Field Notes on Syriac Manuscripts IV: Six Philosophical Manuscripts in the Collection of the Chaldean Antonian Order of St. Hormizd (O.A.O.C.)

As already pointed out by Jacques-Marie Vosté, many manuscripts held at the library of Our Lady of the Seeds (also known as Notre-Dame des Semences) originate from the period of restoration of the monastery of Rabban Hormizd.1 The restoration was initiated by Gabriel Danbo (alternative spelling, Dambo) (1774–1832), who in 1808 managed to gain control of the by-that-time abandoned monastery of Rabban Hormizd near Alqosh in order to establish a new monastic community that later became known as the Antonian Order of St. Hormizd.2 Despite various difficulties, Danbo’s enterprise enjoyed success, and the number of monks grew yearly. One of his primary goals was to prepare educated clergy, particularly for the Chaldean mission. Apparently, the copying of manuscripts went hand in hand with education, and this explains the presence in the Antonian Order’s collection of a large number of manuscripts containing texts of different genres that were produced during the 19th century, first at the monastery of Rabban Hormizd and subsequently at the monastery of Our Lady of the Seeds (built in 1858), which was situated close to Alqosh and offered a more secure and appropriate setting for the monastic community.

Special attention in the curriculum was devoted to the study of philosophy and logic: we are informed that Danbo invited two learned teachers to instruct the monks in these subjects.3 It is also possible that Danbo himself taught philosophy.4 The study of philosophy and logic was carried on also after Danbo’s assassination in 1832. Thus we know that Jeremiah Timothy Maqdasi (1847–1929), before his consecration as a Chaldean bishop of Zakho in 1892, taught philosophy in the monastery of Our Lady of the Seeds.5 Perhaps teaching needs compelled him to compose the Book of Logic which seems to have enjoyed great popularity, judging from the number of extant (not only East Syriac but also Syrian Orthodox) copies.6 We are aware of yet another philosophical output – this time, however, produced by the monks of Rabban Hormizd during the lifetime of Danbo. Two manuscripts have preserved an exposition of Aristotelian logic in twelve-syllable metre (covering the Isagoge, On interpretation and Prior Analytics) composed by three monks of Rabban Hormizd in the year 1831.7 This philosophical exposition in verse form sheds light on the philosophical curriculum in the monastery. Particularly noteworthy is the study of logic in the form of the so-called ‘truncated’ or ‘short’ Organon. A similar profile for the philosophical curriculum can be inferred from analyzing the manuscripts with philosophical content undertaken below.

The philosophical manuscripts presented in this article illustrate how the newly established order satisfied its demand in texts. First, the manuscripts were available locally from the monastery of Rabban Hormizd and the town of Alqosh. By going through the manuscripts available locally, Gabriel Danbo and his assistants could easily come across old manuscripts that could be put to use by means of new copies made either by the local professional scribes in Alqosh or by the monks themselves. Secondly, if unavailable locally, copies of the required texts could be commissioned or copied personally through the Chaldean network of churches and monasteries.8 Hence, one can easily imagine how, in our case, Gabriel Danbo, being interested in supporting the study of philosophy in his monastic community, in 1821/2 requested that a professional scribe Shemʿōn – residing at that time in Alqosh – produce a copy of a collection of philosophical works (Syr. 169) based on an old codex. One may assume this was found at the abandoned monastery of Rabban Hormizd or in Alqosh. A further copy based on the same exemplar was produced before 1840 by a professional scribe (Syr. 171). Syr. 171, in turn, appears to have been used as a model for Syr. 170 that was copied by one of the monks during the second half of the 19th century. During the third decade of the 19th century another monk at Rabban Hormizd – Vincentius – copied the first three books from the Cream of Wisdom by Bar ʿEbrōyō (Syr. 172). The manuscript Syr. 174 illustrates that leaders of the monastic community were well aware of the holdings of the neighbouring collections. This particular manuscript was copied from an exemplar that was at that time kept in the collection of the Chaldean Patriarchate in Mosul. Although we cannot be sure whether the copy was produced in Mosul or Rabban Hormizd, it is reasonably safe to assume that the copy was made by one of the community's monks. Manuscript Syr. 173 has much in common with a few other manuscripts of philosophical content, such as Alqosh, Chaldean Diocese / HMML Project number DCA 61 and Cambridge Add. 2812. Given that both of these manuscripts were produced in Alqosh, it is highly probable that Syr. 173 was produced by one of the monks relying on an exemplar available locally.

Notwithstanding the availability of catalogue descriptions for the six philosophical manuscripts analysed below, a new examination is worthwhile for one main reason: none of the available catalogues provides an adequate description of their contents.9 The catalogues of Addai Scher (covering only Syr. 170 and Syr. 171) and Jacques-Marie Vosté offer imprecise and occasionally mistaken descriptions and neglect several items altogether. The catalogue of B. Ḥaddād and J. Isḥāq – at least in the case of the six manuscripts under consideration – provides no additional information beyond that of Vosté. Moreover, Ḥaddād and Isḥāq failed to identify one manuscript – Syr. 172 – in the catalogue of Vosté. The catalogue descriptions prepared by Manhal Makhoul are more detailed but not sufficiently precise in the identification of the texts. This has been rectified in the present study.

In relation to earlier catalogues’ shortcomings, the most significant ones are as follows: Prōbā’s commentary on Porphyry’s Isagoge, present in Syr. 169 and Syr. 170, is identified as a translation of Isagoge (Scher) or even as a translation of Isagoge, Categories and Prior Analytics (Vosté, Ḥaddād–Isḥāq); Bar Zōʿbī’s Mēmrā on philosophy in Syr. 173 is assigned to Prōbā (Vosté) or Aritotle (Makhoul); texts overlooked by all earlier catalogues include: Prōbā’s commentary on On Interpretation in Syr. 169 and Syr. 171; two lives of Aristotle in Syr. 170; Bar Zōʿbī’s Mēmrā on divisions of philosophy in Syr. 171; a metrical letter (otherwise attributed in the East Syriac manuscripts to Rabban Qāmīshōʿ of Nuhādrā) in Syr. 173; Makhoul’s descriptions overlooked two lives of Aristotle in Syr. 170, Bar Zōʿbī’s Mēmrā on divisions of philosophy in Syr. 171, a metrical letter and an anonymous mēmrā on the mind in Syr. 173 and misidentified the contents of Syr. 172.

Out of the six manuscripts described in the present study, only two – Syr. 169 and Syr. 171 – have been used in scholarship.10 Hence the significance of most of the manuscripts as witnesses to the works they contain remains to be explored. Nevertheless, some general observations can be made already at this stage. All the texts but one are attested in other manuscript copies, some of which are much older and originate from the monastery Dayr al-Suryān in Egypt. The only exception is the commentary on On Interpretation by Paul the Persian, the only known copy of which is Syr. 171. In the case of one more work – a complete version of Prōbā’s commentary on Isagoge – besides two fragments from a manuscript from Dayr al-Suryān, three manuscripts of the Antonian Order are the only known witnesses. As far as identification of the texts present in these six manuscripts is concerned only one – an anonymous mēmrā on the mind that can be found in Syr. 173 – escapes precise identification.

Though it may be premature to deal with the filiation of the manuscripts under consideration before any in-depth textual analysis has taken place, a couple of preliminary observations can be ventured here. For one manuscript – Syr. 174 – one can state positively that its exemplar was olim Mosul, Chaldean Patriarchate / Scher 35, an important early modern East Syriac philosophical manuscript that was used as a model for several manuscripts.11 Three manuscripts – Syr. 169, Syr. 170 and Syr. 171 – are remarkably similar in their contents. My selective collation of these three manuscripts allows me to posit that: first, Syr. 169 and Syr. 171 were independently copied from the same exemplar. The exemplar appears to have been quite old and defective, and at least some of its folios were in the wrong sequence. At the same time, Syr. 171 seems to be a more accurate copy in comparison to Syr. 169.12 Secondly, Syr. 170 seems to have been copied from Syr. 171. Notwithstanding the relationship between these three manuscripts that has been just outlined, the nature of the puzzling textual variation remains to be clarified.

Finally, it is necessary to say a few words about the history of the manuscript collection of the Antonian Order, which saw multiple relocations.13 After being moved to the newly built monastery of Our Lady of the Seeds near Alqosh, the collection remained there for about a century, with hundreds of manuscripts being added throughout that period. For security’s sake, a part of the collection was moved to the monastery of St. George near Mosul, where it remained from circa 1963/4 to 1974. All the manuscripts were subsequently transferred to the newly built monastery of St. Antony in Baghdad. During a further period of significant instability in the country, in 2006, the collection was re-located again, this time back to the monastery of Our Lady of the Seeds. Lastly, several years ago, on account of the ISIS invasion of Iraq, the collection was once again removed, this time to Erbil, where the Antonian Order had just built a cultural center called the ‘Scriptorium Syriacum’, which currently houses and takes care of the entire collection.

Syriac 169

olim Alqosh, Notre-Dame des Semences / Vosté 51

Summary:

• 1. Prōbā, Commentary on Porphyry’s Isagoge
• 2. Aristotle, Categories (version of Jacob of Edessa)
• 3. Sergios of Rēšʿaynā, Commentary on Aristotle’s Categories
• 4. Aristotle, On Interpretation (version of Prōbā)
• 5. Prōbā, Commentary on Aristotle’s On Interpretation

Paper. – 260 ff. – 1 col., 27 l.

310–350 × 210–227 mm.

East Syriac handwriting with minimal vocalization.

Contemporary foliation in Syriac letters on the verso side of each leaf.

Possession note ‘of the monastery of Rabban Hormizd’ and a seal in Arabic (undeciphered) on f. 1r.

Condition: The manuscript consists of 27 quires which are signed on the first and last page of each quire. The manuscript is complete, although three quires are irregular: 1⁷, 2–17¹⁰, 18⁴, 19–26¹⁰, 27⁹.

Date: the manuscript does not have a colophon and most probably never had one; nevertheless, the year – AG 2133 [CE 1821/2] – as well as the scribe’s name, are mentioned in a decorative border (f. 1v).14

Scribe: deacon Shemʿōn (mentioned on ff. 1v, 30v, 158r).

On palaeographic and chronological grounds, the scribe of the manuscript can be identified as deacon Shemʿōn (the son of Peter, the son of Denḥā), who belonged to the scribal Asmar family of Telkepe.15 On the basis of the evidence provided by the manuscripts copied by Shemʿōn, we can reconstruct only the main stopovers during his life.16 He started his career as a scribe in the second decade of the 19th century in Telkepe, where he had as his master deacon Joseph of the Pallaṯ family. From there, he moved to Alqosh, where he was active during the third decade of the century. For the most part, he was commissioned to copy Biblical and liturgical texts. The manuscript Syr. 169 is the only known manuscript with philosophical content that he had produced. It seems, then, that the production of the given manuscript was initiated by Gabriel Danbo (or his assistants), who was interested in procuring copies of philosophical texts for the community.17

Catalogue descriptions: Vosté, Catalogue de la Bibliothèque syro-chaldéenne, 22 (no. 1 is mistaken and no. 5 is missing); Ḥaddād–Isḥāq, Al-makhṭūṭāt al-suryāniyya wa-l-ʿarabiyya, 82* (no. 1 is mistaken and no. 5 is missing); Makhoul, “Erbil-Ankawa, O.A.O.C., syr. 169”.18

The manuscript was used as an exemplar for Mingana Syr. 606, copied in Alqosh in 1933.19

A large number of the lacunae are noticeable in the manuscript and have to do with the defective condition of the exemplar. The scribe marked such problematic sections of the text with white spaces. The form of the lacunae suggests that the missing sections of text were not caused by the loss of respective folios but rather by their illegibility, perhaps due to water damage.

Syriac 170

olim Alqosh, Notre-Dame des Semences / Scher 49; Alqosh, Notre-Dame des Semences / Vosté 52

earlier shelfmark (f. 1r): 49

Summary:

• 1. Prōbā, Commentary on Porphyry’s Isagoge (incomplete)
• 2. Pseudo-Ammonius, Two Lives of Aristotle
• 3. Aristotle, Categories (version of Jacob of Edessa)
• 4. Sergios of Rēšʿaynā, Commentary on Aristotle’s Categories (incomplete)

Paper. – 149 ff. – 1 col., 20 l.

235–237 × 170–174 mm.

Amateur East Syriac handwriting with vocalization.

No pagination or foliation. – Catch-words, sometimes not accurate.

Condition: it was not possible to establish the quire composition relying on the available images. The manuscript is incomplete both at the beginning and end. Inferring from Scher’s description, it appears that the manuscript contained the complete text of Sergios’ commentary on Categories, which was followed by Aristotle’s On Interpretation (in the version of Prōbā) and Prōbā’s commentary on that treatise (similar to Syr. 169 and 171). Vosté’s brief description is puzzling: on the one hand, he equals the manuscript’s contents to that of Syr. 169, on the other hand, his indication that the codex consisted of 14 quires suggests that it was in the same condition as it is today.

F. 84 is a singleton that belongs to a different (probably 16th c.) manuscript and contains ch. 2 of the second book of Bar ʿEbrōyō’s Treatise of treatises (Teḡraṯ teḡrāṯā).

Date: 2nd half of the 19th c.

Scribe: not indicated.

Catalogue descriptions: Scher, “Notice sur les manuscrits syriaques,” 498 (no. 2 is missing); Vosté, Catalogue de la Bibliothèque syro-chaldéenne, 22; Ḥaddād–Isḥāq, Al-makhṭūṭāt al-suryāniyya wa-l-ʿarabiyya, 82*–83*; Makhoul, “Erbil-Ankawa, O.A.O.C., syr. 170”.20

Syriac 171

olim Alqosh, Notre-Dame des Semences / Scher 50; Alqosh, Notre-Dame des Semences / Vosté 53

earlier shelfmark (f. 1r): 50

Summary:

• 1. Yōḥannān bar Zoʿbī, Mēmrā on divisions (sc. dihairesis) of philosophy
• 2. Prōbā, Commentary on Porphyry’s Isagoge (incomplete)
• 3. Aristotle, Categories (version of Jacob of Edessa)
• 4. Sergios of Rēšʿaynā, Commentary on Aristotle’s Categories
• 5. Aristotle, On Interpretation (version of Prōbā) (incomplete)
• 6. Prōbā, Commentary on Aristotle’s On Interpretation
• 7. Paul the Persian, Commentary on Aristotle’s On Interpretation
• 8. Severos Sēbokht, Letter to Yonan on some difficulties in Aristotle’s On Interpretation and Prior Analytics (incomplete)

Paper. – 233 ff. – 1 col., 28 l.

322–327 × 220–225 mm.

East Syriac handwriting with minimal vocalization.

No pagination or foliation. – Catch-words, sometimes not accurate.

Possession note on f. 233v dated to CE 1840: ‘this book belongs to the monastery of Rabban Hormizd’.

Condition: The manuscript is incomplete at the end and consists at present of 24 quires (of 10 ff. each), which are not signed. The leaves from quires <1> and <2> are misplaced. Quire <1> wants four folios after f. 16r, and quire <15> wants three folios between ff. 140 and 141. Quires <2>–<14> and <16>–<24> are complete.

Date: 1st half of the 19th. c. (but before 1840).

Scribe: not indicated.

Catalogue descriptions: Scher, “Notice sur les manuscrits syriaques,” 498 (no. 1 and 6 are missing, no. 2 is mistaken); Vosté, Catalogue de la Bibliothèque syro-chaldéenne, 22–23 (no. 1 and 6 are missing, no. 2 is mistaken); Ḥaddād–Isḥāq, Al-makhṭūṭāt al-suryāniyya wa-l-ʿarabiyya, 83* (no. 1 and 6 are missing, no. 2 is mistaken); Makhoul, “Erbil-Ankawa, O.A.O.C., syr. 171” (no. 1 is missing).21

Syriac 172

olim Alqosh, Notre-Dame des Semences / Vosté 6223

earlier shelfmark (endleaf): 183

Summary:

Grigorios bar ʿEbrōyō, Cream of Wisdom (Isagoge, Categories, On Interpretation, Prior Analytics) (incomplete)

Paper. – 159 ff. – 1 col., 20 l.

220–223 × 160–163 mm.

Amateur East Syriac handwriting with vocalization.

Contemporary foliation that runs until f. 108.

Catch-words, sometimes not accurate.

Condition: The manuscript consists of 16 quires which are signed on the first and last page of each quire. The quires are usually of 10 ff., except for quire 13 (8 ff.) and quire 14 (12 ff.). The first folio of the first quire is wanting.

Scribe: scribe’s name is indicated on f. 47v as ܐܝܢܘܫܢܣܝܘܣ, and slightly differently on f. 159r as ܪܒܢ ܘܝܫܢܣܝܘܣ and corresponds to Vincentius. Vincentius, the scribe of the manuscript, is likely to be identical to the monk Vincentius who is known to be a monk at the monastery of Rabban Hormizd. The Life of Gabriel Danbo mentions that Vincentius hailed from Alqosh and entered the monastery of Rabban Hormizd in 1823.24 It is not certain if he died during the plague in 1828,25 as asserted by Shikwānā.26 The amateur handwriting of the manuscript suggests that Vincentius was not a professional scribe; no other manuscript produced by him is known. 27

Date: ca. 1823–1828.

Catalogue descriptions: Vosté, Catalogue de la Bibliothèque syro-chaldéenne, 25; Ḥaddād–Isḥāq, Al-makhṭūṭāt al-suryāniyya wa-l-ʿarabiyya, 83*; Makhoul, “Erbil-Ankawa, O.A.O.C., syr. 172” (treats the first three sections as Prōbā, Commentary on Porphyry’s Isagoge and Aristotle’s Categories and On Interpretation respectively).28

The manuscript has not been known earlier as a witness to Bar ʿEbrōyō’s Cream of Wisdom.29 Although a manuscript of similar content is known to have been held at the Chaldean collection in Diyarbakır (olim Diyarbakır / Scher 32 = HMML Project number CCM 383), a quick comparison of the two copies demonstrates that they are not directly related. It remains to be explored if the present manuscript is related to the two manuscript copies of Butyrum Sapientiae held in collection of the Antonian Order (Syr. 177 = Vosté 60, Syr. 178 = Vosté 61). None of the two manuscripts has been properly described, and their precise content remains so far unknown.30

Syriac 173

olim Alqosh, Notre-Dame des Semences / Vosté 54

Summary:

• 1. (?) Rabban Qāmīshōʿ of Nuhādrā the Physician, Metrical letter (incomplete)
• 2. Anonymous Greek-Syriac glossary
• 3. Severos Sēbokht, Letter to Yonan on some difficulties in Aristotle’s On Interpretation and Prior Analytics
• 4. Aristotle, Prior Analytics, book I, chapters 1–7 (anonymous Syriac version)
• 5. Prōbā, Commentary on Aristotle’s On Interpretation (2nd section)
• 6. Yoḥannan bar Zōʿbī, Mēmrā on philosophy (= “Universal canon”)
• 7. Anonymous, mēmrā on the mind
• 8. Grigorios bar ʿEbrōyō, Cream of Wisdom, On animals (incomplete)

Paper. – 108 ff. – 1 col., 16 l.

170–173 × 110–115 mm.

Amateur East Syriac handwriting with vocalization.

Contemporary foliation.

Condition: The manuscript is incomplete and consists at present of 14 quires which are signed on the first and last page of each quire. The first folio of the first quire is wanting; the number of quires missing after quire 14 is impossible to ascertain. The composition of quires is irregular: 1⁶, 2⁸, 3–9⁸, 10¹⁰, 11⁶, 12–13⁸, 14⁶.

Date: 19th c.

Scribe: not indicated.

Catalogue descriptions: Vosté, Catalogue de la Bibliothèque syro-chaldéenne, 23 (no. 1 is missing); Ḥaddād–Isḥāq, Al-makhṭūṭāt al-suryāniyya wa-l-ʿarabiyya, 84*–85* (no. 1 is missing); Makhoul, “Erbil-Ankawa, O.A.O.C., syr. 173” (nos. 1 and 7 are missing, no. 6 is attributed to Aristotle).31

In its contents, the manuscript is similar to Alqosh, Chaldean Diocese / HMML Project number DCA 61, with which it has in common five items (1–5 = 19, 14+15, 7, 8, 9). Interestingly, an anonymous glossary of Greek words (no. 2) can be found as two independent items in DCA 61 (14+15). Another four items are also present in Cambridge Add. 2812 (1806 CE): 3–6 = 10, 11, 12, 9.e. A further manuscript with seven text items (1, 3–6, and 8) in common is Baghdad, Chaldean Patriarchate / HMML Project number CPB 350 (1894 CE).

Syriac 174

olim Alqosh, Notre-Dame des Semences / Vosté 55

earlier shelfmark (f. 1r): 177

Summary:

• 1. Prōbā, Commentary on Aristotle’s Prior Analytics I 2–7
• 2. Severos Sēbokht, Discourse on Syllogisms in Aristotle’s Prior Analytics
• 3. Prōbā, Commentary on Aristotle’s Prior Analytics I 1
• 4. Severos Sēbokht, Letter to Aitalāhā regarding προτάσις in Aristotle’s On Interpretation
• 5. Grigorios bar ʿEbrōyō, Treatise of treatises (Teḡraṯ teḡrāṯā)

Paper. – 183 ff. – 1 col., 20 l.

Amateur East Syriac handwriting with minimal vocalization.

No pagination or foliation. – Catch-words, sometimes not accurate.

Possession note (f. 182v): ‘this book belongs to the monastery of Mar Hormizd’.

Note on f. 48 r in pencil: ܟܬܒܐ ܕܬܐܓܪܬ ܬܐܓܪ̈ܬܐ ܕܒܪ ܥܒܪܝܐ

Condition: The manuscript consists of 17 quires which are not signed. The composition of quires is irregular: <1⁷>, <2>–<8¹⁰>, <9¹²>, <10>–<14¹⁰>, <15¹²>, <16¹⁰>, <17¹²>.

Date: 19th c.

Scribe: not indicated.

Catalogue descriptions: Vosté, Catalogue de la Bibliothèque syro-chaldéenne, 24; Ḥaddād–Isḥāq, Al-makhṭūṭāt al-suryāniyya wa-l-ʿarabiyya, 85* (erroneously identify the manuscript as Alqosh, Notre-Dame des Semences / Scher 45).

Although the manuscript has no colophon (and probably never had one), one can be certain that its exemplar was olim Mosul / Scher 35.32 All the texts that feature in Syr. 174 have identical textual profiles as those preserved in olim Mosul / Scher 35, and the text of Teḡraṯ teḡrāṯā demonstrates identical defects and lacunae.

When we compare the contents of the two manuscripts, it is easy to notice that out of 11 text items present in olim Mosul / Scher 35 the scribe of the Syr. 174 copied only text items 5–9. Although the scribe did not explain the reason for such selection, one may assume that he decided to omit those text items already available in the manuscript copies held at the monastery’s library. Thus, Prōbā’s commentary on Isagoge (no. 1 in olim Mosul / Scher 35) and Jacob of Edessa’s translation of Categories (no. 3) can be found in the manuscripts Syr. 169, Syr. 170, and Syr. 171, and the two lives of Aristotle (no. 2) are attested by Syr. 170. Only the Syriac version of the Τέχνη γραμματική (no. 4) is not present in the collection of the Antonian Order. One can only speculate if that was indeed a deliberate decision and if a prohibitive remark left by the Chaldean patriarch Joseph VII Audo in a margin next to the beginning of the treatise in olim Mosul / Scher 3533 played any role in that.