The Contribution of Departed Syriacists, 1997-2006†
Sebastian P.
Brock
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
George A. Kiraz
James E. Walters
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Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
2007
Vol. 10, No. 1
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https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/article/hv10n1brock
Sebastian P. Brock
The Contribution of Departed Syriacists, 1997-2006†
https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/pdf/vol10/HV10N1Brock.pdf
Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute,
vol 10
issue 1
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
Syriacists
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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).
[1]
Hugoye’s tenth anniversary offers the
opportunity to reflect briefly on the past,
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.
as well as to look
to the future. In the course of these last ten years Syriac
studies have lost a number of fine workers in the field, and it
is appropriate here to recall some of their contributions in
different areas within Syriac studies as a whole. The selection
of names, and in particular of works, mentioned below is
certainly not intended to be exhaustive, though I hope that no
important scholar in this field has been overlooked. Where
bibliographies of particular scholars are available, these are
indicated in the notes. Otherwise, further bibliographical
information can for the most part be found in my 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).
The Syriac Biblical Versions
[2] Several
patriarchs during the past century of the various Syriac
Churches have been notable Syriac scholars; the most recent of
them was the late Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church,
Mar Raphael Bidawid (1922-2003)
On him see G. Kiraz in Hugoye 7/1 (2004).
. In the field of biblical
studies he was the editor of the Syriac version of 4 Esdras
(Apocalypse of Esdras), preserved complete only in the famous
Milan Peshitta manuscript (7a1); this was published in
one of the earliest volumes of the Leiden Vetus Testamentum
Syriace (IV.3; 1973).
[3] Michael
Weitzman (1946-1998) was someone whose profound scholarship and
innovative approach to the origins of the Peshitta Old
Testament is evident on every page of his The Syriac
Version of the Old Testament. An Introduction,
published posthumously.
Cambridge, 1999.
Modestly described as just ‘An
Introduction’, this is an Introduction on the scale of
H.B. Swete’s 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).
his colleagues at University College, London,
Ada Rapapport-Albert and Gillian Greenberg very usefully
collected together his various articles into a volume entitled
From Judaism to Christianity,
From Judaism to Christianity. Studies in
the Hebrew and Syriac Bibles (Journal of Semitic Studies,
Supplement 8; Oxford, 1999).
after the title of his
influential contribution of 1992, which opens the volume.
[4] Although
Michael Weitzman was in close contact with the Peshitta
Institute (Leiden) he was never directly involved in the
edition of the Vetus Testamentum Syriace (VTS).
Another scholar, David Lane (1935-2005),
On him see J. Thekeparampil in Hugoye 8/1
(2005).
however, was closely
involved with the work of the Institute over many years, in
particular editing Qoheleth and (with J.A. Emerton) Wisdom and
the Song of Songs, all in VTS II.5 (1979), and later,
Leviticus (in VTS I.2, 1991). Besides a number of different
articles on the Peshitta of these books, he also produced an
important monograph, The Peshitta of Leviticus,
Monographs of the Peshitta Institute
6; Leiden, 1994).
at
the end of which he offers an interesting theory concerning the
origin of the standard medieval text of the Peshitta Old
Testament.
[5] Among
the various publications in the field of Syriac studies, J.P.M.
van der Ploeg (1909-2004)
On him see L. van Rompay in Hugoye 8/1
(2005).
contributed a worthwhile article on
the Peshitta Old Testament in general
In a volume on 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).
, and an edition of a hitherto
unknown Syriac version of the Book of Judith.
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.
[6] Anyone
who has an interest in the Diatessaron will especially be
grateful to William (Bill) L. Petersen (1950 - December 2006)
whose many contributions on problems surrounding the
Diatessaron culminated in his Tatian's Diatessaron. Its
Creation, Dissemination, Significance, and History in
Scholarship
Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 25;
Leiden, 1994.
, which constitutes a truly masterly guide
to the complex problems surrounding this famous harmony of the
Four Gospels. Petersen had studied under another great
Diatessaron scholar who had died earlier this year, Gilles
Quispel (1916-2006), whose many stimulating contributions every
now and then also touched on things Syriac.
Syriac Literature
[7] The
study of early Syriac literature and the emergence of
Christianity in Edessa owes a great deal to Han J. W. Drijvers
(1934-2002).
On him see J.J. van Ginkel in
Hugoye 5/2 (2002).
His monograph on Bardaisan’s teaching
remains a standard work on the subject, forty years on. His
many incisive articles on the Odes of Solomon, the Acts of
Thomas and the character of early Syriac Christianity need to
be taken into account by anyone working in that area, even
though some of his views (such as his third-century dating of
the Odes of Solomon and his emphasis on the solely Greek
background of second- and third- century Syriac Christianity)
are open to dispute. Many of his articles in the Syriac field
are conveniently collected in the first of his two volumes in
the Variorum Reprints,
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, 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).
[8]
Considerable interest has been shown in recent years in the
links between Ephrem and Jewish exegetical traditions. Here one
of the most substantial contributions has been Motifs from
Genesis 1-11 in the Genuine Hymns of Ephrem the
Syrian,
Coniectanea Biblica, Old Testament Series
11; Lund, 1978.
by Tryggve Kronholm (1939-1999), whose
subtitle specifies ‘with particular reference to the
influence of Jewish exegetical tradition’. He
subsequently followed this up with worthwhile articles on
Ephrem’s treatment of Abraham and of Judah and Tamar
(Gen. 38).
In 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.
[9] Possible
links in a different direction, between Ephrem and the Greek
poet Romanos, were the topic of Bill Petersen's stimulating
The Diatessaron and Ephrem Syrus as Sources of Romanos the
Melodist.
Patrologia Orientalis 28.1 (1959).
Even though Petersen may have sometimes
overstated his case for the influence of Ephrem on Romanos,
nevertheless he did a great service in drawing attention to the
serious possibility that Romanos, who came from Homs, could
have made use (and indeed probably did) of literary sources in
Syriac, as well as in Greek.
[10] What
is still the only book-length study, from the point of view of
literary history, of the Persian martyrdoms was produced
by Gernot Wiessner (1933-1999), in his 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).
[11] For
Syriacists the name of Antoine Guillaumont (1915-2000) is
primarily associated with Evagrius and his discovery, followed
by edition, of the lost ‘uncensored’ version of
Evagrius’s Centuries on (Spiritual) Knowledge.
CSCO 475, Subs. 74; Louvain, 1985.
After
publishing the text of the two forms of the Syriac text,
Guillaumont set out the significance of this work in both the
Greek and Syriac traditions in a masterly monograph, 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).
His bibliography, compiled by R.-G. Coquin,
can be found in Mélanges Antoine Guillaumont.
Contributions à l’étude des christianismes
orientaux (Cahiers d’Orientalisme XX; Geneva, 1988),
pp. vii-xi.
[12]
Syriac studies owe a very great debt to François Graffin
(1905-2002),
For a brief note on him, see B. Outtier,
Hugoye 6/2 (2003), and in Journal Asiatique
291 (2003), pp. 1-4.
the self-effacing editor for over half a
century
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’, Orientalia Christiana Periodica
67 (2001), pp. 157-78.
of Patrologia Orientalis [PO] (which had been
founded in 1903 by his uncle, René Graffin, 1858-1941).
In this series he brought to completion the editions, left
uncompleted at his death by M. Brière, of Severus’
125 Cathedral Homilies and of Philoxenus’ 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.
[13] A
scholar of great ability, but who sadly published very little,
was Jost G. Blum (1944-2002): trained in Germanistik, he was
able to bring a highly sophisticated approach to the study of
Syriac literature, the only published example of which is his
innovative article ‘Zum Bau von Abschnitten in Memre von
Jakob von Sarug’, in the proceedings of the Third
Symposium Syriacum.
R. Lavenant (ed.), IIIe Symposium
Syriacum (Orientalia Christiana Analecta 221; 1983), pp.
307-21.
Before he turned, in later years, to the
study of Yiddish he was working on a catalogue of the Syriac
manuscripts and early printed books in the Bavarian
Staatsbibliothek in Munich; unfortunately the money supporting
this important enterprise ran out before he was able to
complete the work.
[14] The
death of Yusuf Habbi (1938-2000), in a car crash on the road
between Baghdad and Amman, was a tragic loss above all for the
Chaldean Church in Iraq, in which he was a leading intellectual
figure and very active in promoting Syriac studies in the
Syriac Section of the Iraqi Academy and higher education in
general at Babel College, in Baghdad.
On him, see P. Yousif, ‘Remembering
Fr. Joseph Habbi (1938-2000): a bio-bibliographical
report’, 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.
Naturally, many
of his publications in the Syriac field are in Arabic, and here
mention might just be made of his many contributions to the
Proceedings of the Iraqi Academy’s Syriac section, and
his re-editions of the short Syriac Chronicles (Baghdad, 1983),
and of Abdisho’s poem on Syriac writers (Baghdad, 1986).
In European publications Habbi was a frequent contributor to
journals on Canon Law and to the series of Italian volumes
devoted to the Classical heritage in Middle Eastern
literatures, where his papers dealt both with more general
questions of transmission and with particular genres.
For the former, see his
‘L’antica letteratura siriaca e la filosofia
greca’, in M. Pavan and U. Cozzoli (eds),
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.
[15]
Anyone who has an interest in Timothy I, Catholicos of the
Church of the East under the early Abbasids, will be grateful
to Mar Raphael Bidawid, whose Les lettres du patriarche
nestorien Timothée I
Studi e Testi 187 (1956).
is an invaluable guide to
this splendidly informative collection of his
correspondence.
[16] The
Syrian Orthodox Metropolitan of Central Europe, Mar Julius
Çiçek (1942-2005) has done a great service in
republishing, from his Monastery of St Ephrem in the
Netherlands, a large number of important literary texts, in
particular Jacob of Edessa’s Hexaemeron Commmentary
(1985), Bar ʿEbroyo’s Lamp of the
Sanctuary (1997), Ethicon (1985), Nomocanon (1986), and
Chronicon (1987), along with several other of his
works.
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.
Although these editions are sometimes just
based on earlier printed editions, in some cases he has also
made use of manuscripts known to him.
Further Editions of New Texts
[17] The
edition of the large number of hitherto unpublished Syriac
texts remains a constant desideratum. A number of scholars
deceased within the last ten years can be mentioned under this
heading. The important editions undertaken by Guillaumont and
Graffin have already been mentioned in the course of the
previous section.
[18]
David Lane’s edition of the early seventh-century East
Syriac monastic author, Shubhalmaran, was fortunately completed
shortly before his unexpected death in India, though the two
volumes in the Scriptores Syri series of the CSCO only came out
after his death (even though they bear the date 2004).
[19]
Albert van Roey (1915-2000) was an experienced editor of many
difficult Syriac theological texts of the sixth to ninth
centuries; in many cases his editions were accompanied by Latin
translations, seeing that Latin is much better than most modern
languages at reproducing the feel of the Syriac. Among his
publications of Syriac texts that appeared in book form are
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).
What is probably another part of the same
work was published earlier (1981) as Orientalia
Lovanensia Analecta 10.
Numerous others of his text editions
came out in article form.
His bibliography up to 1985 can be found in
C. Laga, J.A. Munitiz and L. van Rompay (eds), After
Chalcedon. Studies in Theology and Church History offered
to Professor Albert van Roey (Orientalia Lovaniensia
Analecta 18; 1985), pp. xxi-xxix.
[20]
Besides re-publishing texts already known in print, Mar Julius
Çiçek also published several new texts: among
these is Daniel of Salah’s Commentary on the Psalms
(2004), Dionysius bar Salibi’s Commentary on
Evagrius’ Centuries (1991),
Bar ʿEbroyo’s Awsar
Raze (2003), Dioscorus of Gozarto’s verse Life of
Bar ʿEbroyo’s (1985), a
thirteenth-century monastic anthology (1985)
For an analysis of this, see my ‘A
monastic anthology from twelfth-century Edessa’, in
Symposium Syriacum VII (OCA 256, 1998), pp. 221-31.
, as well as works
by much more recent writers, such as
Shemʿun of Tur ʿAbdin
(martyred in 1740), and various important sources in both prose
and verse on the massacres of 1915. In all of these he is
careful to inform the reader of his manuscript sources.
Hagiography
[21] An
extremely prolific editor of texts, chiefly hagiographical, in
virtually all the different Oriental Christian languages was
Michel van Esbroeck (1934-2003).
A full listing of his extensive bibliography
is given 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).
Time and time again in his
publications he provided evidence of the interrelationship of
the various Oriental Christian literatures. Although Syriac was
not his main concern, he nevertheless published a number of
Syriac texts, the most important of which was the Life of
Gregory the Illuminator,
‘Le resumé syriaque de
l’Agathange’, Analecta Bollandiana 95
(1977), pp. 291-358.
the Syriac version of which plays
a significant part in the very complex literary history
surrounding this work. Other Syriac texts of no small
significance that he edited include the Panegyric on another
Gregory, the Wonderworker, by yet a third Gregory, of Nyssa,
and the Syriac Acts of Andrew, attributed (no doubt falsely) to
Ephrem.
The former is edited in 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.
It might also be noted that he was the author
of a great many short articles on Syriac writers in the second
edition of the Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche
(1993-2001).
[22]
Although J-M. Fiey (1914-1995) died before the decade covered
in the present contribution, mention should be made of his
important work, Saints syriaques, which has now been
published posthumously.
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.
Some of the material in this very
useful alphabetical repertory had previously appeared in
Italian, in the 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.
Manuscripts
[23] For
anyone interested in Syriac manuscripts J.P.M. van der
Ploeg’s The Christians of St Thomas in South India
and their Syriac Manuscripts (Bangalore, 1983)
The dust-jacket gives a different title,
The Syriac Manuscripts of St Thomas Christians.
makes
fascinating reading, not least for the incidental light it
sheds on the remarkable process whereby part of the Christian
community went over from using the East Syriac script and
liturgical tradition to the West Syriac.
[24] Good
catalogues of manuscript collections are not easy to produce.
An exceptionally fine example, however, is provided by Julius
Assfalg (1919-2001)
On him see H. Kaufhold in Hugoye
4/1 (2001) and especially in Oriens Christianus 85
(2001), pp. 1-22.
in his 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).
Assfalg’s bibliography (covering from
1954 to 1990) can be found in R. Schulz and M. Görg (eds),
Lingua Restituta Orientalis. Festgabe für J.
Assfalg (Ägypten und Altes Testament 20; 1990),
pp. xiii-xxv.
[25] J.B.
Segal (1912-2003) based his 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.
In a subsequent article, in the 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.
Inscriptions
[26]
Although a few early Syriac inscriptions had been published in
the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, it was J.B.
Segal who paved the way, by means of a series of articles
publishing new texts that he himself had discovered in the
region of Urfa/Edessa, for the eventual publication of a
corpus, The Old Syriac Inscriptions of Edessa and
Osrhoene, by H.J.W. Drijvers and J.F. Healey (Leiden,
1999).
Liturgy
[27] W.
de Vries (1904-1997) was the author of two important surveys of
Syriac literature on the Sacraments in both the Eastern and
Western Syriac traditions, Sakramententheologie bei den
syrischen Monophysiten and Sakramententheologie bei
den Nestorianern.
Orientalia Christiana Analecta 125
and 133 (1940, 1947).
Although these works were
organised very much against the background of western
sacramental theology, they remain extremely useful in view of
their use of many as yet unpublished texts.
On them, see T. Bou Mansour, ‘W. de
Vries et la sacramentologie syriaque: soixante ans plus
tard’, 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.
[28] One
of the great names in this history of scholarship on Eastern
liturgy is Juan Mateos (1917-2003). Although he is best known
for his work on the Byzantine liturgical tradition, he also did
work of fundamental importance on Syriac liturgy. His monograph
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.
His bibliography is given by R. Taft at the
end of his memoir in Orientalia Christiana Periodica
71 (2005), pp. 265-97, esp. 287-96.
[29]
Whereas Mateos worked with the primary sources, I-H. Dalmais
(1914-2006) was a very different sort of liturgical scholar,
his gift being primarily one of haute vulgarisation, based on a
very wide knowledge of all the Eastern liturgical
traditions. His many articles on different aspects of
Syriac liturgy perform a good service in making them better
known to a wider public.
[30] Not
surprisingly, among Mar Julius Çiçek’s
numerous text editions are many liturgical texts. Needless to
say, these are primarily for practical use, but quite a number
of them should also be of interest to liturgical scholars,
since they provide texts of services not otherwise available in
print. Thus, for example, his Anafura (1985) provides
ten anaphoras, several of which are not easily accessible, or
indeed sometimes not otherwise available at all in
print.
Details can be found in my ‘Two recent
editions of Syrian Orthodox Anaphoras’, Ephemerides
Liturgicae 102 (1988), 436-45.
Also of particular importance in this respect
are his editions of the 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.
[31]
Francis Acharya (François Mahieu; 1912-2002),
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).
Superior of Kurisumala Ashram in Kerala, undertook the large
task of making an adapted English translation, for practical
monastic use, of the main parts of the Syrian Catholic
Fenqitho, published in Mosul (1886-96) in seven volumes. This
appeared under the title 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 Shehimo, 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).
Though this is
not, of course, an academic publication, Fr. Francis
nevetheless had a good knowledge of Syriac and, in particular,
a sensitive feeling for the Syriac liturgical tradition; as a
result he was able to produce a very successful example of
liturgical aggiornamento which deserves to be followed
elsewhere too. Among his last works was a translation of, and
commentary on, the West Syriac Ritual of the Clothing of
Monks.
Moran Etho 13 (Kottayam, 1999).
History
[32] One
of the most significant events in the history of Syriac
scholarship in the last half century was the publication of
J.B. Segal’s 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’.
The former in 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.
[33] Han
Drijvers’ contributions on early Syriac Christianity have
already been mentioned under 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.
In 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.
Though little known, since it was written in
Dutch and published during World War II, J.P.M. van der
Ploeg’s 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.
Historical Theology; Ecclesiology
[34] W.
de Vries’s two volumes on Sacramental Theology have
already been mentioned. Among his other writings in the Syriac
field his articles on Oriental Patriarchates and on the
fifth-century Councils all make important contributions, both
from the point of view of Church history and from that of
ecclesiology in the modern ecumenical context. His article on
the Council of Ephesus 449
Orientalia Christiana Periodica 41
(1975), 357-98.
might be singled out here as an
admirably fair-minded reassessment of a Council that has
regularly been denigrated in western historiography.
[35] The
name of Alois Grillmeier (1910-1998) will always be associated
with the series of volumes of fundamental importance for the
study of christology, entitled 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.
In the latest Part to appear, 2/3 (2002),
his contributions include the chapter on the Tritheist
controversy of the sixth century.
Grillmeier was also the author of a good
study of Philoxenus’s baptismal theology.
Published in Fides Sacramenti,
Sacramentum Fidei. Studies in Honour of P. Smulders
(Assen, 1981), pp. 137-75.
[36] An
Indian theologian who also wrote a considerable amount on the
christological controversies was V.C. Samuel
(1912-1998). His The Council of Chalcedon
Re-examined: a Historical and Theological
Survey,
Indian Theological Library 8; Madras, 1977.
together with Karekin Sarkissian’s
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.
Other Topics
[37] A
leading expert writing on Modern Aramaic dialects (including
Modern Syriac) was the distinguished Georgian scholar
Konstantin Tsereteli (1921-2004).
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.
His Grammar of Modern
Syriac (‘Assyrian’; 1964), written in Russian, has
been translated into English (1978), German (1977) and Italian
(1970). He also published several collections of texts in
various Modern Syriac dialects which are of folkloristic as
well as linguistic interest.
[38]
Helga Anschütz (1928-2006) was one of the first European
scholars since Gertrude Bell to take an interest in the Syrian
Orthodox community in Tur ʿAbdin (south
east Turkey).
On her contributions, see A. Juckel, in
Hugoye 9/2 (2006).
Her Die syrischen Christen vom Tur
ʿAbdin
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 Oriens Christianus 70 (1986), pp. 205-11.
remains one of the most
informative works on this region which has always played an
important part in the history of the Syrian Orthodox Church. In
subsequent years she continued, together with her husband, Dr
Boulos Harb, to help make better known this community, with its
large diaspora in Germany, Sweden and Holland, through the
broadcasting and television media._______
Notes
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.