For this publication, a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license has been granted by the author(s), who retain full copyright.
Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies is an electronic journal dedicated to the study of the Syriac tradition, published semi-annually (in January and July) by Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute. Published since 1998, Hugoye seeks to offer the best scholarship available in the field of Syriac studies.
The 10th anniversary of Hugoye offers an opportunity to reflect briefly on the work of Syriacists who have died during these last ten years. Their contributions to the field of Syriac studies are considered under separate subject headings.
‘Let me too praise men of grace, our fathers in their times; let us accord much honour to them’ (Bar Sira 44:1, Peshitta).
I am most grateful to Luk van Rompay for his
helpful comments and for providing me with some dates; also to
Christine Mason, of the Bodleian Library (Oxford), who also
located an elusive date for me.
Hugoye’s tenth anniversary offers the
opportunity to reflect briefly on the past, Syriac
Studies: a Classified Bibliography
(1960-1990) (Kaslik, 1996), and continued in
Parole de l’Orient 23 (1998) and 29 (2004); a
further one, covering 2001-2005, is in preparation for
Parole de l’Orient 32 (2007).
On him see G. Kiraz in Hugoye 7/1 (2004).
Vetus Testamentum
Syriace (IV.3; 1973).
Cambridge, 1999.
The Syriac
Version of the Old Testament. An Introduction,
published posthumously.An Introduction to the Old Testament in
Greek (1900, 2nd edn 1914), albeit of a very
different character; just as Swete’s work is still
invaluable a century later for certain types of information, so
too it is likely that Weitzman’s Introduction
will continue to be read and consulted with profit for many
years to come. Besides editing a volume of essays in his
memory,Biblical Hebrew, Biblical Texts. Essays
in Memory of Michael P. Weitzman (Journal for the Study of
the Old Testament, Supplement Series 333; London, 2001).
From Judaism to Christianity,
after the title of his
influential contribution of 1992, which opens the volume.
From Judaism to Christianity. Studies in
the Hebrew and Syriac Bibles (Journal of Semitic Studies,
Supplement 8; Oxford, 1999).
On him see J. Thekeparampil in Vetus Testamentum Syriace (VTS).
Another scholar, David Lane (1935-2005),Hugoye 8/1
(2005).
The Peshitta of Leviticus,
at
the end of which he offers an interesting theory concerning the
origin of the standard medieval text of the Peshitta Old
Testament.
Monographs of the Peshitta Institute 6; Leiden, 1994).
On him see L. van Rompay in
In a volume on
Hugoye 8/1
(2005).
The Malabar Church (ed. J.
Vellian; OCA 186, 1970), pp. 23-32. He was the recipient of a
Festschrift, Von Kanaan bis Kerala (Alte Orient und
Altes Testament 211; 1982), which includes his bibliography to
that date. On him see L. van Rompay in Hugoye 8/1
(2005).
The Book of Judith (Moran Etho 3;
Kottayam, 1991); a fine study of this version, by L. van
Rompay, is to be found in W.Th. van Peursen and B. ter Haar
Romeny (eds), Text, Translation and Tradition. Studies in
the Peshitta and its Use in the Syriac Tradition presented to
Konrad D. Jenner (Monographs of the Peshitta Institute,
14; Leiden, 2006), pp. 205-30.
Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 25;
Leiden, 1994.
Tatian's Diatessaron. Its
Creation, Dissemination, Significance, and History in
Scholarship
On him see J.J. van Ginkel in
His bibliography, 1961-1999, can be found in
the first of two Festschrifts in his honour, edited by G.J.
Reinink and A.C. Klugkist,
Hugoye 5/2 (2002).
After Bardaisan (Orientalia
Lovaniensia Analecta 89; Leuven, 1999), pp. xv-xxxii.
East of Antioch.
Studies in Early Syriac Christianity (London, 1984). Among
his last publications in the Syriac field was a photographic
edition, with a study done in conjunction with his son Jan
Willem, of a very early Syriac text on the Finding of the
Cross.The Finding of the True Cross. The Judas
Kyriakos Legend in Syriac (CSCO 565; Subs. 93; 1997).
Coniectanea Biblica, Old Testament Series
11; Lund, 1978.
In Motifs from
Genesis 1-11 in the Genuine Hymns of Ephrem the
Syrian,Solving Riddles and Untying
Knots... Studies in Honor of J.C. Greenfield (Winona Lake,
1995), pp. 107-15, and in Orientalia Suecana 40
(1991), pp. 149-63, respectively.
The Diatessaron and Ephrem Syrus as Sources of Romanos the
Melodist.Patrologia Orientalis 28.1 (1959).
Untersuchungen zur
syrischen Literaturgeschichte I. Zur
Märtyrerüberlieferung aus der Christenverfolgung
Schapurs II.
Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften
in Göttingen, phil.-hist. Kl. III.67; 1967). He was
also the editor of two volumes of essays on different aspects
of Syriac literature, the second of which was
a Festschrift in honour of W.
Strothmann: Erkenntnisse und Meinungen I-II
(Göttinger Orientforschungen, I. Reihe: Syriaca 3 and
17; Wiesbaden, 1973, 1978). Wiessner also produced a
series of valuable studies of church architecture in Tur
Abdin: Christliche Kultbauten im Tur Abdin (4 vols,
Wiesbaden, 1981-93).
CSCO 475, Subs. 74; Louvain, 1985.
His bibliography, compiled by R.-G. Coquin,
can be found in Les
Kephalaia Gnostica d’Évagre le Pontique et
l’histoire de l’origénisme chez les Grecs et
chez les Syriens (Paris, 1962). Although he did not edit
any further Syriac translations of Evagrius, he provided a
great deal of information about their manuscript tradition in
the introductions to his editions of the Greek texts of the
Praktikos and Gnostikos in Sources
chrétiennes, as well as in various articles. Guillaumont
also wrote very illuminatingly on the early Syriac ascetic
traditions, and several of his articles in this area are to be
found collected in Aux origines du monachisme
chrétien (Spiritualité orientale 30,
1979).Mélanges Antoine Guillaumont.
Contributions à l’étude des christianismes
orientaux (Cahiers d’Orientalisme XX; Geneva, 1988),
pp. vii-xi.
For a brief note on him, see B. Outtier,
Though his name only appeared on the title
pages in 1957; in 1992 he transferred the editorship of the
series to the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome. On the
origins of the Patrologia Orientalis, see L. Mariès and
F. Graffin, ‘Monseigneur René Graffin (1858-1941);
histoire de sa famille, de sa Patrologie et de ses
collaborateurs’, Hugoye 6/2 (2003), and in Journal Asiatique
291 (2003), pp. 1-4.
Orientalia Christiana Periodica
67 (2001), pp. 157-78.
Mimre
against Habib - both major undertakings. He also
edited the third ‘Base’ of Bar
ʿEbroyo’s Mnorat Qudshe (PO
27.4; 1957), a collection of sixth-century anonymous homilies
(PO 41.4; 1984), and (with P. Harb and M. Albert) the Letter on
the three stages of the monastic life, correctly ascribed to
Joseph Hazzaya (it had previously been attributed to
Philoxenus). A bibliography, but only to 1976, of his many
other publications in the Syriac field can be found in
Mélanges offerts au R.P. François Graffin =
Parole de l’Orient 6/7 (1975/6), pp. xi-xvi. It
might be noted that he was the author of a number of very
useful articles on Syriac writers in the excellent
Dictionnaire de Spiritualité.
R. Lavenant (ed.), IIIe Symposium
Syriacum (Orientalia Christiana Analecta 221; 1983), pp.
307-21.
On him, see P. Yousif, ‘Remembering
Fr. Joseph Habbi (1938-2000): a bio-bibliographical
report’,
For the former, see his
‘L’antica letteratura siriaca e la filosofia
greca’, in M. Pavan and U. Cozzoli (eds),
Orientalia Christiana Periodica 69
(2003), pp. 7-28; also G. Kiraz in Hugoye 4/1
(2001), and H. Kaufhold in Oriens Christianus 84
(2000), pp. 241-2.
L’Eredità classica nell lingue orientali
(Rome, 1986), pp. 49-56; and for the latter, his
‘Testi geoponici classici in siriaco e in arabo, in G.
Fiaccadori (ed.), Autori classici in lingue del Vicino e
Medio Oriente (Rome, 1990), pp. 77-92. Habbi was also
the editor of an important newly discovered Arabic work, The
Book of Signs, by Bar Bahlul.
Studi e Testi 187 (1956).
Les lettres du patriarche
nestorien Timothée I
A bibliography of his publications is given
by G. Rabo in Qolo Suryoyo 147 (2005), pp.
17-26; on him see also my articles on him in
Sobornost/Eastern Churches Review 27:2
(2005), 57-62, and Qolo Suryoyo 147 (2005), 41-45.
What is probably another part of the same
work was published earlier (1981) as Orientalia
Lovanensia Analecta 10.
His bibliography up to 1985 can be found in
C. Laga, J.A. Munitiz and L. van Rompay (eds), Nonnus de Nisibe. Traité apologétique
(Louvain, 1948), Eliae Epistula Apologetica ad Leonem,
Syncellum Harranensem (CSCO Scr. Syri 201-2; 1985),
(with P. Allen) Monophysite Texts of the Sixth Century
(Louvain, 1994), and (with R. Ebied and L. Wickham) the
enormous work by Peter of Kallinikos against Damian, published
in the Corpus Christianorum, Series Graeca, vols 29, 32,
35, 54 (1994-2003).After
Chalcedon. Studies in Theology and Church History offered
to Professor Albert van Roey (Orientalia Lovaniensia
Analecta 18; 1985), pp. xxi-xxix.
For an analysis of this, see my ‘A
monastic anthology from twelfth-century Edessa’, in
Awsar
Raze (2003), Dioscorus of Gozarto’s verse Life of
Bar ʿEbroyo’s (1985), a
thirteenth-century monastic anthology (1985)Symposium Syriacum VII (OCA 256, 1998), pp. 221-31.
A full listing of his extensive bibliography
is given in
‘Le resumé syriaque de
l’Agathange’,
The former is edited in Universum Hagiographicum: Mémorial R.P.
Michel van Esbroeck, s.j., published as the second volume
(1906) of the new Russian patristic journal Scrinium
(St Petersburg), xxxi-lxviii. On him, see the notices by A.
Muraviev and B. Lurié (in Russian) and by S.K. Samir (in
French) in Scrinium 2 (2006), xiii-xxiv, xxv-xxx; also
the note by H. Kaufhold in Oriens Christianus 88
(2004), pp. 257-61, and that by L. van Rompay in
Hugoye 7/1 (2004).
Analecta Bollandiana 95
(1977), pp. 291-358.
Symposium
Syriacum VIII = Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 56
(2004), pp. 1-13; and the latter in Symposium
Syriacum VII (OCA 256; Rome 1998), pp. 85-105.
Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche
(1993-2001).
Studies in Late Antiquity and Early Islam 6;
Princeton NJ, 2004. Fiey had left the work in an incomplete
state at his death, and the task of putting it all into a
publishable form was undertaken by L.I. Conrad, who has also
provided an introduction.
Saints syriaques, which has now been
published posthumously.Enciclopedia dei Santi. Le Chiesi
orientali, I-II (Rome, 1998-9), a work to which Y. Habbi
had also contributed a large number of articles.
The dust-jacket gives a different title,
The Christians of St Thomas in South India
and their Syriac Manuscripts (Bangalore, 1983)The Syriac Manuscripts of St Thomas Christians.
On him see H. Kaufhold in
Assfalg’s bibliography (covering from
1954 to 1990) can be found in R. Schulz and M. Görg (eds),
Hugoye
4/1 (2001) and especially in Oriens Christianus 85
(2001), pp. 1-22.
Syrische Handschriften,
which appeared as volume 5 of the Verzeichnis der
orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland (Wiesbaden,
1963). Assfalg, who taught all the Oriental Christian languages
at Munich (and indeed continued teaching even in retirement),
was also the editor for many years of Oriens
Christianus, a periodical which has served Syriac studies
immensely well over its century-long existence. The handy
Kleines Worterbuch des christlichen Orients
(Wiesbaden, 1975), which he edited along with P. Krüger,
has usefully also been translated into French (Turnhout,
1991).Lingua Restituta Orientalis. Festgabe für J.
Assfalg (Ägypten und Altes Testament 20; 1990),
pp. xiii-xxv.
In a subsequent article, in the The Diacritical Point and the
Accents in Syriac (London, 1953) on the wonderful
collection of early Syriac manuscripts in the British Library;
this is the sort of authoritative study which is not likely to
be replaced for a very long time.Journal
of Semitic Studies 34 (1989), pp. 483-91, he deals with
two further ‘diacritical points’, qushshaya and
rukkaka. On him see G. Khan in Hugoye 7/1 (2004);
also the memoir, by E. Ullendorff and S.P. Brock,
in the Proceedings of the British Academy 130
(2005), pp. 204-12.
The Old Syriac Inscriptions of Edessa and
Osrhoene, by H.J.W. Drijvers and J.F. Healey (Leiden,
1999).
On them, see T. Bou Mansour, ‘W. de
Vries et la sacramentologie syriaque: soixante ans plus
tard’, Sakramententheologie bei den
syrischen Monophysiten and Sakramententheologie bei
den Nestorianern.
Orientalia Christiana Analecta 125
and 133 (1940, 1947).
Parole de l’Orient 29 (2004), pp.
161-97, where references to his various articles in this field
can be found. For his bibliography, see V. Poggi in
Orientalia Christiana Periodica 64 (1998), pp. 5-38.
His bibliography is given by R. Taft at the
end of his memoir in Lelya-Sapra: Essai d’interprétation
des matines chaldéennes (Orientalia Christiana
Analecta 156, 1959) is a magisterial study based on an intimate
knowledge both of the living tradition and of the source
materials. His many articles on both East and West Syriac
liturgical tradition are essential reading for anyone with a
serious interest in Syriac liturgy.Orientalia Christiana Periodica
71 (2005), pp. 265-97, esp. 287-96.
Details can be found in my ‘Two recent
editions of Syrian Orthodox Anaphoras’, Anafura (1985) provides
ten anaphoras, several of which are not easily accessible, or
indeed sometimes not otherwise available at all in
print.Ephemerides
Liturgicae 102 (1988), 436-45.
Shebitho (1993) and Beth
Gazo Rabo (1992). His Gospel Lectionary (1987), reproduced
from his own beautiful handwriting and accompanied by
reproductions of thirteenth-century illuminated manuscripts in
Tur Abdin, stands out as almost certainly the finest example of
his calligraphy.
On him see J. Thekkeparampil in
Hugoye 5/2 (2002); also The Harp 14 (2001)
[appeared 2002], 111-2. There is an interesting biography
of him, by his niece, Marthe Mahieu – de Praetere,
Kurisumala. Francis Mahieu Acharya: un pionnier du
monachisme Chrétien en Inde (Cahiers Scourmontois
3, 2001).
The Crown of the Year I-III
(1982-1986), which formed vols. II-IV of his Prayer with
the Harp of the Spirit, the first volume of which was an
adapted translation of the She himo, or Weekday Office (1982).
An earlier translation, reflecting the Syriac text much more closely, was made by Dom Bede Griffiths (this has recently been republished by the Gorgias Press, 2005).
Moran Etho 13 (Kottayam, 1999).
The former in Edessa, ‘the Blessed
City’ (Oxford, 1970; repr. Piscataway NJ, 2005),
subsequently translated into both Turkish and Arabic. This
work, along with Robert Murray’s Symbols of Church
and Kingdom (1975), could be said to have provided the
main impetus and inspiration for the revival of interest in
Syriac studies that the last three decades or so have
witnessed. Segal’s knowledge of the Syriac sources for
the history of Edessa (which he takes down to 1144) was
unrivalled, as was his ability to weave them together into a
highly readable narrative history. Though academic readers will
find his deliberate avoidance of footnotes giving precise
sources somewhat frustrating, it was probably this very feature
that has ensured the book’s wide circulation. Segal also
produced several very valuable articles on aspects of history
based on Syriac sources, notably ‘Mesopotamian
communities from Julian to the rise of Islam’ and
‘Arabs in Syriac literature before the rise of
Islam’.Proceedings of the British
Academy 41 (1955), pp. 109-39, and the latter in
Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 34 (1989), pp.
483-91.
In Literature. Another
scholar who has done important work in this field was Yusuf
Habbi, author of a fine History of the Church of the East in
Arabic (Baghdad, 1988); his articles on the origins of the
Chaldean Church and on relations between the Chaldean Church
and India in the nineteenth century both contribute important
new insights.L’Orient Syrien 11 (1966),
pp. 99-132, 199-230, and Oriens Christianus 64 (1980),
pp. 82-107, respectively. Also important for
nineteenth-century Chaldean history is his article in
Parole de l’Orient 2 (1971), pp. 121-43, 305-27.
Oud-Syrisch Monniksleven (Leiden, 1942),
based on an excellent knowledge of the sources, remains a good
presentation of Syriac monasticism in the fifth and sixth
centuries.
Orientalia Christiana Periodica 41
(1975), 357-98.
In the latest Part to appear, 2/3 (2002),
his contributions include the chapter on the Tritheist
controversy of the sixth century.
Published in Jesus der Christus im
Glauben der Kirche (in the English translation, Christ
in Christian Tradition), very ably continued after his
death by Theresia Hainthaler. The coverage of writings
surviving in Syriac in the various parts of Volume 2 that have
appeared so far is truly excellent, and the section
‘Ad Fontes’ of Volume 2/1 is a
most useful guide.Fides Sacramenti,
Sacramentum Fidei. Studies in Honour of P. Smulders
(Assen, 1981), pp. 137-75.
Indian Theological Library 8; Madras, 1977.
The Council of Chalcedon
Re-examined: a Historical and Theological
Survey,The Council of Chalcedon and the Armenian Church
(2nd edn, London, 1975), are the only serious
academic treatments of the Council of Chalcedon, from both a
historical and a theological point of view, by Oriental
Orthodox theologians.
His bibliography can be found in R. Contini,
F.A. Pennacchietti and M. Tosco (eds), Semitica. Serta
Philologica C. Tsereteli Dicata (Torino, 1993), pp.
xv-xxiv. On him see T.V. Gamkrelidze and G. Chikovani, in
Oriens Christianus 89 (2005), pp. 221-24.
On her contributions, see A. Juckel, in
Das östliche Christentum nF 34;
1984 (also republished by the Monastery of St Ephrem in the
Netherlands, 1985). There is an informative review by H.
Kaufhold in Hugoye 9/2 (2006).
Die syrischen Christen vom Tur
ʿAbdin
Oriens Christianus 70 (1986), pp. 205-11.
1 For the three decades slightly previous to
the period covered here (1997-2006), an overview is given
in my ‘Syriac studies in the last three
decades: some reflections’, in R. Lavenant (ed.),
VI Symposium Syriacum 1992 (Orientalia Christiana
Analecta 247; 1994), pp. 13-29; see also A. de
Halleux, ‘Vingt ans d’étude critique des
Églises syriaques’, in R. Taft (ed.), The
Christian East. Its Institutions and Thought
(Orientalia Christiana Analecta 251; 1996), pp. 145-79.