François Graffin, S.J. (1905-2002)
Bernard
Outtier
Bibliothèque du Caucase
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
George A. Kiraz
James E. Walters
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Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
2003
Vol. 6, No. 2
For this publication, a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
license has been granted by the author(s), who retain full
copyright.
https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/article/hv6n2outtier
Bernard OUTTIER
François Graffin, S.J. (1905-2002)
https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/pdf/vol6/HV6N2Outtier.pdf
Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute, 2003
vol 6
issue 2
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.
Syriac Studies
Obituary
Fr. Francois Graffin
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[1] Father
François Graffin was an outstanding figure in the world
of French oriental studies and of Syriac studies in particular.
His gentle energy allowed him to work for many years in order
to make known the field which had become dear to him: the
theology of those who wrote in the Syriac language, especially
of the poets.
[2] Born in
the West of France, in the Département de la
Sarthe, on January 1, 1905, he always remained attached to
his family and to his native village, to which he used to
return every year.
[3] He
received a solid education in the Collège
Sainte-Croix of Le Mans, with the Jesuit Fathers, and
subsequently he himself joined the Society of Jesus.
[4] However,
the fate of Father Graffin was to be determined by the work of
his uncle, Monseigneur René Graffin (1858-1941), editor
of the Patrologia Syriaca, which was soon expanded into
the Patrologia Orientalis, enabling the inclusion of
texts in the other languages of Eastern Christianity.
[5]
François Graffin loved to tell the humorous tale of how
he was appointed his uncle's successor by Pope Pius XI, to whom
his uncle submitted every year the new installments of the
Patrologia Orientalis. In 1931, the Pope suggested that
the work should be entrusted to a religious order, which would
guarantee its continuity. "I have been educated by the
Jesuits," was Monseigneur Graffin's reply, "and I have a nephew
who is a Jesuit." - "Well then, take him!"
[6] Ten
years later, after additional studies in Paris, François
Graffin succeeded his uncle as editor of the Patrologia
Orientalis. He himself became a specialist in the Syriac
language, which he taught at the Institut catholique in
Paris from 1951 to 1975.
[7] His
interest remained focused on theology. In 1957, he published
one of the "bases" of the "Lamp of the Sanctuary" (a major work
by Gregory Abu 'l-Faraj Barhebraeus), devoted to theology
(Patrologia Orientalis, XXVII, fasc. 4).
[8] Father
Graffin was a faithful man in the fullest sense of the word. He
took care to complete the work left unfinished by his teachers,
a heavy task to which he gave priority over his own work. He
thus brought to completion the publication of the Cathedral
homilies of Severus - no less than six fascicules of the
Patrologia Orientalis - and subsequently of the
Dissertationes decem de Uno e sancta Trinitate incorporato
et passo by Philoxenus of Mabbog (four fascicules).
[9] For
fourteen years he was deeply involved in bringing these works
to completion and it was only in 1984 that he published
anonymous Syriac homilies, based on a sixth-century manuscript,
and then co-authored the publication of the Letter on the
Three Degrees of Monastic Life by Joseph Hazzaya.
[10] In
fifty years of intense activity, François Graffin
supervised the publication of fifty fascicules of the
Patrologia Orientalis, thirty-two of which deal with
Syriac texts.
[11] He
was also in charge of the publication of the last volume of the
Revue de l'Orient Chrétien, and he was
considering resuming the publication of this journal after the
death of Monseigneur Khouri-Sarkis (1968) and the termination
of L'Orient syrien, the journal to which he had
contributed regularly, from its third issue onwards, and of
which he had become vice-director.
[12]
However, a different solution was adopted, which consisted in
the merger with the journal Melto and the creation of
Parole de l'Orient. François Graffin was
particularly pleased with this solution, which highlighted the
special relations which he had developed with his Eastern
students, in this case those of the Maronite University of
Kaslik, in Lebanon. He was a member of the editorial committee
of this recreated journal and published in it several
articles.
[13] Of
course, he was in love with Saint Ephrem, and because he also
loved the beauty of French, he contributed to two volumes with
translations of hymns which appeared in the collection
Sources chrétiennes.
[14]
Always speaking with the rigor and the clarity of a teacher, he
remained humble, amiable in all circumstances, and
generous.
[15] The
impulse that he was able to give to Syriac studies in France
resonates far beyond, in space as well as in time!
[16] A
printed bibliography of François Graffin, up to 1975,
can be found in volume 6-7 (1975-1976) of Parole de
l'Orient, which was offered to honor him on the occasion of
his seventieth birthday. On the web, see: http://www.jesuites.com/bibliographie/auteurs/graffin.htm.
[Translated from French by L. Van Rompay]