadys appear in a number of contexts, including the role of the Qur'an, divine guidance, sins, and worldly life. The word preceded by the waw explicativum modifies the other in two ways: (a) through semantic modification/intensification, where the two words are combined to create a new shade of meaning, and (b) qualification, where the first word specifies the second.
This study shows that Philoxenus revised his Peshitta text of Acts to the Greek throughout his career by examining his writings written before and after the creation of the Philoxenian Version in 507/508. It compares his citations to the Peshitta and the Harklean versions, the Greek text, collations of dozens of Peshitta and Lectionary manuscripts of Acts as well as almost 30 contemporaneous Syriac and Graeco-Syriac translation works. It extends earlier studies on the Philoxenian text by V & ouml;& ouml;bus, Brock and Walters regarding Philoxenus' New Testament text by examining more of Philoxenus' writings, written before and after the production of the Philoxenian version. This paper demonstrates that Philoxenus was modifying his citations of the Peshitta text of Acts to conform to the Greek well before the production of his eponymous version. This result is robust even when considering only his earliest work, the Ten Dissertations, written ca. 482-484. Philoxenus' early practice of modifying the Peshitta calls into question the opinion that Philoxenus was not skilled in Greek. It provides readings that appear to be from the lost Philoxenian version of Acts. This study also weighs in on the issue of whether the minor Catholic Epistles and Revelation edited by Gwynn are Philoxenian and tips the scale toward their being Philoxenian. The evidence provides an expanded view of the Syriac Church's awareness of the Greek text and need to revise the Peshitta at the end of the fifth century and opening of the sixth century.
- A letter of John the Stylite of Litharb (d. 737/738) is preserved incompletely in one manuscript, British Library Add. 12154. It is printed here with translation and commentary. This letter answers the request from an Arab priest Daniel to interpret the prophecy of Jacob in Genesis 49.10 "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah" etc. John's answer quotes the chronicles of Eusebius and Andronicus. He then adds a catalogue of interpretations of the prophecy of "weeks" in Daniel 9.24-27. The authors quoted or cited (as far as the letter is preserved) are, besides the two chroniclers: John Chrysostom, Cyril, Hippolytus, Ephrem, Severus Sebokht, Jacob of Edessa, and George bishop of the Arabs.
This article examines the place of the Law in Philoxenus of Mabbug's ascetical thought. The main argument is that Philoxenus turns to the law of the Old Testament, with all its coerciveness, in order to legitimize and validate a normative system suitable for the multitudes of Christians who are "living in the world", beneath the level of perfection. This is not to say that Philoxenus encourages the actual observance of Jewish-biblical commandments; rather, he advances a "logic-of-law", which corresponds explicitly to that of the Old Testament. I will first discuss the hierarchy between non-monastic, "common", Christians, and Jews, as it appears in a letter addressed by Philoxenus to a Jew who has "turned to the life of perfection". Then I will discuss the emphasis on the importance of keeping the commandments as a means for salvation in his Letter to Patricius. Following this discussion, I will examine how the Law functions as a central concept in the differentiation between the Upright and the Perfect and in Philoxenus' effort to simultaneously distinguish and legitimize social and normative stratification within Christianity.
The article discusses the problems associated with the forged Vita beati Silvestri and its Oriental versions, as well as others considered forged works. It seems that these spurious writings should receive almost the same attention as any other medieval text, since they bring forward interesting data. An amusing aspect of the Vita Silvestri is that the Roman legend about Constantine's baptism by Sylvester is so commingled with elements of its Oriental versions that it is almost impossible to reveal its original core without studying all these versions. Both the Latin original and its Greek translation have been preserved in different versions. The Syriac and Armenian translations were made from Greek. In the Armenian tradition, the Life of Sylvester has an old Armenian Hellenizing translation and a concise version of it. The latter was included in the so-called Short Socrates, which also contains the short recension of another ancient Armenian Hellenizing translation, namely the Ecclesiastical History by Socrates Scholasticus. The author of the Short Socrates, having actually combined these two versions into one, presents them under the general title History of Socrates and begins the narrative with the Vita Silvestri. Topics related to the question of why such a pro-Roman opus was so widespread in Armenia (since both the translation and its recension later served as a source for some spurious writings) are also explained in this study.
After providing a thorough and updated overview of the Syriac translations of Gregory of Nazianzus' poetry and their authors, this study focuses on the work of one of the earliest among them, Ianuarinus Cadidatus of Amida, who around the mid-7th century translated Gregory's poem II, 1, 1, a long autobiographical piece, in Homeric hexameters. The sole fragment of Ianuarinus' enterprise is still preserved in the Vat. sir. 96: this may represent the earliest example of Greek poetry being rendered into Syriac. Besides reassessing the previous scholarship on this mysterious author, the study additionally places him in the wider educational and intellectual context of Amida and Upper Mesopotamia in the 7th century, an area still deeply Hellenized. The final part of the study is devoted to the analysis of the literary features of Ianuarinus' translation and to the side-effects that this fragment yields on the Greek text of Gregory. A new edition of the fragment with an English translation, alongside the Greek text, concludes the essay as an appendix.
This paper is dedicated to one of the most cherished antichalcedonian monks of the fifth century: Abba Isaiah, also called Isaiah of Scetis (d. 491). While current research has mainly focused on Abba Isaiah's authorship of the Asceticon, a compilation of 29 ascetical sermons, Abba Isaiah's role in the christological controversies of the fifth century has remained mostly unexplored. The aim of this contribution is to suggest new perspectives on Isaiah's life and involvement in the emergence of an antichalcedonian party in fifth-century Palestine, particularly in the light of Isaiah's Syriac Vita by Zacharias Scholasticus (BHO 550), of which we offer a complete French translation in appendix. This thorough study tries to show that Isaiah, as a wandering ascetic, forged and widened a strong network of allies and opponents to Chalcedon (451) during his whole lifetime. First in Egypt, then in the Palestinian town of Eleutheropolis, and finally in Gaza, Isaiah gradually became a pillar of the antichalcedonian movement, playing a crucial role between Egyptian and Palestinian Christianities, but also-on account of his unchallenged authority and moderate stance-between the imperial court and the Gazan monks.
- A metal ring engraved with a Georgian a asomtavruli inscription was inserted into the mosaic pavement of the catholicon of the Monastery of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem by the Hegoumenos Nikiphore Choloq'ashvili during the renovations he instigated in the 1640s. The content of the text engraved on the ring is based on a passage from Paul's Epistle to the Thessalonians (II Thess. 2:15), and is imbued with the universal Christian spirit, which gains particular intensity in the monastic context. Placed in the center of the church, under the dome, the ring was conceived as one of the principal artistic and textual highlights of the church interior. It was conceived as the imaginary axis connecting heaven and earth, which is perceived as identical to the commonly recognized notion of the axis of the world. This concept is held to be true for the Monastery of the Holy Cross and its catholicon, since according to legend the Monastery stands upon the site where the tree that gave its wood to the Calvary Cross grew. At the same time, the inscription echoes the political, ethnocultural and confessional realities under which the Georgian monastic community of Jerusalem was active for centuries. The inscription on the metal ring was a significant part of the historical narrative provided by the church's epigraphy and paintings. A major component was a vast gallery with prominent Georgian historical figures, both secular and religious, who played a role in the founding and subsequent renovations of the Monastery. This group of historical figures was a witness to the legal rights that the Georgians had to the sacral places in the Holy Land, especially to the Monastery of the Holy Cross.
The Book of Job preserved in BL Ar. 1475 and Sin. Ar. 1 (9th c. CE) contains an interesting sample of vocabulary employed by the early Melkite translators from both Syriac and Greek into Arabic. Our aim in this article is to analyse a selected vocabulary from the Arabic version of the Book of Job (BL Ar. 1475 + Sin. Ar. 1) in order to determine whether the vocabulary used in this translation may be regarded as innovative with respect to previous translations, or whether he simply used a standardised vocabulary inherited from the 8th century predecessors. For this purpose, the lexicon has been organized into three groups: a) low-frequency terms of minor thematic importance; b) terms corresponding to three nominal lexical fields; and c) terms denoting some of the key concepts covered by the narrative.
- Inthis paper, four studies on the Coptic Vita Pachomii are combined. In the first part, the episode with the possessed man is the focus. The question of graves as the abode of the possessed man is particularly important. The motif is explained with a possible influence from Mk 5, 1-20. In the second part, an interpretation of the eagle motif is presented for the first time, with the late antique role of the bird as psychopomp being considered. The third part deals with the motif of the selected vessel, for which a Pauline background is assumed. In the fourth part, the honey motif of Pachom's dream is discussed, and placed in a larger patristic context.
The article contains the first edition and translation of a short Arabic text, the Arabic annotations on the Syriac Book of Hierotheos by the Syriac miaphysite theologian and philosopher Yahya ibn Adi (tenth century). The text is accompanied by a doctrinal analysis. The analysis first addresses Yahya's interpretative strategy, showing that the Syriac Origenist text is commented on from an orthodox point of view. Secondly, several philosophical sources of the annotations are highlighted, most notably the Arabic Liber de causis. The article also investigates the doctrinal parallels between the annotations on the Book of Hierotheos and other works by Yahya, as well as the relationship between Yahya's annotations and Theodosius' Syriac commentary on the Book of Hierotheos. A final appraisal of the relationship between Origenism and the transmission of philosophy from Greek into Arabic is provided.
The article presents an editio princeps of the Georgian homily On the Interrogation of the Lord (CPG 3425-2) attributed to Meletius of Antioch (d. 381). Introductory remarks pass in review previous scholarly discussion of the text and point out several important features of the theology of the ancient preacher as well as references to Ephrem the Syrian. The Georgian text is published on the ground of the only extant witness, the manuscript Iviron, georg. 11; an English translation accompanies the original.
Many of the letters of Jacob of Edessa remain an underutilized source for reconstructing ecclesiastical and religious history after the rise of Islam in greater Syria, in part because the vast majority remain unedited. This essay examines one part of that collection as preserved in British Library Add. 12,172: Jacob's correspondence with a shadowy figure named Eustathius of Dara, known to us only from these letters and a passing reference in Michael the Great's Chronicle. By isolating this correspondence within the larger collection for study, this article clarifies certain misconceptions about the nature of Jacob's letter collection, and, secondly, argues that Eustathius was a member of the Hellenized aristocracy of Dara who sought Jacob out for advanced learning in Greek literature and philosophy. In this capacity, he acted as his potential patron; thus, these letters help shed light on networks of patronage that existed between monastic and aristocratic elites in the early Islamic Jaz & imacr;ra. I tentatively suggest that Jacob's correspondence with Eustathius should be dated to the years prior to his bishopric (684-688), when he operated from the monasteries of Edessa, and therefore has the potential to shed light on a period of his life about which little is known.
