CorpusSyriacu

mJohnson

i1

Volumn II

Copyright © 2015 by Dale A. Johnson

All rights reserved.This book, or no parts thereof, may not be reproducedin any form without express written permissionLibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Dale A. Johnson

Corpus Syriacum Johnsoni

ISBN 978-1-312-09820-6

First Edition

Manufactured in the United States of America

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Dedicated to: My Down’s Syndrome brother Allen Lee Johnson who

knew the most important language: the language of love

Acknowledgments

There are so many people who deserve mention. To the late Rev.John Freeman who intoxicated me with a love for Syriac, and to the lateArthur Voobus, my teacher at the University of Chicago, who taught mewhat is means to be a real scholar, and to Malphono Isa Gulten of MorGabriel Monastery who taught me how much I did not know aboutSyriac, and to His Eminence Athanasius Y. Samuel who ordained meand opened many doors to the living Syriac world, and most of all toThomas Daniel who has encouraged me to write many of thesechapters as articles for the Syriac Orthodox Church publicationSHRORO (socdigest.org)

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Table of Contents

Section I: Introduction………..7

ScientistsHow a Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Helped tocreate the Gregorian Calendar…………9How the Syriac Physicians influenced PopeJohn XXI….17Severus Sebokht: Bridge between Indian andArab Science……28

ArtistsSyriac Art Influence on British and IrishMSS…..31Syriac Contributions to Italio-ByzantineArt…….36

TheologiansParumala Thirumeni: Defender AgainstProtestant Assault…….41Isaac the Syrian: Prophet of Unity……44

LinguistsPhiloxenus (Akhsenaya) of Mabbogh…..49Charles Wand Mitchell: a livingpalimpsest…..53

ExplorersElias ibn Hanna al Mawsili: The SyriacColumbus…56

A Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts in theLibrary of the Greek Patriarchate ofJerusalem…….71

Section II: Introduction……93 Part I: Humanitarian on the SurfaceMy Life as a Palimpsest…….95Four stages of making a difference…..100The Face of Human Trafficking in achildren's story…103Human Trafficking Report…..105

Part II: The scholarly life beneath theHmanitarianHow not to be a Missionary…..111Monastic Social Work….114Living at the Speed of Life….119Syriac Codes in the Gospel and IslamicWorld….123How Aramaic Food May have Saved Darwin….129

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Hidden Genius is an Arab Christian Text…137My Personal Sutra….140How Syriac Christianity Save the ProtestantReformation….141Syriac Faith in an Age of Science….147

Part III: Digging down into ManuscriptsThe Prayer of Moses of Mardin…153Rediscovering Forgotten Anaphoras…..161Syriac Physicians Reinvent Galen…..176A Syriac Medical Text from the ArchimedesPalympsest….184Hagiography as Palimpsest….197Afterward….209

Section IIIIntroduction….211Contributions of the Smith Sisters…212Samuel Lee : Father of Syriac Studies inBritian….220 Tamerlane the Mongol Raider of Mor Gabriel226Zoroastrian Foundations to SyriacMonasteries 230Did a Christian Priest Influence theTransmission of Buddhism to Japan? 234Syriac Christianity During the Tang Dynasty237The So Called Nestorian Crosses 247

Counting the Patriarchs of the See ofAntioch 253Rule of John of Mardin 68 St. Augin (Eugene) the Pearl Diver 266Siege of Amida (502-3 A.D.) 270The Prayer if Moses of Mardin 275 The Profession of Moses of Mardin 283

Section I

Introduction

Syriac is a language, a dialect ofAramaic, the language of Jesus. It is alsothe unifier of Christians who have livedbehind the veil of Islam for 1500 years.Syriac was and is the language of severaleastern lines of Christians who callthemselves many names including, Chaldean,Maronite, Assyrian, Syriac Orthodox, ThomasChristians of India, and names used tovilify them as heretics: Jacobites,Nestorians, and non-Chalcedonians. Thesenames are the product of a legacy ofsuffering and oppression, yet one commonthread unites these Christians who have

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lived behind the veil of Islam and theanathemas of the Roman Catholic West. Thisthread is the language of Syriac, a dialectof Aramaic.

Within this vast civilization offorgotten and invisible Christians, unitedby this sacred language, a culture of geniusarose. Scientists, artists, linguists,explorers, and theologians created, copied,and crafted works of genius for which othersoften took credit. The science of Islam thatbrought light to Europe and broke the spellof the Dark Ages would not have beenpossible unless Syriac scholars had inventedan engine of scholarship fueled by thenearly lost manuscripts of the Greeks.Schools of translation bridged a river offorgotten history that flowed from the pensof Syriac scholars who translated from Greekto Syriac and then Syriac to Arabic.

Syriac Artists forged patterns of lightand life onto walls, canvases, and withinbeautiful books only to be copied by otherswho won praise for themselves.

Linguist genius’ pioneered the study oflanguages and the amassing of libraries thatmade possible forays into foreign lands bybrave missionaries who carried the seeds ofnew thought and human development. Theywere often crowned with martyrdom rather

than magnificence. Aristotle, Plato, andGalen were honored in a new millennium butnot for the forgotten labors of theselinguists who made the grammars,translations, and dictionaries needed forthese new discoveries.

Theologians such as Ephrem who crafteddoctrines such as the Immaculate Conceptionwere co-opted by the West. Others madecareers from his theological insights whilehe withered away in oblivion in Edessaserving refugees and the poor. The scienceof grammer built by Philoxenus laid thefoundation for future generations toconstruct their houses of fame.

Even explorers like Columbus would nothave had the courage to explore new worldsunless the genius of the Semitic world hadprovided linguistic tools in order forColumbus to encounter predicted culturessuch as the lost tribes of Israel (whoprobably spoke some form of Aramaic). Eliasibn Hanna Mawsili read the accounts ofColumbus and explored Latin America and theCaribbean for the Ponce de Leon family.Without his scholarship and travels the deLeon family may not have had so secure ahold on the New World. It was a Syriacspeaking Chaldean priest who forgeddiplomatic alliances among several royal

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families to create a network of partnershipsto hold together a fragile foreignoccupation. Of course Elias is nearlyforgotten and is hardly visible in the lightof history under the shadow of Columbus, deLeon, Magellan, Balboa, and others.

This collection of essays is neithercomprehensive nor exhaustive of the geniusof the Syriac world. These are a few brushstrokes from my pen of those who haveinterested me over the years. For thosehistorians far more meticulous than me andhaving access to records I can only dreamof, my only hope is that these essays willlight the passion of some student to dogreater work, and like most of these peopleI write about, I too will disappear underthe shadow of those whose lights shinebrighter.

How a Syriac Orthodox PatriarchHelped to Create the Gregorian

Calender

The following people were members of theoriginal nine member commission to reformthe Julian calendar under Pope Gregory XIII:

Christoph Clavius, German Jesuit, CardinalSirleto, Vincentius Laureus Bishop ofMondovi, Antonio Lilius (Giglio) doctor ofmedicine.

Petrus Ciaconus, Seraphinus Olivarius,Vatican juristIgnatius Dantes, Dominican friar (IgnazioDanti) and map maker, Teofilus Martius,Benedictine monk, and amazingly IgnatiusNemet Allah I, Syrian Orthodox Patriarch.

On the tomb of Pope Gregory XIII in SaintPeter's Basilica is a marble relief of thePope with his commission of nine scholarswho reformed the Julian calendar and createdwhat became known as the Gregorian calendar.One of those scholars is a deposed SyrianOrthodox Patriarch. How did a Syriacspeaking Patriarch become part of one of thegreatest scientific achievements of theRenaissance?

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The Gregorian calendar was created by agroup of nine scholars formed in 1582. Oneof these scholars was a deposed Patriarch ofthe Syriac Orthodox Church who fled to Romeafter he resigned under pressure from Moslemover-lords and angry congregations inMesopotamia. What seemed to be a humiliatingfall from grace turned out to be a dramaticopportunity to participate in one of thegreat moments of European history. IgnatiusNemet Allah I served as Patriarch in Mardin(Turkey), seat of the AntiochianPatriarchate. He served for 19 years from1557-1576 until he was forced to convert toIslam under threat of death. This conversioninfuriated the Christian population and theydemanded that their Patriarch resign. He didso and appointed his nephew to the positionof Patriarch. He sailed to Venice. Whileaboard ship he read a small book onmathematics. He wrote in the margin of thebook the following note.

"With the aid of the inspiration from theMighty Lord we were able to solve theseproblems on Sunday, after twenty days ofOctober of the Greek year 1888 [=1577AD]have passed, when I the lost soul, by thename of Patriarch Ni‘meh, was on the ship

tossed by the waves of the sea on my way toVenice."

This was not the only book he had on boardship. He brought with him a library thatwould become core material for the MediciOriental Press, a short-lived but importantpress that contributed to the rise of theRenaissance and transfer to Europe of Arabscience mediated through Syriac scholars.

His library is preserved today at theLaurenziana Library in Florence. WhenIgnatius arrived in Venice he wasaccompanied by a Turkish translator who tookhim to Rome where he was introduced to PopeGregory XIII. Gregory appointed the exiledPatriarch to the editorial board of theMedici Oriental Press on the condition thatIgnatius commit to creating books to convertthe people of Arab lands.

The patriarch was allowed the use of hislibrary. The director of the Press wasGiovan Battista Raimondi who had finalauthority over publications.. Although thepurpose of the Press was to assist in theconversion to Christianity of the Arab

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populations the Press drifted from itsmission.

Reviewing the records of that press one isamazed to learn that out of the first sixbooks that were produced, four of them hadto do with linguistic or demonstrativescience rather than religious material. Evenmore amazing is the fact that the pressprinted more copies of Euclid's Elementsthan the Arabic Bible. There were print runsof 1500 copies of the Bible in Arabic, and3000 copies of Euclid’s Elements. From therecords of the unsold copies the MediciPress was a business failure. The ArabicBible sold only 934 copies, while therecension of Euclid’s Elements sold a littlebetter with 1033 copies. Raimondi bought thepress in 1591. By this time Ignatius haddied and the Medici family had withdrawn itsfinancial support. Raimondi sent his booksto the Frankfurt book fair where anunscrupulous employee sold a few books farbelow their value and pocketed the money. 

In the 18th century, amazingly enough, manyof the books printed by Raimondi were stillin the Palazzo Vecchio stacked inwarehouses. An inventory taken at the time

shows that 1,039 copies of the Arabic-LatinGospels, 566 of the Arabic Gospels, 810 ofthe Avicenna, 1,967 of the Euclid, 1,129 ofthe Idrisi, still remained unsold, alongwith several other titles. But early in the19th century the government sold theremaining books for a tiny sum to abookseller who destroyed the bulk of thebooks to increase the rarity of theremainder. 

In the five years ex-Patriarch Ignatiusworked as an editor for the Medici Orientalpress he gained an outstanding reputation asa mathematician and expert on calendars.Pope Gregory took notice and appointed himto the Gregorian calendral commission in1582. Pope Gregory XIII before he becamePope had attended the Council of Trent. Itwas in this Council that the future Popewould learn ofa plan in 1563 for correcting thecalendrical errors, requiring that the dateof the vernal equinox be restored to thatwhich it held at the time of the FirstCouncil of Nicaea in 325 and that analteration to the calendar be designed toprevent future drift. This would allow for amore consistent and accurate scheduling ofthe feast of Easter. 

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To compute the date of Easter each yearrequires an exact determination of thevernal equinox when the center of the suncrosses over the equator drifting northward.The date of Easter also requires an exactknowledge of lunar cycles because Easteroccurs the first Sunday after the first fullmoon after the vernal equinox. So to computethe date of Easter requires knowledge ofsolar and lunar time. But a lunar month is29.53059 days from new moon to new moon. Thesolar year is 365.2422 days. From the timeof Christ to the 16th century the lunarmonth was off by 4 days and the solar yearwas off by 10 days approximately.

Computing Easter according to the Juliancalendar was an embarrassment. Jewishastronomers were still able to accuratelycompute Passover because they used only alunar calendar. The Moslem calendar used a33 year cycle to make adjustments and wassuperior to both the Julian calendar andeven to the Gregorian calendar. Omar Kayyamin the 11th century as part of an eightmember commission reformed the Islamiccalendar. In 1073, the Seljuk dynasty SultanJalal al-Din Malekshah Saljuqi (Malik-ShahI, 1072-92), invited Khayyám to build an

observatory, along with various otherdistinguished scientists. Eventually,Khayyám and his colleagues measured thelength of the solar year as 365.24219858156days (correct to six decimal places). Thiscalendric measurement has only an 1 hourerror every 5,500 years.

I have no doubt that Ignatius Nemet Allah Istudied the mathematical and astronomicalsystems of the Islamic world influenced inlarge part by Omar Kayyam.

The formula designed by Aloysius Lilius andpresented by his brother Antonius to PopeGregory XIII was ultimately successful. Itproposed a 10-day correction to revert thedrift since Nicaea. An arrangement of thisdescription is visible in the old VaticanObservatory, called the Tower of the Winds.It was on this line that the error of tendays was demonstrated in the presence ofGregory XIII. October 4 would leap toOctober 15. Ten days were eliminated fromthe month of October in 1582 to achomplishthe Gregorian Reform.

A second adjustment was needed to complete

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the reform: a system of leap years. Toimplement the model, it was provided thatyears divisible by 100 would be leap yearsonly if they were divisible by 400 as well.So, in the last millennium, 1600 and 2000were leap years, but 1700, 1800 and 1900were not. In this millennium, 2100, 2200,2300 and 2500 will not be leap years, but2400 will be. This theory was expanded uponby Christopher Clavius, a fellow member ofthe commission, in a closely argued, 800page volume. He would later defend his andLilius's work against detractors.

Unfortunately, this was the second bestidea. Ex-Patriarch Ignatius brought a betteridea to the table, a solution that was moreelegant.

The long suppressed solution set forth byex- Patriarch Nemet Allah I used a 33-yearcycle of leap-days. It elegantly grounds thecalendar in the 33-year life of Jesus. Itwould also keep the spring equinox trulyconfined to the 21st. of March, the officialcalendar date of the spring or vernalequinox by the traditions of the Church,ever since the Nicene council. With the 10day correction, implemented in 1582 A.D. by

Pope Gregory, Clavius and the othercommissioners, the 33-year leap-day cyclecould have kept the equinox on March 20th.,but, with an 11 day correction IgnatiusNemet Allah's proposal could have restoredand restricted the equinox to March 21st.The simplest implementation of the 33-yearcycle, would continuously repeat, every 33years, the first 8 leap-years, in the years1 to 33 A.D, (nominally the years 4, 8, 12,16, 20, 24, 28 and 32 A.D.). Long divisionwould have been unnecessary to determinewhether it is leap-year, since there is ashort-cut using addition. Just add thecentury number to the number of years passedin the century. For example: for the year2012 A.D., we add 20 to 12, and get 32 A.D.which is nominally a leap year in thetraditional life of Jesus.

Ignatius Nemet Allah proposed a 33-year(with repeating "8-leap-year") cycle.Clavius' system spread the Equinox out overa 53-hour range, but there was nowhere onEarth that could have a true midnight-to-midnight Equinox. The Spring Equinox underthe Gregorian system drifts over a four dayperiod from March 19-March 22. 

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Under Allah's system the Equinox wouldalways fall between midnight and midnight,but only within a narrow band of specificlongitude. Along this strip of longitude theEquinox would always have occurred on March21st. Therefore, this specific band oflongitude would be the only one on Earthwithin which the Nicene edict could stay --for literally thousands of years --astronomically correct. This has come to beseen as "God's Meridian, "Unfortunately thisband of longitude would have cut throughProtestant lands in North America. The RomanCatholic council preferred a politicalsolution and less accurate calendar thatfavored Catholic control of God's Meridian.

The proposals of Gregory's Syriancommissioner were not revealed untilrecently (see A. Ziggelaar S.J. in Coyne.Hoskin and Pedersen's  "Gregorian Reform ofthe Calendar", 1983)

The genius of Ignatius Nemet Allah wasrecognized not only by Pope Gregory XIII butalso by some of the greatest minds of theRennaisance. One of them was Joseph JustusScaliger.

Joseph Justus Scaliger was a protestantscholar in Europe. He consulted IgnatiusNemet Allah I. Two letters surfaced in 1983on the 400th anniversary of the Gregoriancommission that revealed the correspondencebetween these two men. The stories which aretold of Scaliger seem almost legendary. Bysome accounts, he was the most brilliant manof his age. He is said to have read theentire Iliad and Odyssey in twenty-one days,and to have run through the Greek dramatistsand lyric poets in four months. He was butseventeen years old when he produced hisOedipus. He learned 13 languages. After abrilliant career at Paris, he was invited tooccupy the chair of Belles Lettres atLeyden, where the best part of his life wasspent. Like most eminent linguists, Scaligerpossessed the faculty of memory in anextraordinary degree. He could repeat eightycouplets of poetry after a single reading :He knew by heart every line of his owncompositions, and it was said of him that henever forgot anything which he had learnedonce. But with all his gifts and all hisaccomplishments, he contrived to renderhimself an object of general dislike andscorn. His vanity was insufferable; and itwas of that peculiarly offensive kind

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because it was only gratified at thedepreciation of others. His life was aseries of literary quarrels; and in thewhole annals of literary polemics, there arenone with which, for acrimony, virulence,and ferocity of vituperation. What is soextraordinary is what he writes aboutIgnatius Nemet Allah I. Joseph Scaligerdescribed Ignatius as “that most perfectman, for I can describe him in no other way,since he is the most complete imaginableexample of learning and all the virtueswrote to me last year. He told me that theyear of our Lord 1581 is the 6th of a 12year cycle and is called the year of theSerpent.” Ignatius wrote to him in Arabic soeloquent that Scaliger refused to try totranslate them into Latin for want ofdamaging the beauty of his words. FromScalier we get an insight into the genius ofIgnatius Nemet Allah I. He was the right manat the right time to influence one of themost important revisions of the calendar inhuman history. This Syriac scholar andleader is immortalized in the most unlikelyof places: St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.Unlikely because except for the dramatic andshameful events in his home country, hewould have died a noble and uneventful deathat Dier Zaferon in Mardin. But because of

tragic circumstances he became a refugee andrenown reformer.

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How the Syriac Physiciansinfluenced Pope John XXI

Hunein Ibn Ishak is known for hiscontribution to medical science. What isless known is that he was a Christianserving in an Islamic court in Baghdad whosetranslations would influence  a future RomanPope four hundred years after Hunein'sdeath. Hunein Ibn Ishak was an optholologistwho looked into the eye of Greek wisdom andbrought forth many treatises of  Syriac andArabic.  Hunein translated Aristotle, Plato,Hippolitus, and most importantly the medicalliterature of Galen. Later medieval sourcesknew him by the Latinized name, Joannitius.It was probably under this name that thefuture Pope John XXI knew this Syriacscholar.

Certain writings of Joannitius weretranslated into Latin, and were popular inthe Middle Ages in Europe, and later wereprinted in the 16th century. Hunein Ibn

Ishak fused Greek and Indian medicine intoSyriac and Arabic. He was acquainted withIndian medicine through Indian physicianswho lived at the court of Baghdad while heserved the Caliph. His knowledge of Greekmedicine came by way of Egypt where hestudied for a period of time and had accessto Greek manuscripts for the remainder ofhis life.

Four events came together to create theconditions for the emergence of Syriacscholars like Hunein to make intellectualand cultural contributions that reachedacross the centuries. The politicalunification of Asia, the engineering ofBaghdad, the scientific manufacturing ofpaper, and the educational establishment ofthe House of Wisdom were the fourcornerstones of a cultural structure thatwould withstand the tests of history forfive hundred years.

The unification of Africa and Asia throughthe political unification of Islam broughtideas together that previously facedlinguistic and intellectual barriers. Amajor nexus point for the bringing togetherof new ideas was Baghdad which was an

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engineering achievement by Caliph  AlMa'mun.  Within this political andengineering nexus was an institutionalsystem that provided resources for genius toarise. Al-Ma'mun founded The House of Wisdomwhich was an organizational jewel thatprovided the finest manuscripts, financialsupport, and a medium for the preservationof knowledge.  Ja'far ibn Yahya of theBarmakid family convinced Caliph al-Rahid tobuild a paper mill in Baghdad. The secret ofpapermaking had been learned from Chineseprisoners captured after the battle of Talasin 751 AD in Kazakhstan. Baghdad became acenter for papermaking and stationery. Thepaper dealer Ahmed ibn Abi Tahir (819-890)located his business at the Souq al-Warraqin(the Stationers' Market) in Baghdad withover one hundred paper stores and bookoutlets.

This single technological achievement madethe documentation of a golden age possible.Literally the genius' of Alexandria, Egypt,and Gundashapur, Persia, and Khorasan,Central Asia,  could stand in one room,under the protection of the Abbysidgovernment and exchange ideas and have amethod to preserve them that would create anew world.

The Barmakid family, who provided theAbbysid leadership of Baghdad, wereBuddhists who converted to Islam. Theydemonstrated a cosmopolitan tolerance ofreligions and cultures. Buddhists, Muslims,Christians, Sabians, and Manicheans mingledtogether like a Greek harmony of spheres.

Hunein followed in the in the tradition ofSyriac translators and physicians likeJirgis (Giwargis) bin Bakhtishu (ca. 771)the dean of the Jundi-Shapur hospital(south-western Persia). Jundi-Shapur wasnoted for its academy translators and itsschool of Medicine and Philosophy foundedabout AD 555. In AD 765 the Caliph Al-Mansur, suffered from a stomach diseasewhich confounded his physicians, summonedBakhtishu, who won the support of the caliphand became the court physician, though heremained Christian. Invited by the caliph toembrace Islam his reply was that hepreferred the company of his fathers, bethey in heaven or in hell. Bakhtishu becamein Baghdad the founder of a brilliant familywhich for perhaps seven generations,covering a period of 25o years, exercised analmost continuous monopoly over the courtmedical practice. Jibril (Gabriel) bin

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Bakhtishu, in AD 801 became chief physicianof the Baghdad hospital under the Caliph Al-Rashid and in AD 805 the caliph's privatephysician until his death in AD 829.

Hunein in AD 857 as a youth began as adispenser to Yahya (Youkhanna) BinMassawayh, the great doctor and pupil ofGabriel bin Bakhtishu. Massawayh, is said,having been fed up with Hunein's continuousquestioning, have said to him: "What havethe people of Al-Hira have to do withmedicine?--go and change money in thebazaar."  The young Hunein left the serviceof Masawayh in tears, but challenged himselfto study Greek in "the land of the Greeks"where he stayed for two  years and obtaineda sound knowledge of the Greek language andfamiliarity with textual criticism inAlexandria. Later he settled for some timeat Basra and attended the popular school ofAl-Khalil bin Ahmad (Al-Faraheedi) and therehe became fluent in Arabic before returningto Baghdad in AD 826. He was then introducedby Gabriel bin Bakhtishu to Musa bin Shakirand his sons, known as "Sons of Musa",wealthy patrons of learning.Subsequently, Caliph Al-Ma'mun, founded alibrary-academy which he called the "House

of Wisdom" (Dar Al-Hikma) and appointedHunein as its superintendent.

Al-Ma'mun first developed a library of textsfor translation. Al-Ma'mun sent a team ofhis most learned men to Byzantium. Hunein,being more skilled in the Greek languagethan any of the other scholars in Baghdad,was on this expedition.

As an example of the lengths that Huneinwent in order to find a particularmanuscript we quote his description of asearch for a medical manuscript: “I soughtfor [the manuscript] earnestly and traveledin search of it in the lands of Mesopotamia,Syria, Palestine and Egypt, until I reachedAlexandria, but I was not able to findanything, except about half of it atDamascus.”

Of the numerous works ascribed to Hunein,some should undoubtedly be credited to histwo assistants, his son and nephew, and toother students of his school, such as 'Isabin Yahya bin Ibrahim, and Musa bin Khalid.Almost all the leading scientists of thesucceeding generation were pupils of Huneinlike Staphanos bin Basilos, who translated

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the Dioscorides into Syriac, and this Syriacversion was then translated into Arabic byHunein himself for the "Sons of Musa". Inmany cases Hunein evidently did the initialtranslation from Greek into Syriac and hiscolleagues took the second step andtranslated from Syriac into Arabic

.Aristotle's Hermeneutica, for instance, wasfirst done from Greek into Syriac by Hunein,the father, and then from Syriac into Arabicby the son Ishaq, who was the better inArabic and who became the greatesttranslator of Aristotle's works.

The study of urine was of principleimportance to the medical methods of HuneinIbn Ishak. It is from this base of analysisthat medical diagnosis proceeded.

Hunein describes his work as follows, onhis collation of multiple texts of De methodomedendi: “For the first six books only asingle manuscript, and besides that a veryfaulty one, was at my disposal at the time.I was therefore unable to produce thesebooks in the manner required. Later I came

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across another manuscript and collated thetext with it and corrected it as much aspossible. It would be better if I couldcollate a third manuscript with it if only Iwere fortunate enough to find one.”

Hunein demonstrates a scientific methodologythat became a seed for the Enlightenment inEuropean scholarship in the 13th century.

Hunein Ibn Ishak produced perhaps the firstdetailed description and drawing of theanatomy of the eye noting important physicalfeatures and functions at the back of theeye. For this he is considered one of thefathers of opthomology.

Al-Ma'mun recruited a broad range of  men ofvarious religious faiths (Muslim, Sabian,Christian) for the House of Wisdom such asIslamic schlars al-Khwarizmi,al-Kindi andal-Hajjaj. There they worked with Hunein andlater also with the Sabian Thabit ibn Qurrafrom Harran.

Chaotic History of the House of Wisdom

Al-Ma'mun died in AD 833 and was succeeded

by Al-Mu'tasim, who found it difficult tocontrol the populace of Baghdad and formed aguard of Turkish slave-soldiers. But thisbody-guard, holding a privileged position,soon became insubordinate and manycomplaints were made about their conduct. Atlast Al-Mu'tasim removed himself and hiscourt to Samarra (north of Baghdad) in AD836, and there the caliphs reigned until AD892. These disorders affected scholarshipadversely and the "House of Wisdom" fellinto decay which was not checked during thebrief reign of Wathiq (AD 842-847). The nextCaliph was Al-Mutawakkil (847-861), althoughhe was bigoted, fanatical, and sadistic, hewas a generous patron of scientific researchand is generally reckoned as having reopenedthe "House of Wisdom". It was during thisCaliph's reign where Hunein reached thesummit of his glory not only as a translatorbut as a practitioner when he was appointedby the Caliph Al-Mutawakkil as his privatephysician. Al-Mutawakkil, however, oncecommitted him to jail for a year forrefusing the offer of rich rewards toconcoct a poison for an enemy. When broughtagain before the caliph and threatened withdeath his reply was: "I have skill only inwhat is beneficial, and have studied naughtelse".

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Asked by the caliph, who then claimed thathe was simply testing his physician'sintegrity, as to what prevented him frompreparing the deadly poison, Hunein replied:

"Two things: my religion and my profession.My religion decrees that we should do goodeven to our enemies, how much more to ourfriends. And my profession is instituted forthe benefit of humanity and limited to theirrelief and cure. Besides, every physician isunder oath never to give anyone a deadlymedicine."

The House of Wisdom went through severalperiods of trouble. Rivalry, jealousyplagued this school of Medicine. It is amiracle of history that so much survives tothis day from this great academy headed byHunein Ibn Ishak.

In AD 861 Al-Mutawakkil was murdered by hisTurkish guards at his son's instigation.Hunein enjoyed the favour of that son Al-Montasir (AD 861-862), and his successorsAl-Mosta'in (AD 862-866), Al-Mo'tazz (AD866-869), Al-Muhtadi (AD 869-870), and Al-Mu'tamid (AD 870-892), and was engaged inmaking a translation of Galen's De constitutione

artis medicae at the time of his death, whichtook place in 873 according to the Fihrist,or 877 according to Ibn Abi Usaibi'a.

Syriac medical translation manuscripts foundtheir way to the centers of learning in 13thcentury Spain through the Moorish conquestand control. Peter of Spain (who became PopeJohn XXI,  grew up in a world where Syriacscholars had created an intellectual worldfounded on the translations of Greek andIndian science.

Pope John XXI: 1276-1277 AD

It was probably an interest in opthomolgythat brought Husein Ibn Ishak and the futurePope together. Pope John XXI was anophthalmologist before becoming Pope. He wasborn in Lisbon and trained at University ofParis and was part of the early medicalschool faculty in Siena. No doubt he had inhis hands and before his studentsmanuscripts forged in the crucible of Syriacmedical tradition and translation. He becamephysician for Pope Gregory X and assumedchurch duties. He rose quickly in the ranksof the Catholic church and was elected Popein 1276 AD. His term was short-lived.

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His text book is in two parts withintroductions to the eye followed bydescriptions of diseases with their mostlymedical treatments.  The work survived and acopy was even found amongst Michelangelo'spapers. Unfortunately the book turns out tobe a plagiarism of two earlier text books,one of them is a primal work of Hunein IbnIshak. His most notable achievement wasdiscovering that glaucoma was a disease ofthe hardening of the eye.

Among the Syriac/Christian physiciansstudied by Pope John XXI other than HuseinIbn Ishak were the following:

Ibn Sahda: According to Hunein ibn Ishaq, hetranslated the "De sectis" and the "Depulsibus ad tirones" of Galen into Syriac

.Jabril Ibn Bakhtyshu  Grandson of Jirjis ibnJibriI, q. v., second half of eighthcentury; physician to Ja'far the Barmakide,then in 805-6 to Harun al-Rashid and laterto al-Ma'mun; died in 828-29; buried in themonastery of St. Sergios in Madain(Ctesiphon). Christian  physician, who wrotevarious medical works and exerted muchinfluence upon the progress of science in

Baghdad. He was the most prominent member ofthe famous Bakhtyashu' family. He took painsto obtain Greek medical manuscripts andpatronized the translators.

Salmawaih Ibn Buan

Christian  physician, who flourished underal-Ma'mun and al-Mu'tasim and becamephysician in ordinary to the latter. He diedat the end of 839 or the beginning of 840.He helped Hunein to translate Galen'sMethodus medendi and later he patronizedHunein's activity. He and Ibn Masawaih werescientific rivals. Salmanwaih realized theperniciousness of aphrodisiacs.

Ibn Masawai

Latin name: Mesue, or, more specifically,Mesue Major. Son of a pharmacist inJundishapur; came to Baghdad and studiedunder Jibrll ibn Bakhtyashu'; died inSamarra in 857. Christian physician writingin Syriac and Arabic. Teacher of Hunein ibnIshaq. His own medical writings were inArabic, but he translated various Greekmedical works into Syriac. Apes weresupplied to him for dissection by the caliphal-Mu'tasim c. 836. Many anatomical and

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medical writings are credited to him,notably the "Disorder of the Eye" ("Daghalal-ain"), which is the earliest Systematictreatise on ophthalmology extant in Arabicand the Aphorisms, the Latin translation ofwhich was very popular in the Middle Ages.

Amid the responsibilities of the papacy Johnfound time for his scientific studies, whichwere more congenial to him than the businessof the Curia. To secure the necessary quietfor these studies, he had an observatoryadded to the papal palace at Viterbo, towhich he could retire when he wished to workundisturbed. On 14 May, 1277, while the popewas alone in this observatory, it collapsed;John was buried under the ruins, and diedsix days after the accident on 20 May inconsequence of the serious injuries he hadreceived.

Surprisingly, one of the most comprehensiverecipe books for birth control was writtenby Peter of Spain, Pope John XXI, whooffered advice on how to provokemenstruation in his immensely popularThesaurus Pauperum (Treasure of the Poor).Many of the recipes have been foundsurprisingly effective by contemporary

research, and it is believed that women inantiquity had more control over theirreproduction than previously believed.

This scholarly Pope was immortalized in TheDivine Comedy. Dante sees John XXI (referredto as "Pietro Spano") in the Heaven of theSun with the other souls of great religiousscholars. Pope John XXI is the only Pope whois in Paradise. The remainder are in variousstages of Purgatory and Hell.

Notes on Hunein compiled by Fred Aprim

Some of Hunayn's Translations:1. A selected series of the Treatises of Galen- De sectis- Ars medica- De pulsibus ad tirones- Ad Glauconem de medendi methodo- De ossibus ad tirones- De musculorum dissectione- De nervorum dissectione- De venarum arteriumque dissectione- De elementis secundum Hippocratem- De temperamentis- De facultibus naturalibus- De causis et symptomatibus- De locis affectis- De pulsibus (four treatises)- De typis (febrium)- De crisibus- De diebus decretoriis- Methodus medendi

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2. Hippocrates and Dioscorides.3. Plato's Republic (Siyasah).4. Aristotle's Categories (Maqulas), Physics (Tabi'iyat) and MagnaMoralia (Khulqiyat).5. Seven books of Galen's anatomy, lost in the original Greek, have luckily been preserved in Arabic.6. Arabic version of the Old Testament from the Greek Septuagint did not survive.7. Many published works of R. Duval in Chemistry, like the two transcripts at the British Museum:a. Wright. Catalogue, P. 1190 - 1191, MVb. Coll' orient, 1593represent basically translations of Hunayn's work with very minor reading differences.8. In Chemistry again we have a book titled ['An Al-Asma'] meaning"About the Names", which did not reach the researchers but was used in "Dictionary of Ibn Bahlool" of the 10th century.9. "Kitab Al-Ahjar" or the "Book of Stones".

ReferencesIbn Sina: The Canon of Medicine. p. 1297. "Hunayn ibn Ishaq, His name is Abu Zayd Hunayn ibn Ishaq al-Ibadi, from one of the Arab tribes that lived in Hira and embraced Christianity". De Lacy O'Leary, "How Greek science passed to the Arabs"Phillip Hitti, "History of the Arabs"Nina Bigholeeviskaya (Dr. Khalaf Al-Jarrad translator), "Thaqafat al-Siryan fi al-'Aisoor al-WisTta"Nineveh magazine, 2nd quarter 1984

Severus Sebokht: Bridge between Indian and Arab Science

Syriac Christians needed an astronomicalbased mathematics to compute the date ofEaster. Their work in these areas in latercenturies formed the basis of calculationsfor Moslems who needed to determine thehours of prayer. Much of this work wasdifficult and nearly impossible untiladvancements were made by combining the workof Indian mathematicians and Greekphilosophers. Syriac scholars were in aunique position both geographically andlinguistically to merge the mathematicalsciences of the East and West and assist inthe advancement of astronomically basedmathematics that are often credited to theArab/Islamic world of the 8th and 9thcenturies. But it was a particular SyriacBishop who was the true genius and interfacebetween Indian and Greek sciences.

Severus Sebokht lived in the 7th centuryA.D. and he was an abbot of a monastery inNisibis in his early life. Later he was madeBishop of Kenneserin south of Aleppo inSyria where he spent the remainder of hisdays. Severus was a man of extraordinary

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intellect and accomplishment. He was withoutdoubt a leading expert on the Greek works ofPtolemy. He was more than likely thetranslator from Persian to Syriac of theworks of Paul the Persian. This is quitelikely as his surname, Sebokht, is Persian.Yet, he identified himself intellectuallyand culturally as a Syrian. He wrote on theworks of Aristotle (638), the astrolobe(650), the constellations (661), meterology,the birth of Christ (662), and how tocalculate Easter (665).

Severus does not slavishly translate ancientGreek works, but he makes his own scientificcontributions. For example, he does notbelieve that solar eclipses are caused by adragon named Attila passing in front of thesun but in fact eclipses are naturalcelestial phenomenon. He embraces astronomybut rejects astrology.

 The first evidence outside India that theknowledge of Indian numerals were movingwest comes from a source which predates therise of Islam. In 662 AD Severus Sebokht,who by this time lived in Keneserin on theEuphrates river, wrote:-

 I will omit all discussion of the science of the Indians, ... , of

their subtle discoveries in astronomy, discoveries that aremore ingenious than those of the Greeks and theBabylonians, and of their valuable methods of calculationwhich surpass description. I wish only to say that thiscomputation is done by means of nine signs. If those whobelieve, because they speak Greek, that they have arrived atthe limits of science, would read the Indian texts, theywould be convinced, even if a little late in the day, thatthere are others who know something of value.

This passage clearly indicates thatknowledge of the Indian number system wasknown in the Arab world in the seventhcentury. Severus Sebokht as a Christianbishop would have been interested incalculating the date of Easter. This mayhave encouraged him to find out about theastronomy works of the Indians and in these,of course, he would find the arithmetic ofthe nine symbols.

 Knowledge of the skies came from severalmajor episodes of translation. The first isthe Greek works, which were translated intoLatin. The second episode is the transfer ofGreek texts into Syriac, on their way intoArabic. "These texts, in considerablenumbers, had been gradually transferredeastward during the fifth and sixthcenturies A.D., in part by the harassing

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influence of the orthodox Byzantine Churchagainst Nestorian and, to a lesser extent,Monophysite teachers and intellectuals".Members of these communities were forced tomigrate to the fringes of the ByzantineEmpire. Consequently their information wastransferred to Persia (Syria and Iraq).Here, at certain schools, the informationwas studied, copied, commented upon andeventually translated as texts ofHellenistic knowledge.

Severus Sebokht was one of the recipients ofancient Greek knowledge. Yet, he praisedHindu inventors as discoverers of thingsmore ingenious than those of the Greeks.Earlier, in the late 4th or early 5thcentury, the anonymous Hindu author of anastronomical handbook, the Surya Siddhanta, hadtabulated the sine function (unknown inGreece) for every 3 3/4° of arc from 3 3/4°to 90°. Severus had the benefit of learningthe sciences of both the East and West.

By the ninth century the Syriac languagebecame the vehicle for the transmission ofknowledge from the Hellenistic traditioninto Arabic. Once we have an awareness ofthe significance and change that took place,it makes sense to draw a distinction between

"Greek science" and "science in Greek".Severus did not like the Greeks of his day.He considered them theological oppressors.But Severus admired the work of the ancientGreek philosophers and scientists. Theeffect of translation of Greek into theSyriac language was that the language waspartially affected in respect of vocabulary,syntax, and grammar. This situation workedto the benefit of the Syriac language astexts of theological writing and poetry werelater translated into Greek. It placed theSyriac Christian culture in a specialposition as a nexus between Greek learningand Arab science. 

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Syriac Art Influence on British andIrish MSS

A monk named Rabbula with at least fourassistants created a Syriac illuminatedGospel in 586 AD. A notation at the end ofthe MS reads: "This book has been writtenand finished in the holy convent of Bet MarYohannan of Zagba in the days of the loverof God, Sergius, presbyter and abbot thisconvent, and of the monks Thomas, Thomas [?]and of the martyr presbyters and of Ahbeshaband Tatqana and Damian, deacons and of allother brothers with them in Christ.

Although written in a monastery in theregion of Mesopotamia near Edessa, thedesign features of the MS appear inmanuscripts in the British Isles soonthereafter. The MS of Rabbula obviously drewfrom a deeper iconographic tradition,perhaps back to the second century. It isthis artistic source that lies behind theSyriac Rabbula Gospels, and the illuminatedMSS of Britain and Ireland including theBook of Lindisfarne, the Anglo-Saxon Book ofDurrow, and the Irish Book of Kells. The

emphasis upon the Eusebian tables in theRabbula MS suggest the source of theirinspiration.

The illuminations appear at the front ofthe Rabbula manuscript in a single gatheringof 14 folios. The subject-matter includestwo dedicatory scenes (fols 1v, 14r); fiveauthor portraits (of Eusebios and the fourEvangelists; fols 2r, 9v–10r). The tenEusebian canon tables are spread over 19leaves (fols 3v–12v). A total of 29 NewTestament subjects are distributed in 24small scenes flanking the canon tables (fols3v–9r, 10v–12v. The care given to theEusebian tables is powerful evidence of theartistic source.

Tatian developed a Gospel Harmony (2ndc.) known as the Diatesseron. Ammonius ofAlexandria (3rd c.) is believed to havedeveloped the Diatesseron of Tatian (2nd c.)by adding titles or headings to each sectionof the Harmony that he called canons. Thesetitles and pericopes were broken down evenfurther and were taken by Eusebuis (4th c.)and developed into lists of comparisons toprove that there were no contradictionsbetween the gospels. He showed the harmonyof the gospels by demonstrating every placewhere they agreed. He did this in a series

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of ten tables of comparison. He writes toCarpianus about his system.

Eusebius to Carpianus, (my) beloved brother in the Lord.Greetings.

Ammonius the Alexandrian, through truly much laborand zeal, presented to us the Fourfold Harmony set in ordernext to the Gospel According to Matthew were the similar-sounding pericopes of the rest of the Evangelists, with theinevitable result that the continuing sequence of the threewas utterly destroyed concerning the interconnection ofreadings.

But so that, while preserving entire the rest of the wholeand the sequence, you may know the proper place in eachEvangelist in which each is guided by love of truth to saylike another, taking a starting-point from the work of theabove-mentioned man, I have formed for you ten lists intotal, attached below.

 

Of these, the first contains numbers in which similarthings were said by the four: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John(agree). The second, in which the three: Matthew, Mark,Luke (agree). The third, in which the three: Matthew, Luke,John (agree). The fourth, in which the three: Matthew, Mark,John (agree).The fifth, in which the two: Matthew, Luke(agree). The sixth, in which the two: Matthew, Mark (agree).The seventh, in which the two: Matthew, John (agree). The

eighth, in which the two: Luke, Mark (agree). The ninth, inwhich the two: Luke, John (agree). The tenth, in which eachof them wrote in his own manner (agree).

The Eusebian Tables were quite popular inboth the East and West. But they seem tohold special favor in the Syriac Gospel MSS.The letter of Eusebius to Carpianus isframed in a decorative palmate border. Thisillumination of the text was an artistictradition flowing from the Diatesseron. Weknow this from a report about a copy of theDiatesseron made in the 16th century in TurAbdin (in present day southeast Turkey) andbrought to Rome by an Armenian bishop. Themanuscript found its way to Florence whereit was recently studied by Danish arthistorian Carl Nordenfalk, who is aspecialist in Celtic manuscripts. When helater examined an illuminated Celtic gospelbooks,he saw similarities in theilluminations of the ancient copy of theDiatessaron and the later 7th to 10thcentury Celtic Gospels.

For example, in the Book of Durrow theemblems of the Evangelists precede eachgospel as in Diatessaron. He also noticedthat the palmate borders which we generallyassociate with Celtis knots was preceeded bythe Syriac art form evidenced in the Rabbula

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Gospels. Maybe they should be calledDiatesseron Knots that suggest the weavingtogether of the Gospel pericopes. The Bookof Durrow was composed only a few yearsafter the Rabbula Gospels in the last decadeof the sixth century, yet theirilluminations are remarkably similar. It isbelieved to be the first figurative paintingin British art. 

This same tradition in figurativeillumination of manuscripts appears again ina slightly later manuscripts, the Gospel ofWillibrord and again on the front page ofthe Book of Kells.

I believe that the illuminated Gospels ofthe British Isles drew from the sameartistic source as the Rabbula Gospels. Wenow know there was extensive contact betweenthe Syriac and Coptic east, sources if theilluminated art, and the British Isles. In aletter to king Charlemagne of France, theEnglish monk Alcuin named the Celtic fatherspueri egyptiaci or the children of theEgyptians. The Celtic fathers looked uponSt. Anthony as their pattern in asceticism.In the seventh century Antiphony of theIrish monastery of Bangor loud we read, This

house full of delight Is built on the rock. And indeed is thetrue wine transplanted out of Egypt. 

Seven Coptic monks of Egypt are reported tohave lived in Disert Uilag in west Irelandand are remembered in the Irish Litany ofthe Saints as witnesses of the close contactbetween the Western and Eastern Church.

Theodore of Tarsus, who knew Syriac, was theseventh Archbishop of Canterbury, and hisbooks brought the teachings of the Syriacschool of Antioch to Anglo-Saxon Britain. Ibelieve these books seeded the artisticimagination of the British Isles.

While the illuminated texts of the Syriacand Coptic traditions preceded the Irish andEnglish MSS, the latter developed theilluminated text tradition with unrivaledgenius.

 

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Syriac Contributions to Italio-Byzantine Art

  Often Syriac culture is undervalued for

its wealth of contributions to the Byzantineworld. The dominance of Greek culture hasoften swallowed up creative contributions ofthe Syriac world and claimed it forthemselves. The Gospel of Rabbula is aprimary example of primal creativity thathas affected western art for centuries. Evenin later Syriac iconography where crossfertilization of ideas merge, Syriac artistscontinue to make original contributions.

The Syriac vision of the Ascension of Jesustaken up into heaven is the earliest exampleillustrating Jesus in a mandorla on achariot. In Syriac liturgy Ezekiel 1 is readon Ascension Sunday. The image of Ezekielbeing taken up into heaven in a chariot isfiguratively fused with the ascending Jesus.A mandorla is the liminal space where twocircles overlap. It is a powerful symbol ofthe psychological and spiritual realm whereopposites merge and transformation occurs. 

The Rabbula Gospel icon of the Ascension

In the Rabbula Gospels the mandorla isthe almond shaped space where heaven andearth meet and Jesus as prophet is fulfilledand heaven and earth are transformed. Themandorla is the place where dualismdisappears and we leave the world ofopposites and rest in the heart of Jesus.

Nicholas of Cusa speaks of the coincidenceof contradictories or coincidentia oppositorum:

The coincidence of opposites is a certain kind of unityperceived as coincidence, a unity of contrarietiesovercoming opposition by convergence without destroyingor merely blending the constituent elements. Although inonce sense not obliterated, in another the constituentelements shed their multiple, differentiated status.Examples would include the coincidence of rest and motion,past and future, diversity and identity, inequality andequality, and divisibility and simplicity. 

... coincidence does not really describeGod. Rather it sets forth the way God works,the order of things in relation to God andto each other, and the manner by whichhumans may approach and abide in God. God isbeyond the realm of contradictories. God ...

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preceded opposites, is undifferentiated, notother, incomparable, and without opposite,precedes distinctions, opposition,contrariety, and contradiction. (H. Lawrence Bondin Nicholas of Cusa: Selected Spiritual Writings, p. 366 )

The almond shaped space endured for morethan a 1000 years in western art emerging inPerugino’s Ascension as late as the 15thcentury. 

The Mandorla, a Vesica Piscis shapedaureola, surrounds the figures of Christ andthe Virgin Mary in western Christian art. Itis especially used later to frame the figureof Christ in Majesty in early medieval andRomanesque art, as well as Byzantine art ofthe same periods. 

Among Icons of the Eastern Orthodox Church,the mandorla is used to depict sacredmoments which transcend time and space, suchas the Resurrection, Transfiguration, andthe Dormition of the Theotokos. Thesemandorla will often be painted in severalconcentric patterns of color which growdarker as they come close to the center.This is in keeping with the church's use ofApophatic theology, as described byDionysius the Areopagite and others. As

holiness increases, there is no way todepict its brightness, except by darkness.

The Rabbula Gospel icon of Saint Longinus

Another contribution of the Syriac art ofthe Gospel of Rabbula is in the image ofSaint Longinus, the Roman soldier whopierced the side of Jesus. The earliestknown representation of St. Longinus is inthe image of the Crucifixion in the RabbulaGospels (Syriac, 6th century). In the West,late medieval Crucifixions often show himpointing to Jesus, as if to say, "surelythis was the Son of God" but this is aconflation of two stories depicting twosoldiers.

Gospel accounts of the Crucifixion tellof a Roman soldier who pierced Jesus' sideafter his death and also of anothercenturion who said, "surely this was the Sonof God." The Acts of Pilate (possibly asearly as the second century) is probablyresponsible for conflating these two personsinto one named Longinus. Later hagiographythat was subsumed into the Golden Legendsays that some of the blood that spilled

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from Christ's side got into Longinus' eyesand cured his blindness; the Legend alsosays St. Longinus converted to Christianityand was martyred in Cæsarea in Cappadocia.

Syriac Christianity continued to makeoriginal contributions to western art aslate as the 13th century.

Dayr as Suriani icon in the 13th Century

Lucy Anne Hunt of Birmingham writes, “Anicon of the Crucifixion is displayed in themain church of the Virgin at the Monasteryof the Syrians (Dayr as-Suriani), in theWadi Natrun in the Western Desert inEgypt’. 

Attributed here to a Syrian Orthodoxartist in the third quarter of thethirteenth century, its imagery of mankind’ssalvation through the Passion of Christ’ssuffering and death is expressed in thevocabulary of contemporary Italian art. Withthe personifications at the top representingthe overturn of the darkness of death withthe light of renewal, the icon evokes theOrthodox Easter liturgy of the HolySepulchre in Jerusalem. This points up a

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virtually unexplored aspect of medievalPassion iconography. Focusing attention onthe Syrian Orthodox role in icon production,the icon is a witness to the development anddissemination of Holy Land imagery in thethirteenth-century eastern Mediterranean.

Hunt posits that the painter of the Dayr as-Suriani icon probably had direct access toItalian art. This is particularly apparentboth in the extreme angle of Christ’s blackeyebrow and the exaggerated dark shading ofthe face, especially below the left cheekmerging into the strands of hair. Thisdramatic shading was surely derived from thepainting technique of the mid-thirteenthcentury Italian crucifixes, including thosepainted by Giunta Pisano. The comparison canbe extended to the delicate flecks of whitepaint highlighting the face, upper body andoutstretched arms of Christ. The large scaleof Christ’s head relative to the rest of theicon also derives from a crucifix,exaggerated as to be viewed from below. Butthe generally heavier painting styleidentifies a Syrian rather than a Latinartist as responsible, working under theinfluence of Italian art.

The Crucifixion in the Syriac Dayr as-

Zapharan lectionary, written in c. 1250 by afuture Bishop of Hesna de Ziad, the town ofKharput near the Euphrates on the formerByzantine/Armenian border, has a similarItalianate Christ and angels . Like theicon, the rationale to the draperies, John’sin particular, is here disregarded in thehands of a Syrian artist”. The blood ofChrist, shed for man- kind, flows copiouslyonto the skull of Adam, just as in the Dayras-Suriani and Sinai icons and the MissalCrucifixion”. Adam’s skull is evenespecially selected for inscription in thelectionary. Thus, while Sinai or Egyptcannot be discounted as the place ofproduction of the icon, a strong case can bemade for a monastery in Syria”.

Dayr as-Suriani flourished after the mid-thirteenth century with an influx of monks,especially those fleeing from the Crusaderbattles between Eygpt and Mongol invaders.War helped replenish the Library, and mayhave brought icons too. 

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Parumala Thirumeni: Defender Against Protestant Assault

  Parumala Thirumeni, among his many

accomplishments, showed us how to counterProtestants who raid our churches formembers, seek to confuse the faithful, andtreat our traditions as insignificant oreven worse, as heretical. As Syrian Orthodoxare in Diaspora throughout the world, Syrianfaithful find themselves confused by thecompeting claims of protestantdenominations. Even in the lands whereSyrian Orthodox faith is long establishedthere are Protestant missionaries who assumetheir brand of Christianity is superior towhat is offered by the Syrian Orthodox.

Parumala Thirumeni lived in a turbulent agein India when the Syrian Orthodox Church ofIndia was also under severe threat byProtestant incursions. The very life of thechurch was under such threat that SyrianPatriarch Peter III appealed to QueenVictoria of England to halt the missionaryattempts to confiscate the historic SyrianOrthodox Church of India. Fortunately, thework and genius of His Grace Parumala

Thirumeni was building a strong wall ofdefense against the arrows of the enemy. Atthe same time he was building institutionalinfrastructures against a Eurocentric brandof Christianity that had no respect for thevenerable rites and presence of IndianChristianity, Parumala Thirumeni wasequipping his saints with an understandingof scripture and orthodox tradition. Butmost importantly, he led a life of prayerfulholiness that stands as an eternal exampleof the way of gratefulness to God. Afterall, institutions come and go but a life ofprayer carves stones in the kingdom cementedtogether by the tears of fasting.

Protestantism in India began in the firsthalf of the 18th century. There were threesignificant Protestant missions in India :(1) the Tranquebar mission started in 1706by Lutherans from Halle in Germany, whichwas patronized by King Frederick IV ofDenmark and supported by such Britishassociations as the "Society for thePropagation of Christian Knowledge" (SPCK)and the "Society for the Propagation ofGospel" (SPG); (2) the Serampur missionfounded by William Carrey (1793-1834) incollaboration with two other Englishmen,Joshua Marshman and William Ward; (3) the

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Mission Movement started in Calcutta byAlexander Duff in 1830. 

These early missionary movements did threethings to attract people to their form ofChristianity. 1) They translated the Bibleinto the local languages. 2) They builtschools. 3) They established printinghouses. By the time of the birth of ParumalaThirumeni in 1848, protestant missionarieswere aggressive proselytizing under theprotection of British rule which was a causeof resentment among Hindus and Muslims inthe 19th century, who felt that theircultures were being attacked. This was oneof the causes of the Indian Rebellion of1857 against the British Raj. 

In many ways, the Syrian Orthodox Church inIndia was under more direct attack than werethe Hindus or Muslims. The Anglican Churchsought to absorb the Syrian Orthodox Churchof India into their orb of influence. Infact there was an outright plan by the fifthAnglican Metropolitan bishop Daniel Wilsonwho blatantly presented a plan to conscriptSyrian Christians into the Church of Englandby fiat. So arrogant and disrespectful ofIndian Christians were the British, that oneof their clergy, the Rev. Joseph Peet,

committed a despicable crime by breakinginto a Syrian Orthodox Seminary and stealingvaluable books and documents. Although thiscrime was later repudiated by the Church ofEngland, it revealed a seething andmurderous intent against a Holy and Ancient,and I might add, true form of Christianity.

The genius of Parumala Thirumeni counteredthe protestant attacks in ways that did notlead to bloodshed as in the IndianRebellion. His work to build up the Churchwas done in love and without rancor. Hiscounter-attack was not only a demonstrationof Christian charity but a fine example ofhis administrative and political skills.Parumala Thirumeni countered protestantaggression by being the first to translateSyriac texts and liturgies into Malayalum.He established schools for the teaching ofthe Syrian Orthodox faith, and he publishedmany books and periodicals. It exactlymirrored the protestant challenge. He knewthat the people needed to understand therichness of the Orthodox faith in order todefend their beliefs against the nearlyoverpowering arguments of protestantmissionaries. 

Today there are protestant denominations

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that are more Arian in theology thanChristian. In some ways they are even moredangerous than the protestant denominationsof Parumala Thirmeni’s day. The JehovahWitness Church, Latter Day Saints, andSeventh Day Adventists are converting SyrianOrthodox to their churches. It is hardlyimaginable that such a thing could happen,unless the leaders of the church fail intheir responsibility to educate the youth,publish contemporary books, and translatevenerable texts into modern languages. Ihave listened to our clergy in Europe andNorth America be-moan the fact that so manyof our church have drifted off to theseabove-mentioned churches. It is a scandal inthe making. Yet, we have great lights in ourmidst, such as the late Parumala Thirumeniwho has shown us how to counter such pendingdisasters.

Books, institutions, and feverish work forthe church mean nothing unless we arecommitted and disciplined in prayer. Ourexample of a true Christian life and theultimate answer to protestant assaults is inthe prayerful example of Parumala Thirumeni.Let us study his life and be guided by it.

Nov. 2, 2007, On the 105th anniversary of the death of MorGregorius of Parumala.

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Isaac the Syrian: Prophet of Unity

Isaac the Syrian is a model for orthodoxChristians in regard to ecumenical andinter-religious relations. For Isaac teachesus that Christianity is a way of lifebecause it is the way of love for all God’screatures.

Sometimes called Isaac of Ninevah (not to beconfused with Isaac of Antioch) he was born in theseventh century in present-day Qatar, on thePersian Gulf. In 660 or thereabout he wasappointed bishop of Ninevah in northernIraq, not far from Mosul. But after lessthan six months as bishop, he asked to beallowed to retire so that he could return tohis monastery and devote himself to monasticlife. It is from this period that his mystictreatises and homilies were written. Isaachelped to shape Syriac Christianity into afaith characterized by its ascetic spirit,openness, and mysticism.

Isaac is above all concerned with prayer,spirituality and the practice of religiouslife. It is this core feature of his life

and writings that make him especially suitedto those who think and work for ecumenicalrelations. He did not see himself as suitedto be bishop, where he would be required todefend a particular denominational position.He was first and foremost a monk, who wrotefor other monks. Much of his writingcontains detailed instructions andobservations about the monastic life, butother sections, including those quotedbelow, are of more general and contemporaryinterest. Isaac is not always an easy writerto understand as his thoughts are deep andsubtle.

Pragmatic and Adaptable

Isaac is in no way dogmatic in his views,and his ideas lend themselves to adaptationin a variety of cultural and spiritualmilieus. Like the Syriac missionaries allover Asia, Isaac’s ideas crossed cultural,linguistic and religious boundaries. Isaacand the Syriac speaking Christians wereconcerned with God’s love for all humankind,and not just those in the church who choseto become Christians. It is this featurethat offers a basis for real interaction andservice to others.

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Isaac was not Tribal in his Religious Views

In his writings, Isaac never speaks aboutthe theological controversies over theperson and nature of Christ, the issueswhich led to divisions betweenChalcedonians, Monophysites, and Nestorians.He had no use for theological sword-play.Like all other Syriac Christian mystics, hehas an aversion to confessional differences,for his interest is in the ascent of thesoul “unto the One and All.” In fact, hecautions against passionate arguments overtheology and doctrine. Religious zeal canonly lead to contentiousness and away fromthe peace of mind which passes allunderstanding and the experience of God’smercy and grace. He writes,

Zealousness

“A zealous person never achieves peace ofmind, and he who is deprived of peace isdeprived of joy…”

“While you presume to stir up zeal againstthe sickness of others, you will havebanished health from your own soul. Youshould rather concern yourself with your own

healing. But if you wish to heal those thatare sick, know that the sick have greaterneed of loving care.”

“Zeal is not reckoned among mankind as aform of wisdom; rather, it is one of thesicknesses of the soul, arising from narrow-mindedness and deep ignorance…”

  Truth

“Someone who has actually tasted the truthis not contentious for truth.”

“Someone who is considered among men (sic)to be zealous for truth has not yet learnedwhat truth is really like: once s/he hastruly learnt it, s/he will cease fromzealousness on its behalf…”

 Serenity

“God is reality. The person whose mind hasbecome aware of God does not even possess atongue with which to speak, but God residesin his/her heart in great serenity. Heexperiences no stirrings of zeal orargumentativeness, nor is he stirred byanger. He cannot even be aroused concerningthe faith.” 

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  Optimism of Grace 

God’s love is more important even thantruth, according to Isaac. The Christianmust have compassion and “a heart on firewith love for all creation.” This is thefire that motivated the Syriac Church toengage in the work of mission all over Asia,not a desire to divide people into those whowere “saved” and those who were “damned”. Wecannot interpret these early missionaries toChina and other parts of Asia in light ofthe Protestant and Catholic missionaries whocame much later or the ones in our day.Isaac had no interest in the eternal hell ofa vengeful God, theological ideas which wereof Western origin and which were only then

being developed in West. The Syriac speakingChurch was different from the Roman CatholicChurch in this respect. Isaac believed thatthe optimism of grace overshadows thepessimism of judgment, for in Christ, thewhole of creation is restored. Isaacbelieved with St. Paul that all things holdtogether in Christ, and the Christianmessage for the world centers on God’s lovein all and for all. This kind of inclusivetheology should be a guide for the continualrenewal of the church today.

Sin, therefore, is not a prominent theme inIsaac’s writings. It is certainly not aprominent aspect of the Christian messagefor the world. Isaac often refers to themany temptations in monastic life, but he isnot over-burdened by human sinfulness. Isaachad no doctrine of original sin. He cannotbe read in light of Augustine, medievalCatholicism or the Protestant reformers.Many of their ideas would be foreign to him.

Sin

“As a handful of sand thrown into the ocean,so are the sins of all flesh compared withthe mind of God.”

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  Compassion

“Just as a strongly flowing fountain is notblocked up by a handful of earth, so thecompassion of the Creator is not overcome bythe wickedness of his creatures…”

  Sin, Hell, & Death

“Sin, Gehenna (i.e. hell) and death do notexist at all with God, since they areeffects and not substances.”

“Sin is the fruit of self-will. There was atime when it did not exist, and there willbe a time when it will not exist.”

“Gehenna is the fruit of sin. At some pointin time it had a beginning, but its end isnot known…” 

The writings of Isaac the Syrian are afruitful area for further study, not onlystudy of an historical nature, but fortheological construction and ecumenicaldialogue we need today.

 

Philoxenus (Akhsenaya) of Mabbogh

Born at Tahal, in the Persian province ofBeth-Garmai in the second quarter of thefifth century; died at Gangra, inPaphlagonia, 523. He studied at Edessa whenIbas was bishop of that city (435-57).Shortly after he joined the ranks of theMonophysites and became their most learnedand courageous champion. In 485 he wasappointed Bishop of Hierapolis, or Mabbogh(Manbidj) by Peter the Fuller. He continuedto attack the Decrees of Chalcedon and todefend the "Henoticon" of Zeno. He twicevisited Constantinople in the interests ofhis party, and in 512 he persuaded theEmperor Anastasius to depose Flavian ofAntioch and to appoint Severus in his stead.His triumph, however, was short-lived.Anastasius died in 518 and was succeeded bythe orthodox Justin I. By a decree of thenew ruler the bishops who had been deposedunder Zeno and Anastasius were restored totheir sees, and Philoxenus, with fifty-threeother Monophysites, was banished. He went to

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Philippopolis, in Thrace, and afterwards toGangra where he was murdered. The yearswhich followed the Council of Chalcedon(451) were a stormy period in the SyrianChurch. Philoxenus soon attracted notice byhis strenuous advocacy of Non-Chalcedoniandoctrine, and on the expulsion of Calandio(the orthodox patriarch of Antioch) in 485was ordained bishop of Mabbog by his Non-Chalcedonian successor Peter the Fuller(Barhebraeus, Chron. eccl. i. 183). It wasprobably during the earlier years of hisepiscopate that Philoxenus composed histhirteen homilies on the Christian life.

Later he devoted himself to the revision ofthe Syriac version of the Bible, and withthe help of his chorepiscopus Polycarpproduced in 508 the so-called Philoxenianversion, which was in some sense thereceived Bible of the Non-Chalcedoniansduring the 6th century. Meantime hecontinued his ecclesiastical activity,working as a bitter opponent of Flavian II,who had accepted the decrees of the Councilof Chalcedon and was patriarch of Antiochfrom 498 to 512.

The Non-Chalcedonians had the sympathy ofthe emperor Anastasius, and were finally

successful in ousting Flavian in 512 andreplacing him by their partisan Severus. OfPhiloxenus's part in the struggle we possessnot too trustworthy accounts by hostilewriters, such as Theophanes and TheodorusLector. We know that in 498 he was stayingat Edessa; in or about 507, according toTheophanes, he was summoned by the emperorto Constantinople; and he finally presidedat a synod at Sidon which was the means ofprocuring the replacement of Flavian bySeverus. But the triumph was short-lived.Justin I, who succeeded Anastasius in 518,was less favourable to the party of Severusand Philoxenus, and in 519 they were bothsentenced to banishment. Philoxenus was sentto Philippopolis in Thrace, and afterwardsto Gangra in Paphlagonia, where he met hisdeath by foul play in 523.

Apart from his redoubtable powers as acontroversialist, Philoxenus deservescommemoration as a scholar, an elegantwriter, and an exponent of practicalChristianity. Of the chief monument of hisscholarship - the Philoxenian version of theBible - only the Gospels and certainportions of Isaiah are known to survive (seeWright, Syr. Lit. 14). It was an attempt toprovide a more accurate rendering of the

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Septuagint than had hitherto existed inSyriac, and obtained recognition among theNon-Chalcedonians until superseded by thestill more literal renderings of the OldTestament by Paul of Telia and of the NewTestament by Thomas of Harkel (both in 616-617), of which the latter at least was basedon the work of Philoxenus.

There are also extant portions ofcommentaries on the Gospels from his pen. Ofthe excellence of his style and of hispractical religious zeal we are able tojudge from the thirteen homilies on theChristian life and character which have beenedited and translated by EA Wallis Budge(London, 1894). In these he holds aloof forthe most part from theological controversy,and treats in an admirable tone and spiritthe themes of faith, simplicity, the fear ofGod, poverty, greed, abstinence andunchastity. His affinity with his earliercountryman Aphraates is manifest both in hischoice of subjects and his manner oftreatment. As his quotations from Scriptureappear to be made from the Peshitta, heprobably wrote the homilies before heembarked upon the Philoxenian version.Philoxenus wrote also many controversialworks and some liturgical pieces. Many of

his letters survive, and at least two havebeen edited. Several of his writings weretranslated into Arabic and Ethiopic.

Philoxenus is considered one of the greatestmasters of Syriac prose. He wrote treatiseson liturgy, exegesis, moral and dogmatictheology, besides many letters which areimportant for the ecclesiastical history ofhis time. Notice must be taken of thePhiloxenian Syriac version of the HolyScripture. This version was not Philoxenus'sown work, but was made, upon his request andunder his direction, by the chorepiscopusPolycarp about 505. It seems to have been afree revision of the Peshitta according tothe Lucian recension of the Septuagint. Itis not known whether it extended to thewhole Bible. Of the Philoxenian version ofthe Old Testament we have only a fewfragments of the Book of Isaias (xxviii, 3-17; xlii, 17-xlix, 18, lxvi, 11-23)preserved in Syr. manuscripts Add. 17106 ofthe British Museum, and published byCeriani. Of the New Testament we have theSecond Epistle of St. Peter, the Second andThird Epistles of St. John and the Epistleof St. Jude, all of which are printed in ourSyriac Bibles. There remain also a fewfragments of the Epistles of St. Paul

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(Romans 6:20; 1 Corinthians 1:28; 2Corinthians 7:13; 10:4; Ephesians 6:12),first published by Wiseman from Syr.manuscript 153 of the Vatican. Gwynn is ofthe opinion that the Syriac text of theApocalypse published by himself in 1897probably belongs to the originalPhiloxenian. 

Sources

DUVAL, Litterature Syriaque (3rd ed., Paris, 1907); WRIGHT, AShort History of Syriac Literature (London, 1894); ASSEMANI,Bibliotheca Orientalis, II (Rome, 1719); WISEMAN, Horae Syriacae(Rome, 1828); CERIANI, Monumenta sacra et profana, V (Milan,1868); RENAUDOT, Liturgiarum orientalium Collectio, II (Frankfort,1847); MARTIN, Syro-Chaldaicae Institutiones (1873); GUIDI, LaLettera di Filosseno ai monaci di Tell Adda (Rome, 1886);FROTHINGHAM, Stephen bar Sudaili, the Syrian Mystic and the Bookof Hierotheos (Leyden, 1886); WALLIS-BUDGE, The Discourses ofPhiloxenus, Bishop of Mabbogh (2 vols., London, 1894); VASCHALDE,Three Letters of Philoxenus, Bishop of Mabbogh (485-519): beingthe letter to the monks, the first letter to the monks of Beth-Gaugal, and the letter to Emperor Zeno, with an Englishtranslation, and an introduction to the life, works, and doctrineof Philoxenus (Rome, 1902); IDEM, Philoxeni Mabbugens is Tractatusde Trinitate et Incarnatione in Corpus, Scriptorum ChristianorumOrientalium (Paris, 1907); GWYNN, The Apocalypse of St. John in aSyria Version hitherto unknown (Dublin, 1897); IDEM, Remnants ofthe later Syriac Versions of the Bible (Oxford, 1909); BAETHGEN,Philoxenus von Mabug uber den Glaubenin Zeitschrift furKirchgeschichte, V (1882), 122-38. The following is a list of theworks of Philoxenus preserved in London, Paris, Rome, and Oxford. 

See: (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12040a.htm) (http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Philoxenus-of-Mabbog)

(http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/philoxenus_discourse00_4_works.htm

 

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Charles Wand Mitchell: a living palimpsest

"One sees here another palimpsest: and ancient features intown and countryside are disappearing beyond all thesubtleties of chemistry to restore."

This statement was made by a militarychaplain a year before his death on May 3,1917 on the front lines during World War I.His words hint at his life as a scholar andin this case a scholar of Syriac. It is aprofound spiritual perception shaped by hismanuscript studies of a nearly hidden Syriactext that lay beneath B.M. Add. 14623. WhatCharles Wand Mitchell discovered wasEphraim’s Prose Refutations beneath 88leaves of parchment that had been washed,rebound, and written upon with new text in823 AD. It was difficult enough to read theSyriac of the first part of the manuscriptwhich Overbeck had done in 1865. But to readthe nearly invisible palimpsest in a longlost manuscript required an heroic effortand dedication.

Seeing the “message beneath the message” isa way of seeing that only the spirituallygifted can do. Such a man was Charles WandMitchell.

Sometimes in the most remote places, aSyriac scholar arises. It seems to be proofof the desire of the Heavenly Father tospread the love for language of his Son tothe ends of the earth. In 1879 a tiny schoolopened near Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada.Today a large community of Syriac speakingChristians have immigrated to this area.That three room school provided a firmfoundation for Charles Wand Mitchell who wasborn the year before its founding. CWMitchell went on to study at Bishop’sCollege in the same community. 

Bishop's is one of the oldest universitiesin Canada. The school was founded in 1843 bythe Anglican bishop George Mountain. Thiswas the greatest of his achievements. theestablishment of the Lower Canadian ChurchUniversity, Bishop's College, Lennoxville,for the education of clergymen. It was atBishop’s that Charles Wand Michelldistinguished himself both a student and asa lecturer. In 1901 we find him lecturing at

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Bishop’s College. In 1902 he left Canada andbecame an advanced student at CambridgeUniversity. By 1904 he had won the highesthonors in biblical languages at CambridgeUniversity and was awarded the TyrwhittUniversity Scholarship for Hebrew and theJeremie Prize for the Septuagint. It wasduring this time that he met FrancisBurkitt, the newly appointed NorrisianProfessor of Divinity at Cambridge. He was14 years Mitchell’s senior. Yet they bothhad a deep love for the language of Jesus,the palimpsest of all language. I believe itwas Burkitt who introduced Mitchell to thespiritual beauty of Syriac. Burkittpreviously had experience with the Sinaiticpalimsest found by Drs. Lewis and Gibson in1892. Beneath the text of Female Lives ofthe Saints, the gospels in Syriac faintlyappeared. 

A palimpsest found in B.M. Supp. 14623turned out to be the missing pages ofEphrem’s Prose Refutations. The 88 pages ofB.M. Supp. 14623 belonged to be part ofanother manuscript published by Overbeck in1865. The lost pages of Ephrem’s ProseRefutations were reunited to the original 19pages published by Overbeck. The connectionwas made by Mitchell. Later he was assisted

by a chemical process, a reagent solution,applied to the pages of delicate vellum in1908 by a Dr. Barrett. While Mitchell hadalready been at work on the hidden text, itadvanced his work a thousand-fold. This isone of the great stories of detective workby a Syriac scholar.

Unfortunately the life of Charles WardMitchell ended all too briefly. Much of thisdetective work occurred at Taylors MerchantSchool in central London. This was a boysschool close to the British Museum thatallowed him to perform his real work as ascholar. But Mitchell was a foreigner in aforeign land. After all he was Canadian.Perhaps, his teacher and friend, F. C.Burkitt said it best when he wrote, “Whenthe first Canadian contingent came over andlanded at Plymouth he felt it impossiblethat they should be in the post of dangerand he stay behind in England, and in 1915he became a Chaplain to the Forces, first atShorncliffe, then with Bishop Gwynne duringthe winter of 1915-16 at General HeadQuarters, and finally, as he wished, he wentto the Front as Chaplain to the 8thBattalion East Yorks.”

Upon the news of the death of the Rev.

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Charles Wand Mitchell, A. A. Beven and F.C.Burkitt finished with the final details of

the publication of the palimpsest. Thepublisher and typesetter had nearly half thework completed the the rest was in its final

stage. It does not belittle the work ofBevan and Burkitt, for it was their loyaltyboth to Mitchell and the language of our

Lord that this work came to light.Nevertheless, Mitchell left us a palimpsestof theological thought. He taught us to lookdeeply into the text and to discover whatmysteries it may contain. But more thanstudying the physical text, he taught us

that this is an exercise for an even deeperpractice. We are to use our spiritual eyesand discover the meaning of the words in

order to put them into practice. He did thisin his own life by serving his countrymen ina time of war. What greater love hath a manthan to lay down his life for his brother weare told in scripture. Unless we are willing

to love one another in practice we aremerely a clanging symbol. Mitchell was a

true palimpsest.

Elias ibn Hanna al Mawsili:

The Syriac Columbus

Discovery and Conquest of America is a bookabout the voyages of Columbus, and it waswritten toward the end of the 17th centuryby a Chaldean Syriac speaking priest fromMosul, who had been educated by themendicant Capuchin friars in Baghdad. Hisname was Elias ibn Hanna al-Mawsili, "Elias,son of John of Mosul."

Elias spoke fluent Kurdish in addition toArabic, Turkish and Syriac. During histravels, Elias learned Italian and Spanishas well, and he knew Latin and French fromhis years with the Capuchins. He made threetrips to Rome by sea from Iskenderun, theport city that served Aleppo. It was thethird trip that set the stage for theextraordinary adventure that eventually ledhim to France, Spain, Portugal, Peru,Mexico, and the Caribbean.

In 1668, Elias left Baghdad on a 17 yearmission. First he traveled to Rome for thepurpose of raising money to rebuild a

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Chaldean Church in Baghdad destroyed in1638. This church was important for theestablishment of the Roman Catholic presencein the Syrian Orthodox provinces east of theEuphrates. Syrian Orthodox congregationswere lured to reunite with Rome as a form ofprotection against the cruelty of theOttoman King Murad IV. Unfortunately hedestroyed their churches anyway.

He then made his way to Rome, where hestayed six months. From there Elias was sentto France by the Capuchian Fathers, histeachers and sponsors. He was given a letterof introduction to the court of Louis XIV inParis. It must have been an important letterof international importance for the King toreceive this unknown but exotic creaturefrom the East.

Elias, although poor, presented a swordto the king's brother, the duc d'Or-léans.Obviously this was supplied by the Vaticanwho had an interest in the mission of theireastern star. Elias’ big break seemed tocome with the arrival of Sulayman Aga fromthe Ottoman Court in the summer of 1669.Because, Elias knew Turkish, he became thecourt translator in Paris. This service toLouis XIV elevated Elias and gave himconnections to the royal courts of Europe.

Spain and France were carving up the NewWorld for areas of domain. A person likeElias could give an edge to one side or theother. Louis XIV of France ranks as one ofthe most remarkable monarchs in history. Hereigned for 72 years, 54 of them hepersonally controlled French government. The17th century is labeled as the age of LouisXIV. But toward the end of his reign hebegan to challenge the Pope over control ofhis clergy.

In the 1670s, shortly after meetingElias, Louis claimed the right of the Frenchking to appoint the lower clergy and collectthe revenues of a diocese when it wasvacant. Pope Innocent Xl condemned Louis'sactions, threatening him with reprisals.Louis responded by calling a specialassembly of French clergy and directing themto draw up a Declaration of GallicanLiberties. This document claimed that thepope's authority in France was limited tospiritual matters and that even in spiritualmatters, the pope was subject to thedecisions of a general council. Eliasarrived in this Court as this confrontationwas heating up.

Elias was probably and expert in flatteryand flattery was known to be the way into

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the courts of Louis XIV. Elias and the Aghamust have made quite an impression on theFrench Court. The French actor andplaywright who probably met Elias and theAgha, Moliere, satirized Ottoman customs inhis play the Bourgeois Gentleman.

But Elias needed money for his church inBaghdad. Whatever his mission was to thecourt of Louis XIV it must have failed.Eventually he was seen as a person with hishand out. So he was sent to Madrid aftereight months in Paris to ask for money. Hehad an audience in Madrid with the queenmother, regent for Charles II, who was stilla young boy. He was looked upon favorably bythe queen mother. Perhaps she saw this as anopportunity to curry favor with the Vaticanand at the same time make the French Kinglook petty and weak. Unfortunately the queenmother had no money to give Elias. She gavehim letters to her viceroys in Naples andSicily, ordering them each to pay him thesum of 1000 pieces-of-eight.

This money was ostensibly to repair achurch in Baghdad, damaged 30 years earlier,when Elias had been a small boy in Mosul. SoElias set off to Naples and Palermo. TheSpanish viceroys in these two cities refusedto give him a lire. Elias seems to have been

played for a fool. He was sent on a wildgoose chase. He had been turned down by boththe French and Spanish.

When he returned to Madrid and informedthe queen, "She was very annoyed that herorder had not been obeyed. The Spanish Courtwas chronically in debt. They spent the vastquantities of gold and silver faster than itsailed into Cadiz. More than seven millionpieces of eight arrived in 1671 alone.

Having failed in two nations, Elias leftMadrid in disgust and went to Portugal. Hespent seven months in Lisbon, the city fromwhich "ships sail to the East Indies, to thecity of Goa." It is possible he may haveconsidered going to Goa. There were manymembers of his church in that region andperhaps he could raise the needed moneythere.

Nevertheless, Elias then returned to theSpanish capital.He was the guest of the dukeof Aveiro, Manuel Ponce de Leon, Duke ofArcos. His wife was the duchess who was atalented poet and scholar, Maria deGuadelupe de Lancaster, who must have beeninterested in Elias's accounts ofMesopotamia, and almost certainly providedhim with references to the new viceroy of

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Peru, the Conde de Castellar, whose wife wasa close relation. This was the beginning ofa set of relationships to the de Leonfamily. Ponce de Leon who sailed onColumbus’s second voyage, went on to becomethe governor of Puerto Rico and owner ofvast estates on that island. His wealthcreated the Duchy of Arcos in Spain. Withinthis duchy the de Leon family married intoboth merchant and royal families. Elias isable to win the favor of this family and gethis funds for the Chaldean Church ofBaghdad. Unfortunately he had to go to theNew World to get it.

Elias did not want to go to the NewWorld. "I did not care for this idea at all,but placing the burden on God, and relyingupon Him, I asked for the Royal Order,without which no stranger was allowed to gothere."

Elias was allowed to go, for a period offour years, to collect alms for the Chaldeancommunity, although he seems to haveoverstayed his time by at least two years.The de Leon family gave Elias access to boththe written and oral histories of Columbusand the discovery and conquest of America.This writing had deep and profound politicalimportance. It positioned both Spain and the

de Leon family in their hold on the NewWorld. The Olivedo family competed for thesame lands as the de Leon family. Spain wascompeting against France for claims on theNew World. The writing of Elias was the onlyArabic description of the New World, and istherefore important because it gave aninternational validation to the Spanishclaims on the New World.

Elias went to Cádiz, the old Phoenicianon February 13, 1675, Elias handed hispassport to the admiral of the fleet, DonNicolás Fernández de Córdoba Ponce de León,a relative of the Duke of Aros, husband ofMaria. The fleet of 16 ships hoisted sailand set off into the Atlantic.

We sailed out of the harbor with cannonsfiring and drums beating, flying flags andbanners. Some of the passengers were happyand some were sad at leaving their families.

Just as Columbus did on all his voyages,the fleet first made for the Canaries, topick up the easterlies. The crossing to theCanary Islands took eight days. Out on theAtlantic they passed an English slave-shipout of Brazil midway on their journey. Theirfirst landfall was the coast of Venezuela,after a quick passage of 44 days. Elias

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describes the pearl beds off the coast ofVenezuela, discovered by Columbus on hissecond voyage. By Elias's time, the pearlbeds had been nearly fished out.

Some days later they docked at Cartagena,in present-day Colombia, where they spent 40days, waiting for word from Peru that thebullion they had come to collect had beensafely shipped to the Isthmus of Panama.Then the fleet weighed anchor for Portobelo,in present-day Panama, the great market ofSouth American trade in the 17th and 18thcenturies.

When the gold and silver had been safelystowed aboard, the admiral of the fleet sentfor Elias so that he might see it: "I sawgold and silver past counting," Elias wrote."The ships took aboard the silver and goldas well as some merchandise, such as thefine wool they call vicuña, and cacao, whichis like coffee in taste and smell, butricher." The fleet set off on the longvoyage home, via Cartagena and Havanawithout Elias.

Elias continued on his mission to Peru.He hired three mules for 90 pieces-of-eightand set off across the isthmus for the cityof Panama, following the course of the

Chagres River. Elias stayed for a month,made welcome by the bishop, Don Antonio deLeón y Becerra, who became his good friend.Elias must have come to Panama with moneybecause he made a rather substantial loan toDon Pedro de la Cantera whom he later caughtup with in Peru.

Elias then took ship for Peru and helanded at Santa Elena and went in search ofthe bones of giants. It is exactly whatColumbus looked for but never found. Therewas a Spanish myth that pearls would befound near the bones of a giant. In hisjournal, Elias writes:

At Santa Elena, ...a certain Indian... told us that aboutone league from this port there was a large cave wheregiants were buried. He also said that when the Spanishships first came to that country and conquered it, theIndians thought their ships were fish and that the sails werefins, because until that time they had never seen a ship. Andwhen they saw horses, they thought they and their ridersformed a single being. When I heard the story of what hadpassed in that country and of the giants buried there, Ibecame very eager to see them far myself. I took with me acompany of Indians, twelve men accustomed to bear arms,and we went to look for the cave and see for ourselves thethings he had described. When we arrived, we lit thecandles we had brought with us, for fear of losing our way

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in the cave. Then we went in, each man walking with acandle in his hand.

Every 10 paces we left a man holding a light, so that wecould find the way back to the entrance. I preceded them,carrying a naked sword. I then came to a place where therewere bones and I saw that they were very thick. The skullswere huge. I tried to remove a tooth, a molar, from one ofthem; it was so big that it weighed 100 mithaal [almost 500grams, or about one pound]. I looked at the thigh bonesand measured one of them and found that it was five spans[45 inches, or 110 centimeters] long. In one of the towns anartist had made a reconstruction of one of these bodies,and it was 25 spans [about 19 feet, or 5.7meters] high.Then we left the cave, marveling at what we had seen. Itook the tooth with me.

These were doubtless bones of mastodonsand giant sloths (Megatherium), many ofwhich have been found on the peninsula ofSanta Elena.

Elias and his party set off forGuayaquil, another port town on the Pacific.They passed through heavily woodedterritory, and Elias was much struck by thecrocodile-like caimans that infested therivers in those days: "If a horse or bullcomes to drink water from the river, thecaiman grabs him by the nose, drags him awayand devours him. Other caimans then gather

round, tear the prey in pieces and eat himup."

In Guayaquil, Elias ate his firstchocolate. At this time chocolate, made fromground roast cacao beans, was most oftentaken as a drink, as it still is in Spain."You would imagine it to be coffee in color,taste and smell, but it is very oily, sothat it forms a paste. They add as muchsugar as is required, and cinnamon andambergris. Then they mix it to a paste andplace it in molds until it sets. They meltthe bars of chocolate and drink it likecoffee. This fruit is popular with everyonein the land of the Franks, to which it isexported and sold."

Elias spent two months in Quito as aguest of the bishop, Don Alonso de la PeñaMonte Negro, whom he had known in Spainwhere he practiced medicine, achieving asuccessful cure by using the sap of a largecane he had found growing near Ambato. Thiswas in the tradition of Syriac priests. MarMarutha and many other priests who precededElias often became famous as physicians.

After two months in Quito, Elias traveledto Otavalo, a town on the equator, and thencrossed the páramo, or mountain heights, to

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Cuenca. The governor of Cuenca had been ashipmate of Elias's on the voyage out fromSpain. Departing from Cuenca, Elias made forthe gold mines of Zaruma. It may be thatthis was the real mission of Elias. TheFrench may have sent him as a spy to reporton the technologies of extracting gold.Elias wrote " I inspected all the processesby which they extract the gold from the ore.First they remove the gold from the mine andcrush it with a water-driven mill. Then theywash the crushed ore and separate the dustfrom it by means of running water. Then theysmelt it and form it into bars," Eliasbought about 1800 grams (58 troy ounces) ofgold. Obviously he was sent with money topurchase this gold.

Elias took a different route back fromthe mines of Zaruma, on the advice of thelocal priest. Elias usually dressed inOriental fashion, presumably in caftan andturban. He must have been a strange andexotic sight, riding out of the desert andentering the Indian village of Guachanama,like a figure out of the bible.

Elias compares the Rio Colán, that runsthrough Amotapé, to his native Tigris. Eliaswas exhausted and stressed from an attack bythieves. He wrote to a friend, the governor

of Piura, and asked him to send a litter tocarry him to Piura, via Paita. "As soon ashe received my note, he sent me a litter,for in that country one becomes extremelytired traveling by horse because of the heatand the sand."

He continued south, heading for Lima. Hecrossed the River Santa on a balsa raftwhich he compares to the rafts of inflatedskins used on the Euphrates. At last hearrived in Lima, where he lodged with thepresident of the Peruvian Inquisition, DonPedro de la Cantera, to whom he had lent1400 pieces-of-eight in Portobelo. The moneywas now returned to him with 40 percentinterest, "as is the practice of merchantsin that country." 

The office of the inquisition was veryweak in Peru by this time. There was amarked change in the Holy Office's attitudetoward the Jews after 1665, and a decreasein the severity of punishments meted out toJewish heretics. There are several possiblereasons for these changes 

- Protestantism became a greater threat to Catholicism than Judaism - The Holy Office served more as a politicalarm of the Spanish throne than as a defender

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of the faith - The disclosure of the venality of some inquisitors in the New World tribunals - There was a notable decline in the value of the confiscated goods by the tribunals, thus the Inquisition ceased to be a profitable institution 

Information about communications betweenJews in Holland and their brethren in Mexicoand Guatemala came to the attention of theSuprema between 1596 and 1621. According tothe Simancas documents, "in 1640 thetribunals of Lima and Cartagena reportedthat it has been discovered that manyJudaizing Portuguese in the colonies hadcorrespondence (in code) with synagogues inHolland and the Levante assisting the Dutchand the Turks with information and money."The Jews were suspected of plotting to seizethe kingdom of Peru from Spain. Theattachment of the Jews to Peru was verystrong. The Jews aided the Dutch with fundsand personnel because they knew they couldnot oust the Spaniards by themselves. TheNetherlands had granted the Jews religiousliberties and freedom from persecution. TheJews preferred to live under Dutch hegemonythan under that of Spain. By the time Eliasarrived in Peru, the crisis had passed and

the office of Inquisition was more symbolicthan actual.

After resting from the fatigues of hisjourney, Elias presented his letters ofrecommendation to the viceroy, Don Baltasarde la Cueva Enríquez Arias de Saavedra,Conde de Castellar, second son of the dukeof Albuquerque.

"He welcomed me with great joy andpromised that he would help me in any way hecould."

Elias spent a year in Lima, living in thehouse of Don Pedro de la Cantera, who kindlydefrayed all his expenses. Elias was anxiousto visit the mercury mines at Huancavelicaand the silver mines at Potosí, and, thanksto letters of recommendation from his friendthe viceroy, he was able to do so. 

I went to look at the mine with the governor ofHuancavelica. I saw its great size and how the workerscutout the ore and brought it to the surface. They showedme how they extracted the quicksilver. They took me into aroom where they had made holes in the floor and put avessel in every hole; these vessels were joined together andarranged in rows. They had two openings, one at the topand the other at the bottom, but the bottom one was

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sealed, like a jar. They stack the quicksilver ore in layersover the vessels, as a potter does in a kiln. The room isclosed, but it has a high, strong roof with vents to allow thesmoke to escape. On top of the ore they pile wood and setfire to it. As it burns it heats the ore to a high temperatureso that the quicksilver begins to flow, running down andcollecting in the vessels. The workers know when this hashappened and extinguish the fire and leave it a day and anight to cool. They next remove the slag and the ashes anddeposit them outside and pour the quicksilver out of thevessels.

Elias went on to Lake Titicaca,apparently to visit the king's smelter atChucuito, then on to Potosí. Potosí, inpresent-day Bolivia, was the site of therichest silver mine in the world, 4900meters (16,000 feet) above sea level. Thiswas the main source of the silver that wasflooding Europe and the East and causingsuch severe inflation (See "American Silver,Ottoman Decline," in this issue). The mineswere discovered in 1545; by 1572, theSpaniards had set up an elaborate system ofartificial lakes - whose total storagecapacity reached 6,000,000 metric tons in1621 - and ore-grinding machines driven byhydraulic power. Elias gives a very detailedtechnical description of mining andrefining, and then describes the mint, theCasa de la Moneda, at some length. He stayed

in Potosí 45 days, a long time in such aninhospitable place.

After visiting friends in Charcas Eliasreturned to Potosí, and then made his wayback to Lima by the coastal route. Hediscovered that in his absence, his friendthe viceroy had been dismissed from officeand was about to be exiled to Paita, thedesert town through which Elias had passedso long before. The viceroy had been chargedwith embezzlement, and Elias did everythinghe could to help his friend, comforting hiswife and intervening with the authorities.Before the viceroy departed for exile, heleft his house and wife in Elias's care, andElias spent the next year and two months"guarding his house and his wife." He spentthis time writing up his travel diaries andworking on his history of the discovery andconquest of the New World. 

Elias had now been in Peru six years, twoyears past his original permission. A newviceroy arrived to take office and Eliasdecided to accompany his friend the Conde deCastellar, 1674 - 1678 Baltasar de la CuevaEnríquez, to Portobelo. They left the portof Callao on September 21,1681, bound forPanama, and arrived safely in 42 days. Theviceroy apologized to Elias for being unable

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to help him further, and wrote him a letterof recommendation to the viceroy of Mexico.

So Elias decided to go to Mexico. A shipwas about to leave for Realejo in Nicaragua,and in December 1681 they set sail. Thebishop in León, in Nicaragua, turned out tobe a man Elias had met in Paris many yearsbefore. He was delighted to see Elias andgave him a good riding mule. In the streetsof León, he ran into an acquaintance fromLima, who gave him another, and eight dayslater Elias set off overland for MexicoCity. From San Salvador he went toGuatemala, then on to Chiapas in Mexico,then to Oaxaca, where he purchased asubstantial amount of cochineal, a reddyestuff made from insects, whose productionhe describes. 

Cochineal is a traditional red dye ofpre-Hispanic Mexico. This precious dyestuffwas obtained not from a plant, but from aninsect that lives its life sucking on aplant. A cactus pad is colonized by afemale, who produces some new females thatsettle around the mother and set uphousekeeping. A female inserts theproboscis, a tube, into the pad forobtaining nourishment, and secretes a white,web-like, wax-based material over the area

for camouflage and to prevent desiccation.Males are small and live for only a week,just long enough to mate with as manyfemales as possible. Females, which areabout one-quarter inch long, are purplish-black inside and silvery outside.

The pigmentation is a bitter, astringentchemical called carminic acid (10% total dryweight), which is extremely effective inrepelling potential predators, such as ants;ants find this anthraquinone to beunpalatable. Interestingly, the caterpillarof a pyralid moth (Laetilia coccidivora)eats cochineal scale and stores carminicacid from the scale in its gut, to be usedlater against its natural enemy ant,Monomorium destructor. 

Mixtexs and their successors in southernMexico farmed cochineal with great skill.They reproduced the plant by planting padsalready inoculated with scale; theyfertilized the cactus with wood ashes andgarbage; they removed competing plants fromaround the cactus; they kept domesticatedanimals away by building walls and hedges;they lit fires on cold nights to prevent theinsects from freezing; and they even builttemporary shelters to shield the insectsfrom heavy rains. Through this process, they

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also selected for a domesticated form of thescale insect, a form that produce the bestdye but was also more susceptible to stressfrom cold and rain than the wild form.

At last he arrived in Mexico City, wherehe fell ill for 10 days, probably exhaustedby his difficult journey through CentralAmerica.

Elias's appearance in Mexico City on July8,1682, caused a sensation: A contemporarydiarist says he was dressed in a silksoutane, or cassock, with a white collar,and wore a turban on his head, like a Turk.When he recovered from his illness, herented a house, furnished it and purchasedsome mules. He visited the viceroy everyevening for two hours.

Elias stayed in Mexico City for sixmonths. Toward the end of his stay, the portof Veracruz was attacked by pirates, led byLaurent de Graff and Nicolas van Horn, whotook the city with great bloodshed andlooted it ruthlessly, making off with abooty of 8,000,000 pieces-of-eight. Eliaslost his cargo of cochineal, which he hadstored in Veracruz, and which was worth 1000pieces-of-eight. His description of the sack

of Veracruz is one of the most graphicpassages in his Travels.

Elias wanted to sail westward to thePhilippines out of Acapulco with the Manilagalleons, then catch an Armenian ship out ofManila to Surat in western India, and somake his way back to Baghdad. At the lastminute, these plans had to be canceled, andinstead Elias returned eastward to Spain. Ifhe had been able to carry out his originalintention, he would have been the first Arabto circumnavigate the globe.

Elias left Veracruz on April 18,1685, andsailed to Cuba, where he spent four and ahalf months waiting for a ship to Spain.Then he caught a ship bound for Spain out ofCaracas and finally entered the harbor ofCádiz. He went to Seville, engaged in asuccessful lawsuit against a ship captainwho had defaulted on a debt, and thenjourneyed to Rome, where he presented thecandlestick to the Propaganda Fide, thechurch's missionary organization. PopeInnocent XI made him an apostolicprotonotary - an honorary position thatinvolved no duties - and other high honorsfollowed.

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Elias finally returned to Spain, where hespent his declining years in the port townof Puerto de Santa Maria. Here he finishedhis Travels and completed his history of TheDiscovery and Conquest of America. As far aswe know, neither did he return to Baghdadnor did he raise money for the churchesdestroyed by Murad IV.

* A more detailed account of the journey of Elias of Mosulwas published in Aramco World by Paul Lunde in 1992. Itcan be found online atsaudiaramcoworld.com/issue/199203/the.new.world.through.arab.eyes.htm

A Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts inthe Library of the Greek Patriarchate

of Jerusalem

The presence of Syriac manuscripts in libraries farremoved from Syriac sources demonstrates the broadinfluence of Syriac writers and translators in the Greek,Latin, and Arabic worlds. The depth of knowledge revealedby diversity of subjects shows that the influences werenearly universal.

The path to manuscript recoveries isoften arduous and fraught with difficulties.But the rewards are beyond one’s dreams iforiental patience and diplomacy areemployed. No less a path of difficulty andfrustration was to be encountered with thiscollection.

In the Spring of 1984, with the help ofArthur Voobus who had previously seen thiscollection, I negotiated for a month withthe Greek Patriarchate to photograph a fewexamples of their Syriac manuscripts. Afterweek of waiting and the giving of gifts, Iwas given brief access to the documents.They were in terrible condition. A fewphotos of colophons were deposited in theArthur Voobus Syriac Manuscript collectionat the Lutheran School of Theology atChicago.

Upon my return to Jerusalem in the Springof 1987 I pursued the possibility ofphotographing the entire collection. Again Iwas met with delay and Byzantine tactics.Yet when I was finally given an audiencewith the secretary to the Patriarch, FatherTimothy, he cleared the seeminglyinsurmountable obstacles. Even for him it

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was difficult to find a way to allow me tostudy and record this collection.

We agreed that the collection had to becatalogued. Fr. Timothy negotiated with thelibrarian who was suspicious to say theleast. Yet in spite of initial refusals, Fr.Timothy secured a way for this work to beaccomplished.

It is difficult to know, after more than20 years how much of this collection remainsintact. The state of the collection at thetime I saw it was very poor and I have notread any report to give me hope that thesituation has improved.

Overview of the Manuscripts The School of Nisibis was founded

sometime before 489 AD. Founded by Simeon itwas transformed by the arrival of Narsai.Narsai left the School of Edessa, the firstChristian University, sometime before 489 ADand migrated to Nisibis through theinvitation of Barsauma, Bishop of the city.This virtually insured Narsai’s success. Abuilding was purchased and the school movedout of the old facilities. New constructioncommenced and through the experiencedleadership of Narsai the school got off toan extraordinary start.

Both Narsai and Barsauma wrote the rulesof the school. From these records we learnthat reading, writing, and grammarconstituted the core curriculum. JosephHuzuya wrote the first Syriac grammar underthe instruction of Narsai. The theology ofthe school was driven by the writings ofTheodore. The three year course emphasizedthe historical and literary aspects ofscripture rather than the allegorical methodused in the West. The teaching involvedcorrect recitation of liturgy and music.

From the origins of the School of Nisibiswe see the literary traditions form into thetexts that are found in this catalogue.

There are 48 Syriac manuscripts in thisbody of material. The manuscripts are of adistinctive theological character andperiod.

The manuscripts range in age from 1251 ADto 1880 AD, although most of the manuscriptsare 15th and 16th centuries. The oldestmanuscript is a document known as theliturgy for the Feast of Rogations of theNinivites (MS. 37). The next oldest is a NewTestament Text with the expected omission of

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the books of Revelation and of the fourCatholic Epistles dated 1261 AD.

Old Testament ManuscriptsThere are four Old Testament records. MS

Syr. Gr. Pat. 7 is a Psalter. At the back ofthe manuscript is a record of prohibitionsagainst Thomas of Harkel’s texts. Accordingto this colophon, his text was made atAlexandria in 614 AD. Thomas was a Bishop ofMabbug. His works included commentaries onall the books of the New Testament includingthe Apocalypse, II and III John, II Peter,and Jude.

The texts of Thomas were heavilyHellenized, perhaps as a revision of a priorwork by Philoxenus who translated the Greekinto Syriac. The textual tradition squeezedthe Syriac into a Greek mold. It crushed thebeauty and antiquity of the Semitic formspreserved in the Syriac. One can easilyunderstand the resistance in the East tothis nearly complete destruction of thelanguage of the liturgy and scripture at theSchool of Nisibis.

Another supplement in this manuscript isthe record of the words of Mar Aba. He wasan extraordinary man born of a Zoroastrianfamily. He was a student at Nisibis and

later in Edessa where he receivedinstruction in Greek. Apparently, hetravelled extensively throughout theByzantine world after his student years.Eventually he returned to Nisibis where hebecame a famous teacher. When the CatholicosPaul died, he was the choice of the bishopsto lead the Assyrian Church of the East. Itwas a job that demanded political skills.His enemies looked for evidence ofZoroastrian beliefs that would corrupt thepure faith.

During his period of rule many peoplefrom the West were transported into thePersian territories as prisoners of war.They were integrated into the Christiancommunities of Persia such as Gunduk Shapur.In spite of the many problems in this wartorn period, Mar Aba was able to convene aSynod in 544 AD. According to records he mayhave been under house arrest at this time.Zoroastrian leaders of Persia were hostileto Christians. But with Mar Aba, even thoughhe was under house arrest, he was able tocarry on some of his duties. The Magi didask him to recind the church laws regardingmarriage and evangelism. Mar Aba refused.

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In 548 AD an assassination attempt wasmade upon his life by an excommunicatedmember. There is record of anexcommunication of Abraham, son of Audmir,who did not repent and was deprived of allhis former religious privileges. Theexcommunication order is signed by Mar Abaand eight other bishops. Due to the attempton his life, he was moved to Selucia wherehe was a guest of the Royal Court much tothe protests of the Magi priests. Mar Abawas used by the Royal family to helpsuppress a revolt from Anoshazad in BethLapat. For this service the King seems tohave freed Mar Aba who later died in 1552AD.

The next Old Testament manuscript is Syr.Gr. Pat. 15. It too is a Psalter. The nameof a nun appears in the document. BartBalgana but no record of her existence canbe found in any other source even though wehave female saints listed in suchmanuscripts such as Cod. Sinaiticus, apalimpsest, titled, Lives of Female Saints.More than likely she is the copyist of thistext.

A third Old Testament manuscript on theminor prophets, Syr. Gr. Pat. 20, may be of

special interest for its extra-canonicalmaterial. The story of Bel and the Dragonappears in the manuscript. This story isabout an episode in the life of the ProphetDaniel. Daniel challenged the King and thepriests of Bel to a contest. Daniel fed theDragon of Bel and caused it to burst andthereby Daniel claimed victory. Then withthe help of Habakkuk he suppressed a revoltof the people. The story captivated theminds of the early church. Its Aramaicquality flowed through the life and cultureof the Syriac speaking world. The documenthas implications for linguistic and biblicalstudies.

The fourth Old Testament manuscript inthis body of materials is Syr. Gr. Pat. 25.This also is a Psalter. The Psalms of Davidwere important in the devotional life of thechurch and as such frequently appears inchurch collections.

New Testament ManuscriptsSyr. Gr. Pat. 1 is perhaps the most

important manuscript in this collection. Itsappearance deepens our understanding of theSyriac textual tradition. The text is an OldSyriac form that emerged prior to thePeshitta, a late 4th century document thatbecame the standard New Testament text ofthe Syriac speaking churches. We know that

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Old Syriac was used by Ephraim, Aphrahaat.Also Eusebius clearly uses this text in hisTheophania of 333 AD. Arthus Voobus believesthat its origin "probably belongs to thethird century." Burkitt suggested 200 AD butwas challenged by LaGrange who placed theVetus Syrus at the beginning of the 4thcentury.

Generallly it can be said that the textemerges sometimes in the 3rd century. Itcould not have been created prior to 170 ADwhen Tatian is generally believed to havewritten the Gospel of Harmony known as theDiatessaron (and also in other places). TheOld Syriac is a synthesis of the Diatesseronand the Four-Gospel form.

The Old Syriac text was known as theMepharesshe, the separated gospels. Thistitle was preserved by the copiest of Syr.Gr. Pat. 1. Until the appearance of thistext, only two other Old Syriac manuscriptsof this text type were known, the Curetonianand the Sinaiticus. Because the manuscriptis in a lectionary format it has escaped theattention of western scholars. Since theappearance of this text in the GreekPatriarchate, a few other manuscripts havebeen found to harbor Old Syriac text types,

such as a lectionary at Mor GabrielMonastery and another from one of thechurches in Tur Abdin. Its microfilm ishoused at the Lutheran Institute for SyriacStudies. Furthermore, because the manuscripthas resided in a Greek monastery, this isanother reason it has escaped notice.

Manuscripts Syr. Gr. Pat. 26 and 40 arepericopes of New Testament texts. Theyshould be of enormous interest as theycontain catena and references to other texttypes and variants.

HymnsThere are eight hymnbooks in this

collection. Syr. Gr. Pat. 2 features severalimportant hymn writers. Gabriel of Mosul wasthe founder of the Upper Monastery in Mosul.Founded before Gabriel’s death in 739 AD, itbecame the center for a major liturgicalreform. The movement was as significant inscope and importance as was the FranciscanLatin reform of 1250 AD. Also the hymns ofGiwargis Warda are listed. Giwargis wrotehis hymns in the first part of the 13thcentury.

In Syr. Gr. Pat. 23, Mar Ishoyab of BethArbaye is mentioned. He instituted a Synodin 585 AD late in his administration. Due towar and theological battles, Ishoyab wasplagued by conflict. On the one side, Khusro

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II aligned himself with Emperor Maurice inorder to overthrow the Persian throne. Thestudied neutrality of Ishoyab caused deepresentment from Khusro. On the other sidewas the famed teacher Henana of Nisibis whocomplained about the theology of Isoyab andthe Assyrian Church of the East. Still,Isoyab was able to write important documentsin the midst of these conflicts.

Syr. Gr. Pat. 31 is another example of ahymnbook of the same type as the previouslymentioned two. Here we have the name ofBardaisan, the father of Syriac poetry andcontributor to the development of the Syriaclanguage. Bardaisan was bishop Edessa in 154AD and he is best known for his HymnsAgainst Heresies and Prose Refutations.

Syr. Gr. Pat. 38 are the hymns ofGiwargis Warda exclusively. His works areinteresting in light of the fact that hequotes from the Old Testament. Thus, in the13th century, there is a line oftransmission through this manuscript of anancient strata of literature.

Hymnbook Syr. Gr. Pat. 5 is a lectionarycompanion. It was to be used in conjunctionwith the daily scripture lections.Designated hymns were ordered according tothe days of the year.

Hymnbook Syr. Gr. Pat 28 is orderedaccording to the eight tones. For studentsof liturgy and musicology it may holdimportant clues to the historicaldevelopment of these areas of research.

LectionariesThere are three lectionaries in the

collection. Syr. Gr. Pat. 3 is a dailylectionary and a product of late lectionarydevelopment.

Syr. Gr. Pat. 4 may be of more value asit includes much information about the HolyFeasts of the year.

Syr. Gr. Pat. 6 includes a menologionwith the lectionary. Materials relating tosaints of the church are buried within thisenormous tome.

Service BooksThis is the biggest category of the

collection. Syr. Gr. Pat. 13 is a servicebook for the priest. Syr. Gr. Pat. 16 is aservice book for vespers. Likewise Syr. Gr.Pat. 18 is a prayerbook for the mornings ofvarious feasts. It is interesting to notethat the author of this document is thefamous grammarian Eliya bar Shinaya.

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Syr. Gr. Pat. 19 is a servicebook forEaster/Passover. Both 18 and 19 haveresidual Jewish characteristics that showthrough. From the earliest times, EasternChristianity bore the mark of Jewishorigins. The Chronicle of Arbela list anumber of bishops who have Jewish names.Addai, who is said to be the founder of theChristian church in Edessa, met with the JewTobias upon his arrival in the city. Laterthe heads of the schools in Edessa andNisibis are called Rabban. It seems that asymbiotic link between the synagogue and thechurch in diaspora is a primarycharacteristic of Christianity in the East.

Two other manuscripts reflect the deepimpression cast by monastic communities.Syr. Gr. Pat. 21 and 28 are service booksfor monks. The first one is a liturgy. Monksconducted worship for the laity. This oftenwas a source of conflict between the priestsand monks. At times, the clergy scolded thelaity for seeking spiritual enrichment andeven the sacraments from monks. Driven by alove for God, and the failure of the clergyto serve their needs, the laity oftenabandoned the clergy directed services onSunday for the sanctity of monastic worship.A canon of 585 AD states that the laity are

forbidden to neglect Sunday services andfestivals but they are allowed to visitmonks during the weekdays.

Some monks were called Bet Qayama, Sonsof the Covenant, and likewise femalesolitaries were called Daughters of theCovenant. They were the spiritual athletesand preservers of the true way. The clergy,on the other hand, tended to be worldly anddespotic in the eyes of the laity. Thus,there were many battles for liturgicalleadership as evidenced in the Synod canons.

Syr. Gr. Pat. 24 contains threedocuments. The first document is a loyaltyoath for monks. This must have been demandedfrom various Kings as eastern Christianswere plagued by invading armies in nearlyevery generation. This document is followedby a section of psalmody. Finally, the thirdpart is a list of the sayings of John barPenkaye who wrote a remarkable history ofthe world.

Manuscripts Syr. Gr. Pat. 27 and 29 areprayer books. MS. 27 has general prayerswhile MS. 29 contains evening prayerssimilar to Syr. Gr. Pat. 16. Syr. Gr. Pat.35 is a service book for priests. This textis undated and its value is limited although

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it appears to probably not much earlier thatthe 17th century.

The oldest manuscript is Syr. Gr. Pat.37. Writings about the Rogation of theNinivites is a major portion of thedocument. Students of Syrian Liturgy mayfind this volume especially useful. AlsoSyr. Gr. Pat. 44 and 50 are specialservices. MS. 44 is a monastic service ofprocession and MS. 50 is a service ofblessing for children.

Syr. Gr. Pat. 43 is another service bookof prayer for evening which is the thirdsuch manuscript of this type.

Syr. Gr. Pat. 48 is a funeral service forpriests.

Theological ManuscriptsThere are six theological manuscripts.

They reveal the primary doctrines and dogmasof the Assyrian Church of the East. Syr. Gr.Pat. 8 is the most definitive of therecords. Syr. Gr. Pat. 36 and 42 indicatehow people are to enter into religiousvocation. These guides are titled "TheTeaching of the Orders."

Manuscript Syr. Gr. Pat. 39 and 46 aredocuments on Christology. These revealunderstandings of the nature of Christ fromhis incarnation to his Resurrection.

CommentariesThere are two commentaries in this

collection. Both are of considerableimportance.

Syr. Gr. Pat. 10 is a commentary ofIshodad of Merv, a 9th century east Syrianexegete. His quotations should be of specialinterest to those engaged in the study ofthis important saint. Recovery of Old Syriactexts and perhaps even diatesseron materialmay await discovery.

Syr. Gr. Pat. 34 is a major discovery ofEmmanuel of Mosul who wrote the Hexameron,which has escaped serious attention becauseof the paucity of manuscripts. This is apoetic commentary on the six days ofcreation. Many Church Fathers wroteextensively in this area: Rabban Gabriel ofKatar, Mar Aba, Basil, Babai, Theodore ofMopsuestia, and others.

SermonsThere are three sermon manuscripts in the

collection. The first one is by Abdisho who

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wrote a catalogue of Syriac works. This isan invaluable document for without it wewould not be able to identify somemanuscripts. Syr. Gr. Pat. 11 allows us toview the theological landscape of thisscholar’s mind.

The second book of sermons is also byAbdisho. We can see that his mind wasdirected to the great personalities ofscripture. John the Baptist, Peter and Paul,the Evangelists, and Stephen are thesubjects of his homilies. They are writtenafter the manner of Harmonius and Ephrem whocreated powerful sermonic traditions ofmetrical writings.

The third and final sermon book is a setof funeral sermons. There are from anunknown author and from an unknown time. Thecolophon is missing.

HistoriesThere are two history manuscripts. The

first is a remarkable document that includestwenty-three accounts of various saints,evangelists, and martyrs. It does include asection on the words of Jesus also.

Most notable is a text on Rabban Khormizdwho was immortalized by monk Shemon in his

History of Rabban Khormizd. Professor Voobuswrites, In every instance where he presentsthe Gospel text we meet with readings takenfrom the Old Syriac Gospel type. A carefulstudy of this phenomenon should be checkedin this manuscript Syr. Gr. Pat. 17.

Syr. Gr. Pat. 22 is important for ourunderstanding of the history of the AssyrianChurch of the East. Of special importance isa study on the life of Theodore ofMopsuestia in this work.. He was the teacherand primary influence on Nestorius.

GrammarThere is one grammar. Syr. Gr. Pat. 30

was written by Elias bar Shinaya. Eliaslived during the 11th century in the autumnof the Syriac age.

Syriac literature falls into threeperiods. The first ended with the schismbetween western and eastern syriac churchesover the writings of Nestorius. He wascondemned in 431 AD. The closing of theschool at Edessa was the final blow thateliminated any hope of compromise ontheological grounds in 489 AD. With the riseof the school of Nisibis slightly before the6th century and extending into the Islamicperiod until the end of the millennium

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constitutes the second period. Clearly,Syriac developed into two distinct dialectsand grammars. The third period opens withBar Hebraeus, Elias Tirhan, and Elias barShinaya. In this period Arabic gains someinfluence over Syriac. Nevertheless,linguistic achievements rose to supremeheights at the very point where the livinglanguage was gasping for breath.

Elias bar Shinaya formalized the EastSyrian dialect along with his contemporaryElias Tirhan. The grammar in this collectionwas copied within one hundred years of itsorigin. It appears to be the oldest knowncopy of Elias’ grammar.

Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts in the GreekPatriarchate of Jerusalem

Syr. Gr. Pat. 1Size: 58x40 cmPages: 124Title: Holy Scriptures of the Reverend Gospels, the MepharresheComment:Preserves a strata of Old Syriac quotations.Date: 1679 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 2Size: 31x20 cmPages: 167Title: Hymns

Comment: Hymns contain hagiographal materialon Giorgi Barda, Kamis bar Kardaki, and manyothers.Date: ?

Syr. Gr. Pat. 3Size: 31x20 cmPages: 449Title: The Final Liturgy and Scriptures thatare being offered Each Day of the YearComment: Lectionary and Service book combined. Appears to have been made in Mardin.Date: 1560 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 4Size: 29x18 cmPages: 363Title: Treasury of Days of Feasts of the Administration and Memorials that are on Fridays that are conducted throughout the whole year in homes and churches.Comment:Date: 1586 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 5Size: 26x20 cmPages: 162Title: Liturgy of Anthems (Kudrah) Ordered according to the DaysComment:Date: 1711 AD

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Syr. Gr. Pat. 6Size: 26x20Pages: 552Title: Treasury of Supreme Feasts and Memorials of processions of All the YearComment: Festival BreviaryDate: 1645 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 7Size: 22.5x17 cmPages: 143Title: Writings of the Sayings of the Blessed David King and Prophet, Heart of theLord with Divine Prohibitions to Mat Thomas Issuer of the Holy Scriptures and the Memorials of the Statements to Mar Aba Catholicos.Comment:Date: 1588 AD with and addition dated 1724 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 8Size: 26x16 cmPages: 132Title: Kephalia, that is to say the chief doctrines of the learned and studious.Comment: This is a theological and doctrinaltext.Date: 1554 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 9Size: 25x17 cmPages: 250

Title: The New TestamentvComment: All books but Revelation, Jude, II and III John and II Peter.Date: 1261 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 10Size: 25x16 cmPages: 191 Title: Light on Difficult verses that are inthe Holy Scriptures that makes the Pardon ofGod by Ishodad the Bishop of Hdatta of SyriaComment: This is Ishodad of MervDate: 1380 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 11Size: 25x17 cmPages: 138 Title: Writing of the Paradise of Eden the planting and arrangement in the metrical sermons of Abdisho bar Berikha appointed Metropolitan of Nisibis and ArmeniaComment: Abdisho was a teacher of exegesis and a librarian. [Also known as Ebed Jesu]Date: 1458 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 12Size: 24x17 cmPages: 154Title: Writings on the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, the Apostles Peterand Paul, the Evangelists and StephenComment: by AbdishoDate: 1458 AD

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Syr. Gr. Pat. 13Size: 22x15 cmPages: 170Title: Topikon (the Pattern)Comment:Date: 1710 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 14Size: 22x15 cmPages: 169Title: Throne of the DepartedComment:Date: 1710 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 15Size: 20x15 cmPages: 192Title: PsalterComment: the nun Saltana Bart Balgana appears in the colophonDate: 1593 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 16Size: 14x17 cmPages: 194Title: Chant of the Night and the Dark Evening for the whole year being called KaskoulComment:Date: ?

Syr. Gr. Pat. 17Size: 20x15 cmPages: 466

Title: HistoriesComment: Histories include the Lives of the 40 Martyrs, History of Joseph, Life of Jacob, Mark the Father, the Martyr Ina, the Holy Philip, Job, the Prophet Jonah, the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ, the History of John the Evangelist, Visions of John the Evangelist, the Martyr Maurikios, the Holy Martyr Eugenius, Rabban Kormizd, the Holy Martyr Anastasius, the Martyr Shamoun and his Son.Date: 1612 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 18Size: 22x15 cmPages: 276Title: Prayer of the Morning of the Hebrew Feasts According to Mar Elias the Third Catholicos.Comment: This document may be from Eliya barShinaya who for more than 40 years occupied the seat of the Metropolitan of Nisibis and died after the year 1049 AD. He ruled after the downfall of the caliphs. The resulting wars left the Christian populations devastated and lost to Islam.Date: 1657 AD.

Syr. Gr. Pat. 19Size: 21x15 cmPages: 176Title: Liturgy According to the Feast of the

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PassoverComment: Note the Semitic character of the feast.Date: 1660 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 20Size: 20x17 cmPages: 158Title: Writings of the ProphetsComment: Includes Hosea, Joel, Amos, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Bel and theDragonDate: ?

Syr. Gr. Pat. 21Size:22x16 cmPages: 302Title: Liturgy of the Reading of the MonksComment:Date: 1593 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 22Size: 21x16 cmPages: 114Title: Of the Holy Apostles, of Holy Theodore of Mopsuestia, of the Holy NestoriansComment:Date: 1655 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 23Size: 20x15 cmPages: 180Title: Hymns

Comment: Include hymns of Gabriel, Kamis, Ishoyab Metropolitan of Arbeya, Avia Bar Avali, Giwargis Warda, and IsaacDate: 1610 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 24Size: 20x14 cmPages: 148Title: The Pledge for the Monk about the Body and Soul. The Sayings of Solomon the Son of King David the Prophet. Also the Writings of John of Mosul and the ProfitableSayings of Mar John Bar Pankeya.Comment:Date: 1649 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 25Size: 18x13 cmPages: 141Title: PsalterComment:Date: 1656 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 26Size: 18x13 cmPages: 148Title: Pericopes of ScriptureComment:Date: 1550 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 27Size:8x13 cmPages: 239Title: Prayers

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Comment:Date: 1587 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 28Size: 17.5x13.5 cmPages: 512Title: Hymnbook of Eight TonesComment:Date: ?

Syr. Gr. Pat. 29Size: 17.5x13.5 cmPages: 131Title: SynopsisComment: This document is called Kashkool inSyriacDate: 1571 AD

Syr. G r. Pat. 30Size: 18x13 cmPages: 328Title: Grammer of the Syriac LanguageComment: Written by Elias bar Shinaya on of the most important East Syriac grammarians.Date: ?

Syr. Gr. Pat. 31Size: 18x13 cmPages: 279Title: HymnsComment: Gabriel Metropolitan of Mosul, Kamis, Barda, Maram Issac of Sabdanai, Ephraim, etc. The manuscript appears to have

been copied in Nisibis.Date: 1512 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 32Size: 18x13 cmPages: 183Title: Teaching of the OrdersComment: Date: 1611 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 33Size: 17x13 cmPages: 224Title: New TestamentComment: John of the Jacobite MonasteryDate: 1608 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 34Size: 18.5x13.5 cmPages: 214Title: Book of the Four concerning the Six Days with the word of the Administration in the Twenty Eight Sayings – propositions of the servant Emmanuel.Comment: The work of Emmanuel of Mosul or Emmanuel ash-Shammar. This document is sometimes known as the Hexaemeron composed in heptasyllabic meter. The oldest known text was Ms. Br. Mus. Or. 1300 dated 1685 AD. Now we can push back the date 400 years.Date: 1289 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 35Size: 18x13 cm

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Pages: 319Title: Throne of the Shroud of the Priests, Ministers, Bishops, and Monks, and the Patriarch and the Remnant of the Sons of theNewComment:Date: ?

Syr. Gr. Pat. 36Size: 18x13 cmPages: 187Title: Teaching of the OrdersComment:Date: 1683 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 37Size: 16x12 cmPages: 205Title: The Writing of the Sayings of the Rogation of the Ninivites. Also various materials: Ephrem, etc.Comment: This is a fast of three days three weeks before Lent.Date: 1251 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 38Size: 18x13 cmPages: 138Title: Anthems of the teacher Giwargis WardaComment: Other notable manuscripts of Warda are found in MS. Camb. Add. 1982 and Vat. Syr. 184. He wrote his poems in the first

part of the 1200’s.Date: ?

Syr. Gr. Pat. 39Size: 16x12 cmPages: 164Title: The Teaching of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ and the Theophany.Comment:Date: 1542 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 40Size: 15x10 cmPages: 304Title: The Inscriptions and Pericopes of theNew TestamentComment:Date: 1531 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 41Size: 16x12 cmPages: 140?Title: The End of the Consolatory Discourses.Comment:Date: ?

Syr. Gr. Pat. 42Size: 15x10 cmPages: 178Title: Teaching of the Orders.Comment:Date: ?

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Syr. Gr. Pat. 43Size: 16x10 cmPages: 164Title: Text of the Ordinary Evenings, that is to say, before and after all requisites.Comment:Date: 1597 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 44Size: 14x10 cmPages: 174Title: Liturgy of the Priest like the Liturgy of the Journey in the Monastery of Elias from MosulComment:Date: 1670 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 45Size: 15x10 cmPages: 170Title: (misc.)Comment:Date: 1579 AD

Syr. Gr. Pat. 46Size: 15x10 cmPages: 189Title: His Deeds and Resurrection.

SectionII

Palimpsest

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Introduction

A palimpsest is a generally a page ofparchment that has formerly been erased andwritten over with a new text, sometimeshundreds of years later. The erased textnever quite disappears. Through the use ofspecial photography the text underneath andbe lifted up and read again. This is apalimpsest.

Our lives are like palimpsests. We mayappear to be one thing on the outside or atthe present moment but underneath is anotherlife having been lived or is still livingjust below the surface. For example, at thetime of this writing I am a missionarypriest. One may look at me an see a humanrights activist working among the poor amongsome of the poorest nations in the westernhemisphere: Haiti and the DominicanRepublic. Beneath this life, hidden in thefaint glare of a computer screen at night isa feeble scholar who translates ancienttexts, some of them even palimpsests, andwrites essays about his obscure Orthodoxfaith of the Syriac tradition.

Most of us live multiple lives. We arejudged usually on the basis of one life and

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not for the complex multitude of ourinterests, ideas, passions, dreams, anddesires. Some people only know me as a minorwriter of essays and books in the field ofSyriac language, literature, and history.Others know me only as a human rightsactivists advocating for the neglected,abandoned, and homeless. My mother knows meonly as her son and little boy even though Iam nearly 60 years old.

None of this is wrong. It only points tothe reason we should live all of our liveswith integrity and transparency. Perhaps,only God sees us in our fullness andcomplexity.

The essays in this book have a commonthread. Each essay is a kind of palimpsestof ideas layered one upon the other. Forexample, the first five essays are about mysocial work with the poor of the DominicanRepublic and Haiti both as a priest and as ahuman rights activist.

The second eight essays are aboutintellectual palimpsests found in areas ofresearch I do with Syriac texts andsubjects. Beneath these subjects such asDarwin, texts, religions, and science are

deeper messages. Beneath the physicalsymptoms of Darwin's strange illness was afood that brought him relief that had aconnection to the Aramaic world. Arabletters are used to hide Syriac meaning inKharshuni texts, and a personal sutrareveals a Christian text in a Buddhist form.Under the Protestant Reformation wereeastern ideas and authors who informedwestern leaders of spiritual remedies.Science may seem to be a materialisticsearch for a particle which may hide aspiritual message in its energy field.

The final five essays are translationsfrom the Latin, Syriac, and Greek thatrecover long lost or forgotten texts. In acouple of cases these recoveries areliterally from real palimpsests. The finalessay is about the Life of Abba Markos ofMount Tarmakyo, a 4th century saint who livedon a mountain in Ethiopia without humancontact until the end. Principles ofpalimpsestic analysis are revealed forothers to apply and follow.

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My Life as a PalimpsestI was watching a documentary of John

Lennon on HBO. He wrote a nasty song aboutPaul who had left the Fab Four. In the songwas the refrain, “How can you sleep atnight?” suggesting that Paul should have atroubled conscience. John realized that thesong was also about himself. The breakup ofthe Beatles was as much his fault as it wasPaul's.

What was curious about this statement wasthe palimpsestic function of the artisticmind...in fact...the palimpsest of anynormal human mind...the ability to see oneor more layers of meaning beneath thesurface content.

For those who do not recall thedefinition of a palimpsest, it comes fromthe practice of erasing a text on aparchment surface and replacing it with anew text often several hundred years later.With infrared photography and radiationtechniques the text underneath a visiblesurface text can often be recovered.

The definition of a palimpsest does notonly apply to a specific practice of erasingand writing over a text on parchment. It isan idea that can be applied to music asdiverse as Gregorian chant that sings one

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pattern over the top of another slightingsubdued line, to Hip Hop music such asPublic Enemies songs that compose lyricsover the top of samples music. It can applyto the visual arts as well. Once I created alife size wood laminated image of a horseand glued thousands of pennies over thesurface and called it “Horse Cents.” Punsare palimpsestic in so far as they usedouble meanings. Sometimes they can havemore than two meanings. My sailboat wasnamed “Neitwork” referencing the Russianword for no, computer work, and the idea ofno work. Humor itself, a distinctive featureof the human brain which may be thedistinctive feature of humans over animalsoperates on this palimpsestic fuction.

The human brain is a palimpsest.Experiences are inscribed upon brain onlyto be covered over by new memories. After anumber of years we forget about or we areunconscious of the previous and hiddenevents that are ever so faintly chemicallyetched in the neural pools of our cells.Occasionally we are able to glimpse beneaththe surface of our memories that tend to bereformatted fiction and see the connectionto the origins of our thoughts, ideas, andbeliefs. The science of psychiatry, the goalof religion, and the purpose of art is to

provide the infrared techniques in ametaphorical sense to probe the palimpsestmind.

I am not the first to ponder suchthoughts about the human mind.

Thomas De Quincy, a 19th century essayistmost well known for his book, Confessions ofan Opium Eater wrote:

“What else than a natural and mightypalimpsest is the human brain? Such apalimpsest is my brain; such a palimpsest,oh reader! is yours. Everlasting layers ofideas, images, feelings, have fallen uponyour brain softly as light. Each successionhas seemed to bury all that went before. Andyet, in reality, not one has beenextinguished. And if, in the vellumpalimpsest, lying amongst the other diplomataof human archives or libraries, there isanything fantastic or which moves tolaughter, as oftentimes there is in thegrotesque collisions of those successivethemes, having no natural connection, whichby pure accident have consecutively occupiedthe roll, yet, in our own heaven-createdpalimpsest, the deep memorial palimpsest ofthe brain, there are not and cannot be suchincoherences. The fleeting accidents of aman’s life, and its external shows, may

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indeed be irrelevant and incongruous; butthe organizing principles which fuse intoharmony, and gather about fixedpredetermined centers, whateverheterogeneous elements life may haveaccumulated from without, will not permitthe grandeur of human unity greatly to beviolated, or its ultimate repose to betroubled, in the retrospect from dyingmoments, or from other great convulsions.”

This brings me to ponder the purpose ofaltruism in the human species. I wrote abook a couple of years about the biologicalbasis of altruism, suggesting that humancharity may have a link to evolutionary lawof natural selection and a post Darwinianprincipal of survival of the fittest. Ithink about why we or I am compelled toserve others. Does it increase thelikelihood of my genes surviving? I am a bitpast the age for such a need. Does it makethe the possibility of my survival greater?It probably lowers it due to stress and therisks of serving the poor. There may be acompletely different reason. It may have todo not with genetic replication and survivalbut the replication of survival of my memes.

Meme is a word coined by Richard Dawkinsin 1976. He wrote

`Mimeme' comes from a suitable Greekroot, but I want a monosyllable that soundsa bit like `gene'. I hope my classicistfriends will forgive me if I abbreviatemimeme to meme. If it is any consolation,it could alternatively be thought of asbeing related to `memory', or to the Frenchword même. It should be pronounced to rhymewith `cream'.

Examples of memes are tunes, ideas,catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways ofmaking pots or of building arches. Just asgenes propagate themselves in the gene poolby leaping from body to body via sperms oreggs, so memes propagate themselves in thememe pool by leaping from brain to brain viaa process which, in the broad sense, can becalled imitation. If a scientist hears, orreads about, a good idea, he passed it on tohis colleagues and students. He mentions itin his articles and his lectures. If theidea catches on, it can be said to propagateitself, spreading from brain to brain. As mycolleague N.K. Humphrey neatly summed up anearlier draft of this chapter: `...memesshould be regarded as living structures, notjust metaphorically but technically. Whenyou plant a fertile meme in my mind youliterally parasitize my brain, turning it

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into a vehicle for the meme's propagation injust the way that a virus may parasitize thegenetic mechanism of a host cell. And thisisn't just a way of talking -- the meme for,say, "belief in life after death" isactually realized physically, millions oftimes over, as a structure in the nervoussystems of individual men the world over.'

A meme is a parasitic idea. A parasite issometimes good and sometimes bad. In thePacific northwest where I used to live thereis a moss that grows mostly on vine maple.It is related to Spanish moss that can befound in the swamps of Louisiana. Spagnummoss relies on a parasite fungus to attachitself to a tree, often a tree that has beeninjured by a storm. The moss feeds off thefungus, in return, the moss providessteroids through the membrane of the fungusto the tree to keep the tree alive and evenheal it. It is a symbiotic relationshipbetween the moss, the fungus, and the tree.Even the fungus gets something out of thedeal. It draws its nutrition from the treewhich would kill the tree eventually unlessit was for the steroids being supplied bythe moss. This beautiful relationship ofliving organisms in a palimpsest of life. Onthe surface we see moss but underneath is ahidden truth of complicated relationships

giving meaning to the whole structure.

Charity and altruism on whatever levelincreases the survival value of the humanspecies because ultimately good memes likemicroloans, building schools for girls,rescuing victims of hurricane Katrina, helpand serve the human race. There is evenresearch to suggest that good ideas,altruistic action, alter the chemistry andstructure of the brain. So I guess there maybe a reason to be altruistic after all.

On the surface, serving the poor may seemlike a waste of time and effort onexpendable parts of the gene pool. Why givea hot meal to a drug addict who will be deadof hepatitis is a few months anyway? Whysend a street child to camp for a week whohas no hope of even getting a decenteducation in the big picture of things? Whyprovide infant formula to a baby dying ofAIDS? On the surface it looks like wastedmoney and effort. But let me tell you thatit is not what it appears. It is apalimpsest the hides below it a complicatedset of relationships to the ultimate truthof reality. For all the complaining I hearand receive about wasting time of Haitianswho are stoop labor and expendable human

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beings according to some Dominican, for allthe abuse and threats I get from people whotell me that I am evil and perverted forhelping drug addicts and prostitutes, I seethis all as a palimpsest, a spiritualpalimpsest, of reality and meaning. Do you?

Four Stages of Making a Difference

Today we hear much about "making adifference." It drives many people,especially college youth, to come to theDominican Republic and volunteer for a weekor so. Tourists often write to me and askhow they can help.

After nearly 20 years of working amongthe poor, the traumatized, the neglected,and homeless I have come to see four stagesin this process of "making a difference."

First there is the Santa Claus stage.People come with books, toys, bats and ballsand dump them on the poor. I do not doubtthe good intentions of the people giving butthey do more harm than good. It creates asense of materialistic envy in the receiverof the gift. It harms the giver intothinking that they are making a differencewhen in fact they make create an even worsesituation. Churches, schools, clinics standempty in this country because people came todo good and left people with burdens theycan not take care of. Clinics have not fundsto operate, schools have no chairs and

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desks, and churches have no way to pay theelectric bill. I cannot tell you how manyplaces I have been to that have unused booksstacked to the ceiling, computers that sitidle, and wells that do not operate. Why?Because there are no teachers trained toeffective use the books, computers have noone to maintain them or pay for monthlyservice, and water wells are contaminated bythe virtue of being dug in the wronglocations. Victims of human trafficking arereleased but often return to conditionsworse than what they left behind. Goodintentions, bad results!

The second stage is what I call thehelper stage. After a few trips to poorregions of the world, these volunteersrealize that comprehensive and broadstrategies are needed. When a school isbuilt it must also have teachers who haveaccess to training, nutrition for childrenwho come to school hungry, and funding tomaintain and operate the school. The wholeperson must be addressed by holisticprograms that think of the the body, soul,and spirit all at once and in an integratedfashion that respects the person rather thantreating them as objects of charity. Sexworkers who are enslaved by pimps and bar

owners often despise the "Good Samaritans"who would "rescue" them because theyrecognize the arrogance and judgment in thehelper. The helper stage perceives a wallbetween the giver and the receiver. It is astate of being that is arrogant and demeanspeople because they do not see each other asequal in worth. It is a one-sided and oneway relationship.

The third stage is the servant stage.This stage seeks to provide service to onein need but often there are strings attackedor conditions imposed. It is a reciprocalrelationship where the receiver is allowedinput into the process and contributes tothe overall plan and process. The servantsees the problem and attempts to address thesources of poverty, exploitation, andneglect. This is a compassionate butconditional stage. Victims of humantrafficking often run away from good careand safety often because they still sensethis subtle control over their lives. Theservant is still the one in charge and theultimate judge of the situation. He has thepower of veto.

The fourth stage is the friendship stage.This is the stage closest to love. I did not

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really understand this stage fully until Isaw the movie The Soloist with Robert DowneyJr. based on a book by LA Times journalistSteve Lopez. Lopez befriended a homeless manwho had once been a student at JuliardSchool of Music. Mental illness took itstoll on the man and yet there was genius andart peering through the dirt and filth ofhis street existence. Steve Lopez saw thistalent and tried to help this man. First hegave him a gift of a cello (Santa Clausstage). Then he got him music lessons and anapartment (helping stage). Then he arrangeda recital for this man in the hopes that itwould repair his illness with selfconfidence and dignity (servant stage). Itonly drove his friend deeper into hisillness. Finally he just became his friendwith no expectation of "fixing him" or"helping" him as if he, the reporter, wassomehow better or less sick. He finallyresigned himself to simply "being there" forhis friend without expectations or demandsor conditions.

All of us should arrive at this laststage but not all of us do. There is still avoice within us that wants to fix things,change things, or worst of all "make adifference." We can only make a difference

when we stop trying to make a difference,when we stop trying to be a hero and welearn to love by practicing the power ofwitness. The power of witness is true wisdomwhen we learn to simply be there. When thathappens sometimes change for the betteroccurs. Sometimes not!.A domestic childslave needs a friend sometimes more than abackpack and school supplies. We are notresponsible for the outcomes of service andwork in the noble calling of walking amongthe poor, the downtrodden, the victimized,and the lonely. We are only responsible forbeing there.

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The Face of Human Trafficking

My family got one of the first televisionsets in Skagit country, State of Washington,in 1955. One of the first programs Iremember watching is the children's showcalled Wanda Wanda on King TV, channel 5from Seattle. Each Saturday morning thisshow would broadcast at 8 am. There would bea cartoon (Popeye), a guest like a cowboyshowing rope tricks or a person with aspecial skill, and then a book would beread. Wanda Wanda was a 40ish year old womanwho dressed as a genie in a Middle Easterncostume with conical hat and silky clothes.

After a year of broadcasting, Wanda Wandaoffered a contest to viewers. She would givea clue about a book. She asked viewers toguess the name of the book. She said, "Whatit is the name of the story where childrenare sent away by their evil step-mother tobe lost in the forest and discover agingerbread house where a witch enslavesthem only to be tricked by one of thechildren and falls into a fire. They returnhome to the protection of their lovingfather?"

I knew the answer to this question. I wasjust learning to read and one of my favoritebooks was a digest of various fairy taleswhich included Grimm's Fairy Tale of Hanseland Gretel. I begged my mother to help mesend a letter to King TV station and enterthe contest. Two weeks later I received inthe mail a beautifully illustrated book ofthe story of Hansel and Gretel. It was myfirst book.

This story had a deep attraction for me.I was an adopted child who had beenpreviously abandoned. I gravitated tostories about children who were raised byother people, stories like the story ofMoses, King Arthur, Oedipus and many others.Fairy Tales are filled with themes ofchildren who are abused, abandoned,neglected and left to fend for themselves. Icould relate to many of these themes havingbeen abandoned as an infant, rescued, andsaved from ill-fated outcomes.

The story of Hansel and Gretel is about abrother and sister who were abandoned in theforest because their step-mother (accordingto one version of the story) nagged theirfather to take them into the forest andleave them to die because there was no foodin the home. The children found their way

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back to their home using bread crumbs andpebbles only to be taken even deeper intothe woods and abandoned again. After thebirds ate the bread crumbs and the childrenwere truly lost, they found their way to agingerbread house. It was paradise. A witchlived in the house and tricked the childrento come inside where they were trapped in acage. The witch feeds the children hoping toeat them eventually. Gretel tricks the witchwith a chicken bone making the dim sightedwitch think that the children were notgetting fat. The children are used asdomestic labor by the witch until one dayGretel feigns ignorance about cooking andpushes the witch into the oven. The childrenescape and return home to a loving fatherand learning that the step-mother has died.

This story was driven by memories offamine in Germany at the turn of the 19thcentury. Stories like Hansel and Gretelallowed victims of famine to process thetrauma they experienced. Notice that thestory is motivated by famine and lack ofbread in the children's home. Thegingerbread house is a fantasy of excessivefood and oral fixation. The witch is drivenby cannibalistic desires which was rumoredto be practiced during the depths of famine.

Europe experienced frequent famines from the15th to 18th centuries. This was due to thebreakdown of the feudal system and the riseof the industrial age. Peasants who did notmigrate to the city ate their seed corn,revolted against feudal lords, and ate theirfarm animals. The other factor was the"Little Ice Age" that affected Europe withfrigid winters and drought stricken summers.The combination of economic collapse andclimate change victimized the poor. Thesestories of trauma and tension brought reliefand hope to the wounded souls of severalgenerations of Europeans.

Human Trafficking: the face of Evil

Director of Dominican Outreach and Pare Ahora TraficoHumano

Overview

For 2009 Dominican Outreach has focusedon measuring AIDS/HIV knowledge and HumanTrafficking. Our previous four censusactivities in various barrios in the PuertoPlata region have shown data that pointed usto two areas of concern driven by poverty:disease and human trafficking.

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Dominican Outreach is an NGO based on theNorth Shore of the Dominican Republicdedicated to serving the abandoned,neglected, and homeless. This year we haveestablished a subsidiary program called PareAhora Trafico Humano (PATH) as a result ofprevious census work. Over the last fouryears we have interviewed nearly 700 womenand children in the poorest barrios of thePuerta Plata region. We share this databaseof information with local, regional,national, and international agencies whoshare common interests.

Preparation and Development of Tools

The census this year was done in fourstages:

1. Orientation and briefing review of what ispresently known about these two issues.This was initiated in June of 2009 witha conference on Human Trafficking inPuerto Plata.

2. Development of census tools. Questionnaires weredesigned based on material provided bythe World Health Organization and the

United Nations.

3. Betatesting of the census tools. Pre andpost reviews and evaluations were donewith changes made and tested again overthe course of two week in September.

4. Fullscale census was conducted beginning inOctober. Samples were taken in PadreGranero, Augua Negra, San Marcos,Imbert, Barrio San Filipe, Cangrejo,and Sosua. We believed this gave us areliable sample of a broad spectrum ofsex workers, domestic child workers,and economic victims over a broad rangeof racial and social groups of varyingeconomic levels.

Protocol

Some of the first questions designed forthe annual census focused this year on HumanTrafficking did not work the way they wereintended, either because of lack ofbackground information in the person beingquestioned or the Spanish needs to beadjusted to a more colloquial form. Once thecensus gets underway in October every

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question was asked exactly the same way.This was important to get reliable andconsistent data. This was the main drivingforce in our census protocol. Out streetprotocol also included working in groups ofno less than two people to provide a levelof safety. Father Johnson made initialcontacts and invited the prospective womenand children needed for the census. Nearly80 were interviewed over the course of twomonths. Once the women and children agreedto be interviewed then they were interviewedby a female census taker. This protocolworked well due to the nature of thequestions. Occasionally Father Johnson wouldhave to talk to a pimp or jefe who weregenerally cooperative once they were assuredof privacy and the nature of the census.

Principal Census Takers

This year we have had the mostpassionate, intelligent, and dedicatedvolunteers. They are as follows:

Debbie Almond is from University CollegeLondon, who with other volunteers perfectedcensus questions based on World HealthOrganization guidelines and trial questionsasked of women and children in Puerto Plata.

Debbie focused on questions related toHIV/AIDS inflection rates and sources in thePuerto Plata area.

Elissa Duncan is from Houston Texas. Sheis an under-graduate of Teas A & MUniversity and is interested in HumanRights. She is in the DR until December. Shehas joined the Dominican Outreach censusteam and interviews sample populations todetermine the depth of Human Traffickingissues including domestic labor of childrenand sex trafficking. She speaks threelanguages and is a big help in the field.

Flora, a Dominican woman whose family isfrom Navarette joined our census team tohelp with the interviewing of women who arevictims of human trafficking. She was been abig help in formulating questions that canget at the information needed to do a reportexpected in December for various humanrights organizations. Flora has only a fewyears of education but is very intelligentand observant in the indigenous features ofDominican society.

Father Dale A. Johnson has worked for 20years in the field of Human Rights mainly inIraq and Turkey for 14 years with

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organizations related to the World Councilof Churches. He has also worked for variousNGOs in China, South Africa, and for thelast six years in the Dominican Republic.

Discussion

After nearly 80 interviews we havediscovered that there are four levels ofHuman Trafficking as related to sex workers.

1. High Endsex workers: We visited severalbrothels where tourists are charged upto $1000 a day. These business' havevery little Human Trafficking althoughwe heard reports of women being sentoverseas to work. We interviewed womenwho had recently returned from Greeceand Eastern Europe These women wereextremely attractive, generally intheir 20s, and were not highlycontrolled except for having to pay forthe rooms they were using. Ownersreported providing health testing as apart of condition of employment.

2. Freelancesex workers: These women worked in barsand discos where women would come fromoutlying areas and work for a few days

at a time until they have enough moneyto take back to their families. Theowners of these places only requiredthat the women pay for the room usuallyrented by the hour from the owner.Because of the extreme poverty of someof these women they often reportedbeing trapped by the owners who wouldloan them money, provide rooms for arental fee, and would require specifichours of work. Some owners reported tous that they would “buy” women fromSanta Domingo or Santiago to come andwork but this was relatively rare.

3. Indentured sex workers: These were place wherewomen were purchased by contract andkept under guard. Owners reportedpaying up to $1000 US for a woman tocome and work for a year. These placesconfiscated the identity cards of thewomen, required them to live inspecific housing, but generally theywere free to come and go outside thespecific hours they worked. Many ofthese women did sex work on the side tosave money to go back home.

4. Brothelsex workers: There are not many ofthese places but we did find them in

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Sosua where women live with theemployer and are highly guarded andcontrolled. The women reported beingthreatened and all their money everydayis confiscated. Because prostitution isnot a crime in the Dominican Republicthese crimes against the individual areignored by police. Still it is a crimeagainst the State because these womenare often bought and sold amongbusiness owners and it is a huge healthproblem as these places are points ofinfection. Do for these later reasonsit rises to the level of humantrafficking.

5. LoanShark sex workers: Poor families who donot have access to credit will oftenborrow money from Sports Betting parlorowners, or some business owner in theirarea and will give a teenage girl assecurity for loans than often charge50%, We were told this is a commonpractice in the Dominican Republic,Mexico and other Latin countries. Thegirl would go and live with the lenderuntil she pays off the family loanthrough sex work. This is humantrafficking in it's most insidious formand often unrecognized or ignored by

authorities and police because it isconsidered a private matter.

On average these women had twochildren. These are the real victims ofthis form of human trafficking. Oftenthey did not live with their mother butwith relatives who are hardly able tocare for the children themselves. Wereceived reports of these childrenbeing passed around from relative torelative.

In some of the Dominican barrios we foundchildren who were indentured servants. Onaverage children were purchased for about$150. Sometimes they would come from Haitiand some were from the Dominican Republic.We were quite surprised as to how open andcandid people were about this issue. Almostall these children did not go to school.

The depth of the problem is tragic andenormous affecting a high percentage of thepopulation. It negatively affects education,health, family structures and strengthensthe cycle of poverty. It will eventuallycause the collapse of the State as we haveseen an increase each year in the number of

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women and children working the street.

How Not to be a Missionaryon February 5, 2010 I was interviewed by CNN's

Anderson Cooper on his program AC360 probing for myopinion about blundering missionaries rescuing orphans inHaiti without permission or common sense.

As someone who has worked among the poorfor 20 years and presently operates an NGOon the border of the Domincian Republic andHaiti I could not be more upset with theIdaho based baptist group who are presentlyin a Haitian jail under the potential chargeof human trafficking.

They did not respect the Haitian cultureor people enough to try to understand thatHaiti is a Restavek culture. The termRestavek means "stay with" which is a termthat belies a sinister practice of poorHaitian parents giving their children tomore affluent Haitians and foreigners in thehope they will get an education, a betterlife, and something to eat. Seldom do thesechildren ever go to school or have a lifethat rises above being a domestic slave.This practice is not only tolerated butthere is no social stigma against a parentwho gives up a child. What did thesemissionaries expect when they show up in a

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Haitian neighborhood to whom Haitians see asrich Americans and are asked to give uptheir children? Even if the missionaries didnot buy these children, they offer of avastly better life for these children.. Itwas a purchase on an emotional level. TheBaptist missionaries had a local Haitianpastor go and procure orphans. The pastorliterally went from door to door askingparents to give up their children. Theignorance of the Baptist missionariescombined with a Restavek practice thatcarried no social stigma was a combinationof behaviors that created a cultural quakeas devastating as any physicaldestruction.It had the potential to destroyhomes and families.

Also, for years before the quake in Haitithere was and is an industry of unqualifiedand untrained "pastors" who have made anindustry of tricking western missionariesinto providing funds for their fakeorphanages and schools. I have experiencedgoing to orphanages in Haiti at theinvitation of a "pastor" only to seechildren from the neighborhood who haveparents rounded up to become orphans for aday. This was done to make the orphanagelook like it had more children than actually

existed. Just yesterday I had a meeting witha Haitian woman who runs an orphanage inHaiti tell me that her orphanage has 50children. What she did not know was that Ivisited the orphanage last week and countedonly 10 children and some of the childrenwere her daughter's children. This practiceof inflating the number of orphans is acommon practice but it is deceitful andunethical.

Short term missionaries like theseBaptists from Idaho should have worked withon the ground organizations like Save theChildren or a registered orphanage thatseeks first to reunite children with parentsor relatives in a systematic system ofvetting. I believe this missionary groupwent to Haiti with no guile in their heartsbut they and others like them have causeddamage to Haitian homes for years bypractices motivated by good intentions thatproduce opposite results.

Before the quake there were reported tobe over 300,000 children in Haiti. There areonly 60 registered orphanages. Do the math.That is 5,000 children per orphanage. Thebiggest orphanages I know of are only 140 orso children. Besides, this figure of 300,000

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orphans represent about 4% of thepopulation. Orphans have become an inventedindustry of Haiti. The same thing happenedin the Sudan when Christian missionariesbegan to buy back child slaves. Suddenly thenumber of child slaves skyrocketed. Childrenbecame a commodity and the cost of a childslave soared. The good intentions ofChristians in the west only made thesituation worse and in fact produced thevery opposite condition they were trying tosolve. The same thing has happened in Haitiover the years with orphans.

Finally, let me say that these Baptistmissionaries traveled to Haiti on USpassports which obligates them to treatiessigned by the United States. One of thesetreaties is the Hague agreement whichstricktly prohibits taking children toanother country away from their parent orparents in any country which is a party tothe agreement. This means that great careshould be given to determining if a child isan orphan under the five basic definitionslisted by the United Nations. Short termmission groups cannot do this without thehelp of on the ground organizations such asSave the Children or a registered orphanagewho have the resources and time to properlysearch for parents or relatives. In poor

countries children arrive at orphanagesevery week who claim to be orphans but oftenare given in the hope that they will be fedand have a better life. At the very least,even if these missionaries are not charged,they should have their passports taken awayfor a period of time.

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MonasticSocial Work

For much of my adult life I have studiedeastern monasticism. Originating in themountains and deserts, solitary monasticsmigrated to the cities in the lands betweenthe Euphrates and Tigris rivers between the4th and 6th centuries. It was a migrationborn out of conflict and persecution.Persian armies and theological rivalshounded the once peaceful life of the monks.John of Ephesus and John of Tell writeemotive accounts of the harsh persecutionssuffered by the monks. But whateverpersecution the monks suffered the urbanpopulations suffered more. Plague, war,famine pummeled the residents ofMesopotamian cities, especially Amida(present day Diyarbakir in eastern Turkey).Monks were forced to seek refuge in thecities to escape the marauding Persianarmies.

What is interesting to note, at least forme, is the response of the monks and nunswho sought refuge far away from theirisolated existences on pillars and in caves

and in walled off cells. They began anheroic social work in the cities. Instead ofweeping over their own woes they wiped theirtears and used them as oil of healing forothers.

Susan Harvey writes in her book Asceticismand Society in Crisis:

“John stresses an unbroken pattern in theAidan ascetics' social involvement, despitetheir flight to unfamiliar territory. Thepersonal trial of exile, with its hazardsand discomforts, was not considered arelease from an ascetic's obligation toothers.”

“Hala, a monk at the monastery of theEdessenes in Amida, had devoted himself forsome years to caring for the destitute andstrangers in the city. When the monasterywas expelled and its property confiscated orhidden, Hala was beside himself, havingnothing with which to comfort those in need.At once he set about finding new ways ofcontinuing his ministry, paying no heed tothe affliction of his own monastic communityor to their mockery of his efforts. Rather,he collected old coats and rags from dung

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heaps and then cleaned and sewed themtogether into cushions and rugs for the poorvisitors who came. "And so he found thismethod of carrying out his own employment,not giving up this strenuous pursuit inpeace or in persecution, in the city or inexile."

This story says a lot about how we are torespond to suffering in our lives. We caneither be victimized by the circumstances oflife or we can allow it to become anopportunity for God to express His love forhumankind through our hearts and hands. Iwas in an orphanage the first couple yearsof my life. This had a deep impact on me.Fear of abandonment often haunted me. But Ialso had a parallel feeling of gratefulnessto God for rescuing me from disease anddeath. I had a choice as to how to respondto the circumstances of life. Syriac monksin my adult life have become a model for howto respond. Today I work among the poor, theneglected, abandoned, and homeless women andchildren in the Caribbean.

Harvey continues to explain:

“The expulsion of the Amidan monasteries

carried further implications. Their absenceleft a burden on those who remained in Amidaand its territory, that their services forthe populace be continued. Thus a localrecluse, who had chosen a separate lifeoutside the city and its monastic complexes,found himself forced to leave his retreatand return. Simeon the Solitary had oncebeen renowned for his labors in an Amidanmonastery, both in private ascetic practiceand in his ministry to the poor andstrangers in the city.”

There is no doubt that giving our lives toothers causes regret and sorrow for ourfamilies and friends who often wonder whythey feel left behind and often do not seeus for years at a time. Serving the abjectpoor is a duty and obligation. Our familiesand families and friends have the samechoice to either feel victimized or to livea life Christ has ordained for everyone. Ilook to our sisters and brethren in Indiaand I am just amazed at the number of homesfor the destitute, orphanages, monasteries,and institutions of charity. It should be asign and challenge to the Syriac Orthodox ofEurope and America. How many shelters,hospitals, soup kitchens, and institutionsof charity are evident?

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Harvey further adds:

“John of Ephesus speaks with admiration ofthe "underground" communities, the secretgroups of ascetics exiled from their ownmonasteries or convents who remained in thecity, residing in housing ostensibly rentedfor tenancy by others....Such a person wasthe holy Euphemia, who had for many yearslived an ascetic career in Amida with herdaughter Maria. She followed a private ruleof austerity in her own life (John ofEphesus and others would beg her to showherself some of the kindness she soliberally bestowed on others) and, at thesame time, with Maria's aid devoted herselfday and night to ministering to the city'spoor, sick, homeless, and afflicted. Thereseemed no corner of the city or its environsunknown to her, and no one person, rich ordestitute, citizen or stranger, whose lifehad not been touched by her grace andcharity.”

Where are the saints among us today? I knowthey are among us because Christ is alive.What we should be doing is seeking andsearching out those who are living the

gospel in this way and support them.

The other day I visited a local jail. It isa third world prison. Women and men werehoused together. Police has rounded upsingle woman on the streets who could notgive the police money. It was a horribleinjustice against people who were destitute.The jail had no food and water for thesewomen. The police expected their families tocome and feed them. One women was sick withAIDS. Her family had disowned her. I gavemoney to fed her and the others. A few dayslater her family came and thanked me forhelping her. We prayed together and theytook her home.

Today we live in times of economic crisis.Wars have flared up around the world. Morepeople are displaced and suffering faminethan at any other time in history. Diseaseslike the SARS and AIDS are decimating entirenations. What should be our response? Tohunker down and hide in the cities or toreach out like these heroic monks and nunsof the ancient past? If there ever is a timeto reach out to the poor, the pilgrim, andthe stranger it is in times such as now.

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Prayer of the Wounded

We have been wounded by the warfare oflife.

The swords of sickness and the arrows ofanxiety

have stabbed our hearts.Blood flows from our wounds and we are

frightened.These wounds never seem to heal.

Nurse our pain with the balm of yourbeatitude O Lord.

Awaken us to the power of service. Never let us fall into the sleep of

spiritual death.Dispense the medicine of your love.Raise us from the bed of our suffering.

Help us to see that it is your blood that flows through these woundsMay our tears be oil of healing for

others.Let his blood touch the lives of all we

embrace.

Amen

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Moving at the Speed of Life

All my life I have been seeking a vague“otherness” As an American we areconditioned by the phrase in theConstitution “the pursuit of happiness.”This has never held much interest for me. Italways seems to be too egotistic and self-centered. There always seemed to me to begreater and better things to pursue such asone's bliss as Joseph Campbell suggests.Bliss is less about self and more about ahigher purpose. On the other hand, nothingcould be more self centered or selfish thanwriting an autobiography unless it is toserve a higher purpose. I believe we allhave an obligation to leave futuregenerations with the wisdom we have gained,if any, in this life. So, the autobiographyis for my grandchildren and others who arefellow seekers.

My earliest memory is of the smell ofbread. My brother and I were left to die ina house in Tacoma, Washington. We wererescued by the Lutheran Family and Welfareagency and placed in an orphanage until we

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were adopted. But this deep memory comesfrom desperate hunger. I must have beenaround two years of age. There are no imagesonly the deep hypothalmic ofactory memory.So it is no surprise that I love bread. Inthe first home I ever knew where I felt safeand loved, I associate it with a flour binmy mother always kept full of bread flour.When no one was looking I would open it andput my hands in the cool, silky, flour. Thefeeling gave me a sense of home andbelonging.

My grandmother taught be how to cookSwedish pancakes. Later I learned to bakecookies and cream puffs. Eventually Ilearned to bake bread. Flour was the coreingredient. Making bread and all things withflour is a form of healing ritual andmeditation.

40 Loaves of Bread

Before I was ordained I spent 40 dayswith my Bishop and another priest practicingthe liturgy of Saint James learning everyritual part. But before I would go to theCathedral each day with Father Benjamin, I

would prepare the bread. In the eastern riteto which I am associated, we use leavenedbread. It is based on a differentinterpretation of the idea of leaven. Whilesome theologians identify leaven with sin,the each church identifies it with life,growth, and transformation.

Each day I would bake bread beforeprayer. The baking of the bread for 40 daysbecame the most meaningful part of theprocess. I learned as much about prayer andmyself as I did about baking bread.

I learned that baking bread is a hard butuseful thing for me to do. I am an impatientperson but the whole process of baking breadbecame important to my spiritual developmentand training. As the years have gone by, Ilook back on those days of baking bread as ametaphor for how to live life.

Selecting ingredients is a relaxing partof the process. When I spent some time atChrist in the Desert monastery I would bakebread about once a week. This was myfavorite kitchen duty. I would go into thelarder area where there were food gradeplastic bins with more than a hundred poundseach of flour types of flour. I tend not to

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measure when cooking except when baking.Baking requires that one be exact to getpredictable results. Although this goesagainst my nature it was a useful exerciseof uncommon value. It was like exploring newterritory of my soul each time I would bakebread. I took my time selecting andmeasuring the flour and place it in largemetal bowls. Salt, water, butter, andanything else the recipe call for was linedup on the counter ready for quick andefficient mixing just like in a TV cookingshow. It was beautiful to look at all theelements in their separated forms ready tobe transformed, ordinary, and elemental.

It was a metaphor for our owntransformation. It does not happen withoutexacting preconditions where each element ofchange is gathered into a place where changecan occur. Transformation may happeninstantly, even in the twinkling of an eye,but often careful, thoughtful, measured,processes has occurred over a long period oftime.

The agent of transformation was theyeast. The yeast was kept in a one gallonglass jar in the commercial refrigerator.Because the yeast was cold I would select it

early in the gathering phase and let it siton the stainless steel counter. Once theyeast was near room temperature I would heatwater in a small pan. I had to check itfrequently until it was about hot to thetouch as in checking the temperature for ababy bottle. When the water was hot enough Iwould pour it into a metal cup and mix inthe dry yeast. If I did it too fast it wouldget clumpy. Small bubbles would beginappearing in the liquid toward the end ofthe process. I would warm the milk toobefore mixing all the ingredients together.If the milk was too cold it could kill theactivation of the yeast. My mother wouldscald the milk and she claimed this was thesecret to good bread-making. It turns outthat research at Michigan State Universityin the mid-70s identified that the proteinsin milk reduce the efficacy of the yeast. Ineffect it makes less gas which causes thebread to rise.

Mixing the ingredients was a solemnprocess. To me it was much like liturgy, aritual act that required complete focus onthe order and procession of the process. AsI would add each item to the mixture I wouldstir it in until it disappeared. The samething happens in liturgy. As each prayer is

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sung and each step of the process isintroduced, performed, and completed itdisappears into the corporate experience.Sometimes when the liturgy is done right Ifeel as if I and the people are part of onebreath. There is a oneness in the atmospherethat can be felt. The words and images blendand disappear like incense into the heightsof the sanctuary. The same things happenswhen mixing the ingredients. The salt andyeast are sensed as I can smell them butthey can no longer be identified in thesingle form before me.

As I place my hands on the emerging doughI smear extra flour on the growing form. Thedry flour allows my hands to touch andretouch the dough as I begin kneading it. Ifwe truly give ourselves to God we becomeindistinguishable from God. The more I wouldknead the dough the better the bread. If Idid not take time to thoroughly knead thedough it would rise unevenly and parts ofthe interior would be uncooked and heavy.The same happens with us if we are not fullyintegrated into the mission to which Godcalls us. Parts of us are heavy andundeveloped.

Dividing the dough into equal parts and

to the right sizes for the pans tookpractice and skill. The same is true forpracticing ministry. After a while you getthe hang of it. I could look at the doughin the pan and know if it was the right sizeso that I could make adjustments if needed.A piece could be taken or added and thedough reshaped. And so it is with God whoshapes and reshapes us if we allow.

The hardest part of baking bread wasgreasing the pan. I still do not like thetouch of butter or oil on my hands. Waxpaper never seems to work. But like anyministry there are always parts we do notlike but are necessary to success. If thepan is not greased properly the bread willnot come out properly. Often it will stickand tear and a beautiful creation will bedamaged.

Baking is the easy part. Set the oven tothe right temperature, pay attention to thetime, and a perfect loaf of bread willemerge.

Today I will make bread for Sundayservice. It will remind me once again of allthat I am and all I shall be if I givemyself completely to God.

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Syriac Codes in the Gospel andIslamic World

The Syriac Bible of Paris has an icon atthe beginning of the book of Job. It is acoded message. When we look closely it isnot an image of an actual event in the Bookof Job. It combines several stages in Job'slife. We see Job rending his garment at thetop of the image, his friends on the leftcursing him. To the right Job is on a dungheap full of sores speaking to his wifebelow him. The whole image carries a doublemessage. We know the outcome of the storyand how Job declares God as righteousdespite all that has happened to him and Godrescues Job from his suffering. The image isa code of a deeper message that is fullyrealized in the message of Jesus Christ inthe Good News of the Gospels.

Hidden Codes and messages have been used inmany way and for many purposes in allreligions and languages. Syriac is noexception.

History of Codes and Hidden Messages

One of the earliest examples of the use ofcodes comes from Assyria. The Assyriancipher technique used a staff of a specificdiameter around which a piece of leather waswrapped. The outside of the strip had awritten text that made no sense until it waswrapped around the staff and read along thelength of the staff. Equidistant lettersmade up sensible lines of code. Thistechnique was borrowed and used in Greece bythe Spartans around 600 BC to transmitmilitary secrets.

Julius Caesar , just before the time ofChrist, used a transliteration techniquesubstituting Latin letters for Greek lettersto hide messages from military enemies whomight capture his messengers.

In at least one place in the Hebrew book ofJeremiah (10:11) there is a word that iswritten in Aramaic as a secret code to thereader to transmit a secret truth. In two

other places in the book of Jeremiahיי ייי

Lev Kamai (51:1) is a code for ייייי Kasdimusing a techique called ATBASH, and ייי

Sheshakh (25:26; 51:41) converts to ייי

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Babel.

ATBASH is a cipher code whereby the firstletter of the alphabet (alpeh) issubstituted by the last letter of thealphabet (taw). Then the second letter(beth) is substituted by the second to lastletter (shin). The length of the alphabet isdivided in half and positioned under thefirst half. Whatever letter is oppositebecomes the substitute letter:

a b g d h w z ch t y k t sh r q ts p ‘ s n m l

This method of encryption was mentioned inDan Brown's Davinci Code. Also it was usedin the movie Space Oddessy 2001 where HAL,the computer's name, was an ATBASH code forIBM based on the English alphabet.

It should not surprise us to find thatperhaps Syriac writers, inheritors ofSemitic literary systems, would use thiscoding technique to secretly write messagesto keep them hidden from enemies,unbelievers, or the uninitiated.

In the Gospel of Mark we find an interesting

story about a Syro Phoenician woman whopleads with Jesus to have her daughterhealed and rid of a demon. It is not astrange story in the sense that the Jesus isspeaking to a gentile and non-Jew. We findJesus speaking to many people who areoutside to tribal and religious domain ofhis time. What is striking is a literaryfeature where the text in the Greek Gospelof Mark leaves the word “ethpatha”untranslated. This is an Aramaic wordtransliterated in the Greek. Was this asecret code?

There are other passages in Mark where Jesususes the phrase “Talitha Kumi.” Why is ittransliterated in Greek letters? Is it acode? In the parables we find numbers whichin Syriac are written with letters thatcould form words. It takes a lot ofimagination to make anything out of theSyriac words for 30, 60, and 100. I am suremany have tried to apply various systems ofcryptanalysis including ATBASH.

It all turns out to be nonsense. Numbers andnames in Syriac reveal nothing but sillytranslations. It demonstrates that theSyriac texts were meant to be understood andnot used as a secret codebook or a gnostic

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document as some people have alleged (MortonSmith).

Although there are puns and wordplay in theAramaic Gospels and other literature such asthe Odes of Solomon, there are no realencryptions that anyone has found. (see,Burney, Torrey, Black, Charlesworth, andJeremias). Yet, in a way paronomasiae, puns,and wordplay are a type of encryption butthey hide the meanings in plain sight andsound. A well know pun is in John chapter 3where the word “resha” is used. It wastranslated as “again” as in “you must beborn again” but it's primary meaning is“from above” as in “you must be born fromabove.” There are some who say “resha”possesses both meanings and the Greektranslators chose the wrong meaning by beingforced to choose more precise words in Greekwith the specific meaning bound within thesingle Syriac word.

Another example of linguistic devices in theSyriac Gospels is a parallelism is found inLuke:

Luke 7: 32 (ISR) “They are like childrensitting in the market-place and calling toeach other, saying, ‘We played the flute for

you and you did not dance, we lamented foryou and you did not weep.’”

In the AramaicPeshitta:

ZamranLakhun- "We sang to you"w'LaRaqdithun- "And you did not dance"w'AlyanLakhun- "And we have mournedfor you"w'LaBakhithun- "And you did not cry"

The Syriac Gospels are very poetic. It haslong been noted that Syriac is repleat withalliteration, assonance, and parallelism.This is a measurable voice print for theauthentic structure of the words of Jesus.

In 1982 I did a control study of frequencycounts for 10,000 words of Syriac from anoriginal text, then the same number ofletters in a text of Syriac translated fromGreek (Apology of Aristides), an originalGreek text, and a Greek text of equal lengthtranslated from Syriac. It turned out thatthe original texts, both Greek and Syriac,had a mathematical frequency like a voiceprint that was measurable and statisticallysignificant (beyond the 4th degree ofstandard deviation). The translation textsdid not have the quality of alliteration as

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did the original texts. This meant that Icould take a random text, count and measurethe frequency of the letters and determineif a text is likely to be an original ortranslation text. Then I took a randomlyselected passages from the Gospels and did afrequency analysis. It turned out that onlythe passages where there were statisticallysignificant passages were the passagescontaining the words of Jesus that testedpositive and were likely to be original.Narrative portions were statistically lesslikely to be original. The only exceptionwere a few passages where the speech ofangels and Peter were recorded in Luke.(Results were published in SyriacPerspective, Hackensack, NJ, 1992.)

This research suggested that most of theSyriac New Testament was a translation textexcept for the words of Jesus. It furthersuggested that it could not be used as aconsistent literary text holdingsophisticated coded passages. Years laterwhen the Bible Code craze erupted I knewthat any attempt to use the Syriac Gospelsto find prophetic codes based on frequencypattern would be a fruitless exercise.

Syriac was used to preserve, protect, and

hide information over the centuries by thevery language itself. When Islam became thedominant religion and its language ofArabic, Syriac was used to keep medical,mathematical secrets from the eyes ofIslamic overlords. Syriac physicians in the9th century Baghdad kept their hold on powerby writing pharmacological formulas inSyriac rather than Arabic. Eventually Arabscholars were able to get enough Syriactexts translated to formulate theories andeven a new method of encryption.

The first Muslim to really advance thescience of codes was Al-Kindi who was ableto describe Cryptanalysis within twosentences of his greatest treatise entitled"A Manuscript on Deciphering CryptographicMessages", it reads:

"One way to solve an encrypted message, if we know itslanguage, is to find a different plain text of the samelanguage long enough to fill one sheet or so, and then wecount the occurrences of each letter. We call the mostfrequently occurring letter the ‘first', the next mostoccurring letter the ‘second', the following most occurringthe ‘third', and so on, until we account for all the differentletters in the plain text sample".

"Then we look at the cipher text we want to solve and we

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also classify its symbols. We find the most occurring symboland change it to the form of the ‘first' letter of the plain textsample, the next most common symbol is changed to theform of the ‘second' letter, and so on, until we account forall symbols of the cryptogram we want to solve"

This has sometimes been called frequencyanalysis. It has been suggested that closetextual study of the Qur'an first brought tolight that Arabic has a characteristicletter frequency. Its use spread, and was sowidely used by European states by theRenaissance that several schemes wereinvented by cryptographers to defeat it.These included homophones, polyalphabeticsubstitution and polygraphic substitutionschemes.

Frequency analysis is based on the fact thatin any given stretch of a language, lettersand combinations of letters occur withvarying frequencies.

I believe that Al Kindi and Arabic culturein general benefited from the tradition andscholarship of Syriac translators who hadbeen exposed to centuries of experiment andexercise with the assonance, alliteration,and parallelism of Syriac texts originatingin portions of the Syriac Gospels. Ephrem

Syrus employed about every literarytechnique possible to create patterns andfrequencies of letters to create rhyme,metrical patterns, and embedded alliterativewaves of sound in his texts. Ephrem'ssophisticated patterns of homographicfrequency and clusters of sounds suggestedways to embed deeper messages. This verywell laid the foundations for the science ofcryptanalysis.

In later centuries Garshini , a system ofwriting that uses Syriac letters for Arabicwords and meanings, was used to keep textsfrom the prying eyes of Arabic speakingrulers who could not read Syriac letters.This was a less sophisticated way ofencoding messages but it still worked as aform of encryption.

Along the Silk Road in Central Asia andChina to Mongolia, Syriac letters were usedto encode financial records, religious textsand private correspondence. Many languageseventually benefited from the adaptation anddevelopment of Syriac script as applied totheir previously non-literary language.

In the end, our Lord Jesus has revealedhimself in all ages and in many ways through

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image and word. The precious code of theSyriac language itself has revealed theDivine Word to us. Thanks be to God!

How Aramaic Food May Have SavedDarwin

On the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth

When Roman armies expanded into the easternfrontier in the 2nd century BC theydiscovered foods that provided both healthand pleasure. Aramaic recipes were broughtback to Rome. Some of these recipes includedmeat pies, apple tarts, delicate custardsheld together by eggs and honey. Later, whenRoman soldiers occupied Britain they broughtwith them these recipes and began a Britishlove affair with all-things-pudding.

British cuisine is founded on Roman dietswho in turn borrowed their recipes from manycultures including from Aramaic peoples,inheritors of ancient Sumero-Akkadiancultures. Rome borrowed most food dishes wethink of as Roman or Italian. Even spaghettiis not Roman in origin.

Some of the earliest records of these

recipes date back to 1600 BC. Among the40,000 clay tablets at Yale University threetablets are the earliest known records andrecipes from which milk, egg, and honeylaced puddings have their origin. JeanBottero, an Assyriologist in 1995 publisheda detailed translation and analysis of thesetablets. In them we find the followingterms.

dispu (syrup made from dates, grapes, orfrom some other fruit

source butprobably not "miel / honey")sizbu..............................................(milk) himetu...........................................(clarified butter or ghee) baitzu............................................(egg)

I thought about the origin of Britishpudding when I recently read a cookbookwritten by Emma Darwin, wife of the famousCharles Darwin who wrote Origin of theSpecies and changed modern science foreverand caused an unresolved battle betweenscience and religion. It is interesting tothink that ancient Aramaic recipes forcustard may have contributed to the health

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and long life of one who has causedChristians so much trouble.

Let me explain why!

Emma Wedgewood could play the piano. Thiswas important for her suiter, CharlesDarwin, in 1838 as he noted in his diarythat he desired a “soft wife, a sofa, andmusic.” These attributes in Emma helpedCharles in his obsessive driven cost/benefitanalysis when deciding if he should bemarried or remain a bachelor. Allthroughout their married life Emma playedthe piano for Charles almost daily. Charleseven used the piano as a scientificinstrument toward the end of his life. Hehad Emma play music loudly to a small boxcontaining earthworms to see if they wouldwiggle. He concluded that earthworms weredeaf.

What may have been more important than herpiano playing skills was her cookbookcreated in the first year of their marriage.The 8x8 inch bound record of 104 recipes wasa secret medical formulary for herchronically ill husband.

Emma Wedgewood, grand daughter of Josiah

Wedgwood of china ware fame, was married atage 30 to her first cousin Charles Darwinthree years after his famous voyage on theHMS Beagle. In her first year of marriageshe composed a recipe book.

Charles brought back from his world voyageideas not only about evolution but alsoideas about what he liked to eat which wasmodified by the onset of a chronic disease.His studious and compassionate wifecarefully attended to his diet with theattention of a physician.

At first the recipe book seems strange, asif created by a child with a sweet tooth.Over one half of the book is dedicated todairy laden sweet puddings. The reason forthe abundance of puddings can be attributedto Crohn's Disease suffered by Charles. Hesuffered greatly from the disease which is achronic relapsing illness. Darwin believesimple pudding soothed his symptoms whichincluded frequent vomiting and bouts offlatulence. Although it does not shortenlife expectancy it does seen to have anorigin in genetic predisposition. Physicianswho examined Charles posited conflictingdiagnosis.

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Emma may have known more than the doctors,at least on the level of what settled thebowels of her husband. A keen insight intothe idea that Emma created more than acookbook is in one of the first recipeslisted. It is Orange Possett. It is amedieval drink made of fruit juice, milk,eggs, and cream and sugar. This was atrusted homemade medicine and as we shallsee it had all the ingredients to counterthe symptoms of Charles' several diseases.

Charles began to experience symptoms ofCrohn's disease when he was about 30 yearsold. This is consistent with most people whoexperience the disease between 20-40 yearsof age. Crohn's disease starts with asymptom free phase, in which bacterialinfection of the gastrointestinal tractleads to breakdown of the epithelialbarrier. (1) A long time usually elapsesbetween this phase and the appearance ofclinical signs of the disease. This isfollowed by an overreaction of the immunesystem, which leads to the appearance ofsymptoms that depend on a number of factors,among them the onset of lesions. (2,3)Darwin suffered a severe gastrointestinalinfection that probably affected only hisupper intestinal tract. This infection

started on 19 September 1834 and had himconfined to bed, in Valparaiso, Chile, untilthe end of October 1834. He commented in hisdiary as having drunk some ‘chichi’ (chicha,a lightly fermented grape juice) whilevisiting a gold mine, close to Rancagua, incentral Chile.4,5 This wine probably brokedown that last of the good bacteria in hisgut and the onset of diarrhea. This episodewas probably the beginning of the earlystages of Crohn's disease. On his return toEngland, after about two years, he noticedsome mild symptoms (‘I was occasionallyunwell’)5 that increased in severity duringthe first year of his marriage peaking withsevere symptoms in September 1839. Theillness would afflict him for the rest ofhis life.

The onset of the disease may very well haveinitiated the writing of Emma's Recipe book,a book that was less a cookbook than seriesof pharmacological prescriptions for her newhusband's illness.

Charles believed that spice and salad werecauses of his symptoms. Also his symptoms hethought were also triggered by excessivework, long visits, public lectures, andanything that stressed him. There are notes

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that indicate some of his symptoms included‘incessant vomiting’, ‘vomiting every week’,‘suffered from almost incessant vomiting fornine months’, ‘Hurrah! I have been 52 hourswithout vomiting’, and so on.6 These vomitsoccurred two to three hours after eating,and food was not present in them. Hisappetite was usually good, he was ‘notthin’, and ‘evacuation was regular & good’.(7)

His doctor Dr. Bence Jones prescribed softfoods such as ‘plain pudding’ (as a resultabout one-half of Emma Darwin's cookbook wasdedicated to puddings).

Darwin complained of peripheral neuropathywhich is common in Crohn's disease and isusually attributed to vitamin B12deficiency, as a result of defectiveabsorption. Darwin was described as ‘yellow,sickly, very quiet’ in contrast to hisusually ruddy complexion.(8) Vitamindeficiency also produces reddening of thetongue, as occurred with Darwin.

Puddings tend to be high in Cyanocobalaminor what is known as B12. Eggs and also milkproducts such as cheese and cream are highin this vitamin in which Charles was

deficient. Unfortunately dairy productsaggravate eczema.

During his life Darwin showed a variety ofskin eruptions. In his youth he had facialeczema.(9) Later on, during his chronicillness, he suffered from boils thatfrequently coincided with an aggravation ofthe digestive symptoms, as well as eczema,on occasions induced by stress andaccompanied by swelling of the face.

Another prominent feature of Darwin'sillness was ‘extreme fatigue’ and ‘most daysgreat prostration of strength’. At the ageof 33 years Charles was nearly an invalid.Most of the recipes are high in sugar andprobably gave him some relief from fatigue.Other than food, hydrotherapy seemed to havepositive effect on Darwin.

The beneficial, although temporary, effectof cold baths, when at Malvern (‘I considerthe sickness as absolutely cured’), MoorPark or Ilkley House, may be alsointerpreted in the light of Crohn's disease,because cold enhances cortisol secretion,which depresses the immune system andinflammation, and lessens the symptoms ofthe disease.

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Darwin was a keen observer of his illness,and he was convinced that plain (milk-containing) pudding lessened his sickness astested by the recipes his wife provided thecooks of the house.

A recent paper by a psychiatrist suggeststhat Charles Darwin also had a mild form ofAsperger’’s syndrome. This is a form ofautism expressed by children and adultsthrough social immaturity, ritualisticbehavior, and obsessive attention to detail.

“It is suggested that the same genes thatproduce autism and Asperger’’s syndrome arealso responsible for great creativity andoriginality, according to Professor MichaelFitzgerald of Dublin's Trinity College inFebruary of 2009.

Darwin's Asperger's affected brain washighly suited to compile the informationneeded to launch the broader theories.

“Asperger’’s syndrome gave Darwin thecapacity to hyperfocus, the extra capacityfor persistence, the enormous ability to seedetail that other people missed, the endlessenergy for a lifetime dedication to a narrow

task, and the independence of mind socritical to original research, he added.

Prof Fitzgerald believes that Darwin was asolitary child, and his emotional immaturityand fear of intimacy extended to adulthood. Professor Fitzgerald said: “Darwin had amassive capacity to observe, to introspectand to analyze. From adolescence he was amassive systematizer, initially of insectsand other specimens which he cataloged. Hehad a tremendously visual brain.

He spent eight years studying barnacles, forexample, and wrote books on hisobservations of earthworms and even his ownchildren if the Origin of the Species. Hewas a rather obsessive-compulsive andritualistic man.

In a study a year earlier (February 2008) onthe effects of biomedical intervention byparents it was found that diet had anenormous effect of the behavior of childrensuffering from various forms of autism.Among the highest rated forms ofintervention was the use of vitamin B12among non-drug food supplements.

Only the use of melatonin and casein (dairy)

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free diets rated higher. This is conflictinginformation as dairy products havetryptophan which triggers in the body theproduction of melatonin. It assists withsleep and it probably helped Charles withthe control of some of the obsessive aspectsof his syndrome which would have kept himawake at night. Also there is a broadspectrum of autism and variations in thegenetic configuration of autistic children.So it would not be surprising that someautistic people would respond to melatoninand others to casein free diets. Apparently,the Darwins figured out what would work bestin the diet of the father of evolution.

Although it is not fully understood orresearched there are reports of highcorrelation of Crohn's disease withAsperger's syndrome. Both these diseases arehighly amenable to dietary treatment. EmmaDarwin's recipe book turns out to be animportant medical study for one of the mostimportant patients in science history.

Did Emma's recipe book assist in thedevelopment of the theory of Evolution?Certainly ameliorating the symptoms of herhusband's chronic condition it assisted inhelping him write his famous books, although

Emma did not do much of the cooking. TheDarwins had servants and it is obvious fromthe recipes that they are written forsomeone who knows how to cook. But, Emmaknew how to treat her husband.

What Emma did not know was how she came toinherit pudding recipes that originated Eastof the Euphrates where Roman soldiers farfrom home first tasted the delights ofcustard pudding.

References:

1. J. H. Baron and A. Sonnenberg, ‘Alimentary diseases in the poor and middle class in London 1773–1815, and in New York poor 1797–1818’, Aliment. Pharmacol. Ther. 16, 1709–1714 (2002). 2. A. N. Crowson, G. J. Nuovo, M. C. Mihm and C. Magro, ‘Cutaneous manifestations of Crohn's disease, its spectrum and its pathogenesis: intracellular consensus bacterial 16S rRNA is associated with the gastrointestinal but not the cutaneous manifestations of Crohn's disease’, Hum. Pathol. 34, 1185–1192 (2003)3. M. A. Peppercorn, ‘Clinical manifestations and diagnosis of Crohn's disease’, Up To Date 11 (2), 1–7 (2003). 4. C. Darwin, letter to Caroline Darwin, 13 October 1834.5. C. Darwin, letter to Catherine Darwin, 8 November 1834.6. G. Pickering, Creative malady (Allen & Unwin, London, 1974), p. 77. 7. T. Butler, letter to Francis Darwin, 13 September 1882. Cited by R. Colp, ‘To be an invalid, redux’, J. Hist. Biol. 31, 211–240 (1998).

8. R. E. Frye, M. A. Tamer and B. A. Cunha, ‘Bacterial Overgrowth Syndrome’, eMedicine (4 February), pp. 1–13 (2005).9. For a more exhaustive see http://rsnr.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/61/1/23.ful

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l0. for information on Asperger's Syndrome (see http://www.autism.com/treatable/form34qraspergersyndrome.htm)

Hidden Genius in an Arab ChristianText

Syriac speaking Christians of Lebanon likemany Christians in the Middle East struggledfor a thousand years to resist the use ofthe Arabic language. At first they wrotetheir prayers with Syriac letters torepresent the sounds and meanings of Arabic.This was called Kharshuni. Then Syriacspeaking Christians began to use duallanguage books written in Arabic and Syriac.Bishops and Patriarchs forbid SyriacChristians to use Arabic in worship.Finally, Christians of the Levant submittedto writing their prayers and their liturgyin Arabic. The influence of Arabic broughtfew positive contributions to Christianculture of the Middle East. The prohibitionof Islam against images of people or animalswas generally adopted by Arab Christians.For the most part Christians east of theEuphrates avoided the iconoclasticcontroversies of the 9th and 10th centuries.The Arab mind was often focused on natureand geometry. Both of these themes foundtheir way into Syriac art.

During the the Caliphate period of Islam

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from the 7th to 9th centuries, SyriacChristians translated Greek knowledge intoArabic often by translating Greek scienceinto Syriac first then into Arabic. By thetime of the Crusades in the 10th to 12thcenturies Arabs had mastered Greek sciencethanks to their Arab Christian brothers.Crusaders who reached the Middle Eastbrought back to Europe Arabic works on theGreek sciences. Plato, Aristotle, Galen,Archimedes, Hippocrates, and many otherswere re-discovered in Europe and itinitiated a long period of enlightenment.Medicine, mathematics, pharmacology, andphilosophy were all highly developedsciences in the Arab world while Europe waswaking up from the dark ages.

Moslem artists studied these works of Greekscience in order to understand the naturalworld. They studied plants, animals, andeven the human body to develop anunderstanding of how God created the world.They did this not to copy what God had donebut to discover it's essence. Essentialshapes emerged from the study of mathematicsand geometry. Iterated patterns wove theirway through stone and scripture. The beautyof flowers and vines that brought medicineand healing to humans as gifts of God framed

the sacred words of the Quran. It is onlynatural that Arab Christians would use thesame knowledge, forms, and botanical images.After all it was the genius of SyriacChristians who transmitted much of thisknowledge to the Arab world in the firstplace.

In the monastery of Our Lady of Balamand amanuscript was created in the 19th centuryof extraordinary beauty. We find remarkableartistic forms vibrant with color, shape,and intelligence. All the the images arebicameral. The right half of each image is amirror of the left half, like the humanface. All mammals reflect this bicameralaspect in their nervous system. The brainhas a right half and left half. Some saythat humans have two brains. We see theworld in stereo because of the way we areformed. This peculiarity of our nervoussystem allows us to perceive the world inthree dimensions because we have one eye oneach side of this bicameral body and brain.We can judge distance and time because ofour bicameral ability to maintain a dualview of reality.

The English philosopher Jeremy Bentham firstdeveloped the term “Bicameral” in 1832 to

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define the British parliament system ofgovernment. Two legislative houses form thegovernment. In the United States there isthe House of Representatives and the Senate.This is a bicameral system that is aprojection of human neurology andphysiology. In 1976 a psychology lecturer atPrinceton University used the term todescribe the origin of consciousness. JulianJaynes proposed that human beings developedconsciousness when the hemispheres of thebrain segregated various functions thatallowed metaphoric and analogic thought toreside in the right brain and linear thoughtin the left brain. One brain was the artistand the other brain was the scientist. Whilethis idea about the brain's hemispheres isnot exactly true it is a useful generalityabout the human brain.

Jaynes suggested that until the rise of thebicameral mind, human beings functioned byinstinct. Humans heard voices and sawvisions and were oriented to obey thesehallucinations much in the same wayschizophrenic people behave today. Jaynesprovided extensive anthropological,linguistic, and social examples to supporthis theory in his book The Origin ofConsciousness and the Breakdown of the

Bicameral Mind. He suggested that Assyrianand Egyptian civilizations were the first toexhibit bicameral consciousness and selfdirected behavior. Art, science, and cultureexpress projections of bicameralconsciousness. Even modern technologyreveals bicameral constructs.

The images of Arabic words in the Balamandmanuscript exhibit bicameral shapesreflecting a profound understanding ofnature and the rational mind. The artist whocreated these bicameral forms was a geniusas great as the most well known artists ofthe 19th century (Van Gogh, Degas, Picasso)who explored the psychology and philosophyof perception and consciousness.

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My Personal Sutra

With the hope to free all beings I will always seek refuge In God, Truth and CommunityUntil the attainment of full Enlightenment

Filled with Compassion and Wisdom Today in the God's presence I regenerate the Consciousness of Enlightenment For the benefit of all sentient beings

For as long as space endures And as long as sentient beings remain May I too abide To dispel the sufferings of the world

May I be a guard for all those who are abandonedBe a guide for those who journey on the road,For those who wish to go across the water,May I be a boat, a raft, a bridge.

For all those ailing in the world,Until their every sickness has been healed,

May I become for themThe doctor, the nurse, the medicine itself.

Based on prayer of Shantideva

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How Syriac Christianity Saved theProtestant Reformation

In 17th century Europe the protestantreformation began to lose its fervor. It wasweighed down by the intellectual weight ofscholasticism, science, and the newsocialism created by the wealth and powerof nation/states who were discovering newlands and resources. Galileo and Newton werepioneering modern science. Descartes wasforging modern philosophy. Hugo Grotius waspromoting the idea of international law.Thomas Hobbes and John Locke were formingmodern political theory. In the same centurystrong centralized nation/states enteredinto worldwide competition for wealth andpower by colonizing America and Asia.

The spiritual sons and daughters of MartinLuther were comfortable in their new world.Protestant theologians feared thatProtestants had lost their way intheological legalism, secular science, andnew social order.

German Pietism

Johnnes Arndt was a German Lutherantheologian born in 1555, the yearWidmanstadt and Moses of Mardin publishedthe Syriac New Testament in Vienna. He wasattracted to the Syriac theology ofMacarius, translated from Greek to Latin in1559 in Paris. The Homilies of Macariuswere available at the Lutheran University ofWittenburg in 1577 when he attended. It wasthese homilies that did more for thetransmission of Syriac theology to Europethan all the Syriac New Testaments printedby Widmanstadt and his successors. Arndtwrote two famous devotional books, theGarden of Paradise and True Christianity. Itis said that Arndt memorized all fiftyhomilies of Macarius. Whole passages ofMacarius find their way into his writingsand thus Syriac Christian ideas are passedinto the revival of the ProtestantReformation.

The book True Christianity was read byPhilipp Jacob Spener nearly a century laterwhen he attended the University ofStrassburg. The Syriac ideas of Macarius sodeeply influenced him that he wrote a bookthat would become the foundation document ofthe pietistic movement: Pia desideria(Pious Desires,1675)

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The Pia Desideria or “Heartfelt Desire forGod-pleasing Reform” is the classicstatement of Pietism. First published in1675 by Philip Jacob Spener of Frankfurt onMain, it is both a devotional work and atextbook on church renewal.

The churches in Germany in the centuryfollowing the Reformation were weakened bysacramentalism and confessionalism andendless theological disputes. Morality andspirituality among the laity and clergy wereat a low ebb. The Protestant Reformationneeded to be baptized in the Holy Spirit ofrevival and personal piety.

Spener took advantage of a Frankfurtpublisher’s invitation to write a prefacefor a new edition of Johann Arndt’s TrueChristianity. Spener discussed hisassignment with his fellow ministers andsubmitted his manuscript in 1675. Hisremarks won immediate acclaim and within sixmonths he published the preface separatelyunder its own title, “Pious Desires.” Inthis seminal work, Spener responded to thespiritual conditions he observed with asixfold program of church renewal. Hisprincipal concern was the “scandalous

worldliness” of the churches and his hopefor renewal was based on the conversion ofJews to Christianity in the first centurychurches. Thus Spener became known as theFather of Pietism.

Pietism was a movement within Lutheranismlasting from the late 17th century to themid-18th century. It became influentialamong most Protestants and Anabaptistsinspiring not only John Wesley and hisMethodist Movement in England, but also theBrethren movement founded by Alexander Mack.The Pietist movement had an enormous impacton world history because of the Puritaninfluence in the development of the UnitedStates with its emphasis on individualismand Christian piety.

Spener offered six proposals for reform inPia Desideria which became a short summaryof pietism:

(1) There should be "a more extensive use ofthe Word of God among us." The Bible, Spenersaid, must be the chief means forreformation

(2) Spener called also for the priesthoodof all believers citing Luther's example in

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urging all Christians to be active in thegeneral work of Christian ministry.

(3) He appealed for the reality of Christianpractice more than a matter of relying onsimple knowledge. (4) Spener then urged restraint and charityasking his readers to love and pray forunbelievers and sinners to adopt a moderatetone in disputes.

(5) Next he called for the need fortraining clergy in piety and devotion ratherthan academic subjects.

(6) Last he implored ministers to preachsermons people could understand.

The chief characteristic of SyriacChristianity is reflected in the six basicproposals. This is seen especially in theHomilies of Macarius. One can find theHomilies of Macarius online and by readingthe titles of the fifty homilies it is easyto see the direct parallels to theprinciples of pietism. If there is onephrase to describe both Syriac Christianityand German pietism it is spirituality of theheart.

University of Halle (Germany)

In 1694, after nearly 20 years of fame,Spener helped to found the University ofHalle near Wittenburg under the charter ofLeopold I and the patronage of Fredrick III,Elector of Brandenburg and Fredrick I ofPrussia. He invited August Herman Frankce tobecome a professor at the new university.This was no accident or a lightly consideredoffer. Spener specifically chose Frankcebecause of his passion for Syriac writerslike Ephrem and Macarius. By making SyriacChristianity part of the core curriculum thespiritual principles would pass over toGerman pietism in the heart of its practice.The University of Halle perhaps did more forthe transmission of Syriac theology morethan any other institution, person, or eventin the history of the West.

Francke lived his faith. He opened hisown home as a school for poor children whenhe moved to Halle in 1692. Within a year hehad to buy a building to house 100 orphans.He established a teacher training institute,and later he helped found a publishinghouse, and later a medical clinic.

Francke had experienced a dramatic

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conversion from cold theology to warmpersonal faith in 1687. Seven years later,under his leadership Halle became the centerof Protestantism's biggest socialenterprises and most ambitious missionaryendeavors in 17th and 18th century Europe.The university established a center forOriental languages including Syriac. TheHomilies of Macarius became the core part ofthe curriculum. The Syriac ideas of Macariusshaped the four main features of HallePietism: individual piety, missionary zeal,compassion for the poor, and devotion toprayer and scripture.

Individual Piety

Syriac Christianity is a history ofindividual piety over legalistic corporateresponses. The Syriac monk tended to be morealone, eccentric, and radical in his or herexpression of prayer. We need only topicture the image of Simeon the Stylitebowing before his Creator a thousand times aday on top of his column. This is incontrast to the western image of the monkwho lives in community and military likeobedience to an abbot.

Missionary Zeal

Syriac Christianity is a history ofmissionary zeal having reached China athousand years before the Jesuits. Desertmonks from the Syriac east reached Gaul whenEurope was still asleep. Syriac missionariesarrived in Ireland shortly after Sts.Columban and Columba.

Compassion for the Poor

Syriac Christianity is a history ofcompassion for the poor as Syriac Christiansof every social class were studying in theuniversity School of Nisibis a thousandyears before the first university was builtin Europe and Ephrem was operating ahospital and refugee centers in Edessa athousand years before Galen and Hippocrateswas being read in Europe.

Devotion to the Word of God

Syriac Christianity is a history of devotionto the Word of God is music and prayer. BarDaisan was composing music based on folktunes and scripture more than a thousandyears before Martin Luther was using thesame technique.

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All the features of Syriac Christianitymentioned above were made alive in therevival of the pietists in the 17th centurythrough their rediscovery of Ephrem,Macarius, Jacob, and Isaac. The pietisticmovement saved the Protestant Reformation.

Note:

Macarius is known to present day scholars as PseudoMacarius and generally regarded as an anonymous Syriacwriter of Mesopotamia, perhaps from the present day areaof Tur Abdin. But for purposes of this article and becausethe pietists believed the Fifty Homilies to be from Macariuswe shall refer to him as Macarius.

Syriac Faith in an Age of Science

A higgs-boson walks into a church, the priest says “we don’tallow higgs-bosons in here.”

The higgs-boson says “but without me how canyou have mass?

This is humor that only makessense if you are a physicist or abeliever who understands science.As Syriac Orthodox believers in the21st century how do we understand theimplications of science andreligion? Why does it matter to us?

I believe that we must understandscience as believers because it doesthree things:1. It gives us a new language tounderstand and explain the nature ofGod2. It helps us perceive the geniusand depth of understanding by Syriacsaints3. It informs our existence asmodern people.

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Recently the Large HaldronCollider in Geneva smashed trillionsof protons in head on collisions atnear the speed of light. This wasdone in the largest scientificinstrument ever built for a cost of10 billion dollars (US). My firstview of it in 2009 gave me a senseof wonder and awe. It reminded me ofa Gothic cathedral. Its main purposeis to find the Higgs Boson, aparticle or field that gives mass toall things.

Let me explain why this is important notonly to scientists but also to believers.First, it has fundamental value for science.

Light does not have mass. Youcannot put it on a scale and weighit. So if in the beginning there waslight, how does the universe comeinto being with mass. Things havemass but light does not. Hmmmmm.

Let us think backward. We can turn massinto energy or light with fusion or fission.Atomic reactors control this process. Sowhat turns energy or light into mass?According to our best scientists it is theHiggs Boson. Discovering it will explain the

other features of quantum physics such asgravity. Without mass there is no gravityand without gravity there are no weak orstrong forces or electromagnitism. It allfits together if there is a Higgs Bosonaccording to the Standard Model.

In 1964 Peter Higgs at Edinburgh Universityexpounded on the idea of a fieldmechanism that made it possible toconvert energy into mass. His initialpaper outlining the symmetry-breakingloophole that allowed energy to becomematter was rejected by one of theworld’s most distinguished scientificjournals. Higgs persisted, refined hisideas and rewrote his paper. Physicistsnow have almost universally accepted theHiggs field as the mechanism that allowsenergy to convert at some point into adense plasma of particles with mass.This idea is central to the “standardmodel.”

The Higgs boson is today’s holy grail inthe field of physics. It is part of thestandard model of physics and it gives allphysical things in the universe (stars,planets and people) their mass. The boson isthought to exist only at high energies in

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moments after the Big Bang explosion. Somebosons are sticky and make massive thingswhile other bosons do not stick and remainas massless photons (or light particles).

The Higgs particle won't be found by theLarge Haldron Collider according to StevenHawking considered by some to be thegreatest living physicist of our age. I donot think it will be found either becausethe Higgs Boson is not a particle.

I predict that the Higgs Boson is not aparticle but consciousness itself. Whenconsciousness is emergent it becomes thesubstance of things hoped for, that is, thesum of all possibilities that remain unknownand undetected until consciousness acts. Ipredict this not because I am a scientistbut because I am a theologian influenced bySyriac thinkers.

Understanding science and religiontogether gives us insight to the saints.

For example, Saint Ephrem remarkablydescribes God as scientists describe theHiggs Boson.

“There is One Being, who knows Himself

and sees Himself.He dwells in Himself,And from Himself sets forth.Glory to His Name.This is a Being who by His own will is in every place,Who is invisible and visible,Manifest and secret.He is above and below.

Mingling and condescending by His grace among the lower;Loftier and more exalted, as befits His glory, than the higher.The swift cannot exceed His swiftness, (speed of light)Nor the slow outlast His patience.

He is before all and after all,And in the midst of all.He is like the sea,In that all creation moves in Him.” (Higgs field)

(Ephrem the Syrian, Hymn against Bar-DaisTranslated by A. S. Duncan Jones, 1904 (from India Office Ethiopian

and Syrian Library No. 9)

If there is a Higgs Boson, I believe the Higgs Boson isnot a particle but consciousness itself. It is not a thing. It isbeing.

Ephrem saw the qualities of creation and the nature ofGod as the ground of being. He saw this long before

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modern theologians such as the Lutheran Scholar PaulTillich who made a sensation in the Protestant world bydescribing God in ontological terms. In his book Theologyand Doctrine he writes: “God does not exist. He is beingitself beyond essence and existence. Therefore, to arguethat God exists is to deny him (132).” Now Tillich wasspeaking in highly technical terms and not as a believer inthe pews. He was showing us how God is beyond humanlimits and description. Ephrem says the same thingalthough in a more poetic manner.

When we understand the connectionsbetween science and religion it helps us toperceive other spheres of life. I am amodern man, affected by life in this age. Imet Salvador Dali in 1972 in a briefencounter on the streets of San Franciscoduring the San Francisco Art Festival. Itwas looking at a print of Galatee of the Spheres.It was an “aha” moment. Thrilled andelevated to meet such artistic genius andencountering a work of his gave me a glimpseof what art could do and be. I saw brieflyhow God is in the emptiness and the field ofbeing that supports what we call reality.Dali doesn't depict in his art ananthropomorphic God as Michelangelo did, butthe existence of a conscious force thatgives content to matter, as the Higgs bosonis presumed to do, is implied in the spaces

between the spheres. It is because of Daliand others that I could later see the geniusof Ephrem. Like the massive Linear HaldronCollider these ideas collided and produced aspark of insight to the connections betweenscience and religion.

I read the Bible with modern eyes and Isee the deeper truths because of theinfluences of both science and religion.Consider Proverbs 8:22-31 which isconsidered a song of wisdom. It could aseasily be seen as the song of the HiggsBoson.

22The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,the first of his acts of long ago. 23Ages ago I was set up,at the first, before the beginning of the earth. 24When there were no depths I was brought forth,when there were no springs abounding with water. 25Before the mountains had been shaped,before the hills, I was brought forth— 26when he had not yet made earth and fields,or the world’s first bits of soil. 27When he established the heavens, I was

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there,when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, 28when he made firm the skies above,when he established the fountains of the deep, 29when he assigned to the sea its limit,so that the waters might not transgress his command,when he marked out the foundations of the earth, 30 then I was beside him, like a master worker;and I was daily his delight,rejoicing before him always, 31rejoicing in his inhabited worldand delighting in the human race.

In 1999 I left Mor Gabriel monastery toreturn to the United States to await a visato return to Turkey for another year. I wasinvited to be a guest at a Benedictinemonastery in New Mexico called Christ in theDesert. There, over the course of a fewmonths, I met many remarkable people offaith who loved to talk about science. Wediscovered a common language thattheological traditions did not adequatelyprovide. Among the remarkable people I metwas Pulitzer Prize winning author Anne

Dillard. Our conversations touched me deeplyand she reminded me of Ephrem who couldspeak and write in poetic brilliance thatfused modern and ancient thought. Sciencewill change and create the future. Religionwill try to hold onto the past. These arethe natures of science and religion. AnneDillard, Ephrem, and others show us a poeticinterface as to how these world meet in thepresent. Listen to how Anne Dillarddescribes our relation to God. It is a oneway street, an immutable relationship thathas an eternal hold on our souls. Ephremcould have as easily written the followingand it shows us a path to living mystically,scientifically, and faithfully in the modernworld.

“God does not demand that we give up our personaldignity, that we throw in our lot with random people, thatwe lose ourselves and turn from all that is not him. Godneeds nothing, asks nothing, and demands nothing, like thestars. It is a life with God which demands these things.

Experience has taught the race that if knowledge of God isthe end, then these habits of life are not the means but thecondition in which the means operates. You do not have todo these things; not at all. God does not, I regret to report,give a hoot. You do not have to do these things–unless youwant to know God. They work on you, not on him.

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You do not have to sit outside in the dark. If, however, youwant to look at the stars, you will find that darkness isnecessary. But the stars neither require nor demand it.”

From Teaching a Stone to Talk by Annie Dillard

So let me tell the joke again:

A higgs-boson walks into a church, the priest says “we don’tallow higgs-bosons in here.”

The higgs-boson says “but without me how can youhave mass?

Get it?

The Prayer of Moses of Mardin

Moses of Mardin was the diplomat of theSyrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch in 16th

century Rome. He arrived at a critical timein world history. The Reformation wasdraining the Roman Church of her power,prestige, and people. The Counter-Reformation was led by the Jesuits andcleansing the Roman Church of the cancer ofcorruption. Humanism and science were thenew prophetic voices offering a future freeof superstition and illumined by theEnlightenment.

The arrival of Moses in Rome created asensation. He was a curiosity but over timehe came under scrutiny by the theologians ofRome. After much delay he wrote a statementof faith opening with a most remarkableprayer. It is both a literary masterpieceand at the same time a study in the theologyof the Syriac Orthodox Church.

The prayer has four parts.He opens with an Ephremic image of the Door

of Mercies.This is followed by an appeal to be

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protected and saved from the attacks ofSatan.

Then he professes a beautiful series of sixpromises to God to remain faithful, togive thanks and be grateful, to not bediscouraged by controversies, to not giveSatan a reason to erase his name, and tobe a faithful soldier in the Army of God.

The prayer ends with a plea against hisenemies and a thanksgiving for reunionwith the Church of Rome.

The opening of the prayer clearlyestablished Moses' love for his church.Syriac Christians pray daily a prayerwritten by Ephrem, “Open the Door of yourMercies O Lord” Next to the “Our Father”(aboon dbashmayo....) this is perhaps themost beloved prayer of the Syriac church.

Moses admits his weakness andpowerlessness to resist snares of the EvilOne. The enemy of man uses fraud, deceit,secret weapons, and roadblocks to faith.Moses appeals to God to save him but at thesame time recognizes his responsibility tobe connected to the mind of God. This latterpoint is described in detail in the mainbody of the prayer that follows.

Moses initiates six lines with therepitition “By no means, O Lord...”( inLatin it is “Necquaquam Domine...”).

First, for Syriac Christians, gratitudeis the heart of prayer. The abundance ofAnaphoras (Eucharistis prayers) in every ageand generation testify to the beauty ofSyriac prayer. Even in a Latin translation,the language of Jesus finds its highestexpression in grateful prayer. All of thisis shaped by the Orthodox faith.

Second, Moses pleads with God to guardhis tongue.

Third, Moses makes a reference to theOrthodox faith. Although Andreas Masiusclearly uses the Latin phrase “fide recta” Icannot imagine this in the Syriac asanything other than “hymonutho orthodoxo.”Moses was not renegade priest acting on hisown. He took great pride in his church.

Fourth, Moses promises to stay away fromcontroversies. Moses knew of the manycontroversies both within and outside hischurch. He knew that he came from aquarreling people and rival bishops. This

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was not because his traditions and faithwere trivial but because they were soimportant. Enemies encouraged division, soevery quarrel was charged with a sense oflife and death.

Fifth, Moses pleads with God to not allowSatan to erase his name from the earth. Theidea of the “Name” is critical tounderstanding a culture of honor. A man anda family is branded by its name. Its valuebefore men and God is in the “Name.” Theculture of the Church of Rome was a cultureof shame. It was about guilt and sin.Cultures of shame do not place a high valueon one's name but rather on our anonymitybefore men and God. Shame arises from anindividual sense of self. Moses, in this oneline identified a key psycho/socialdifference between the East and West.

The sixth repetition that leads with theline, “By no means, O Lord ” Moses castshimself before the utter mercy of God.

In the final section Moses requests theenlightenment of God “Illumine me by yourface...” Again, Moses is drawing upon thegenius of Ephrem and the Syriac traditionthat sees the source of our enlightenment in

God and not in ourselves. In a way this isthe challenge to the humanists of Europe whosaw the origin of faith within man. Mosesalludes to military images perhaps to curryfavor with Pope Julius III who was fightinga war at the time in northern Italy.

Moses ends the prayer by thanking God forallowing him to meet with the sons of Rome.Moses sees himself and the Syriac church as“scattered” brethren not because of theologyor excommunication but because of the “enemyof man.” This is an important concept andapproach. He does not see himself or theSyriac church as heretical nor does he seethe church of Rome as heretical. He will goon to refute the doctrines of heresy inArius and Nestorius later in his statementof faith but in the prayer he clearly seesthe Church of Rome as a brother in Christ.

Although Moses came before Rome as anequal they eventually rejected his statementof faith. The reason for this was due inpart to a reaction by Rome against Semiticinfluences and the election of a new Pope.Although Hebrew and Syriac were seen as away to evangelize the Arab world. Romebanned publishing the New Testament inSyriac and Hebrew for brief periods. When

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Pope Julius III was elected in 1550, he wentto war, appointed relatives to highpositions, banned the publishing of Syriacand Hebrew, lived a life of luxury, sufferedfrom gout, adopted a street boy an actionthat stirred many rumors and generally didnot have time or interest in scholarship.

Moses arrived in Rome during the reign ofPope Paul III when there was a morecosmopolitan attitude toward the churches ofthe East. The Patriarch Ignatius III,“Abdullah”, sent Moses as his legate becausethe Syriac church was in need of printedbooks. Under Ottoman rule, printing presseswere not allowed, a ban that lasted from1483-1720.

Another motive for Moses to go to Romewas in hope of Union of the Churches. Thearrival was a precursor to the eventualvisit of the Syriac Orthodox PatriarchIgnatius III. We actually have evidence ofthis hope and motive in a unique manuscriptin the British Museum (Harley 5512). It isLatin but written in Syriac Serto script.Moses describes himself by his own hand in acolophon as “taking refuge in God” with thedate 1548. Ignatius III and Pope Paul IIIare paired in the text. Moses tells us that

he was living in the monastery of St.Stefano Maggiori inside the Vatican. Thismonastery was known for having printed thefirst New Testament in an eastern script(Ge'ez), so it was not a surprise that thiswas where Moses resided. The transliterationof the Latin Mass in Syriac script wasperhaps created by Moses to teach himselfLatin, the court language. It certainly wasintended to be used by Syriac readers topronounce the words of the Latin Mass inLatin.

It was in the monastery of St. Stefanothat Moses became friends with the Cardinalof Santa Croce, Marcello Cervini, a humanistand great support of publishing Syriactexts. In fact, Moses dedicates the Harleymanuscript to the Cardinal as first amongthe patrons of the Harley text. It is nosmall accident of history that the Cardinalbecame Pope after the death of Julius III.It is no wonder that the printing of theSyriac New Testament occurs in the first fewmonths he became Pope.

Cervini, who became Pope Marcellos II,had long supported the publishing of Syriactexts. As protector of the Vatican Libraryhe collected 143 Greek manuscripts, printed

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and encouraged the development of CodexBezae and the education of gifted men ineastern languages. Before Moses arrived inRome Cervini was the patron ofWidmanstetter. He spent years preparing thefuture printer of the Syriac New Testamenteducating him in oriental languages. Asearly as 1534 Widmanstetter was promotingthe idea of teaching Syriac and Arabicbefore Pope Clement VII. Cervini had sentdeacon Petrus Ghalini from Damascus toGermany to help Widmanstetter with hisArabic. On June 13, 1548, at the Diet ofAugsburg Andreas Masius and Widmanstettermet for the first time.

Cervini is also responsible for thecollaboration of Andreas Masius and Moses ofMardin on Syriac texts including theTreatise on Paradise by Moshe Bar Kepha. Infact, the Profession of Faith by Moses ofMardin was included in the Moshe Bar Kephapublication by Masius. Masius must havebeen deeply trusted by Moses as he selectedMasius to translate his Profession of Faithfrom Syriac to Latin.

Moses' hope to achieve Union with Romewas not achieved in his lifetime. But laterin the century Pope Gregory XIII is reported

to have achieved union. But the ex-Patriarchof the Syriac Orthodox church confused thesituation while he lived in Rome from 1577-1595 insisting that Pope Gregory XIIInegotiate with him. The Pope could not seethe legal validity to this representativenor his authority. The Pope wanted tonegotiate with the sitting Patriarch ofAntioch.

Moses did not have a chance before PopeJulius III. It is not surprising that heleft Rome and moved to Venice where he andothers, including Andreas Masius, hisstudent and Latin translator, along withWidmanstitter, and G. Postel met andpublished the Syriac New Testament in 1555,the year of the death of Pope Julius III.

Moses was reluctant to write theprofession of faith, probably for goodreason, considering the narrow selfinterests of Pope Julius III. More thanlikely it was a set up to ostracize Mosesand usher him out of Rome. Nevertheless, wehave this beautiful prayer at the beginningof the Profession of Faith. For this wethank Moses of Mardin and honor his courageand intelligence for giving us an insightinto the Syriac church of the 16th century.

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Profession of Faith by Moses of Mardin, Assyrian,Jacobite, Patriarchal legate, a profession for the Patriarchof Rome in the year 1552 declaring by his own hand inSyriac and translated by Andreas Masius of Brussels.

The name of the Father, and Son, and HolySpirit, the one God who is glorified inheaven.

I beseech you O Lord our God that youopen the door of your mercies for my heart

and accept from me supplications which Ioffer to you

neither dismiss your grace because of myvain promises

nor allow the adversary of my soul toawaken in me idle thoughts which are farfrom the truth.

Let there not be a place in me for Satanto confuse me with his fraud.

For he might throw his hidden arrows intome and hinder me along the level path offaith.

Do not let the enemy of my soul to gloatwhen I have been separated from your goodsense.

By no means, O Lord, take away from meyour gratitude so that I am without sincerethought.

By no means, O Lord, may my tongue be theobstacle of my soul.

By no means, O Lord, shall my speech notbe grateful to you and may I not hesitate tothink about the Orthodox faith.

By no means, O Lord, shall I be keptfrom turning to the Lord because ofcontroversies that are like a small ship ofthe soul cast about on a stormy sea besiegedby crowded waves and abandon you in theabyss of destruction.

By no means, O Lord, may Satan delight inseeing me and say that God has abandoned meand say “Come, may we erase his name fromthe earth.”

By no means, O Lord, let this be.

Illumine me by your face; be near andhelp me and cut back my enemies. Like asoldier set my feet upon the Rock of TrueFaith and put into my mouth the word oftruth. Test me so that my soul is made

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alive.

You are glorious for having broughttogether this meeting to introduce me inpeace and tranquility according to rank yourfriends who are the sons of the HolyCatholic Church of Rome and have gatheredtogether each of the scattered children,whom the enemy of man has scattered, thatthey may enter into its midst and be oneprofession that they may proclaim the HolyTrinity. Amen.

NotesFor a more definitive analysis of the key players

in the life of Moses of Mardin read Wilkinson, Robert J. Orientalism, Aramaic, and Kabbalah

in the Catholic Reformation.About Pope Julius III:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08564a.htmThis is my translation from Latin to English.

Fidei Professio quam Moses Mardinus Assyrius Jacobita Patirachae antiocheni legatum, suo et patriarche sui nomineest Roma professus Anno 1552 ex ipso profitentis autographoSyrico traducta ad verbum per Andream Masius Bruxellanium

In nomine Patris et Fillis et Spiritus Sancti unius Dei, qui est gloriosus in saecula. Obsecro te Domine Deus noster ut reseres portas misericordiae tue cora me et

acceptes a me supplices preces, quas offero tibi, neque dimittas me vacuum responso gratie tue. Neque finas ut excitentur aduersus me cognitationes vane quae sint de rebus veritatis expertibus. Et non des locum in me diabolo,ut conturbet me fraude sua, et iaciat in me sagittas suas occultas, prohibearque me a via plana fidei. Ne gaudeat de me aduersarius animae meae, cum a cognoscedis probis sensisdimotus fuero.

Necquaquam Domine tollas a me gratiam tuam, ut caream cogitationibus sinceres.

Necquaquam Domine sit lingua mea offendiculum animae meae.

Nequaquam Domine loquar quidquam quod tibi non sit gratum, neq; ambigat cogiitatio mea de fide recta.

Nequaquam Domine verfer in illis contouersiis, quae ceumare tempestuosum undis crebris concitiunt nauiculam animae, conanturq; demergere ipsam in abyssum perditionis.

Nequaquam Domine derelinquas me solum, ne gaudeat Satanas videns me et deleamus nomen eius terra.

Nequaquam Domine ita fiat.

Sed illumina me vultu tuo, atque adsto mihi auxilio, etcaede hostes meos retorrsum, pedesque meos constititue super petram fidei veraem et pone in os meum verbum veritatis, ac da mihi cognitionem qua viuat animae mea, Teque gloriosum praeicet propter salutem quam contulisti inipsuam, atque introdictio me cum quiete et pace in numerum amicorum tuorum, qui sunt filis ecclesiae: sanctae Catholicae, ecclesiae Romanae, ac colligito omnes proles eius dispersas, quas inimicus homo notus dispersit ut intrent in medium ipsius, sintque unius professionis et gloriose praedicent tinitatem sanctam. ita esto Amen

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Rediscovering Forgotten Anaphorasfrom Saint Mark's Convent, Jerusalem

In the monastery of Saint Mark inJerusalem, a Syriac Orthodox Conventassociated with the Last Supper of Christand His Disciples, is a library of SyriacManuscripts.

When I arrived in 1980 for the first ofthree visits I still was able to see someremarkable records through the courtesy ofHis Eminence Jijawi, Syriac Archbishop ofJerusalem. In 1982 I returned withequipment to microfilm manuscripts whichwere subsequently delivered to the ArthurVoobus Syriac Collection at the LutheranSchool of Theology at the University ofChicago where they have languished for 27years. As a poor student I was not able toafford to make copies. A few years laterKent Brown from Brigham Young Universitymicrofilmed many of the same materials.Recently these microfilms were digitized andput online by BYU ( seehttp://cpart.byu.edu/files/brown). Iimmediately recognized the Syriac lectionarywith the shelf number Ms Syr 98 (14). I hadspecifically microfilmed the colophon. To

see the complete lectionary once againfilled my soul with joy.

Bishop Samuel published in 1991, the yearof my ordination, a series of Anaphoras ofthe Divine Liturgy. I remember while livingwith him at the time, he was busy with theseliturgies and was seeking funding to getthem published. He had me busy with writinga history of lectionaries which is stillavailable online at www.sor.edu/lectionaryas part of a body of work in English toexplain the great masterpieces of the SyriacOrthodox Church. He had the foresight topublish these liturgies. He explained:

“Ever since we were appointed to serve our faithful inNorth America, we have undertaken the task of translatingour Church rites into English, perhaps the chiefinternational language as well as the official tongue of thispart of the world. It was our judgment that it would bequite appropriate and of great benefit to publish thesetranslations together with the original Syriac, the languageof our Lord. Thus, we have published the Holy Liturgy of St.James, the Brother of our Lord, the Solemnization of theSacrament of Matrimony, the Sacrament of Baptism, theBurial of the Dead and the Book of Church Festivals. Wehave presented these volumes to both our own Syrianfaithful as well as to scholars throughout the world who areinterested in both our Syriac language and in the heritageof various traditions and denominations.

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In this same series, we today present this Book of HolyLiturgies in both Syriac and English. The Holy Liturgy, as allknow, is the consummation of our faith. The prayers andservices of the Holy Eucharist are the fruit of divineinspiration placed in the hearts of our Godly forefathers.Therefore, it is important to make these Liturgies availableto our faithful more than any other services. The Churchcannot afford to neglect or alter this fact, especially sinceall the faithful are asked to participate in the Holy Liturgy inperformance of their spiritual duties.”

Unfortunately he published only 13anaphora with English translations: StJames, St. Mark, St. Peter, Twelve Apostles,St. John, Xystus, St. John Chrysostom, StCyril, St Jacob of Sarugh, St. Philoxenus,St. Severius, and Mor Bar Salibi.

Ms Syr 98 in Saint Mark's Monasterycontains the previously unpublished anduntranslated Anaphoras (except for one).They are as follows:

Anaphora of Matthew the Shepherd on ofthe Seventy (70) 1st c

Anaphora of John (Iwannis) of Harran (83)+1165

Anaphora of Jacob Baradaeus (89) +578Anaphora of Koriakos (Cyriacus) Patriarch

of Antioch (121) +817

Anaphra of Eustathius Chief of theBishops of Nicea (135) 4th c.

Anaphora of Marutha of Takrit (142))+649

Anaphora of Moshe Bar Kepha (156) +903

This manuscript was in the library whenMor Samuel was bishop in Jerusalem (1946)before he departed to the United States in1949. In 1982 I was with His Eminence in theConvent of St. Mark in 1982 when he wasconsulting this manuscript and others inpreparation of a Syriac book of Anaphoraseventually published in 1985 by the St.Ephrem press in Holland. This is ahandwritten book as the press did not havetype setting capabilities for the Syriacfont. Nevertheless, Mor Samuel made a listof 79 anaphoras in his introduction plus acouple dozen more that had been made inmodern times bringing the list to nearly 100anaphoras. The list stunned the scholarlyworld. It clearly showed that anaphoras werecomposed in nearly every generation. Still,in this edition Mor Samuel presented only10of these anaphoras in Syriac. To date, manyif not most of these anaphoras remainunpublished and untranslated. From theseven anaphoras listed above only the

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anaphora of Matthew the Shepherd ispublished in the Mor Samuel Syriac edition.No doubt he consulted this manuscript boththen and later but for various reasons chosenot to publish all but one of theseanaporhras.

There does not seem to be any order tothe anaphoras in this manuscript. They varyin dating and length and importance.

The manuscript is estimated to be a 15th

century text. It opens with an interestingdiagram of boxes, four across and five down,identifying various anaphoras. Read fromright to left it lists:

Row 1Anaphora of Jacob the brother of the LordAnaphora of the ApostlesAnaphora of the Apostle John the

EvangelistAnaphora of St. XystusRow 2Anaphora of Matthew the ShepherdAnaphora of Dionysius Bar SalibiAnaphora of XystusAnaphora of Matthew the ShepherdRow 3

Anaphora of St Peter Chief of theApostles

Anaphora of John of Harran (Habur andNisibis, note indicates the year 1533/1222AD)

Anaphora of Jacob BaradaeusAnaphora of Jacob of SerugRow 4Anaphora of Koriakos the Partiarch of

AntiochAnaphora of EustathiosAnaphora of Marutha of TakritAnaphora of Moshe Bar KephaRow 5Anaphora of Philoxenus of MabbugAnaphora of Severius the PatriarchAnaphora of Mark the Gospel writerEndings

So there are 19 anaphora in all.Unfortunately the copiest skipped over threeanaphoras and copied only sixteen. He leftout the anaphoras of Dionysius Bar Salibi, asecond version of St. Xystus of Rome and asecond version of Matthew the Shepherd. He

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appears to make a common mistake often seenin manuscripts where the copiest jumps to anidentical word (or in this case an anaphorawith the same name) and resumes copyingleaving behind the section between theidentical words. Instead of copying thefirst version of Matthew the Shepherd hejumps to the second version leaping overthree anaphora and continues the order inproper form. It is possible that the copiestdid not want a duplicate anaphora of St.Xystus and Matthew the Shepherd but why didhe leave out Dionysius Bar Salibi? Itappears to be a copiest mistake. This is ashame if these anaphoras of St. Xystus andMatthew the Hermit were varients. If theywere not varients then we have lost nothing.Dionysius Bar Salibi has been published thethe 1985 book of anaphors by Mor Samuel.

The anaphora of Matthew the Shepherdseems to have been influenced by the“filioque” controversy which means it couldhave been written no earlier than the sixthcentury AD after it was added to the NiceneCreed at the Council of Toledo. Filioque isa combination of Latin words meaning "andfrom the Son," added to the Nicene Creed bythe Third Council of Toledo in 589: Credo inSpiritum Sanctum qui ex patre filioque procedit ("Ibelieve in the Holy Spirit who proceeds from

the Father and Son"). It refers to thedoctrine of the procession of the HolySpirit from the Father and the Son. Althoughit was accepted by the Western church as abelief by the end of the 4th century, theformula was not authorized for generalliturgical use before the early part of the11th century.

So it is difficult to know when thisanaphora was written. If it was a responseto the theology of the West then it probablywas written no earlier than the the 6th

century. If it was earlier then it showsimportant agreement between Rome andAntioch.

The anaphora of John of Harran is a lateanaphora from the 12th century. John ofHarran is also known as John of Mardin andis credited with writing a monastic rule.The anaphora has the characteristics of aliturgy for a monastery. It is brief andpersonal.

The anaphora of Jacob Baradaeusdemonstates characteristics of influences ofGreek liturgies. Note the use of the Greekword “Paraclete” for the Holy Spirit. Alsothe use of categories of Greek thought aresuggested in the Epiclesis foreshadowing thedistinctions made by Thomas Aquinas in the

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following millennium.The anaphora of Koriakos, Patriarch of

Antiioch, in the 9th century focuses on theauthority of the Holy Spirit written in anage when Islam was a dominant force. It iseasy to believe that the authority of thechurch and it's leaders were challenged.Koriakos points to a broad range of sacredtexts and people who demonstrate an ancientand long heritage of authority. Koriakos iscredited with creating the Synod of Harranand creating canon law to clarify religiousissues of the day.

The anaphora of Eustathios is so shortand brief it is difficult to know of it'sorigin. It's brievity could be a sign ofit's antiquity. Eutathius was a bishop fromBerea who attended the Nicene Council. Thetitle to the anaphora indicates Eutathiuswas a leader of the Bishops at this synod.

The Anaphora of Marutha of Takrit is anextraordinarily beautiful anaphora. Theepiclesis points to a universal andecological view. It speaks of the blood ofChrist being poured for the earth for it'scleansing. This is extraordinary as we wouldexpect it to be more anthropomorphic and befor our cleansing. It's transcendant qualitycould be used in the 21st century.

Surely this anaphora credited to MosheBar Kepha was written by him. It possessesthe poetic quality and balance we wouldexpect from one of the great giants of theSyriac Orthodox Church. He repeats the line,“for the atonement of the passions andforgiveness of sins for those who shallhope” for both parts of the epiclesis forboth the bread and wine.

Anaphora of Matthew the Shepherd one ofthe Seventy

The priest calls the Holy Spirit: Throughyour natural mercies integrate us into you OLord

into your natural compassion. Send theParaclete, true spirit, who unceasinglyproceeds from you

and from the son those things thatpartake of his essence, and shall abide andshall be released upon this sacrifice andshall sanctify it. Do not account sinsrevealed to you on your divine gift.

Priest: Come down secretly and hovering

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unseen upon this bread shall completely fillthe BODY of the Messiah of God being madeflesh.

People: Amen

Priest: and to this cup shall be madeperfect the BLOOD that having been made lowwas lifted up on Golgotha.

Priest: Amen

Anaphora of John of Harran +1165

Priest bows down the Holy Spirit: HolySpirit send the Lord from your Holy Abodeand and abide and rest upon this bread. Andmixed together these things shall be madeholy; and it shall be made pure and cleanfor me.

Priest: Answer me...

People: Have mercy upon me...

Priest: This bread shall show the BODY ofthe Messiah our God

People: Amen

Priest: And to mix with this concealmentshall be transfomed BLOOD of the Messiah ourGod.

People: Amen

Anaphora of Jacob Baradaeus (+578)

When the priest calls the Holy Spirit:To you I call Lord God when I trust uponyour mercies you send upon us the goodnessof holy mercy. Who is worthy of you and youronly begotten son who by actual andparticular (reality) descended upon yourbeloved son in the Jordan River and uponthe Holy Apostles.

Priest: Answer me...

Priest: When that spirit, the Paraclete,shall come and hover over these preparedmysteries

and the hovering of his spirit shall makethis bread the BODY manifesting the Messiahour God.

People: Amen

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Priest: This cup shall perfect theatoning BLOOD of the Messiah our God.

People: Amen

Anaphora of Koriakos the Patriarch ofAntioch +817

Priest bows down the Holy Spirit: Havemercy upon us the one complete Father God.Send upon us and upon these sacrifices thatare set before us, our Holy Spirit. That onewho is worthy in substance and eternity. Toyou and your only begotten Son who by thelaw and prophets and apostles and upon thatone who was revealed by our Lord Jesus theMessiah in the river Jordan rested upon theapostles in every age of light.

Priest: Answer me...

People: Have mercy upon me...

Priest: Thus when this bread shall bemade manifesting the BODY of the Messiah ourGod.

People: Amen

Priest: And to this cup is the BLOOD ofthe Messiah our God.

People: Amen

Anaphora of Eustathios

Priest bows down he calls the HolySpirit: Your mercies I am pleading and Ihave been supplicating, O Lord, to havemercy upon me. And make me worthy and setupon these sacrifices the gift of your HolySpirit. And have regard for me for theblemishes of sinfulness. And on behalf ofthis worship, care and holiness.

Priest: Answer me...

People: Have mercy upon me...

Priest: Thus, through the manifesting ofthis bread show the BODY of the Messiah ourGod.

Priest: The mixture in this cup shall bemade the BLOOD of the Messiah our God.

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People: Amen

Anaphora of Marutha of Takrit (142))+649

Priest bows down the Holy Spirit: Answerme O Lord. Have mercy upon me God of humanmercies. And send upon me and upon thissacrifice the Holy Spirit who proceeds fromyou and partakes from your Son. Andsubstantially perfects all the mysteries ofthe church and shall make visible thesesacrifices and shall make them Holy.

Priest: Answer me...People: Lord have mercy upon me...Preist: This bread shall be changed and

made perfect the BODY who had been slain onaccount of us by having been lifted up, theBODY that rose in glory and unseencorruption, the BODY resembling life. Hisbody is the word of God and our salvationJesus Christ.

People: AmenPriest: .This wine being mixed in this

cup, has been changed and shall be made

perfect, the BLOOD was poured out on accountof (him)being raised up on Golgotha, theBLOOD that shall flow upon the earth andpurify it from sin, the BLOOD summoninglife. His blood is the word of God and oursalvation, Jesus Christ, for the remissionof passions and for the forgiveness of sinsand living things forever and ever.

People: Amen

Anaphora of Moshe Bar Kepha (156) +903Priest bows the Holy Spirit: Have pity

upon us Lord our God and Creator. Truepromise of your only begotten Son. Send yourHoly Spirit upon this sacrifice. That onewho is worthy of the throne and by the honorand by the substance with the only begottenSon and true light that is from you, he isthat one who shall come and shall show forthand manifest upon these mysteries and shallmake holy and shall perfect them by hispurifying.

Priest: Answer me....People: Lord have mercy on me..Priest: For that spirit, the Paraclete,

Lord by his abiding shall perfect this God,the living BODY and making visible the Lordour God, the holy BODY and sanctifying of

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our souls, the BODY being made alive in oursouls for the atonement of the passions andforgiveness of sins for those who shallhope.

People: AmenPriest: By the mixing in this cup shall

be made BLOOD atoned and atonement of oursouls the holy BLOOD and meditating on hisBLOOD of the Messiah our God for theatonement of the passions and forgiveness ofsins for those who shall hope.

People: Amen

NotesThe catalogue for the St. Mark's collection which is online lists:

Anaphora of Saint James as modified by Bar Hebraeus 21-31

Anaphora of the Twelve Apostles

Saint John the Apostle 39b-50a

Anaphora of Saint Dionysius of Amida who is Bar Salibi 40a-55b

Anaphora Saint Xystus 56b-61b

Anaphora Matthew the Shepherd 61b-68b

Anaphora of Simon Peter

Anaphora of John of Harran

Anaphora of Jacob of Batnan-Sarug

Anaphora of Cyriacus (Koriakos)

Anaphora of Eustathius

Anaphora of Saint Marutha of Tagrit

Anaphora of Moshe Bar Kepha 148a-160a

Liturgy of Saint Philoxenus of Mabbug

Anaphora of Severius

Anaphora of the Evangelist Saint Mark

Saint Mark Ms Syr 96 (6)

This is a more comprehensive manuscript

Anaphora of Saint James

Anaphora of Saint John the Evangelist

Anaphroa of Saint Mark the Evangelist

Anaphora Saint Clement disciple of apostle Peter

Anaphora of Saint Ignatius disciple of the Evangelist John

Anaphora of St. Dionysius of Athens disciple of Paul

Athanasius of Alexandria

Anaphora of Saint Basil of Caesarea

Anaphora of Saint Gregory the Theologian

Anaphora of Saint John Chrysostom

Saint Celestine, Pope of Rome

Anaphora of Saint Cyril, Pope of Alexandria

Anaphora of Saint Timothy of Alexandria

Liturgy of Saint Severus of Antioch

Anaphora of Saint John of Bostra

Anaphora of Saint Jacob of Batna-Serug

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Liturgy of Saint Jacob of Sarug

Anaphora of Philoxenus of Mabbug

Anaphora of Saint Jacob of Edessa

Liturgy of St Peter

Anaphora of St. Cyriacus

Anaphora of Saint Julius, Pope of Rome

Anaphora of Saint Xystus, Pope of Rome

Anaphora of Matthew the Shepherd

Anaphora Saint Eustathius

another of Saint Eustathius

Liturgy of Saint Philoxenus

another liturgy of Saint Philoxenus

another Liturgy of Saint Philoxenus of Baghdad known as La'zarBar Shabbta

Liturgy of Saint Thomas, Bishop of Germanicia (Thomas Heraclea)

Liturgy of Saint Marutha of Tagrit

Liturgy of Saint Severus (Moshe Bar Kepha)

Anaphora of Saint Yohannan, ( John of Ma'dani)

There are 33 anaphorae in this manuscript.

Three Popes of Rome: Xystus, Celestine, and Julius

Pope Xystus (Sixtus III) Friend of Syrians and sought to reconcileCyril of Alexandria with the Syrians over the Arian controversy433-440(published and translated into English by Bishop Samuel)

Pope Julius 337-352 (published and translated into English byBishop Samuel) was also a friend of the East and defender of theSyrians.

Pope Celestine 422-432 (unpublished and untranslated) Notmentioned by Renaudot, listed Neale in hos book on Eastern Liturgies,and published by William Wright 1867m JBL pp 225-233. Add.BM14,493, Add. 14,490 but not translated into English.

The Departure of St. Celestine, Pope of Rome.

On this day also, the great Pope Celestine,bishop of the city of Rome, departed (July 27th, 432A.D.). This saint was the disciple of St. Boniface,bishop of Rome. At the time of his death, hecommended that father Celestine would succeed him,and then he cautioned him saying, "Take heed O my sonfor there would be ravening wolves in the city ofRome." This father was a righteous and well learnedmonk. When Pope Boniface departed on September 4th,422 A.D., they ordained Celestine in his place onSeptember 10th, 422 A.D., during the reign of EmperorHonorius. This Emperor died in the city of Raffeen inFrance in the year 423 A.D. One of the Emperors(Julian the Infidel) wanted to appoint Nestorius apatriarch for Rome and expel Celestine the saintlyPope. The people rose up and expelled Nestorius whichmade Emperor Julian enraged against him. This Saintfled to one of the monasteries nearby Pentapolis(Five cities) and dwelt there. God wrought many signsand miracles by his hands.

Then, the angel Raphael appeared to him in adream saying: "Rise up and go to the city of Antiochto its patriarch St. Dimitrius, and abide with himfor the Emperor had decided in his heart to kill youupon his return from the war." When he woke up, hewent forth from that monastery along with twobrothers and came to the city of Antioch. He foundits Patriarch ill, told him what had happened to him,and stayed in one of the monasteries of Antioch. Sts.Ignatius and Boniface along with a third venerable

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person appeared to the Emperor in a dream and said tohim, "Why have you left the city of the saintswithout a bishop. Behold, God will remove your soulfrom you, and you shall die by the hands of yourenemies." The Emperor asked, "What shall I do?" Theyreplied, "Do you believe in the Son of God?" Heanswered saying, "I do believe." They said to him,"Send and bring our son bishop Celestine with honor,and restore him to his throne." When the Emperorawoke from his dream, he wrote to the patriarch ofAntioch, Demetrius, asking him to inform his envoysof the whereabouts of Celestine, and return him tohis See. They found him and returned him to his Chairwith great honor, and the people received him withjoy and happiness. The peace and the affairs of thechurch were established by his presence.

When Nestorius blasphemed and the Councilassembled for him, Celestine was unable to attend theCouncil, because of his illness, so he sent twopriests with a letter excommunicating Nestorius init. The Emperor believed in what Nestorius said,nevertheless he yielded to the decisions of theCouncil and exiled Nestorius to Egypt.

When the Lord willed for Celestine to depart fromthis world, St. Boniface, his predecessor, and St.Athanasius, the Apostolic, appeared to him and toldhim, "Affirm your people in the faith, for Christ iscalling you." When he woke up he commanded his peoplesaying, "Take heed to yourselves, for behold raveningwolves shall come into this city." Having said thishe added, "I am leaving, for the saints are callingfor me." When he said that, he departed in peace.

Two anaphorae of Popes of Alexandria

Pope Cyril of Alexandria (published and translated by BishopSamuel)Liturgical Work (Cyril's liturgy reflecting Saint Mark's has been

confirmed by the discovery of several papyrus fragments at Dayr al-Balā'yzah in Asyūt relating to a third-century Coptic Euchologion andthe Anaphora of Saint Mark probably used at the time of Athanasiusand preserved by Cyril).

Pope Timothy of Alexandria (published and translated) 378-384This is a very early liturgy based on the Liturgy of Saint Mark.In the year381, Pope Timothy of Alexandria presided over the second ecumenicalcouncil known as the Ecumenical Council ofConstantinople which completed the Nicene Creed with thisconfirmation of the divinity of the Holy Spirit:

"We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord,the Life-giver, who proceeds from the Father,who with the Father and the Son is worshiped andglorified who spoke by the Prophets and in oneHoly Universal Apostolic Church. We confess oneBaptism for the remission of sins and we lookfor the resurrection of the dead and the life ofthe coming age, Amen."

One anaphora of a scholar:

John of Bostra (Old Damascus) Holy Severus wrote letter to JohnofBostra (6th c.) VIII.4. Brooks (published and translated into French,Renaudot)

John Ma'dani contemporary of Bar Hebraeus of the 13th c. 1252-1263 poet

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Syriac Physicians Reinvent Galen

A Syriac palimpsest at Walter Museum, Baltimore, USA,revealing an underlying Galen text

Galen was a Greek physician,second onlyto Hippocrates, in fame and influence, wholived in the second century AD. Manyconsider him the apex of 600 years ofAristotelean thought and development. Galenis credited with being a major incubator ofArab medicine beginning in the 9th century AD

which in turn was the principle influence onWestern science and medicine at the end ofthe Dark Ages.

It is estimated that Galen wrote about 3million lines of text which is about thesame as Ephrem. Galen is supposed to havehad about 20 secretaries that followed himand recorded his every word. Galen wrote inGreek, a language that was known to Syriactranslators but not to Arab scholars duringthe rise of the Caliphate in Baghdad in the9th century.

Galen was not just translated into Arabicbut he was reinterpreted, recompiled, andeven reinvented by Syriac scholars in threestages as Galen was revealed to the Arabworld through Syriac scholars and produced agolden age of science in the Middle East.

The first stage reinterpreted andrecompiled works of Galen which occurred atthe end of the 4th century in Nisibis, Emesa,and Alexandria through the writings andscientific accomplishments of Magnus ofNisibis and Nemesius of Emesa.

The Second stage reinvented Galen'stheories which occurred with Sergius of

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Reshain (d. 536 AD) of the 6th century

The third stage was the translation ofGalen's texts from Syriac to Arabic byHunain ibn Ishaq (830-870 AD).

But first, a few words about the life andwork of Galen.

Galen

Galen was born in Pergamos in Asia Minorin the year 131 A.D. After receiving medicaltraining in Smyrna and Alexandria, he gainedfame as a surgeon to the gladiators ofPergamos. He was eventually summoned to Rometo be the physician of the Emperor MarcusAurelius. Galen spent the rest of his lifeat the Court writing an enormous corpus ofmedical works until his death in 201 A.D..

Galen performed extensive dissections andvivisections on animals. Although humandissections were illegal according to Romanlaw, he also performed and stressed to hisstudents the importance of animaldissections. He recommended that studentspractice dissection as often as possible. InOn the Natural Facilities, Galen minutely describedhis experimentation on a living dog toinvestigate the bladder and flow of urine.It was Galen who first introduced the notionof experimentation to medicine. Galen andhis work On the Natural Faculties remained theauthority on medicine until Vesalius in thesixteenth century, even though many of hisviews about human anatomy were false sincehe had performed his dissections on pigs,Barbary apes, and dogs. Galen mistakenlymaintained, for instance, that humans have afive-lobed liver (which dogs do) and thatthe heart had only two chambers (it hasfour).

If it had not been for Syriac physiciansin the 4th, 6th, and 9th centuries, Galen mayhave been lost forever. He was recovered andreinvented by Syriac physicians who knewGreek and could translate Galen into Syriacand Arabic. But they did more than justtranslate. They became students of Galen andincorporated Galen principles of enquiry,

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empericism, and experiment. Galen would havebeen proud of these men of science whoimproved upon the work of one of thegreatest physicians of history.

Stage One

Magnus of Nisibis

Magnus was born in Nisibis about the sametime as Ephrem. Magnus seems to have spenttime in Emesa which had an emerging schoolof medical studies. He studied medicineunder Zenoof Cyprus in Alexandria and he wasa fellow-student of Oribasius. He became aphysician around 370 AD he lectured onmedicine in Alexandria. He was assigned aspecial teaching room in the Museum, wherestudents across the empire gathered toattend his lectures.

Magnus composed treatises on fever and theurinary system. The latter was translatedinto Arabic by Hunain ibn Ishak in the 8th

century. Despite the criticism of hisopinions, mainly from Theophilus, the methodof treating urine as a diagnostic meansbecame particularly widespread in LateAntiquity. (Peri ourwn).

Libanius mentions him in a letter writtenin 364. On his death Palladas wrote thewell-known epigram in the Palatine Anthology:

"When Magnus went downto Hades, Aïdoneustrembled, and said: 'Herecomes one who will raiseup even the dead.'"1

This was not intended as a satire, nordid Eunapius think Magnus absurd, but it wasa tribute to Magnus for his power ofrhetoric. In fact, Magnus is the father ofthe “placebo effect” by identifying,describing, and learning how to convincepeople who were sick that they were healedand people who were well that they weresick.

Magnus was alive in 388, when Libaniuswrote to him Letter 7632

Nemesius of Emesa(A.D. 390), Nemesius was a Christian philosopher, and

the author of a treatise De Natura Hominis ("OnHuman Nature"). According to the title ofhis book, he was the Bishop of Emesa(Homs,Syria). His book is an attempt tocompile a system of anthropology from thestandpoint of Christian philosophy.

Nemesius was also a physiological

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theorist. He based much of his writing onprevious work of Aristotle and Galen, and ithas been speculated that he anticipatedWilliam Harvey's discovery of thecirculation of blood.

Although Galen was the supreme medicalauthority until the seventeenth century, hisviews were extended or modified. An earlyexample of this phenomenon is the additionof a ventricular localization theory ofpsychological faculties to Galen’s accountof the brain. The first theory of this typethat we know of was presented by Posidoniusof Byzantium (end of the fourth century AD),who said that imagination is due to theforepart of the brain, reason to the middleventricle, and memory to the hind part ofthe brain (Aetius 1534, 1549, book 6, ch.2). A few decades later, Nemesius of Emesa(ca. 400 AD) was more specific andmaintained that the anterior ventricle isthe organ of imagination, the middleventricle the organ of reason, and theposterior ventricle the organ of memory(Nemesius 1802, chs. 6-13). The lattertheory was almost universally adopted untilthe middle of the sixteenth century,although there were numerous variants.

Stage Two

Sergius of Reshina (d. 530)

Sergius translated at least 30 of Galen’sworks. He was an Syriac physician and priestduring the 6th century. He is best known fortranslating medical works from Greek toSyriac, which were eventually translated toArabic. Reshaina, where he lived, is locatedabout midway between the then intellectualcentres of Edessa and Nisibis, in NorthernMesapotamia.

The great ninth century translator Hunainibn Ishaq gives the names of twenty sixmedical texts by Galen which Sergiustranslated into Syriac; these were the firstsignificant translations of medical worksfrom Greek into a Semitic language, andpresumably were the textbooks Sergiushimself had used when he studied atAlexandria. Hunain is not alwayscomplimentary about Sergius's translations;though some he thinks are better, as Sergiusbecame more experienced. He also composedtwo works of his own, On the Influence of theMoon, and The Movement on the Sun, probablydrawing heavily on Greek sources.

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Although Sergius was close to Nestorianscholars nearby, he was himself in fact aSyriac Orthodox priest. In 535 he was sentto Rome by Ephrem, Orthodox Patriarch ofAntioch, and escorted Pope Agapetus I toConstantinople. There he died, the followingyear.

Stage ThreeHunain ibn Ishaq

Greek science was translated into Arabicin the 10th century, mostly by NestorianChristians such as Hunain ibn Ishaq. TheMoslem Caliphs of that period were theAbbassids, who came from Persia, and so knewthe Nestorians as their “home” Christians.With their access to the Greek medicaltradition, including the works of the 2ndcentury doctor Galen, they were consequentlyin demand as doctors. Of course being thepersonal physician of an oriental despot isnot without risk, and Hunain himself wasimprisoned, invited to act as a poisoner,and had his library confiscated.

Hunain managed to translate most of thevast output of Galen from Greek into Arabic.He also wrote a letter to one of hispatrons, discussing this process. This is avery valuable guide to how Greek literature

made it into Arabic. It is a 40 page volumepublished by G. Bergstrasser, Hunain ibn Ishaq.Uber der syrischen und arabischen Galen-Übersetzungen(1925)

Hunayn translated (c.830-870) 129 worksof "Jalinos" into Arabic

Neo-Galenism

Galen's insistence on a rationalsystematic approach to medicine set thetemplate for Islamic medicine

The irony is that a significant number ofthe scientists during this period were notArab but Syriac Christians. Furthermore, theGalen witnessed in Arabic was a neo-Galenismthanks to Syriac scholars who improved uponthe science of Galen.

Syriac Christian scholars whoreinterpreted, redefined, and reinventedGalen encouraged Arab scientists to do thesame. Doubts on Galen was the title of abook written by Rhazes (Muhammad ibnZakarīya Rāzi 865-925 AD). Arab scholarscontinue to find new or relativelyinaccessible Galenic writings that challengebut build on the principles of Galen.Another Arab scholar who picks up the mantle

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of this tradition is Ibn Zuhr, an ArabMuslim physician, pharmacist, surgeon,parasitologist, Islamic scholar and teacherin Al-Andalus, Spain.

Galen promoted enquiry, empericism, andexperiment. Syriac scholars took Galen athis word and improved upon Galen through thethree powers of enquiry, empericism, andexperiment. (Avenzoar) and Ibn al-Nafis,understood that the works of Galen were notto be taken unquestioningly, but as achallengeable for further study andmodification. For example, the experimentscarried out by Rāzi and Ibn Zuhrcontradicted the Galenic theory of humorism,while Ibn al-Nafis discovered the principleof pulmonary circulation

On the other hand, Galen influencedSyriac scholarship. Roger Peirce writes:

“Galen attributes the confusedstate of one of the works ofHippocrates to marginal notes beingincorporated into the main text by acopyist (vol. 15, p. 624); in vol.17 (1) p. 634, he notes how aparallel from another writer hadbeen written in a margin, and

incorporated in the same manner.

Galen also was very close to thetext critical maxim that the moredifficult reading is to be preferred(Corpus medicorum graecorum5.10.2.2,p.178, 17-18) where heexpresses a preference for old orantiquated words in the text andunderstands that they would havebeen changed into something easierif the text had been modified (ibid.121.17-18).

The Arabic scholars investigatedGalen closely, and recent researchinto Arabic versions has recovered amissing passage from one known textand, better still, proof that anincomprehensible passage in theGreek is because a leaf in an earlycopy was pulled out and reinsertedbackwards! The Nestorian translator,Hunain ibn Ishaq, gives a long listof Galen’s works then extant andconsiders which had been translatedinto Syriac, which into Arabic, bywhom, when, and where manuscripts ofthe Greek might be found. His methodof translation involves collatingseveral manuscripts to deal with

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damage, a trick he learned in partfrom Galen himself.”3

Notes

1. Magnus is mentioned by Philostorgius viii. 10.

2. See Seeck, Die Briefe des Libanius; but Sievers thinks that thisis another Magnus.

3. www.roger-pearce.com

A Syriac Medical Text from the Archimedes Palympsest

The Archimedes Palympsest was purchasedfor two million dollars at Christie’sAuction House in New York in 1998 by ananonymous American donor. He gave themanuscript to the Walter’s Museum inBaltimore to image and conserve it. On thesurface it looked like a 13th century Syriacprayerbook. But underneath the Syriac textwere other texts mostly in Greek that hadbeen scraped and washed off. Neverthelessthere were the ghosts of words and shapes ofletters, enough so, that with specialphotographic equipment the top letters andwords could be digitally dissolved and thetext underneath lifted up and read. Textsthat were discovered were primarily the longlost works of Archimedes. According to theconservators:

Two of these treatises, The Stomachion andThe Method exist nowhere else in the world.This book is also the unique source forArchimedes’ treatise On Floating Bodies in theoriginal Greek. The Archimedes Palimpsest,as this book is called, has true claims to

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greatness: it is the earliest survivingArchimedes manuscript by about 400 years; itis the most important source for thediagrams that Archimedes drew in the sand inSyracuse, in the third century B.C. It is byfar the most important evidence we have forthe greatness of Archimedes.

Not all the texts were in Greek. A subsetof the manuscript shows a Syriac palypmsestunderneath the 13th century prayerbook. ThisSyriac text is a Syriac translation copy ofthe work of Galen by Sergious of Resh’ainafrom the 6th century. Until now, this texthas not been translated or identified.

The Archimedes manuscript was probablycopied in the second half of the tenthcentury in Constantinople at MagnauraUniversity. The Greek texts of Archimedes aswell as other scientific texts, includingSyriac, had been gathered by Bardas in 850s,under the patronage of the widow queen, hisaunt Theodora, whom he later married.Theodora’s had a son with the EmporerTheophilus who died suddenly in 842 and theson Michael III became a boy king at agethree. Bardas ran the government forMichael. Until the child would come of age,Bardas was regent for the boy-king. The

position gave Bardas the power to grow theUniversity of Magnaura in the buildings ofthe Imperial Court.

Bardas sought the help of Leo theMathematician to secure books and learnedpeople to teach. The city had been arepositoy of important scientific book sincethe sixth century when the center oflearning in the Mediterranian slowly shiftedfrom Alexandria to Constaninople.. Thisgroup of scholars at Magnaura with purposeand zeal brought all scientific knowledgeunder one roof. Plato, Aristotle, Galen, andArchimedes were the pillars of the school.

We know that the works of Galentranslated from Greek to Syriac had beenbrought to Constantinople in 535 AD bySergius of Resh’aina. Sergius, after hisstudies in Alexandria was sent to Rometoward the end of his career as aPatriarchal delegate for the Syriac OrthodoxPatriach Ephrem I. Toward the end of hislife Sergius escorted the Roman PopeAgapetus I from Rome to Constaninople. He nodoubt brought with him his extensive libraryof medical and scientific knowledge. Thisincluded his Syiac translation of Galen.

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Sergius came from a region between Edessaand Nisibis (present day Turkey). Hisbrilliance as a student helped him tofind his way to Alexandria where headded Greek to his native language. Thelibrary of Alexandria was stillsubstantial enough that it is reportedthat in 642 by Amr ibn ggg, and thatthe commander asked the caliph Umarwhat to do with the library. He gavethe famous answer: "They will eithercontradict the Koran, in which casethey are heresy, or they will agreewith it, so they are superfluous." Itis said that the Arabs subsequentlyburned the books to heat bathwater forthe soldiers. It was also said that theLibrary's collection was stillsubstantial enough at this late date toprovide six months' worth of fuel forthe baths.

Fortunately the manuscripts of Alexandriawere extensively copied. No doubt Sergiuscopied scientific and medical texts.

We know that the great ninth centurytranslator Hunain ibn Ishaq gives the namesof twenty six medical texts by Galen whichSergius translated into Syriac; these werethe first significant translations of

medical works from Greek into a Semiticlanguage, and presumably were the textbooksSergius himself had used when he studied atAlexandria. Hunain is not alwayscomplimentary about Sergius's translations;though some he thinks are better, as Sergiusbecame more experienced. Sergius alsotranslated various other works, includingthe Categories of Aristotle, Porphyry'sIntroduction to the Categories and theological worksby Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. He alsocomposed two works of his own, On the Influenceof the Moon, and The Movement on the Sun, drawingheavily on Greek sources he used inAlexandria and Rome.

Although Sergius kept in close contactwith the mostly Nestorian scholars, he washimself in fact a Syriac Orthodox priest.That fact that he was sent to Rome to escortthe Roman Pope demonstrates that there was agood relationship between the SyriacOrthodox and Rome in the sixth century.

In 535 he was sent to Rome by Ephrem I,Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, andescorted Pope Agapetus I to Constantinople.There he died, the following year. This ishow the Syriac text of Galen also found itsresting place in Constaninople along withother scientific and medical books. This

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book found its way to the Magnaura librarytwo hundred years later from some place inConstaninople along with the Archimedestexts. The books were moved again fourhundred years later to St Sabas outsideJerusalem after the sack of Constaninople.This suggests that the library of Magnaura,or what was left of it, was rescued and sentto the Holy Land for safekeeping. Perhapsthe books were damaged in the transfer orthey were just not important to the copiest.For whatever reason, they were erased andcombined with other books to create theSyriac prayerbook.

The school flourished for nearly 350years until the sack of Constantinople bythe Fourth Crusade sponsored by PopeInnocent III. It was probably after thistime that the Archimedes manuscript alongwith other manuscripts including Serguis’Syriac translation of Galen was moved to St.Sabas Monastery outside Jersualem. It wasprobably in this monastery that theArchimedes manuscript, the Galen text, andother books were scraped and washed off anda prayerbook was written in the 13th century.The monastery at the time had both Greek andSyiac monks living in it. The cleaned offArchimedes book was combined with otherpages from at least five other books.

Another book they used, we now know,contained works by the 4th century B.C.Attic Orator Hyperides. Prior to thediscovery of the Hyperides text in themanuscript, this orator was only known frompapyrus fragments and from quotations of hiswork by other authors. The Palimpsest,however, contains 10 pages of Hyperidestext. Six folios come fron a Neoplatonicphilosophical text that has yet to beidentified; four folios come from aliturgical book, and twelve further pagescome from two different books, the text ofwhich has yet to be deciphered.

So what were the motivations to build thegreat library of Magnaura? I believe therewere three reasons. First, there had been aslow leak of manuscripts from the library ofAlexandria for a thousand years. Numerousassaults on the library over the centuriesdepleted its resources. Fortunately, many ofthe manuscripts were copied and distributedacross the Mediterranean. The library had aparticular practice of confiscatingmanuscripts that would arrive by ship. Thelibrary officials would have the parchmentscopies, keep the originals, and give thecopies to the ship owners. The librarysuffered fire, theft, and finally ahumiliating destruction by the Arabs in the

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7th century AD.

Therefore,a primary reason for thebuilding of a great library inConstantinople where Galen’s Syriac text laywas built was to rival and recover theAlexandrian library that had withered overthe centuries.

The second reason for the building of thelibrary was an intellectual focus on wordsrather than images in the Byzantine worldwhich was in part due to the Iconoclastcontroversy. The intellectual environment ofConstantinople had shifted away from divineimages to the divine word. A leader of thismovement was Patriarch John VII ofConstantinople. He was also called thegrammarian which hints at his dedication towords. Ironically John started out as anicon painter. For some reason he turnedagainst icons and sought their destructionand removal.

This page of the Iconodule ChludovPsalter, illustrates the line "They gave megall to eat; and when I was thirsty theygave me vinegar to drink" with a picture ofa soldier offering Christ vinegar on a

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sponge attached to a pole. Below the soldieris the figure of John the Grammarian, thelast Iconoclast Patriarch of Constantinople,

The third reason for the building of thelibrary of Constantiniple was to rival thescientific centers in the Muslim East,especially the House of Wisdom in Baghdad.

The House of Wisdom (Arabic: ت� ال�حكم����ة� ي� ;ب�� Bait al-Hikma) was a key institution in theTranslation Movement - a library andtranslation institute in Abbassid-eraBaghdad, Iraq. The House of Wisdom wasfounded by Abbasid caliphs Harun al-Rashidand his son al-Ma'mun who reigned from 813-833 CE. Based in Baghdad from the 9th to13th centuries.

The term house of wisdom is a directtranslation of Persian Sassaniansdesignation for a library. The House was anunrivalled centre for the study ofhumanities and for sciences, includingmathematics, astronomy, medicine, chemistry,zoology and geography. Drawing on Persian,Indian and Greek texts—including those ofPythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Hippocrates,Euclid, Plotinus, Galen, Sushruta, Charaka,Aryabhata and Brahmagupta.

For all of the above reasons, on 849Bardas together with Leo the Mathematicianand Theoktistos initiated a far- reachingeducational programs and founded theUniversity of Magnaura. It was during thisregency that Leo the Mathematician, Photioswho taught Greek Philosophy, and laterConstantine-Cyril taught at the university.Among other professors were Theodoros whotaught Geometry, Theodoghios, who taughtAstronomy and Kometas who taught GreekPhilology.

The library and university flourished for350 years until the sack of Constaninople(1204) by members of the Fourth Crusadesanctioned by Pope Innocent III of Rome.After this time the Syriac manuscript ofSergius along with other books including theArchimedes text were moved to St. Sabasmonastery, outside Jerusalem and out ofreach of the Crusaders who were lootingConstaninople. But the manuscripts of theofMagnautius did not fare so well in St.Sabas. Professor John Lowden of theCourtauld Institute, using Ultra-violetlight, managed to decipher a colophon, onthe bottom of folio 1 verso of themanuscript, which contains the date of April13, 1229. This is the completion date of theattempted destruction and erasure of the

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multiple manuscripts that were combined toproduce the Syriac prayerbook.

St. Sabas had both Syriac and Greekmonks. For some reason, perhaps lack ofinterest in Greek science, or a desperateshortage of writing material, a monk tookapart the Sergius manuscripts, scraped andwashed it clean, and began writing aprayerbook, no doubt copied from an earliertext. With the help of modern technology theGalen text in Syriac has been partiallyrecovered.

Sometime after the 17th century the Galenpalimpsest as part of the Archimedespalimpsest was moved back to Constantinople.There it was catalogued by Papadopoulos-Kerameus in 1899 housed at the Metochion —or ecclesiastical embassy — of the HolySepulcher, in Constantinople. The book isMs. 355 in this catalogue. One detail thatPapadopoulos records, and which no longersurvives, is that the book contained asixteenth century inscription saying that itbelonged to the monastery of St Sabas.Unfortunately this note is in a differenthand and the leaf may not belong to theoriginal text. It is possible that themanuscript remained in Constantinople thewhole time. It seems unlikely that East

Syrian scribes would have had access tothese texts in Constantinople. It is morelikely that the Syriac Galen text was copiedin St. Sabas monastery.

The surface text seems to have come froma Fenqitho, a system of long theologicalprayer-hymns sung during special feasts andfasts of the church. Underneath the text isa medical text clearly from Galen. Page 125vis a passage about treating a wound. Afterstudying in Alexandria Galen returned to hishome and became famous for treating thewounds of gladiators in Pergamun and laterin Rome. He classified wounds as healing andnon-healing and called such wounds, “windowsinto the body.” Galen’s classification forwounds is used in medical science today.

Syriac Troparia accompanying the Odes forWeekdays, with animportant palimpsest text of a Syriactranslation of a Greek medical work

SE Turkey11th Century

Vellum - 244ff - 175 x 127 mm - in Syriac

Written in a single column in 18-22 scoredlines of neat Melkite Serto Syriac script in

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dark brown ink with red headings, on asurface of 135 x 90 mm. Quires of 8 leaves,numbered both in Syriac, at the bottom ofthe first and last leaf of each quire, andin Greek, at the top left of the first rectoof each quire. Lacking a few leaves,probably two each at beginning and end, andone leaf each between ff.54 and 55 and 90and 91.

Binding Leather over wooden boards, spinereplaced.

Ownership Advertised in the Catalogue 500 ofK.W. Hiersemann of Leipzig (1922), item 20,and subsequently owned by Arnold J. Mettler,and for a time deposited by him in Zürichwith the signature Zürich Or.77. With theEx-libris of the Arnold Mettler-Speckercollection, not that of the Mettler-Freiatype.

Quality Apart from the loss of a few leaves,the manuscript is wonderfully preserved. Thevery beautiful script is more archaic thanany of those examples of Edessene-MelkiteSyriac script found in the albums of E.Tisserant (Specimina codicum orientalium) orW. Wright (Catalogue of Syriac MSS in theBritish Museum).

Value of the Liturgical Text This manuscriptwas stated by Baumstark to be the mostimportant extant witness of its text, andone of the most important for the history ofSyrian-Melkite liturgical poetry. For thetext of the weekday troparia within thischurch there are only three comparable MSS,BL Addit 21031 (1213) , Berlin Sachau 42(15th Century) and Vatican Syr. 76 (1554),all considerably more recent than thepresent manuscript. The majority of thehymns found here are translations fromGreek, but not from the received Greek textwhich is found in the more recentmanuscripts and editions of the Greekchurch. The present texts therefore shedlight not only on the history of the Melkitechurch but on that of the parent Byzantinechuch itself.

Palimpsest A considerable number of foliosare palimpsest, with the underwriting in avery small neat serto, perhaps of the 8th-9th century, in two columns; this evidentlycontains a medical text, perhaps Galen, inwhich the author at times refers to hisother works. The Greek medical corpus wastranslated into Syriac, which was often usedas the basis for translation into Arabic,

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but the Syriac transmission was neglected inthe later middle ages and is now incomplete.The present palimpsest text may be a uniquewitness of the Syriac version of a Greektext. The palimpsest was noticed by theexpert who worked on the Hiersemanncatalogue, perhaps Baumstark, but today itwould be possible to read more than in 1922(see German text below).

Contents The Troparia is the collection ofhymns based on the tunes which wereoriginally composed for use to vary themusical form of the Odes, called theCanticles in the Latin Church, the hymns ofpraise which are sung by the persons of theOld and New Testament. For each of thesetunes were composed in each of the eightstyles of Greek music, which were calledafter the names of the eight archaic Greektones, which may originally have beendifferent scales, but which by Hellenistictimes were only characterised by particularmelodic features. These tunes were then usedas the musical framework within which newhymns were composed. There were two suchcollections, the Octoechos containing hymnsfor Sundays and the Troparia containingthose for use on other days. This wholesystem and structure was then maintained in

the translation of the liturgy for othernational churches in communion with theByzantine church, such as the Slavonic andthe Syrian-Melkite, despite the absence ofany native system of tones corresponding tothe Greek ones. The Syriac hymns were eitheradapted from existing ones or translatedfrom the Greek ones, but as the content ofthe Greek liturgy was revised the twosystems could diverge. As in the Byzantinerite, there are no troparia for Ode 2, sothe troparia provided here are for the Odes1 and 3 to 9 only.

f.1r Tone 1: Monday (beginning mid tropariafor Ode 3)f.8v Tuesdayf.12v Wednesdayf.16r Thursdayf.21r Fridayf.27v Saturdayf.37v Tone 2: Mondayf.40v Tuesdayf.45v Wednesdayf.50r Thursdayf.54v Fridayf.58v Saturdayf.63r Tone 3: Mondayf.70v Tuesdayf.75r Wednesday

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f.78v Thursdayf.82v Fridayf.88r Saturday--- Tone 4 for Monday was omittedf.99r Tone 4: Tuesdayf.103r Wednesdayf.106v Thursdayf.110v Fridayf.116r Saturdayf.120r Tone 5: Mondayf.127r Tuesdayf.132r Wednesdayf.135v Thursdayf.139v Fridayf.143v Saturdayf.147v Tone 6: Mondayf.155r Tuesdayf.158v Wednesdayf.161v Thursdayf.165v Fridayf.170v Saturdayf.174v Tone 7: Mondayf.182v Tuesdayf.187r Wednesdayf.189v Thursdayf.193v Fridayf.198r Saturdayf.201r Tone 8: Mondayf.207r Tuesdayf.211r Wednesday

f.213r Thursdayf.216r Fridayf.222r Saturdayf.224v breaks off in the middle of tropariafor Ode 6.

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Hagiography as Palimpsest

Hagiographies are legendary stories of earlydesert saints. I say legendary because theyoften include miracles and extraordinaryfeatures that often do not fit historical fact.Nevertheless, these stories have truthsembedded into the legends. For example, thehagiographies of Mor Augin tell of monks whotraveled from Egypt to northern Mesopotamia.There is some historical evidence for thiscontact and the names of the monks mentioned inthe body of hagiographies. In fact there is aTomb of the Egyptians outside the main walls ofMor Gabriel Monastery in southeast Turkey nearthe upper Tigris River. Buried within this tombare Egyptian monks.

Hagiographies are a source of historicalfacts if read carefully and critically. If readlike a palimpsest these stories are on thesurface inspiring stories that model lives ofdevotion, prayer, and complete dedication toGod. Below the surface of these stories is adeeper story of real people who may not haveraised people from the dead or literally movedmountains as claimed in the story of AbbaMarcos of Tarmakyo but nevertheless werehistorical figures. We can say this because ofthe various literary and research techniquesapplied to this legend/history if we treat it

like a palimpsest.

The palimpsest quality of this story of AbbaMarkos is revealed through four form-criticaltechniques.

1. Triage: separation of miraculous materialfrom factual material.

2. Juxtaposition: comparing externalhistorical facts to internal data reportedin the story. This is sometimes calledhistorical criticism.

3. Form criticism: stripping away literarytechniques considered necessary to createauthenticity and evaluating the remainingtext.

4. Redactive analysis: usually there is morethan one manuscript to compare written atdifferent periods of time. By comparingthe manuscripts and building a criticalapparatus of changes in the story,literary motives can be deduced andoriginal text form hypothesized.

Triage There is evidence that monks lived on Mount

Tarmakyo (Mount Mugo) in Northern Ethiopia.Whether Abba Markos lived there 95 years or notis unimportant. No doubt this monk lived muchof his life in isolation dedicated to prayer

and God. Was he 120 years old as we learn inthe story? Probably not! But this probabilitydoes not impeach the story. The palimpsestictruth is that he was a very old man who lived alife dedicated to God. The brief visit bySerapion to Abba Markos for the last 45 days ofhis life probably occurred. There are stronghints that this part of the story is true asspecific blocks of time are listed depictingthe long journey to Mount Tarmakyo.

The Story of Mar Markos of Mount Tarmakyo is

really the story of Serapion and his journey tovisit Abba Markos to collect the story of thisremarkable life. The story starts out byraising a question about why Abba John theHermit had never visited Abba Markos. Thisquestion is raised in the context of a dream inthe mind of Serapion where he saw two hermitswho were asking about the greatest hermit ofall: Abba Markos. In the dream it was revealedthat Abba Markos would soon die. For purposesof the hagiography, the information about theimminent passing of Abba Markos gave authorityand substance to information. Serapion visitedAbba John and told him about the dream,received his blessing, and that he knew how togo to Mount Tarmakyo.

Apparently he did not know how to get to theHoly Mountain. In Alexandria, Egypt, Serapion

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consults a sailor in the city who estimatesthat it will take 28 days to walk. Serapionrejects the offer to travel by boat, presumablyup the Nile River, and determines to walk theentire way. It took him 30 days: ten days untilhe ran out of food and water, another ten dayswithout food and water after which he isrevived with grass by the two hermits heformerly saw in the dream, and seven days moreto the foot of Mount Tarmakyo. Then, it tookhim three days to climb up the mountain. Thedetail of this journey is the visible truth ofthe text that rises up like a palimpsest textthrough the surface of the legend.

Abba Markos is given miraculous powers ofperception and access to angels and saints.Serapion is welcomed and blessed by Mar Markoswho calls him by name and remarks how he haslonged to see him. Abba Markos relates theprivations of his life on the mountain only tobe relieved by the presence of saints such asEnoch, Elijah and the Holy Fathers such asSaint Anthony.

After the legendary life is introduced, moreauthentic qualities arise one again. Details ofthe life of Abba Markos are highly probable.Serapion asked Abba Markos why he came to themountain. Abba Markos reveals that he was bornin Athens and was a philosophy student. AfterAbba Markos' father died he says he traveled bysea to the Mountain.

The next day Abba Markos asked Serapion a312

question about the state of the world. He washappy to hear that paganism was being replacedby Christianity. Considering that Abba Markosand Serapion lived in the 4th century thisresponse rings true. Christianity had become aState religion under the influence ofConstantine and those who followed him.

JuxtapositionThe story of Abba Markos has three key

elements that suggest a Syriac asceticismunderneath the surface story.

The first element consists of an hermeticalfeature that was more native to Syriacasceticism than the cenobitic type ofasceticism practiced by the desert fathers. MarMarkos described how after 35 years haircovered his entire body to protect it from theelements. The naked man who is covered in hairis held up as an ideal. The idea of earlySyriac ascetics was to imitate the inhabitantsof Paradise. It was an attempt to return to theoriginal world before the fall. Solitary, wildman, monks were living symbols of the futurereturn to Paradise. Adam and Eve lived inParadise without clothes before the fall and sodid many of the Syriac monks.

Second, Abba Markos gave Serapioninstructions for his burial. On the day of hisdeath, Abba Markos is received by fire and thetwo monks whom Serapion saw in his originaldream and who rescued him in the desert.

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Clearly, theses hermits were angels. This isthe second powerful idea of Syriac asceticismthat emerges in this story. Monks were singlesolitary men who imitated angels having no needof the things of this world.

Third, Syriac monks lived in the mountainclose to heaven. Later many were to stand onpillars for the same reason. The story of MarMarkos hints at a subtle rejection of thedesert monks. The mountain is preferred to thedesert as a sacred abode.

Finally, Abba Markos invites Serapion tohave a meal with him. It was prepared byangels. After Abba Markos is received intoheaven, Serapion is miraculously returned toAlexandria to the mouth of the cave of AbbaJohn the Hermit. He wakes up as if out of adream not knowing how he got there. Again, thismiraculous feature is both a psychological andliterary device used to put a stamp of approvalupon the spiritual authority of Abba Serapionwho is relating the legend.

Form CriticismThe Story of Abba Markos of Mount Tarmakyo

was far more popular among Syriac communitiesthan among Coptic or Ethiopia Orthodoxcommunities and texts. This lends support tothe idea that Abba Markos was a Syriac monkeven though he lived in Athens as a youth andin Ethiopia as an adult. His life models thelife of a Syriac “ihidiya.” These were the

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proto-monks of the Syrian world who wereextreme, hermetical, and lived in themountains. Perhaps he was a proto-monk who wasadopted by Syriac monks in later centuries.These radical proto-monks fell out of favorwith the rise of cenobitic monasticism. Bishopswere not able to control the eccentricities ofthese type of monks. Bishop Rabbula prohibitedthese monks from giving the Eucharist to thelaity who would go into the countryside, themountains, and to the bases of pillars toreceive the divine host instead of from theirpriests in urban churches. Apparently this wassuch a problem that the laity was restrictedfrom running after these hero monks. Thehagiographies tended to promote a form of heroworship among these famous monks.

Redactive Analysis

It will take a scholar with more access tomanuscripts and time to compile the manyvariants and redactions to this story todetermine if he was a Syriac monk.

The story of Abba Markos reveals qualitiesof a true 4th century legend/history and pre-Rabbula (411 AD). The story makes a point ofthe fact that Abba Markos had no human contactin his entire time on the mountain. Thisstrengthens two features of Syriac hagiography.First, Abba Markos lived the life of an angeland second that he was not functioning as a

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priest as did some of the pillar saints inlater ages having contact with the adoringmasses of people.

Later manuscripts tend to conflate the storyadding features about Abba Serapion calling hima mourner. Other miraculous features enter thebiography of Abba Markos. This is typical ofconflation that often occurs when comparingmanuscripts.

There is an online edition of the Story ofAbba Markos from the digital site at BeineckeLibrary from Yale University. Even though thisis a later and more conflated text it seems tohave been copied from a much older text. Itseems to have been copied in the 19th or early20th century. It is part of a set of threehagiographies that seem to have no relation oneto the other.

There is a Vatican manuscript,Vat. Syr 96,and a French translation titled Livre du Marc Atene.Notice that Abba Markos appears under severalnames. Often he is called Marc of Athens.Unfortunately there was a Saint Mark from alater century who was a student of SaintChrysostom and their stories often became mixedtogether in later texts. Even the name of themountain which often appends his name hasseveral spellings.

All this makes for some real detective workwhich will produce more palimpsestic understandand knowledge.

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ConclusionThe various techniques I have listed are

like the different colored filters used invarious photographic techniques to lift up theunderlying and nearly erased texts. Colors ofred, green, blue, and yellow can revealfeatures completely hidden to the naked eye. Inthe same way techniques of triage,juxtaposition, form-criticism, and redactiveanalysis can reveal details completely hiddenfrom the reader of the literal story.

Mar Markos of Mount Tarmakyo

a translation

Again by the hand of the living God I write“The History of Abba Marcos Tarmakyo, may theLord J

Jesus Christ assist by his prayers thewriting and for the listeners (laity, aManichean term) Amen.

Abba Serapion once said:"I saw in a vision two hermits standing at

the cave of Abba Johnthe hermit. One of them said, 'Let us enter

to take hisblessings', but the other one answered him,

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'Let us leave him torest, for he must be tired from his journey

in the wilderness.' Asthey spoke with each other, they mentioned

how strange it wasthat Abba John had not yet seen Abba Marcos

the elder ofMount Termaka; "for there is no other hermit

or monk of hisspiritually in all the wilderness. Besides,

Abba John has lived inthe wilderness for many years and Abba

Marcos being aboutone hundred and twenty years old had not yet

seen the face of afellow human for the past ninety five

years...The Lord hasrevealed to Abba Marcos that after forty

five days, he willdepart this world to go to his Eternal

Home...."

When I awoke I went to Abba John the hermitand told him all

that I had seen in the vision, and said tohim, "I know this

mountain of Termaka, where the fatherresides!" After blessing

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me, I Serapion travelled to Alexandria, andarrived within five

days; (usually a journey of twelve walkingdays), so I

remembered the power of the vision I saw,and praised God...

Arriving in Alexandria, I asked a sailor fordirections to Mount

Termaka, and he responded, "It will take youtwenty eight days

to walk there, so I suggest you travel bysea, for it will be much

easier than walking through the harshwilderness."

Strengthening myself through the sign of theCross, I took some

dates and water and began my journey throughvalleys and

deserts, and continued walking for ten days.During this time, I

did not come across any human, animal orbird, because it was

land where no rain fell, and no grass grew.After ten days of

walking through the wilderness, I ran out ofdates and water,

and in exhaustion I collapsed to the ground. 319

I had no strength tocontinue or to return, and suddenly as I lay

helpless on the ground

I saw before me the two hermits I had seenin the vision. They approached me saying, "Whywere you not patient to wait for us?" and whenthey noticed how tired I was, one of them said,"you need some water." He pulled out some greengrass from the ground and gave it to me.Immediately after

eating this, my strength was renewed by thegrace of God, and I no longer felt hungry orthirsty. My heart was full of hope and courage,and so I got up and continued my journey untilI sighted a cave. There I rested a while beforecontinuing to walk another seven days. FinallyI arrived at the foot of Mount Tarmakyo, andprayed that God may give me the strength toclimb to the top, so that I may receive theblessings of the saintly father. It took methree days to reach the top, and when I lookedout from the heights of this mountain I foundbelow me the terror and greatness of the ocean.On the second night of being on this mountain,I saw angels crowding around the entrance ofthe saint's cave praising, "Blessed are youAbba Marcos; for the Lord has heard your

prayers and has brought you Abba Serapion,for you have been

anxious to see him!"320

I reverently approached the saint's cave andheard him saying,

"How great are you O Lord for in your eyesone thousand years

is like one day, so rejoice O my soul and donot fear the darkness!"

He then came out of his cave and when he sawme he cried, "O my son you have arrived inpeace; may God reward you according to yourstruggles. Come and greet your father!" As weembraced, he cried. I marvelled at hisstrength;for it was that of a youth. He lookedat me and said, "Brother Serapion, you are aspiritual monk, and beloved of God, and I waslonging to see you for many years...May allglory be to our God who has enabled you topersist in your journey so that we might meet,for it has been ninety five years since I haveseen a fellow human, or an animal, or eventasted bread. My son, I

have spent thirty years of my ascetic lifein several spiritual

struggles. I hungered and I have thirsted;drinking only

mouthfuls from the salty sea water. I wasnaked, and I suffered

greatly from satanic wars. Many times devilswould throw me

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from the top of this mountain, until noflesh remained on my

bones, nor hair on my skin, and they wouldscream at me in the

darkness of the night, "Get out of ourland!" But despite all of

this, I remained patient; withstandinghunger, thirst, and

nakedness. Then God in His mercy and love,allowed the hair

on my skin to grow so that it may protect mybody, and cover it

from nakedness, and daily

My beloved Serapion, I have seenParadise,and the glory which God has preparedfor those who love Him. I have seen Enoch,Elijah, and all the righteous fathers, I havealso seen Abba Anthony the Great, the father ofall the monks standing in great glory! God hasrevealed to me many wonders,and whatever I haveasked for in His name, He has granted me."Ithen asked him, "My holy father Marcos, for thelove of God,please tell me for what reason youhave come to this place?"He warmly smiled at mesaying, "My dear son I was brought up in thetown of Atnas, and was a student of Arts and

Philosophy. When my father died, I thought

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to myself, 'I too shall die like my father andleave this world, but by my own freewill,before my Lord forces it upon me.' I got up andsailed by sea, asking the Lord to save my souland guide my way...The waves carried me alongand eventually directed me to thismountain..."When morning dawned, I looked atthe body of Abba Marcos and found it to be justskin on bones, and I became frightened,but hisgentle heart felt my apprehension , and so heturned tome and said, "Do not be afraid of myweary appearance. Now tell me, how is theworld?" I answered, "Father, the world today ismuch better than it was in the past;Christianity is shining forth like a brilliantsun, and the worship of idols has ceased..."The saintly father rejoiced exceedingly andgave thanks to God.

The saintly father rejoiced exceedingly andgave

thanks to God. He then asked, "Are there anypeople in the

world who do wonders in the name of ourLord; for He has

taught us, 'If you have faith as a mustardseed, you shall say to

this mountain move from here to there, andit will move and

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nothing will be impossible for you' (Matthew17:20)." Having

said this, immediately the mountaintrembled, but the saint

because of his tremendous faith, struck themountain and at

once, it quietened. As for me the weakSerapion, I feared

greatly but the saint encouraged me saying," My son Serapion,

do not wonder about the power and thegreatness of God," and

then he continued, "Blessed is the Lord Godalmighty, who led

me to this blessed place! Let us stand andpray." He

outstretched his hands towards the heavens,and prayed Psalm

23: The Lord is my shepherd. I shall notwant. He leads me not...

After praying, he turned towards the cave'sentrance and said,"Prepare something for us toeat," then turning to me he said,"The Lord willprovide for us from the abundance of His

mercy." I became very confused, for I couldnot see who he was talking to. It only occurredto me later that he was talking when to the

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angels. We entered the cave, we found a beautiful

table and upon it white bread, delicious fruit,two pieces of fish, olives and a jug of water.Abba Marcos then asked me, "AbbaSerapion,please bless the food!", but Ianswered, "Forgive me my father." He thenlifted his eyes towards heaven, blessed thefood and made the sign of the cross. While wewere eating,Abba Marcos said to me, "AbbaSerapion, everyday my Lord provides for me onepiece of fish, but today because of Hisgoodness, He has provided for us two!" We atefrom the table, prepared for us by the Lord'sangels, and then praised our beloved Jesus forHis many gifts which He grants for thosewholove Him. I had never tasted such deliciousfood, nor drank sweeter water! Abba Marcossaid, "This has been my food for the past sixtyyears. I have suffered greatly from satanicwars,and many times I would cry and be afraid,but the Lord sustained me. After thirty fiveyears of relentless spiritual struggle, theLord was merciful and enabled the hair on myskin to grow and cover me..

No longer could the devils approach me,andno longer did I hunger or thirst or become ill.My days on earth are now completed, and thetime for my departure from this world isquickly approaching." Having said this, we gotup to pray and we began with the Psalms of

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David..."Abba Serapion, follow me and come to the

cave where I used to reside, for I would likeyou to bury my body within it."When we enteredthe cave, a light shone brightly like the raysof a sun, and I smelt the sweet aroma ofincense. My saintly father Abba Marcosfarewelled the cave saying, "Peace be to you Oholy, blessed cave, for you have sheltered mypoor body, and within you I shall rest untilthe Day of Judgment and the resurrection of mybody, when the Lord will raise it up to

eternity!" Then I followed him to the top ofthe mountain, and he said, "Peace be to theentire world, and to all the churches of myLord, and peace be to His blessed flock; may Hepreserve you all by His grace!" Then he turnedto me and through gentle eyes, said, "AbbaSerapion, stay with me just for this night, andkeep watch with me, for on this night my soulshall be released from my weak body, and I askyou for the sake of our beloved Lord, do noteven take one hair from my body. Do not wrap mybody in anything, but just place it as it is inthe cave which I have shown you, then seal itsentrance with a stone, and the right hand ofGod shall protect it!"

When I heard these words, I fell at his feetcrying bitterly and begged him saying, "Myblessed father, take me to the place where youare going!" But he answered me lovingly, "TheLord is the only One who knows the place to

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where I am going." As he was saying this, Iheard a great and fearful voice from heavendeclaring, "Bring to Me the good and righteousservant, who has been doing the will of Myfather; come Marcos and rest in the place ofEternal peace!" I feared this voiceexceedingly...Then I heard this same voice onceagain:

"Stretch out your hands and complete yourstruggle!"

Immediately I saw two angels carrying brightgarments with

which they carried the pure soul of thesaint up to heaven. I

then heard an angel exclaiming to an army ofdevils, "Depart

and disperse from the light you soldiers ofdarkness and evil!" I

gazed at the soul of the saint which wasascending higher and

higher, and I heard again the voiceexclaiming, "Depart you

soldiers of darkness from this righteoussoul!"

As the soul of the blessed saintly fathercontinued to ascend, I

saw a hand of fire stretched out to receivethe soul, and then I

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saw them no more through my tears I sightedthe two

hermits whom I had seen in a vision,approaching me: "Peace be

to you Serapion, for you have been blessedby Abba Marcos the

hermit, whom the whole world is not worthyof!" As we

walked together, I fell into a deep sleep,and when I awoke I

found myself at the entrance of Abba John'scave. Abba John

came out and blessed me, and when we sattogether, I told him

of all that I had seen of the blessed saintof God - Marcos the

hermit, and of the two hermits whoaccompanied me.

He answered me saying, "Truly father, we arenot worthy to be

considered monks, for we have neverexperienced any struggle

in comparison to the relentless struggles ofthe virtuous saint

Marcos, but let us ask and implore our Lord,through the

pleadings of Abba Anthony, the father of allmonks, and

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through the pleadings of Abba Marcos who isblessed amongst

all the saints, and all the righteousfathers, to grant us His mercy

and to forgive us our sins, so that we maypartake of the

inheritance of His Kingdom with the rest ofHis saints."

To our Lord be honor, worship, and gloryforever more.

Tarmaqa on the border of Egypt and Eithiopia in the Mugo Mountainrange.

MARC DE TARMAQA, "Visio de sorte animarum" ("uersio syriaca").XXX * Vaticano (Città del), Biblioteca apostolica Vaticana, "Vat."sir. 96,

Anba Mark, who was of Jabal al-Tarmaq. Cf. GRAF, op. cit., I, 536.

The translation was done from an online hagiography listed in thebeinecke Library at Yale University. See the following:

http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/dl_crosscollex/SetsSearchExecXC.asp?srchtype=ITEM

After ward

Can we apply palimsestic literary techniquesto our own lives? After all, the sub-title ofthis book is “Living the double life as a HumanPalimpsest.”

Triage: Authentic human beings separate fact 329

from fiction in their lives. Fiction enters ourlives when we believe what others say about usthat is inflated and not true. Fiction entersour lives when we are in denial about aspectsof our character we do not want to face orchange. Fiction can enter our lives if we areill, addicted, or suffer trauma and itdistorts reality. Healthy people or those whoseek true spiritual and psychological healthpractice triage. The success of the 12 stepprogram is rooted in these acts of triage.

Juxtaposition: It is important to review ourlives using an historical critical approach.Once a year I take out a box which containstones, notes, a life-map, and a few photos. Ilay these out in a pattern and groupings oftime periods that emerge and I remember keymoments in my life. It is remarkable to see howcyclical our lives become. My life has series asix year cycles. By doing this exercise I candetermine which stage I am experiencing. Itoften explains conflicts and concerns. Also, itgives me hope for the future as I can often seesolutions down the road. This is a technique Ilearned from a monk, Brother Mark at Our Ladyof Guadalupe Trappist Monastery in Lafayette,Oregon.

Form-Criticism: Each of us live in a cultureand within traditions that form and shape us.Our parents, relatives, and friends shape ourlives sometimes in unhealthy ways. Sometimes we

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do things or think in certain ways because ofthe people who have influenced us. If we are tolive authentic lives we need to take the timeto evaluate why we behave the way we do. Tolook at ourselves honestly, ask forgivenesswhen we need to, and demand of ourselves thecourage to change.

Redactive Analysis: Many people keep ajournal. Some write their auto-biographiesevery few years. Others keep photographicrecords and scrapbooks of their lives. Doingthese things at various stages in our livesgives us a chance to compare our ever changingstories. Try writing a short autobiography.Study what you leave out. Analyze negative ortoxic patterns that show up in your story. Whathave you exaggerated or eliminated? These areimportant clues to what needs to be healed andtransformed.

Most people live their lives as apalimpsest. Often these are many layered. Jesuswas a palimpsest where the divine and humanmerged into a harmonious expression of truth.We should do the same for we are spiritualbeings living a human experience. When we arefully integrated and authentic we experienceour true purpose and discover our true meaning.

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Section III

IntroductionFor my whole adult life there has been one

constant theme, no matter where I am or what Iam doing, Syriac, the lanuage of Jesus, hasbeen my constant passion. This is not just

332

because I was ordained a Syriac priest, it isfrom far deeper reasons that has taken years tounderstand. The desire to know God and moreimportantly for God to know each one of us, isa precious pearl within every human heart.Sometimes it is hidden by bad parenting,various addicitons, and the tragedies of life,but it is always there. I recognise it in everyhuman being.

Over the last few years I have been writingarticles for a Syriac magazine called SHRORO(http://www.socdigest.org) a Syriac OrthodoxChristian Digest. I have compiled thesearticles into a book. Only the history of theSeige of Amida is not one of the articles,although it will be soon. I would not call thempearls of wisdom, but they are the accumulatedknowlege of years of travel and study.

I wish to thank that editorial staff ofSHORO, especially Thomas Daniel and MikeWingert for their encouragement and gentlepressure for me to keep producing articles. Iconsider these acts of love and God’sdirection.

All errors, ommissions, and bad writing arecompletely my own. Perhaps in the next editionwith the help of friends they can be corrected.I have always had a bad habit of writing morethan editing. There is so much to say and solittle time. I will leave it to others toperfect the ideas.

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Remain in PeaceOn the 15 Anniversary of my ordination by

His Eminence Mor Athanasius Y.Samuel, to whomthis book is dedicated.

The Rev. Fr. Dale A. Johnson

Contributions of the Smith Sisters inSyriac Studies

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One of the greatest discoveries in Syriacliterature and New Testament Biblical studieswas found on a butter plate in 1892, made froma scrap of calf skin leather. Agnes Smith Lewiswas eating breakfast in the dinning hall of St.Catherine’s Monastary on Mt. Sinai. Greek monksregularly tore pages out of manuscripts deemedunimportant and used them to light fires, carry

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food, and in this case place butter.Fortunately, Agnes Smith Lewis noticed on thescrap of vellum faded Syriac letters. Shedemanded to know from where the scrap came andshe was led to a 358 page codex.

What is interesting about this discovery isthat Mrs. Lewis first noticed what turned outto be the underwriting of a palimpsest. Apalimpsest is a manuscript on which an earliertext has been nearly erased and the vellum orparchment reused for another. The motive formaking palimpsests seems to have been largelyeconomic--reusing parchment was cheaper thanpreparing new skin.1

On a palimpsest there are two texts, Thechiefly visible text is younger having beenwritten over the nearly invisible subtext. Thenearly erased subtext is older and usually isnot able to be read except by use of infraredphotography. The butter, because it is an oilactually made the subtext visible in the sameway one can see the color and detail of a cutstone by wetting it. It seems to be an accidentof history that this Old Gospel text wasdiscovered at all. To have Mrs. Lewis, one ofthe few in the world who could read Syriac,eating breakfast in a remote Greek monasteryand presented with slightly melted butter thathad soaked into the parchment tray to make theBiblical text visible, is one of the mostfantastic discoveries of all time. It rankswith the story about the discovery of the Dead

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Sea Scrolls. On the palimpsest the sisters discovered,

the overwriting bore the date A.D. 778, andproved to be a very delightful account of thelives of female saints. It must have beenprofoundly satisfying to these brave andpioneering women to have found in this greatdiscovery stories of other courageous women.The preface to this read: "By the strength of our LordJesus Christ (the Son) of the Living God, I begin, I the sinner,John the Recluse of Beth-Mari Kaddisha, to write selectnarratives about the holy women, first the writings about theblessed lady Thecla, disciple of Paul the blessed Apostle.Brethren, pray for me."

The author wrote of the "Blessed Eugenia"and of Phillip her father, of Pelagia theharlot of Antioch, of the blessed Onesimus, ofTheodosia the virgin, of Theodota the harlot,etc., ending: "Let every one whoreads . . .pray for the sinner who wrote it.

Barely visible beneath this writing wasother greatly blurred writing of much greaterantiquity. It was this blurry text she firstrecognized in the refrectory butter plate.Though some of the words were wholly erased,Mrs. Lewis detected the words "Evangelion,""Mathi." "Luca," and concluded that this olderwriting must be an ancient Syriac text of thefour gospels. They photographed this workentirely, and left the convent on the 8th ofMarch.

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As she examined the manuscript, she was surethat it was an early copy of the Four Gospels.She and her sister decided that it must bephotographed. The sisters managed theirequipment and photographed every page. After amonth in the Monastery, the sisters made thearduous journey back to their home inCambridge, and set to work developing theprecious glass plate negatives. When thenegatives had been developed, they needed toverify that their identification of themanuscript was correct. Eventually, theylocated a brilliant young scholar F.C. Burkittwho was able to translate some passages, whichhe took to Professor R.L. Bensly, Professor ofArabic at the University of Cambridge. Benslyidentified the manuscript as a representativeof the Old Syriac version, known only in theCuretonian manuscript, discovered in 1842. Thismanuscript, however, was older (it is probablylate-fourth century) and more complete thananything we presently have.

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Dr. Agnus Smith Lewis (PhD., LL.D., D.D.,Litt.D.) and Dr. Margaret Dunlop Gibson (LL.D.,D.D., Litt.D.) were born in the small Ayrshiretown of Irvine in January 1843, the twindaughters of an attorney. Receiving aninheritance of more than a quarter of a millionpounds when their father died, Mrs. Lewis andMrs. Gibson visited Greece and Egypt in 1866 at23 years of age.

It was only in 1891, at age 49, that thetwin sisters, now both widowed, set off for St.Catherine's Monastery at Mt. Sinai, a journeyof eleven days by camel from Cairo. ReachingCairo in January 1892, they won the good willof the Greek archbishop of Mt. Sinai, who gave

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them permission to examine the Sinaitic Libraryon Mt. Sinai. In Margaret Gibson's account oftheir journey to Mt. Sinai, which she publishedin her book, How the Codex was Found, a narrativeof two visits to Sinai, from Mrs. Lewis'sJournals 1892-1893, she describes their journeyacross the desert and their first sight of theMount of God which, "rose against the sky likea huge altar, visible against the sky in lonelygrandeur from end to end of the whole plain."At length they came in sight of the massivewalls of the stately convent of SaintCatherine. Mrs. Smith and Gibson were about tochange the course of Biblical studies forever.

Eventually, ‘with nothing to relieve themonotony save occasional variations in thescenery of the desert’ , they arrived at theConvent on 7 February 1892 to begin their realjourney of discovery.

At last the Convent of St Catherine was in sight in the gorge byJebel Musa; we could see its cypresses and its walled enclosure;it looked (as it ever looks to travellers who approach it) like astrange anomaly, a garden in the desert, a house of habitationset amidbare, barren mountain ranges…

The Smith sisters were not the first womento visit the monastery. Saint Sylvia journeyedto Mt. Sinai during the reign of Theodosiusbetween A.D. 385 and 388, she speaks of the"little church" which, tho so small, "has ofitself great grace. When this woman travelervisited the monastery, it was less than three

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centuries since John the Apostle died. TheMonastery of Saint Catherine is one of greatantiquity. Situated on the isolated SinaiPeninsula in the shadow of Mt. Horeb, it isamong the oldest and most venerable monasteriesin Christendom.

The early history of the Monastery of St.Catherine is difficult to trace. According toold legends and inscriptions the EmperorJustinian, built the outer walls about A.D.530. The outer walls were built 20-30 feet highforming an irregular square some 200 feet inextent. The walls were built of solid granite.As recently as 1822 there were no doors intothe Monastery. Visitors and monks alike werehoisted in large baskets to an opening in theupper part of the wall. Justinian built theMonastery as a stronghold to protect the passleading from the plain of Er-Rakkeh in thenorth (where the children of Israel are said tohave encamped) across as shoulder of themountains into the Wady Tarfa, that slopes tothe south. It was first occupied by a garrisonof Roman soldiers, sent to protect theinhabitants of an earlier Monastery dedicatedto the Virgin Mary, and the pilgrims andanchorites that flocked to the site from Egyptand Syria in the early centuries of theChristian era from the Saracen tribes.

Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Gibson described theirarrival; "The kindness of the librarian, who can never beforgotten by any of us who ever visited this ancient sanctuary,

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opened everything in the convent to our inspection, and onFebruary 8, 1892, we began our work, examining, copying, andphotographing such works as appeared to be especiallyvaluable."

A letter of introduction from Semiticlanguage scholar James Rendell Harris admittedthem to the famous library. Their ability toread the manuscripts (they were accomplishedscholars in Greek, Syriac, Arabic, and Hebrew)impressed the librarian.2

Having reached home, they developed theirthousand photographs and showed them to variousscholars. Not only are these sisters pioneersin Syriac and Biblical studies, but theiraccomplishments in photography and photographicdevelopment places them in history as multi-disciplined savants. They were the first to usephotography in the field of Biblical studies topreserve biblical materials. Agnes Smith Lewisand her sister experimented with ways toseparate vellum leaves that had fused together.They developed chemical processes to makesubtext visible before the age of infraredphotography.3

Back in Cambridge, after developing theirphotographs, they were unable to find anyonewho could make out the blurred writing or sawthat it was of any special importance until Mr.Francis Crawford Burkitt, a young scholar atCambridge, took the photographs and showed themto Prof. R.L. Bensly, who was just finishing anew edition of the oldest Syriac version of the

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four gospels (the Cureton.) Bensly recognizedat once that this was another copy much likethe Cureton, but very much more complete andolder. Almost immediately it was arranged thatProfessor Bensly, Mr. Burkitt, and Prof. RendelHarris would accompany the discoverers back toSinai where they would accurately transcribethe manuscript word for word.

Arriving at the convent February 8, 1893,they found to their great delight that theexperienced experts could easily trace thewords in the underwriting. Working in shifts,‘the three scholars agreed to the followingdivision of labour: Mr Rendel Harris to readthe first hundred and four pages of thepalimpsest, Mr Burkitt the second hundred ormore… and Professor Bensly the remainder…’

'scored another triumph by bringing a reagent which could bepainted on the manuscript, bringing up the most obscuresections of the underwriting in a brilliant shade of green. Thissuccess sent Rendel Harris ‘pirouetting round the tents, in alittle solo dance of ecstasy’.

After forty days of steady labor they were ableto return to England bearing with them analmost complete copy of this precious document.They managed to transcribe all but 42 forCambridge. Agnes and her sister made severalmore journeys to Mount Sinai, to finish thefinal 42 pages, and to carry out furtherresearch.

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The copy was completed in 1895. It was F.C. Burkitt, however, who took on

the task of researching and bringing thediscoveries of the Syriac Bible into thecontext of the formal Christian theologyschools of the West.

In Cambridge, in 1896, twin sisters SmithLewis and Margaret Dunlop Gibson showed severalHebrew manuscript pages they had acquired toDr. Solomon Schechter, then the Reader inTalmudic and Rabbinic literature at theUniversity of Cambridge, and later thePresident of the Jewish Theological Seminary ofAmerica. Recognizing the value of the materialsLewis and Gibson had found, Schechter, togetherwith Dr. Charles Taylor, Master of St. John’sCollege, journeyed to Old Cairo where hesecured the contents of the Genizah of the BenEzra Synagogue so that they could betransported to England for scholarlyexamination.

From the Ben Ezra Synagogue Genizah, camethirty-two of the thirty-four known palimpsestfragments. Originally published in 1900, GorgiasPress has reprinted the edition of Lewis andGibson’s Palestinian Syriac Texts From PalimpsestFragments in the Taylor-Schechter Collection.

The discoveries were widely reported in thepress and they were in great demand as alecturers. They also wrote several books abouttheir discoveries, and gave many lectures to

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various clubs and learned societies. There wasmore to both the sisters than manuscripts andtravel. They were devout Presbyterians,founders of authors of several novels and otherscholarly works. 

The pioneering research and publications ofMrs. Lewis and Mrs. Gibson mark them apermanent place in scholarship. Theirscholastic achievements were recognized by manyuniversities, and they received doctorates fromHalle (1899), St. Andrews (1901), Heidelberg(1904), and Trinity College Dublin (1911). Itis strange that although they lived inCambridge and contributed to academic debate inthe field of Syriac studies, their scholarshipdid not receive any official recognition by theUniversity of Cambridge.

Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Gibson encouraged youngscholars, and endowed Westminster College,which opened in 1899 as a training place forPresbyterian ministers. Mrs. Gibson died inJanuary 1920, Mrs. Lewis in 1926. Theirportraits, (shown at the top of this page)where they are shown robed in doctoral gowns,still hang in the Hall of Westminster Collegeto this day as a reminder of their greatness.

Notes 1. This process for preparing the skins was developed

between 197-158 B.C. In fact, the technical distinctionbetween parchment and vellum is that the former is

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made from sheepskin and the latter from calf. The finestworks of antiquity are those written in gold and silver onthe fine purple skins of vellum, especially that come tous from the third to the sixth centuries.) The earliestbooks were made possible by a process of preparing theskins of sheep or calves so that they could be writtenupon on both sides. This process for preparing the skinswas developed between 197-158 B.C. In fact, thetechnical distinction between parchment and vellum isthat the former is made from sheepskin and the latterfrom calf. The finest works of antiquity are those writtenin gold and silver on the fine purple skins of vellum,especially that come to us from the third to the sixthcenturies

2. James Rendel Harris, then Professor of Biblical Languagesand Ecclesiastical History at Haverford College, USA, and laterto be first Director of Studies at Woodbrooke and a foundingfather of theological studies in Birmingham

3. ‘we developed a few… with Eastman powders in a rough way,pinning them to the sides of our tent to dry’.Thiis quote andothers that follow are from the work of Anna Riggs ProjectArchivist, Special Collection Cutting from the London QuarterlyReview, Apri 1899, of a review of ‘In the Shadow of Sinai’, byAgnis Smith Lewis (University of Birmingham, SpecialCollections, DA61/2, p. 12). And see Allan Whigham Price, TheLadies of Castlebrae, (Allan Sutton, 1985), p.13.

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Samuel Lee (1783-1853):Father of Syriac Studies in Britian

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Introduction I purchased my first Syriac book when I was

23 years of age at Powell’s bookstore inPortland, Oregon. It was the Syriac NewTrestament of Samuel Lee. Having studied Latinfor a few years previously, I read with delightthe Latin introduction of Samuel Lee. It was amasterpiece of scientific and philologicalscholarship. He cited from Hebrew, Arabic,

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Latin, Syriac, Persian, and other sources tosupport his theories about the Syriac Languageand the text we had before us. It not onlyoverwhelmed me but inspired me as a westernerto learn the “Language of our Lord.”

Little did I know at the time that SamuelLee came from humble beginnings. Handicapped bypoverty, a sixth grade education, and hisobligations as a young husband and father, heovercame these obstacles and rose to conduct abrilliant and successful life as ascholar/priest.

Early Life SAMUEL LEE was born May 14th, 1783, He was

the youngest of a family of six brothers andfive sisters living at Longnor, about eightmiles from Shrewsbury, England. Of these, heand a brother and sister were the children of asecond marriage, and much younger than the rest

Samuel Lee attended school until the age of12 when he was made a carpenter’s apprenticeshortly after his father died. His motherneeded his small income to help provide forher. After five years he was employed as ahandyman and carpenter in the Roman Catholicchapel of Sir Edward Smith. There he wasexposed to books with Latin quotes. It inspiredhim to learn Latin. The priests who came to thechapel were not helpful knowing this boy to bea Protestant. 

For seven years he labored during the day 349

and studied alone by night. After masteringLatin he conquered Greek and then Hebrew. Hereports the following:

I read the Latin Bible, "Florus," some of "Cicero's Orations,""Caesar's Commentaries," "Justin," "Sallust," "Virgil," "Horace'sOdes" and "Ovid's Epistles." It may be asked how I obtainedthese books? I never had all at once, but generally read oneand sold it, the price of which, with a little added to it, enabledme to buy another, and this being read, was sold to procure thenext. I was now out of my apprenticeship, and determined tolearn the Greek. I bought, therefore, a "Westminster GreekGrammar," and soon afterwards procured a Testament, which Ifound not very difficult with the assistance of "Schrevelius'sLexicon." I bought next "Hunford's Greek Exercises," which Iwrote throughout, and then, in pursuance of the advice laiddown in the Exercises, read "Xenophon's Cyropoedia," and soonafter "Plato's Dialogues," some part of the "Iliad" and"Odyssey" of Homer, "Pythagoras's Golden Verse," with the"Commentary of Hierocles," "Lucian's Dialogues of the Dead,"and some of the "Poetae Minores," with the "Antigone ofSophocles." I now thought I might attempt the Hebrew, andaccordingly procured "Bythner's Grammar," with his "LyraProphetica," and soon after obtained a Psalter, which I read bythe help of the "Lyra." I next purchased "Buxtorf's Grammarand Lexicon," with a Hebrew Bible, and now I seemed drawingfast to the summit of my wishes, but was far from beinguninterrupted in those pursuits. A frequent inflammation in myeyes, with every possible discouragement from those about me,were certainly powerful opponents; but habit and a fixeddetermination to proceed had now made study my greatesthappiness.

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Transformation Finally at age 25 he went to work as a

carpenter for his brother. He married and for ashort time gave up his secret life of study.Then one day a fire broke out in the house hewas repairing and all his tools were burned up.He fell into the ashes of despair and began tothink about what to do with his life. He beganto investigate using his mind instead of hishands. He sought out a former school master whohelped him improve his math and English skills.Finally, the Reverend Archdeacon Corbetthearing of his circumstances became hisbenefactor and over the next year Samuel Leelearned Persian, Arabic, and Urdu.

'I thought that of a country schoolmaster would be themost likely to answer my purpose. I therefore applied myself tothe study of "Murray's English Exercises" and improved myselfin arithmetic. There was, however, one grand objection to this--Ihad no money to begin, and did not know any friend whowould be inclined to lend. In the meantime, the Revd.Archdeacon Corbett had heard of my attachment to study, andhaving been informed of my being in Longnor, sent for me inorder to inform himself of particulars. To him I communicatedmy circumstances, and it is to his goodness I am indebted forthe situation I now hold, and several other very valuablebenefits, which he thought proper, generously, to confer. Mycircumstances since that time are too well known to you toneed any further elucidation. It is through your kind assistanceI made myself thus far acquainted with the Arabic, Persian andHindoostanee languages, of my progress in which you, sir, are

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undoubtedly the best judge.’  Syriac was the seventh language for Samuel

Lee. He learned it through a project he did forthe British and Foreign Bible Society . He wascommissioned to produce a Syriac New Testamentfor the Malabar Syriac Archbishop and hisdiocese. It was published in 1816 when Lee was33 years of age. It was the beginning a greatscholarly career. He produced twenty threemajor publications. Three of these works werespecific contributions to Syriac studies: theSyriac New Testament, the Syriac Old Testament,and Eusebius’ Theophania.

In the October term of 1817 Samuel Lee tookthe degree of B.A., and was soon afterwardsadmitted to Holy Orders as curate ofChesterton, near Cambridge. He remained apriest in the church of England for the rest ofhis life. During all this time he combinedscholarship with the pedestrian duties of afaithful priest, visiting the sick, preachingon Sundays, and attending to the cares andworries of his congregations.

The publication of the 'Syriac NewTestament' raised the reputation of Samuel Leeabroad as well as at home. The University ofHalle, in Saxony, accordingly presented himwith the degree of D.D., through the hands ofDr Gesenius, the Hebrew professor of thatUniversity. The Syriac Old Testament was notcompleted till the year 1823, when fourthousand copies in quarto were issued. 

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Samuel Lee went on to learn Ethiopic,Abbyssinian, and Malay. The latter he learnedin two months during Christmas break. Lee wasasked why it was so easy for him to learnlanguages. 

Mr Lee made the remark that the acquisition of languageswas to him as easy and certain a process as the study ofNewton's "Principia" appeared to be to his fellow-student; thatin all languages there were certain links and dependencieswhich, when once understood, fixed the language in the mind ;and that afterwards the copia verborum might be acquired atyour leisure.

Professorship The commencement of the next year, 1818,

introduces a new era of his life. The Arabicprofessorship at Cambridge became vacant by theresignation of Mr Palmer. His friends proposedthat he should become a candidate; but as itwas necessary that he should have an M.A.degree, the first step was to procure a royalmandate for conferring that degree upon himbefore the mandatory time had been completed.For this purpose, the consent of a majority ofheads of houses, and a vote of the Senate, wererequired. Samuel Lee's modesty and retiredhabits had made him little known in theUniversity. He was opposed also by a gentlemanalready of the degree of M. A., who had beenmany years in India, and was an accomplishedOriental scholar. Under these circumstances, apaper was printed and circulated among themembers of the Senate, simply giving a list of

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the various Oriental works which he had edited,and a few testimonials from well-known Orientalscholars. Amongst them was the testimony offour native Persian gentlemen at that timeresiding in London, who testified to histhorough knowledge with the idiom andpronunciation, as well as with the grammar ofthat language, in the following emphaticterms :-- 'Upon the whole, this being theentire persuasion of your servant, and in likemanner the belief of all his companions, whohave spoken with the above-mentioned Mr Lee,both in Persic and Arabic, that, whether asregards pronunciation, or reading, or writing,he is learned and perfect.' The claims of MrLee upon the vacant chair, and his pre-eminentlearning, were recognized by all parties and hewas voted to the chair by a vcount of 9 to 4.

Later in his academic life Lee became RegiusProfessor of Hebrew.

The following is a list of his majorpublications.

1816. -- The Syriac New Testament. 1817-18. -- Edited the Malay Scriptures, Arabic and Coptic Psalter and Gospels, translated Genesis into Persian, superintended the Hindustani Prayer-Book, and Morning and Evening Prayers in Persic. 1820. -- A New Zealand Grammar. 1821. -- A Letter to Mr J. Bellamy on his new Translation of the Bible, with some Strictures on a Tract, entitled 'Remarks,' etc., Oxford, 1820. 1821 -22-- A Vindication of Certain Strictures on a Pamphlet

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entitled 'Remarks,' etc., Oxford, 1820, in answer to 'A Reply,' etc., Oxford, 1821. 1823. -- The Syriac Old Testament. 1824. -- Controversial Tracts on Christianity and Mahommedanism, by Henry Martyn, and some of the most Eminent Writers of Persia, translated and explained, to which isappended an additional Tract on the same question ; and in a Preface, Some Account of a Former Controversy on this Subject,with Extracts from it. 1827;--A Grammar of the Hebrew Language. 1828.--A Grammar of the Persian Language, by Sir W. Jones, Revised, with considerable additions. 1829.--Prolegomena in Biblia Polyglotta Bagsteriana. 1829.--The Travels of Ibn Batuta, translated from the abridged Arabic MS. copies, with Notes. 1830.--Six Sermons on the Study of the Holy Scriptures, preached before the University of Cambridge, 1827-8, to which are annexed Two Dissertations, the first on the Reasonableness of the Orthodox View of Christianity, as opposed to the Rationalism of Germany ; the second, on the Interpretation of Prophecy generally, with an Original Exposition of the Book of Revelation. 1832.--Grammar of the Hebrew Language, second edition. 1837.--A Translation of the Book of Job, with an Introduction and Commentary. 1840.--A Lexicon, Hebrew, Chaldee and English. 1841.--Grammar of the Hebrew Language, third edition. 1842.--A Syriac Version of the 'Theophania,' by Eusebius. 1842-3.--The Prayer-Book, translated into Arabic. 1843.--A Translation of the 'Theophania,' by Eusebius. 1843.--Tracts on Tithes. 1849.--An Inquiry into the Nature, Progress and End of Prophecy. 

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1849.--A Letter to G. S. Faber, B.D., containing an Interpretation of 2 Peter iii. 1849.--A Letter to the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Glo'sterand Bristol. 1849-51.--The New Testament translated into Arabic, and the Old as far as Numbers. 1851.--The Events and Times of the Visions of Daniel and St John investigated. 

He died on the 16th December 1852, and was buried in a vault in Barley Church. 

Notes: Primary source for this article is from the daughterof Samuel Lee, Anna Mary Lee, in her book, A Scholar of a PastGeneration, 1896, Seely and Co. It is a compilation of lettersand journal entries. Its major contribution is a list of all of Dr.Lee published works. An online version is found athttp://www.tertullian.org/fathers/lee_scholar/lee_scholar.htm.

Tamerlane:The Mongol Raider of Mor Gabriel Monastery

In August of 1401, Tamer the Lame, calledTamerlane in the West, attacked the monks ofMor Gabriel in upper Mesopotamia. Hisreputation for cruelty preceeded him. About 400monks including children knew there would be nomercy. When they recvieved the news of theapproach of Tamerlane they devised a plan toprotect themselves. They stockpiled a caveunderneath the monastery with food andsupplies. They hoped not only to escapedetection but if detected they were determined

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to outlast the patience of Tamerlane.

The monastery of Mor Gabriel sits on alimestone massiff. The entire region sits on afoundation of limestone that is huindreds offeet deep. Wells drilled in recent years innearby villages have demonstrated that thelimestone layer is at least 200 feet deep

On the southside of the monastery, if onewalks out the gate and down the side of themountain about 800 yards, on the rim of a tinyagricultural valley there is an entrance to acave. I was first introduced to this cave byDayroyo Malke when he lived at Mor Gabriel.Together with a couple of boys from themonastery we crawled through the entrance ofthe cave into a small cave about 30 yards longand 20 yards wide. We could not stand upbecause it was only about five feet high. Webrought flashlights and began to investigatethe ground. Scattered around the entrance ofthe cave were animal bones and a few carcassesof rabbits, rats, snakes, and a few bats.Gabriel Ayden, one of the boys, led us to theright and through a tall narrow opening in thewall. We entered a large cavern. We stood onthe rim of a cave and peered down about 20 feetand then about 30 feet up. The cave was maybefive stories in all. On the ceiling werethousands of bats chirping and crawling overeach other for position. The lights of theflashlights caused a few of them to be

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disturbed or maybe it was our presence theydetected.

We moved to the left and into a small chamberabout the size of a closet. There on the groundwe saw the bones of human fingers, a pelvisbone, and the leg bones of a man. At the time Iwas not sure of the identification of the bonesand was not ever sure if they were human. Itwas a few days later when I returned to thecave with a forensic expert from Germany whowas visiting the monastery that I hadconfimation of the human origin andidentification of the bones.

One this first expedition, we were led byDayroyo Melke further back into the cave into anetwork of tunnels. There we found humanskulls. Melke told us the story about howTamerlane discovered the monks and instead ofsending in his soldiers, he ordered fires to belit at the mouth of the cave. Smoke filled thecaves and drove the monks and other people backinto the recesses of the cave. They all died ofafixiation. We sang a few prayers for the deadand left the cave heavy with sorrow and grief.

Over the next few years I researched thisstory. I made numerous investigations of thecave and brought a variety of experts to helpreconstruct the crime (a military war crime atthe very least). What we were able to put

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together was a senario of the last few hours inthe lives of these monks. Here is what we knowso far:

1. Most of the monks died in upper areas of the caves, huddledtogether in small pockets. 

2. All died by affixiation. No charred bones have been found orany other evidence of death by weapons or fire. The monksmade a classic mistake when faced with fire and smoke.Instead of going to lower levels and risking death by carbonmonoxide, some would have had a chance of surviving if theyhad gone down instead of up. All forensic evidence is located inthe upper areas of the caves. 

3. No bones have been found in the lower levels. Of coursethere was never a thorough and comprehensive investigation,so it is possible that some may have survived and escaped laterif they had remained in the lowest areas.

Proposal

Also, because an exhaustive collection andcount of the corpses has not been done we donot know exactly how many died. The historicalmemory suggests that 400 died but this is anhonorary figure. It would be interesting to doa scientific archeological study similar to theone done at the Battle of Little Big Horn whereCuster made his last stand in the American Westduring the 19th century.

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Tamerlane

Who was Tamelane and why did he attackChristians? Tamerlane was a Shiite Moslem bornin who claimed not only to be a descendant ofGhengis Khan but also of Ali, father of theShiite line. Born in 1336 AD, he grew up in acity about 50 miles south of Samarkan. His folkreligion was a mixture of shamanism, andDirvish mysticism, and Shiitism. The exhumationof his corpse in the 1990´s revealed amongolian man about 5´8’’ and fairly stocky. Hewas a brilliant military tactitian and isreputed to have developed an advanced game ofchess involving hundreds of pieces and hundredsof squares.

In 1401 he marched on Syrian lands, whichincluded the borderland region including MorGabriel Monastery. He conquered Amida prior tohis attack on the monastery and put hisgrandfather inlaw in charge of the city. Herenamed Amida as Tamerid. His hatred ofChristianity was well known although his greatgrandmother on his father´s side was a famousChristian who produced four Christian kings.Although this later point is slightlylegendary, it still has a kernal of truth.Tamerlane had access to a Christian heritage.His preference for the side of his family onthe side of one of his wives, and the silenceabout the side of his family on his father´sside may hint as to the reason why he fought

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against Christians.

On coins minted in Amida, two years after itsconquest by Tamerlane, we see that the symbolof Tamerlane is three circles in the form of atriangle. It suggests an astrological blessingon his life and perhaps a superstitious folkinfluence. It was an astrological term whichmeants 'Lord of the Fortunate Conjuncture'. Itexpressed his sense not just of balancing orjuggling ruler, nomads and sedentarists, as hispredecessors had done, but of integrating theminto a dynamic institutional system. Itsuggests further evidence that Tamerlanebelieved in a blend of folk ideas thatgenerally fell under the banner of Shiitism.

At least 10,000 soldiers were in the regionduring the attack on the monastery. This washis normal basic military battalian formation.Some records show that mongolian soldiersoccupied two other nearby Syriac monasteriesincluding Mor Malke. How many soldiers attackedMor Gabriel directly, we do not know. Knowingthat there were about 400 people at themonastery, and because Tamerlane was known touse overwhelming force, I suspect that athousand or so soldiers directly attacked themonastery.. At the time, Tamerlane wassixty’five years old. He would be dead fouryears hence on his way to China. More thanlikely Tamerlane directed the attack on MorGabriel from his command center at Amida.

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Little evidence remains of the attack on themonastery and its residents. Apparently theywere content to kill its inhabitants. Themongols were replaced by other regimes of ruleand the monastery survived. What remain are thememories of the faithful monks and supportpopulation who died during this holocost. EachSaturday night we would say special prayers forthe departed after evening prayer. We would godown to the sepuchures under the main monasteryand pray for the dead. It was always myfavorite and most sacred time of the week. As Ikissed each grave along with others on the wayout of the house of the departed, I wouldsilently say special prayers for the 400faithful who lay deeper beneath the foundationof the monastery.

May we remember the faithful martyrs who diedbecause of the scourge of Tamerlane. May theybreathe the fresh breezes of heaven on the Dayof Resurrection.

Note: More information is available in the author´s biographyof his years at Mor Gabriel and the exploration of the cave inthe book Fire on the Mountain, www.lulu.com/barhanna

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Zoroastrian Foundations to Syriac Monasteries in Upper Mesopotamia

  On June 21st, 1991, I was standing in the

main sanctuary of Mor Gabriel Monastery inMidyat, Turkey, finishing the midnight prayersalong with the community of nuns and monks. Wewere just about ready to begin the morningprayers and a beam of light, so strong andpure, shot through the doorway of the northernaltar area and onto the floor of the mainsanctuary. I  marvelled at the concentration ofthe beam.  After prayer, about 40 minuteslater, I went to inspect the beam which  hadnow nearly disappeared. I saw that the sunlightfirst came through a rectangular window in theeastern wall. The bright morning sun had risenand was arching its way up into the morningsky.  

The next morning, which was June 22nd,  Istood in an area where I could observe thestone window shaft. Just as the sun rose, aminute or so after 6 am, I saw the sun rise andcast its light almost directly through thewindow. The doorway between the inner sanctuaryand the main sanctuary was in a perfectposition to allow the light to pass through andout onto the main sanctuary floor. On thismorning, for about a minute, the lightpartially hit the inner sactuary wall before it

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moved over to pass through out and onto themain sanctuary floor. Each morning thereafter,it took longer for the light to line upcorrectly and beam itself onto the sanctuaryfloor. I also noticed that the light seemedless focused each day. 

The window and the doorway, acted like alens that had to be lined up to create apeculiar phenomenon that occurs only once ayear. I was easy to see that the phenomenonoccurred on the summer solstice. Standinginside the church that morning was likestanding inside an ancient stone timepiece thatwas aligned to detect the date of the summersolstice one day each year. 

I had to return to the United States to staywith Archbishop Samuel in New Jersey for acouple of months preparing for my ordination.So, I was not able to investigate theNevertheless, I continued to research thisphenomenon I observed in Mor GabrielMonastery. 

The next year I returned to the monasteryand observed the phenomenon again during thesummer solstice. For several weeks I noticedthe location of the rising sun and for a fewweeks thereafter. On only one day of the yeardid the light shine perfected and directlythrough the stone lens. Malphono Isa Gultentold me that he know of a report that years agothere was brass plate on the floor exactlywhere the light hit. I could see that the floor

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had been repaired in that area. In fact, Isaand several of the monks and I had a friendlyargument about my theory about the phenomenon.I said that I believed that part of the easternwall had been built by Zoroastrians prior to397 AD, the founding date of the monastery.Because Zoroastrians were fire worshippers andstudents of the stars and the sun, they builtthe eastern wall in such a way as to act like acelestial clock. All but Malphono Isa disagreedwith me. On June 21st, 1992, we watched thesunlight lass through the window and doorwayexactly at 6 am and hit the spot predicted byme and Malphono Isa. This led to furtherinvestigation into the Zoroastrian origins ofthe monastery. 

Some scholars such as Cumont suggest thatthe Zoroastrians were the Wise Men we readabout in the gospel stories. Their priests arecalled magi and they followed the signs of thestars to locate the Christ child. 

Isa and myself found several Zoroastrianstones around the monastery that were oncebases for pillars. They had a distinctive shapecharacteristic of Zoroastrian architecture.Andrew Palmer noted the same in his book, Monksand Masons on the Tigris. We expanded our search andlocated a Zoroastrian altar at Mor Malkemonastery. It was sitting out in a courtyardarea. Later that summer we traveled up to HasenKeph on the Tigris river and found a monasteryruin.  

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In the ruin which had once been a placewhere the late Archbishop Samuel and his motherfound refuge during the Turkish assault onChristians in 1915, we found further evidenceof a Syriac monastery built upon Zoroastrianruins. The eastern wall was positioned in sucha way that it was aligned to the sun´s positionat the summer solstice. We also foundpreviously undiscovered stone artifactsincluding  a Syriac inscription indicating thefounding the the Christian monastery. Also wefound several stone Syriac crosses carved instone which may have been added over time.

  In the years following I noted several otherSyriac monasteries where this architecturalphenomenon was present. Although altered byChristian monks, the monastery of Salah showsevidence of a stone window in an  eastern wallaligned to the sun´s solstice position. Thehistory of Salah, that I have published in mybook on the Monks of Mt. Isla, (lulu.com/barhanna),tells a story of Persian conflict withChristians. Many monks were martyed by Persiansoldiers because they refused to convert to theZoroastrian faith .Jacob of Salah memorializedthese martys by the life of mourning at thissite. 

The monastery of Mor Malke has beendestroyed so many times, it was difficult todetermine if it had once had a window built by

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Zoroastrians. Yet, the stone altar in thecourtyard, suggested that there had beenZoroastrian activity at that site prior toChristian development. Future work at the sitecould reveal other interesting finds supportinga prior history. 

At the monastery of Hah, a Zoroastrian ruin,a few hundred yeards from the present churchdononstrates clear evidence of a celestialclock built into the architecture. LocalChristians report the structure as havingbelonged to the religion of the SassanidPersian conquerors in the 3rd and 4thcenturies. The church of Hah was built by theWise Men who were returning from offering giftsto the baby Jesus according to tradition. Theywere carrying back to Persia swaddling clothesof Jesus. When they burned the cloth in a fireit turned into nine golden medalians with thefaces of each of the Wise Men.  Previously, six of the Wise Men had stayed behind in Hahand three Wise Men followed the star to Jesus.When they returned to Hah, the nine men were soamazed by the miracle in the fire that theybuilt a church in commemoration of the event. Arestoration of the monastery in 1999 does showZoroastrian stonework underneath the floor ofthe foyer of the church. The eastern wall hasno evidence of celestial orientation. 

In the monastery of Dier Zaferon in Mardin,the window in the eastern wall in the northernsanctuary has been filled in. Yet clearly it

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had been aligned to the solstice sun. Nearbyand below the level of the main sanctuary, isevidence of Zoroastrian architecture. As stoneceiling, characteristic of Zoroastrianconstruction, is in sharp contrast to thebarrel vaulted ceilings of the laterconstruction of the Christian era. 

An archeological dig began in the year 2000at the Syrian Orthodox Church in Nisibis.Although conducted by the government, it hasalready shown evidence of Zoroastrian stoneworkwhich was later reused in the church. Turkisharcheologists I have talked to  are reluctantto identify anything pre-Islamic. Bishop Jacobof Nisibis is buried under the church. Hisstone coffin shows evidence of Zoroastrianstonework remarkably similar to the Zoroastrianstone altar at Mor Malke. The eastern wallshows evidence of where a window once waslocated aligned to the solstice sun.  

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Did a Christian PriestInfluence the transmission ofBuddhist Literature to Japan?

The co-translator of Buddhist literature inChina at the beginning of the 9th century CEwas a Christian priest and monk. His sevenvolume work, produced under the direction ofthe Indian sage, Prajna, was completedprecisely at the time two Japanese monks arriveat the same monastery in China in search ofBuddhist literature to bring back to theirhomeland: Kukai and Saicho. These monks were

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founders of the Lotus and True Word schools.

In the Buddhist monastery of Ta-tsin near Xian,China ( 782 CE) Prajna from India arrived as aguest of the Chinese Emperor. He was asked totranslate the Buddhist scriptures. Because hedid not know Uighar or Chinese languages hesought the help of a Christian missionarypriest and monk from Afghanistan, Father Adam.Father Adam was a Nestorian Christian who wasunder the direction of his Patriarch nearBagdad (Selucia Cestiphon). He studied inGundushapur where former Persian Emperors hadbrought intellectuals from various conqueredpopulations on the eastern frontier of acollapsing Roman Empire since 363 CE. For 400years in Gundushapur a cross pollination ofideas occurred that created an intellectualevolution in religious and scientific thought.It especially produced advancements intranslation literature and techniques, creatingthe seedbed for transplantation of ideasthroughout Asia. 

The west, on the other hand, was cutoff fromthis intellectual flowering in the east due toits own bigotry and anti-Semitism which deniedthe source of its emerging Christian culture.After all, Jesus was Asian and a Semite. But inConstantinople and Rome there was an adolesanteffort to create its own religious identity. Itrejected everything that wasn’t Greek or Latin.

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This reactionary nature would sow the seeds ofits own Dark Ages in the west for nearly amillennium until it was reconnected withEastern cultures during the Crusades. 

Asian Christianity, on the other hand,benefited from the intellectual fruits of theEast. Because it was neither understood noraccepted by the West, this form of Christianityturned its attention to Central Asia and China.A gifted and intellectual corps of priests andmonks arose who advanced into China and by the638 CE, had established a significant religiouspresence in the Chinese capital city of Xian,perhaps numbering up to 30,000 Christians.

Father Adam, belonged to an Asian branch ofChristianity who maintained the language ofJesus: Aramaic. They were the Christians whohad never left the Middle East and retainedmany of the Semitic traditions and worldviewsof an Asian culture. This mature and advancedform of Christianity was able to transmit thefullness of its genius into Father Adam who wassent to China at the end of the 8th century.One of the first significant things Father Adamdid was compose an Aramaic/Chinese text for aneight-foot high stele, commemorating theofficial presence of Christians in China sincethe early 7th century under the leadership ofBishop Alopen. The following year he began workwith Prajna on a Catalogue of Teachings of

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Shakya (Buddha), the Chen-yuan Hsin-ting Shih-Chao Mu-Lu. From 785-804 CE, this pair offoreigners translated several thousand pages ofIndian texts into Chinese. It inspired FatherAdam to write several Sutras on Jesus that werecompletely unknown in the west until 1922 whenthey were discovered in a cave in Tunhuang.Even then they were ignored until recently. Hewrote the Hymn of Adoration of theTransfiguration of our Lord (San-Wai-tsan) andthe Sutra of Mysterious Joy and Rest (Chih-hsuan-an-lo) and the Sutra on the Origin ofOrigins (Hsuan-yuan-chih-pen).3 

Perhaps, the most remarkable event was thearrival of two Japanese missionary monks whowere sent by the Emperor of Japan, Kammu, (804-806) to find Buddhist texts in China. Perhapsthey had heard about this academic project ofPrajna and Father Adam. Nevertheless, theyshowed up at the monastery just when the 20year work was finished. Saicho brought a copyof the seven-volume work back to Mt. Hiei andestablished the Lotus School out of which thePure Land and Zen schools emerged in laterreform movements. Kukai, who was seven yearsyounger than Saicho (Dengyo), and brought backto his monastery on Mt. Koya the True Wordteaching. 4 I believe Father Adam influencedthis tradition with its emphasis on text andritual. Honeysuckle designs on the architectureof his monastery on Mt. Koya can be directlytraced to designs from Nestorian architecture

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in Bagdad, institutional and religiousheadquarters of Father Adam.5 

In a room of the Chinese Buddhist monastery ofTa-tsin, in the year 804 CE, four foreign monkssat together and marveled over the words ofancients Sutras and stories of the Buddha. Didthey discuss the teachings of Jesus? It seemsthat if they did not speak about this subject,certainly the subject worked its way into thetranslations. Through the writings we know thatFather Adam and his fellow Nestorians wereperceived by some as being too influential onBuddhism.6 Christianity survived in China onlyfor another 100 years. But the influence ofFather Adam lived on in Japan embedded in thetranslations he helped to shape. The same kindof intellectual cross-pollination of ideas thatspawned a dynamic Asian Christianity inGundushapur (Afghanistan) produced a new hybridof religious thought in the Buddhisttransmission of teachings in Japan mediated byFather Adam. 

(This is the first of a three part series of articles by Fr. DaleJohnson on Christian Buddhist Influences. This article begins tolay down the foundation for cross religious influences. TheAssyrian Church of the East profoundly influenced Buddhismand Buddism infuenced Christianity.)

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Syriac Christianity in China During the Tang Dynasty

Three events occurred in 8th century Chinademonstrating the influence of SyriacChristianity in Buddhist culture which lays thefoundations for interpreting Christian andBuddhist symbolism.

1. The transmorphing of Kuan Yin into Mary. 2. The transformation of Buddhist ritual

using Christian form and Buddhist content. 3. The translation of Christian texts into

Chinese using Taoist and Buddhist imagery andtheology.

Each of these historical circumstancesestablished theological role models for notjust Christian Buddhist dialogue, but for crosspollination of each religion in positive ways.

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The examples point to methods we can employtoday. It relieves us from the burden of havingto invent without precedent. It offers hopethat some had walked this path before and theyhave blazed a trail.

Transmorphing Kuan Yin It is said that Kuan Yin was so concerned

for humanity that, upon receivingenlightenment, she chose to retain human formrather than transcend it as pure energy. And soshe would stay until every single livingcreature attained enlightenment. Her nametranslates "she who hears the cries of theworld". Kuan Yin sat on her paradise island P'uT'o Shan answering every prayer addressed toher. The mere utterance of her name in prayeris said to assure salvation from physical andspiritual harm. Her most devout worshipers eatno flesh and live entirely without doingviolence to other beings.

As early as the fifth century, Kuan Yin wasalways depicted as a man, although a veryslight and graceful of form. Many of the formsof Kuan Yin were clearly male, though somewhatandrogynous. In all the early translations ofthe Lotus Sutra, Kuan Yin is indisputably male.While it is recognized within the text that heis capable of taking a female form, this is notconsidered his main form. His is clearly malein the prodigious records of Hsuan Tsang (596-664 CE) throughout China and India and in suchtexts as the Cheng Ming Ching, which dates to

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the end of the seventh century. He is alsoclearly male in the Surangama Sutra, which wasfirst produced in AD 705 in Chinese. But by themid to late ninth century Kuan Yin isconsidered female.

What happened during that time to turn KuanYin from a male into a female figure? Thefemale Kuan Yin's roots lie not only in theheartlands of historic China, but on thenorthwest frontier, on the Silk Road. This iswhere numerous cultures met and interacted. Themale cult of Kuan Yin had already penetrated asa result of the dissemination of the LotusSutra, but the distinctive female forms onlybegan to fan out extensively from the northwestin the eighth century through the expansion ofSyriac Christianity.

Mary is largely unknown or ignored in theBuddhist world, one of a few exceptions isMaria-Kannon. The latter is a hybrid of MotherMary and the bodhisattva (an enlightened being)of love and compassion whom the Japanese callKannon, the Chinese Kuan Yin. In Indo-TibetanBuddhism this bodhisattva is male, but in Sino-Japanese Buddhism it became female. BecauseMother Mary and Kannon have so much in common(in appearance as well as in character),persecuted Japanese Christians of pastcenturies secretly worshipped Jesus and Mary inthe form of Maria-Kannon with child.

Like Mary, Kannon is an expression of thefeminine aspect of the divine, a

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personification of love and compassion, asavior in calamity, and a miracle worker. Sheappears to her devotees as a lovely, gentlelady of heavenly beauty, sometimes exuding thescent of sweet flowers. Much like Mary, theChinese Kuan Yin is said to have lived a humanlife of extreme self-sacrifice and holinessbefore she ascended into heaven and became acelestial Goddess of Mercy and Compassion.

A remarkable Mary-like story appears inChinese Buddhist lore. "Huang Kuei-nien andsome companions undertook the pilgrimage toP’u-t’o Sha. They went to the Cave of TidalSounds and prayed with great devotion, chantingthe name of Kuan Yin. Suddenly they saw abrilliant light, and Kuan Yin appeared, sittingon a rock above the cave. So moved was Huangthat he vowed to dedicate his life to studyingthe Buddhist scriptures, eating only avegetarian diet, and refraining from killing."(Gill Farrer-Hall, "The Feminine Face ofBuddhism", p.62)

Many trace the striking similarities betweenMary and especially the White Clad Kuan Yinback to the historical influence of SyriacChristians in China in the early Tang Dynasty.

The Syriac Nestorian Church (hereafterreferred to as the "Assyrian Church of theEast") did venerate the Mother of Jesus (butnot as the "Bearer of God") and imported imagesof Madonnas all over Persia, Arabia, along theSilk Road, into Mongolia, China, Tibet, and

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India in the 8th century. At the time ChineseBuddhism needed someone who could compete withthe powerful Taoist goddesses. So the Madonnawith child merged with Kuan Yin; women prayedfor babies, especially baby boys. Hence KuanYin as the child bearer came to be depictedwith a baby boy either in her arms or besideher.

At the same time Mary's features fuse withKuan Yin for Buddhists, it seems that the samething happens among Syriac Christians. Marybecomes dressed as Kuan Yin and is featured onChristian altars throughout China.

Here is what we learn; Christians studiedBuddhist images and ideas and found not onlyuseful similarities but bonded to fundamentaltruths they recognized. The same happened withBuddhists. Could we not do the same thingtoday?

Transformation of Buddhist Ritual One of the major factors that brought about

the practice of masses for the dead withinBuddhism was that it had nothing to counter thefact that masses for the dead were held in theSyriac Church. During the period of the SyriacChurch in the seventh and eighth centuries CE,new mystical mantra writings filled with magicformulas and incantations found their way fromIndia to China.

Amogha Vajra is inseparably connected withthe rapid development of masses for the dead.

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Amogha Vajra was a monk, who went to China fromNorthern India with his great teacher in theyear 719 CE. He would later succeed his masteras patriarch of the Yogacharya School in 732.Between 741 and 746, he was sent to India bythe Emperor Hsuan Tsung to get more Buddhistwritings. During his lifespan, Amogha realizedthat it was important to compete against theSyriac Christians in the masses for the dead.When one examines closely the rituals, which heissued, one can see that he and his helperscopied the rituals of the Syriac Church in manyplaces (Reichelt, Truth Triumphant, 1928,p.90).

Amogha worked for fifty years to try tooutperform the Syriac Church in masses for thedead. Finally, he was able to arrange his“opening night” for the great drama that is nowso well known in the East as the “Feast of theWandering Spirits.” The ceremony later came tobe named “Yu-lan-p’en” (Reichelt, p.90).Although Amogha’s work did play a great role inhelping to bring about the Hungry GhostFestival, there still needed to be more of afoundational premise for the festival.

The Hungry Ghost Festival found afoundational premise for the festival in thesixth century CE. Two texts are associated withthe festival. These are the Yu-lan-p’en Sutraand the Sutra on Offering Bowls to RepayKindness. The origins of these texts are notexactly known. We do know that the first

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certain record of any celebration of a ghostfestival is 561 CE. The main character andperhaps even the hero in these two texts is Mu-lien. Mu-lien was a monk who desired to savehis parents from their agony in Hades in orderto repay them for the kindness they had shownhim in caring for him.

In the southern provinces, a group ofpriests carry out the ceremony for HungryGhosts by slowly making their way down thestreets chanting the invocation: “Omi to Fo”,“Buddha Amidha,” uttered as a prayer for thedead. The priests will then stop at each tablerepeating formulas that may nourish an infinitenumber of spirits. The procession will come toan end at a local temple. At this temple,scaffolding is erected high above the usualaltar, decorated with flags, colored streamers,and lanterns. Then some men lift up thesubscription gifts on to the platform. Thisusually involves cakes and meats that arearranged in the forms of pyramids. After allthis is on the platform, the abbot of thetemple then places a doll on top of thescaffold. The effigy represents an incarnationof Kuan Yin who has the miraculous power, whichis able to deliver souls from Hades and to keeporder among the hungry ghosts.

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Here is a clear example of how Christianityinfluenced Buddhism. In this case it was by acompetitive action rather than by syncreticadoption. Even in this example we can learnthat by modeling what we admire in anotherfaith community can result in positiveconstructs for our own community. Withoutimitating one another, Christians and Buddhistscan learn to adapt practices and even ritualsthat are innovative and affirming.

Translations of Christian texts for BuddhistAudiences

Perhaps as early as the 6th century, SyriacChristians from Persia were expanding intoChina. It seems they were welcomed under thecosmopolitan policies of the T’ang dynasty.

They were in China not only to evangelizethe people but also to participate in a greatreligious event of inter religious dialogue anddiscovery. The emperors of the T’ang dynastyencouraged religious tolerance and religious

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dialogue. It had a profound influence onTaoism, Confusianism, Buddhism, andChristianity.

The priests and monks of the Syriac Churchfound a niche as translators in the ChineseKingdom. For example, a monk by the name ofFather Adam helped to translate the life ofBuddha from the Pavi language and literature atthe end of the 8th century. He was a product ofcenturies of translation tradition in thePersian Empire.

Syriac Christians fleeing persecution byByzantines (Orthodox Christians ofConstantinople) were received by the SassanidPersian Empire and were commissioned totranslate Greek and Syriac texts into Pahlavi.Paul the Persian dedicated Works of logic tothe king. The Greek philosopher PriscianusLydus wrote a book in response to the king'squestions on a number of subjects inAristotelian physics, theory of the soul,meteorology and biology. Books in medicine,astronomy, Ptolemy's Almagest, Aristotle'sOrganon and a number of texts in crafts andskills were translated from Greek sources.

Indian scientific material in astronomy,astrology, mathematics and medicine were alsotranslated into Pahlavi along with ChineseHerbal medicine and religion. Indian popularliterature was also translated; Kalila va Dimnaand Sinbad have survived.

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In addition to major cities such asAlexandria, Constantinople and Jerusalem,intellectuals and scientists moved and carriedideas from Edessa in the West, through Nisbisand Mosul (Iraq) to Merv and Gundishapur inWestern Persia. It is this latter city whereFather Adam was trained. Three writers emergewithin this great effort: Bishop Alopen, FatherAdam, and Bishop Qing Qing. Bishop Alopen issent on official mission to China as werelearned from the Assyrian Monument found inXian, dated 718 CE. Father Adam rises up totranslate the Life of Buddha from Pavi, havingbeen trained in the great Persian school ofGundashapur. Bishop Qing Qing creates the greatliterary masterpieces that communicate theChristian doctrines as understood by the SyriacChristians but for a Buddhist audience.

As early as 638 we have an excellentnarrative of the Nativity, the Ministry and thePassion in The Sutra of Jesus the Messiah. Thefirst half of this book is a manual onChristian living. Alopen tried to reconcileChristianity with Chinese ethics. The Buddhistinfluence was very apparent "The life of allsentient beings," the sutra added, "Is the sameas the life of man." It is, however, the secondhalf of the book, which especially holds ourattention. For the first time, Chinese readerswere privileged to read an account of theNativity. "God in Heaven above shed his lighton heaven and earth. In the place where Jesusthe Messiah was born, the dwellers in the world

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saw bright light on the earth, a star of goodomen dwelling in the sky." The simile that thestar was as large as a cartwheel isinteresting. The Chinese assistant of Alopenwas familiar with Buddhist sutras and we havereason to believe that the simile was takenfrom the Buddhist scriptures where the size ofthe lotus is compared with that of thecartwheel.

In this document we read that at the Baptism"A voice was heard saying, 'Messiah is my son,all people who are in the world must obey hiscommandments.' " Yet according to St. Mark'sGospel, a similar saying is placed in thecontext of the Transfiguration. This is not amistake but a product of an earlier proto-Gospel called the Diatesseron favored by SyriacChristians.

In The Messiah's Discourse on Charity whichappeared in 642. Some of the terms adopted arequite creative. The Holy Spirit is the "PureWind;" the Resurrection is the "HolyTransformation." The first half of this latterdocument was devoted to a paraphrase of theSermon on the Mount. The second half resumedthe narrative of the life of Christ. It beganwith a description of the events, whichoccurred at the time of the death andresurrection of Christ the splitting of therocks, the opening of the tombs of the saintsand their appearance for a period of 44 days(Matthew 27:52). In the section on the

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Ascension, the document ended thus, " Take Mywords and preach to all peoples. Call them tocome to be baptized in the name of the Father,the Son and the Holy Spirit. I shall be withyou in all your ways until the end of theearth. " Again it is reminiscent of the lastverse of St. Matthew's Gospel. Indeed, St.Matthew is the Gospel par excellence for theSyriac Christians and Alopen used it as thebasis of his narrative both in 7th Sutra ofJesus the Messiah and in its sequel. The Bookof the Honored Ones (ninth century) gave a listof saints and scriptures. The list ofscriptures includes the titles of thirty-fivebooks, which were venerated by the church inChina. One can easily identify the Gospels, theActs, Epistles of St. Paul, the Psalms, partsof the Pentateuch, a Breviary, and at least twoof the original Chinese Syriac books - SutraProclaiming the Origin and Root of the HolyReligion and the Sutra of Mysterious Peace andJoy. The Syriac Christians used Buddhist termsand phrases in order to call the attention ofthe Chinese intellectuals who favored Buddhismto the Syriac religion. Yet after the turn ofthe ninth century, it is obvious that Syriacwritings were increasingly becoming syncreticin nature. The way Buddhist thoughts werefreely borrowed had gone beyond Alopen or Adam.In the Sutra of Mysterious Peace and Joy, theChristian elements had largely disappeared. AsHis disciples, like the Buddha, surrounded theMessiah He enlightened them with divine mystery

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and at the conclusion of the teaching, thedisciples were filled with joy and withdrew.The setting bears little resemblance to that bythe Sea of Galilee. But what was taught is evenmore amazing. It was not an adaptation of theSermon on the Mount; it was rather a discourseon the overcoming of desire and therebyattaining inner peace and happiness.

The congregations of the Syriac monasticchurches in Chang-an and Loyang must have beenlargely Persian or Central Asian. But it islikely that missionary work among the Chinesealso stood high on the list of purposes. Thevery fact that the liturgy was written inChinese is sufficient to show that there musthave been a number of Chinese in the Syriaccongregations. In the persecution of foreignreligions in 845 we learn that, besides foreignmonks of Persian or Central Asian origin, therewere a number of Chinese monks serving theAssyrian Church. These too must "be compelledto return to lay life and resume their originalcallings and pay taxes." Still, this was not acase of Christians becoming Buddhists. Themissionary impulse was clearly stated in theHymn of Eternal Salvation (720), "The GreatHoly and Merciful Father will use His wisdomand strength to save the hundreds of millionsof people . . . so that they could also returnto the great truth." So it seems that withinthis context the Syriac Sutras would have beenconsidered Christian and perhaps even used forevangelistic purposes.

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We know that in 635, according to bothChinese dynastic records and the AssyrianChurch of the East's stone monument in Xian,Bishop Alopen arrived in China with the Gospelto proclaim Christianity. He brought with himbooks to be translated into Chinese and Uhigur.

One of the books was translated into aSyriac Sutra modeled on the Milindapanha, whichcomes from the Gandharian area of present dayAfghanistan. This is where Alopen and FatherAdam were trained. There, in this region, isthe belief in karma. The Sutra of Cause, Effectand Salvation take karma and reincarnation asan human crisis, which Christ has come tosolve.

'So it was that He existed before existingin His mother's womb. But to change your karma,you must exist in this physical world. A personcan only change karma residue by being bornagain into this world.........There was noother way to free us from sins but for Him toenter this world. So He came and suffered alife of rejection and pain before returning.'

Christ is the answer to karma. Within a hundred years, the Church in China,

the Church of the East was creating its ownmasterpieces, led by the remarkable Bishop QingQing, who was perhaps the greatest literarygenius of the T’ang dynasty.

Bishop Qing Qing wrote the text of the StoneSutra, but he also wrote one of the most unique

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books of Christianity; 'The Sutra of Returningto Your Original Nature.' In this sutra,written c780 AD, Chinese Christianity drawsupon the I Ching, Buddhist imagery andConfucian thought to describe Christianity.

The Church by 720 was reinterpreting Jesusin a Chinese context. The Sutra Taking Refugein the Three reads:

"Great Holy Law Giver You bring us back to our original nature. And the souls that are saved are countless:Divine compassion lifts them up from the dustRedeeming them from the sad realm of ghosts....See the angelic spirits crossing the ocean of Dharma!We know to practice peace in our hearts throughyou.This whole gathering unites in singing to you, Honored One:

The Great Law is now the Heavenly WheelOf Returning to You."

Here Buddhist imagery - Dharma, HeavenlyWheel, Returning - is used to proclaim theChristian message of salvation. But it is alsoChristian imagery found in the eleventh Song ofSolomon favored by Syriac Christians.

Furthermore, Jesus proclaims in anotherSyriac Sutra:

"This is why I say: no wanting, no doing, nopiousness, no truth.

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These are the Four essential Laws. They cannotteach you in themselvesbut follow them and you will be free fromtrying to sort out what to believe."

Bishop Qing Qing presents us with a Buddhatype Christ.

The Syriac Sutras show us a Gospel unlikeany Gospel the West knew. Here is a fusionbetween distinct traditions, which produces agospel in Sutra form. In a world whereincreasingly the interaction between faiths isbeing taken as normal, the Syriac Sutras showus that the encounter between faiths has takenplace before - 1300 years ago in China.

For over a thousand years, the history ofChurch of the East in China and its contactwith Buddhism has remained hidden. It wastemporarily rediscovered 400 years ago, but theJesuit missionaries were too confused at thebonding of Buddhism and Christianity to want todiscover what the Church in China had done. Wehave a chance once again to look at thisbeautiful jewel formed out of the pressure offorces of Buddhism and Christianity under theweight of the Chinese Empire and offer it tothe world again. Let us not fail to dream ofadventure and creativity like the Syriacmissionaries of Persia.

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The So-Called Nestorian Crosses

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In previous paper, I have hopefullyestablished the mutual influences ofChristianity on Buddhism and Buddhism onChristianity in China from the 7th to 14thcenturies. This spiritual cross fertilizationdemonstrates one of the principle reasonsChristianity in China eventually was absorbedinto Buddhist and Taoist beliefs and practices.It became a victim of its own synchronisticpractices. I believe this happened shortlyafter 845 AD when Christianity fell out offavor with the imperial government. Christiansadopted Taoist and Buddhist behaviors andbeliefs. It was not a giant step for mostChristians. Gauanyin, a female Chinese deityhad been adopted as a symbol of Mary. Jesus wasa bodhisatva, an enlightened being. Christianfestivals of Easter and Christmas wereenshrouded in Chinese symbols. Even the Crossitself was surrounded by the lotus, the dragon,and clouds, a triade of Buddhist/Chineseimagery.

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In November of 2004 I traveled to Hong Kong tothe University of Hong Kong museum where I wasa guest of the curator Dr. Peng. I was givenpermission to photograph and study the socalled Nestorian Crosses. Within the first fewmoments of gazing upon this collection of over1000 pieces I was struck by two impressions.First of all, many of the crosses were notNestorian at all but Buddhist and Manichean.Second, most were created for the purpose ofstamping bread, clay, or even wax.

 I read in a small brochure describing thecollection "The Mongolian dig them constantlyout from old graves or somewhere else; theyknow nothing about their history, carry themaround on their belt, especially the women.When they leave their residence, to go to themeadow, they seal there doors with loam, wherethey use this cross as a seal." (1)

This was written by P. Antoin Mostaert (1881-1971) about the Mongolian use of the bronzestamps and seals in Ordos Region in the firsthalf of the 20th century. The crosses shownhere, come from the Yuan-Dynasty (1271-1368)when China was under Mongolian rule. 

The Museum and Art Gallery of the Hong KongUniversity, preserves one of the most extensivecollections of remains from the Ordos region

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north of the Great Wall. Collected by a Britishpostal inspector, F.A. Nixon, who donated thecollection to UHK around 1949. Many of thecrosses are elaborately decorated withswastikas, a motif

that goes back almost five thousand years,as seen on an earthenware flask from 2500 BCexhibited in the same museum. The flask iscrudely decorated with swastikas that predateBuddhism. Other bronze stamps are shaped likedoves, which could be a Christian symbol forthe Holy Spirit but it could equally be asymbol of Buddhism as a popular image of goodfortune. As a Syriac Orthodox priest, and

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having seen thousands of crosses over the yearsof various ages from the Syriac traditions,including the Assyrian Church of the East, Idoubted the connection to Nestorian Christians.Also, having spent the previous two yearsspeaking and teaching in Buddhist monasteriesabout eastern Christianity gave me somefamiliarity with Buddhist symbols of the Tangand Song dynasties. These crosses appeared tobe in some cases clearly Buddhist and perhapsManichean.

The painting above is of a Tang DynastyChristian monk-missionary who came from Persia.Christianity reached Tang dynasty China in the7th century via monks from Syria, and thenotable Nestorian Christian monument devoted tothe Christian religion-faith's establishment inChina during the reign of Tang Taizong in Xi-Anis a material testimony to this fact. Thedating of this painting is pre-1000AD and

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around the Tang dynasty period, and it is nowhoused in the British Museum in London.

There are three crosses on the figure, one onthe headband, one worn around his neck as apendant, and another on top of the staff hebears in his left hand. If you look closely thecrosses do not have the swaztika in the middleor other symbols on each arm as we see withmost of the so-called Nestorian Crosses.Nestorian crosses are fairly plain as we see inthe picture above. Compared to the so calledcrosses in the Hong Kong Museum, these are notsimilar; yet the crosses in the painting areNestorian. We can only conclude that some ofthe crosses in the Hong Kong Museum aremislabeled.

My first view of a Nestorian cross was in XianChina in 1989 during the Tianamen studentrevolt. I was in China to teach but it was adifficult time. My greatest joy was travelingto Xian where I sought out the Hall of ForestMuseum and studied the 4 meter high NestorianStele. There I viewed a small Nestorian crossat the top arising out of a lotus, clouds, andsurrounded by dragons. This cross is Christianand can be dated to the time of the erection ofthe stele on January 7, 781. The cross issimple and is ornamented only by rounded formson the arms and top. It is a cross I have seenmany times throughout the Syriac east in

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ancient monasteries and churches.

In May of 2004 there was an exhibition inLondon of photographs of Nestorian tombstonesfrom the city of Quanzhou in Fujian province,South China. The tombstones are dated to theMongol period of the thirteenth and fourteenthcenturies and have inscriptions in Syro-Turkish, Phags-pa and Chinese; the evidencefrom the inscriptions shows that some membersof the Nestorian community came from CentralAsia. Many of the tombstones have crosses onlotus flowers and some of them show flyingfigures supporting crosses. The iconography ofthe flying figures shows connections with therepresentation of apsarasas in Chinese Buddhismand angels in Seljuk and Mongol art.

Once again we can see that there is nosimilarity to the crosses in the Hong Kongcollection except in a vague sense. These are

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Christian crosses on Christian tombs. But thecrosses in the Nixon collection may not be allNestorian.

In the neighborhood of the hot salt-lake Issyk-kul, high among the mountains of Turkestan, aretwo cemeteries. On hundreds of the tombstonesare crosses and inscriptions that markChristian graves. They cover the period fromthe middle of the thirteenth to the middle ofthe fourteenth century. The inscriptions are inSyriac and in Turkish. The cemetery housesChristians from many lands-a Chinese woman, aMongol, an Indian, a Uigur. There arereferences to the wisdom and gifts of some andto their devoted service. The word "believer"is added to the name, and there are expressionsof affection and of hope. Among theinscriptions are the following:

"This is the grave of Pasak. The aim of life isJesus our Redeemer"

"This is the grave of the charming maidenJulia"

"This is the grave of the priest and general,Zuma. A blessed old man, a famous Emir, the sonof General Giwargis. May our Lord unite hisspirit with the spirits of the fathers andsaints in eternity"

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"This is the grave of the church visitor Pag-Mangku, the humble believer" 

"This is the grave of Shliha the celebratedcommentator and teacher, who illuminated allthe monasteries with light; son of Peter theaugust commentator of wisdom. His voice rang ashigh as the sound of a trumpet. May our Lordmix his pure soul with the just men and thefathers. May he participate in all heavenlyjoys.”

“ This is the grave of the priest Take who wasvery zealous for the church". (3)

These graves do not bear crosses like the oneswe see in the Hong Kong collection. Again thecrosses in the cemeteries are plain althoughsometimes surrounded by Chinese symbols.

Martin Palmer, author of The Jesus Sutras therecently published book on the Chinese Churchof the East and who is also head of theInternational Da Qin project, a programsurveying and preserving the eight-centuryremains of a church in western China, commentson the collection: “These delicate crosses,survivors of fallen empires and the harshnessof the desert, stand as one of the most movingtestimonies to the strength of the Church ofthe East in China. It reached out to people for

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whom nomadic life was the norm, created felttent churches and brought from these peoplesome of the loveliest Christian artifacts evermade.”

While some of the crosses in the Hong KongMuseum may be Christian, it will take acomprehensive survey to settle the question.This task is beyond my means and perhaps evenability. Yet, by a limited comparison withartifacts of the period when the crosses weremade, I am deeply doubtful that many of theitems are Christian. They may be in fact, agreat testimony and contribution to Manicheanand/or Buddhist history.

1. P. Antoin Mostaert C.I.C.M. (1881-1971)2. K. Parry, ‘Angels and Apsaras: Christian Tombstones from Quanzhou’, TAASA Review [The Journal of the Asian Arts Society of Australia] 12/2, 2003

3. the Rev. John Stewart, M. A., Ph.D, "Nestorian Missionary Enterprise" by (T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1928).

Counting Patriarchs of the See ofAntioch

Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka Iwas is the 122ndPatriarch in the line of Patriarchs descendingfrom Antioch. But when we compare the spirallist of names, presently located at DeirZa'faran Monastery in Mardin, Turkey, to thelist on the Syrian Orthodox Resources site we

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find major differences. Without disputing datesand spellings of names, there remainsignificant differences in the length of thelists. Counting only the names with dates weobserve 150 names on the spiral list. There areclearly extra names and a number of overlaps inthe dates of patriarchal reigns.

By carefully reviewing the lists we come tothe same number of official Patriarchs.Nevertheless there are some important notationsthat should be included. I have added notesfrom the spiral list to the middle column. Thevariations are cause for further study. Butfirst let us look briefly at the foundation ofthe See of Antioch in light of Syrian Orthodoxhistory.

Authority of the See of Antioch In general, the Churches in the "East gave

obeisance towards the Church of Antioch, whosebishop from remote antiquity exercisedauthority over them. This custom was sanctionedby the Council of Nicæa (325). The Fathers ofthis assembly decreed in the sixth canon thatthe privileges of the Church of Antioch shouldbe maintained. According to the second canon ofthe Council of Constantinople (381) thejurisdiction of the Bishop of Antioch comprisedall the eastern-most provinces of the RomanEmpire. The patriarchate of Antioch lost muchof its importance after the middle of the fifthcentury due to the rise of new centers ofauthority. The Bishops of Constantinople and

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Jerusalem aspired to usurp the first rank inthe Eastern Church and gradually acquired andattempted to maintain a controlling influenceover the Church of Antioch.

But in the latter part of the fifth century,in an attempt to restore the true line ofAntioch, Peter Fuller took possession of thepatriarchal see of Antioch. After the death ofSeverus (538) the ancient and authentic line ofAntiochian Patriarchs, later to be known as theSyrian Orthodox, were consecrated and electedonce again.

In the 13th century the Crusadesdramatically impacted and damaged SyrianOrthodox authority both in Antioch andthroughout the East. Multiple rival patriarchsfought for control in the turmoil of war andsocial chaos. The Patriarchal See retreated tothe safety of Mardin and the famed DeirZa'faran Monastery where the spiral list ofpatriarchal names was placed on the chair ofthe patriarchs. In the following century,stability returned to the patriarchate andpatriarchs, and beginning with Yousef barWehebin 1293, they began to use the nameIgnatius. Upon this chair in Mardin patriarchsruled for nearly 700 years until the collapseof the Ottoman Empire.

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Old Math or New Math At first it seems according to the spiral

list of Patriarchs, Moran Mor Ignatius ZakkaIwas should be the 150th Patriarch. But closeinspection reveals that there are 28 illegal orrival Patriarchs in the list. These includeseven Arian patriarchs from 331 CE to 360 CE,and five in the next century in the bitterstruggle to take back the patriarchal seearound the time of Peter the Fuller. Then, inthe 6th century there were seven rivalsmentioned during the turbulent period thatfollowed and Jacob Bardaeus and Queen Theodorainitiated the rightful Syrian control ofAntioch.

Political interference by the Caliph duringthe 9th century imposed two more illegal

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patriarchs followed by three more who servedless than a year and are discounted. Theseinclude David (763), Abraham (846), and John inthe 11th century. Finally, there are four morerival patriarchs in the rebellious 13th to 14thcenturies.

In both lists there were attempts to takecontrol away from the Antiochian line ofpatriarchs leading to Moran Mor Ignatius ZakkaIwas, even by some of the very partriarchs inthe line who tried to break succession anddivert control to others. These include MaximosII in 449 and Paul the Black of Alexandria ahundred years later. Those who followed theclaims of the Council of Chalcedon even triedto take the throne of Antioch by force bydeposing Severius in 518, and mounted otherchallenges to the See over the centuries. Butthe strength of the legitimate See of Antiochrested upon a power greater than men, that nohuman being or institution could destroy.

Today the list of illegal or rivalpatriarchs reduces the list to an official 122patriarchs, Moran Mor Ignatius Zakka Iwas beingthe 122nd. He carries the glory of thetraditional name that infers stability andrightful claim to the See of Antioch, the mostancient and honored place of authority. May webe blessed by his rule and the authority ofChrist present in the See of Antioch.

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The Rule of John of Mardin

The Monastery of Hananyo is known today asthe monastery of Deir Zafaran (SaffronMonastery). It is famous as the seat ofPatriarchs of the West Syrian Church for 700years from the 12th to 20th century when thePatriarchal See moved from Turkey to Syria.

 John of Mardin re-established the monastery inthe 12th century after a long period of disuse.The Rules he set in place became the monasticstandard for nearly 700 years. His rule ranksin importance to the Rule of Benedict in thewest for its length of use. The BenedictineRule lasted 600 years until the Cisterciansreforms in the 12th century. Not until thePatriarchal See of the West Syrian Church wasforced to move after World War I and the Rule

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of John of Mardin abandoned. (1)

About the time John of Mardin was writing hisrule in the East, sometime between 1124 and1144 AD. St. Bernard was carrying forth thereforms of the Cistercians in Europe. What isremarkable about the rule of John of Mardin isthat it seems heavily influenced by theBenedictine characteristics, perhaps influencedby the Rule of Basil and perhaps even the ruleof Benedict itself. Both John of Mardin andBenedict drew from the Rule of Basil. What isinteresting is to see how each man adapted andadjusted the Rule of Basil.

The development of a full monastic ruledeveloped much later in the Syriac east.Monasteries did not have a rule in the sensethat the western monasteries had a rule. Thecanons of Ephrem, Rabbula, Johanan Qursos,Abraham of Kashkar, Dadisho, Koriakos, andMarutha were prohibitions and emergencylegislations for their day more than rules. (2)Besides, each monastery was under the directionof a Bishop and the inspiration of the HolySpirit. Each monastery and each generationseemed to have its own temporary rule based onthe character and desires of the bishop orabbot. We can see that these canons of theSyriac east are not really rules because theyare a patchwork of injunctions rather that wellordered documents.

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Internal Evidence

I believe that the rule of John of Mardin isthe first rule developed in the Mesopotamianworld that is robust and rounded in the way therule of Benedict can be characterized.

Though it came 600 years after the Rule ofBenedict, it drew from the same sources andperhaps even the Rule of Benedict itself.

When we look at the Rule of Basil and comparethe Rules of John of Mardin and the Rule ofBenedict we observe the following:

Both John of Mardin and Benedict addedlegislation about the election of the Abbot andincluded democratic values which St. Basilseemed to avoid.

Both John and Benedict added instructions aboutthe care of the sick and there are detailedinstructions in John of Mardin’s rule about howto treat the dying.

Both Benedict and John add offices to theirrule which Basil did not include. Benedictcreates the office of deans and John of Mardinrelies of deacons and adds the duties ofsacristan.

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Still Benedict is much more detailed in hisinstructions than John of Mardin. Yet, John ofMardin is far more detailed than any of theeastern Syriac authors of monastic rules.

John of Mardin’s rule has parallels toBenedict’s rule in 26 of the 31 chapters in ageneral thematic sense. This alone does notprove that John of Mardin knew directly of theRule of Benedict. But it is highly suggestive.

Probable External influences

There are three possible Benedictine influenceson John of Mardin? First, it is possible thatthere was perhaps an indirect influence throughthe Latin Patriarch who lived in Antioch at theend of the first crusade. In fact, the LatinPatriarch, Bernard, had jurisdiction over theWest Syrian Patriarch. This was illustrated onthe occasion of a dispute between the WestSyrian Patriarch and his Bishop in Edessa. ThePatriarch demanded valuable books in Edessa betransferred to the Patriarchate. The Bishoprefused and the Latin Patriarch called the WestSyrians to his court to settle the dispute.Patriarch Bernard ruled in favor of the Bishopand the West Syrian Patriarch, Anthanasius

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l’farag. left the city and re-established theWest Syrian Patriarchate near Miletene. Therecertainly would have been some influence onJohn of Mardin from the Latin Patriarch. Couldthere have been a transmission of knowledgethrough the Patriarch to John? 

Another influence most certainly was throughthe presence of the crusaders in Edessa duringthe youth of John. These Crusaders came fromlands where the Benedictine Rule was alive andunder reform. In fact the Latin Bishop ofEdessa during the teenage years of John heldthe name Benedict who was mainly supported bythe Latin Baladi family. A Benedictinemonastery was built next to the church of Johnthe Baptist, which was occupied by the Latinsin Edessa. It was the former church of the WestSyrians. Baldwin I was the Latin king of Edessaduring this time and was instrumental in thedevelopment of deployment of the KnightsTemplar who evolved out of a Benedictine Order.The Templars fought in the Edessa districtduring the formative period of John of Mardin.

A third Benedictine influence could have comefrom Christian refugees who fled Edessa andtraveled to Mardin under the protection ofZengi. These Christians may have includedwestern Christians who would have known ofBenedicitne syle monasticism.It is known thatJohn of Mardin ransomed many of these

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Christians from captivity in Edessa and broughtthem to Mardin. (3)

Comparison of the Rules

If we look at the chapters of John of Mardin’sRule we can see how similar it is to both Basiland Benedict.

Who was John of Mardin?

John of Mardn was 39 years old when he was madeBishop of Mardin by the Patriarch Athanaius Abul-Farag. More than likely he was ordained atthe monastery of Barsauma in Diyarbakir.Athanasius had recently moved there from hisPatriarchal See in Antioch. The move wasprecipitated by a feud in the Jacobitecommunity. He had excommunicated theMetropolitan of Edessa, Bar Sabuni, six yearsearlier in 1118 AD. It split the Jacobitechurch of Edessa and apparently John was in theparty of the Partiriarch. Edessa had manyvaluable books. The Patriarch wanted thesebooks for his own library in Antioch.Metropolitan Bar Sabuni would not give them tohim. The Latin Patriarch Bernard in Antiochsummoned Patriarch Athanasius and ruled againsthim. In a huff, Athansius retreated east andmoved his Patriarchal residence to themonastery of Barsauma in Diyarbakir.

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In the year 1124 AD, when John was ordained,Ilghazi, ruler of Mardin had just died and leftthe region to his son Timurtash, youngerbrother to Suleiman. Though Muslim, Timustash,like his father was a mild ruler and was justto Christians. It was an opportune time forJohn to begin his campaign of re-establishingJacobites in Mardin.

He seems to have spent some time at themonastery of Barsauma in Diyarbakir. If this istrue, then he would have been exposed to amodel of highly advanced civil administrationand organization. Prior to that time he spenthis youth in Edessa, a city famous for itseducational institutions where, no doubt, hewas grounded in the superior cultural andlinguistic benefits of that city. Theseadvantages combined with his youthful age atthe time of his ordination allowed him to makea profound impact on the history of West Syrianlife.

In the meantime, Mardin was benefiting from theturmoil in Edessa to the west. Edessa sufferedduring the first twenty years of John ofMardin’s episcopate until its fall in 1144.Crusader overlords made it ripe for attacksfrom the Muslims who wanted back their city andtheir dignity. Thus, Christian refugees foundMardin and all of Tur Abdin to the east as aplace of refuge. It became the new Jacobite

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frontier and a place of opportunity for anvisionary and energetic Bishop.

John of Mardin’s charge and task was enormousand nearly impossible. He was given a diocesethat was virtually dead. Hardly a monk wasresident in the region and these were ascattered lot of unlearned men and women. Themonasteries were abandoned and occupied byKurdish and Arab squatters. Perhaps, not sincethe time Addai, the first apostle in theregion, had so great a task been set before aChristian leader. His Patriarch must have hadtremendous confidence in this young man. BishopJohn more than filled these near herculeanexpectations as he built twenty nine churchesand renewed or restored ten monasteries overthe course of 38 years.

His greatest achievement was the resurrectionof the monastery of Mor Hananyo. So beautifuland active did he make it that upon his deathit became the seat of the Syrian OrthodoxPatriarch for over 700 years.

In a biography John of Mardin writes, 

“As my wretchedness dwelt in the habit of monasticism in theholy mountain of the town of Edessa where my parentsspiritually and carnally begot me and raised me up. Afterwards

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I set off from there and came to the East, that is to say, thecountry of this town of Mardin. I the humble John, then I sawthis famous and holy monastery, the monastery of MorHananyo which was famous in a previous time not only for thedecorations of all kinds or by the construction in humanworkmanship of skilled artisans or by the melted nature withrays of light from gold and valuable stones, according to thatwhich the book tells us regarding the temple which KingSolomon built. I saw everything under the sun is vanity.Everything is vanity of vanities except one thing: the firmbuilding of a life that comes to maturity in a holy manner of lifethat is solid from the creation of the divine commandments.These persons become temples of God, in them he dwells andremains forever.”

It is clear that John of Mardin did not look tothe building of these churches and monasteriesas his legacy. The buildings were only a meansto the true structures of faith who were theliving monks and faithful people.

In his biography, we are told that he raised upthe native Syriac speech and language which wasdead during this time. He did this by re-establishing schools. People had forgotten eventhe names of the churches and monasteries. Welearn much about his activities through thewriting of his contemporary, Michael the Great.

Features of the Rule

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The basic principles for these rules are thatthey must be “reasonable”, consist of “commonsense”, and not be “ponderous.” John was far-sighted too in that he saw the rule asnecessary not only for the present situationbut for future generations of monks. He repeatsan admonition throughout the rule to not alteror change the rule. 

One can see the intelligence and education ofJohn of Mardin in that he starts out byestablishing the purpose of the rule followedby the context in which the rule was created.

We get a hint at the origin of this rule inthat he came from Edessa which is about 200miles west of Mardin. Edessa was under Latinrule most of his life until the midpoint of hisreign as Bishop. Edessa remained under westerninfluences until its fall in 1144 AD, so muchso that Syriac speech developed into its owndialect distinct from the eastern dialectcharacteristic of Nestorian Christians. We geta hint that the region of Mardin was notcompletely desolate of monks. He only says thatthere were few Jacobite monks. The fact thatJohn used the term Jacobite is curious andsuggests that the West Syrian Community adoptedthis designation for themselves. There is nodoubt that the term Jacobite was used by Johnof Mardin even though in later centuries it wasconsidered as a term of derision by the SyrianOrthodox in later centuries. In Ms. Mardin

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Orth. 323 the term Jacobites is crossed out andthe word “Syrians” replaces it. Nevertheless,Jacob Bardaeus was a great reformer of theliturgy and monastic offices in the seventhcentury. Certainly John followed in this reformtradition.

In a biographical section about the life ofJohn of Mardin, it was estimated that some ofthe monasteries had been vacant for two tothree hundred years. We get no help fromMichael the Great in his history to verify thisstatement. It probably was not as damaged asthe rule of John suggests because even today wefind a pre-Justinian mosaic intact and variousfeatures of carved stone that date to the fifthand sixth century.

John has the tone of a refugee who is invadingthe land. Mardin was once a vibrant Jacobiteregion. For several hundred years from the 5thto 9th centuries it was filled withmonasteries, churches, and living saints. Johnhints at the sources of the downfall and lossof the properties. Arabs and Kurds occupied themonastery of Hananyo. When we investigate thisperiod of history we are reminded of the greatsocial disruption which occurred in the regionprior to 1124 AD. The First Crusade had stormedthrough the Near East. It caused tremendoussocial displacement and anger among theMuslims. A counter attack on Edessa by theMuslims, took back the city of Edessa in 1144

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AD. It is likely that many Christians fled eastto Mardin as refugees.

John of Mardin seems to be genuine in hishumility as we read in this text. We detectthis humility in his reference to others whocame with him to re-establish West Syrian(Jacobite) Christianity in the region. He doesnot take credit for only himself. Yet he seemsto realize the he was on a rescue mission. Hehad a sense of urgency in regard to the neartotal loss of West Syrian Christianity.

John of Mardin’s administrative ability ishinted at in the preface. He has deep insightinto the psychological mechanisms of humanbehavior. He knows that those who build amonastery are “obligated to preserve it.” Bysending out monks to build and restoremonasteries he is depending upon the humansense of “pride of place” to maintain theseedifices. John also reveals here that there iscompetition for these buildings by rivalreligions. The history of the monastery ofHananyo seems to have already indicated thistendency for others to occupy Jacobite sites.The monastery was abandoned as a monastery inthe 5th century and turned into a Romanfortification. Mor Hanayo recovered theproperty in his day and turned it back into amonastery. Now, once again, squatters wereliving in the monastery and John of Mardintakes it back for the faithful.

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John states a central purpose for this rule inthe preface. He believes in a coenobitic typeof monasticism. He believes that monks shouldlive in community in obedience. The region ofMardin and Tur Abdin was famous for monks whopracticed an individual piety. Earlier rulesoften refer to monks who lived solitary livesand were not obedient to local bishops orpriests. The Rule of Rabbula (5th c.) mentionsmonks who were giving themselves the Eucharistin direct opposition to what the local bishopshad instructed. This type of eremiticalindependence did not die out easily. Long aftermonasticism in the west shifted to Benedictinestyle monasticism. There were rabid eremiticalmonks in the east, perhaps most famouslycharacterized by the stylite monks.

As in Benedict’s opening chapter and in theRule of the Master, John identifies types ofmonks. First is the coenobitic type who isunder the authority of an abbot. Poverty,obedience, prayer, and work are the mainfeatures of this life.

The second type of monk is a cloistered hermit.Perhaps this is in a semi-eremiticalarrangement which was often preferred in theNear East. Monks would live under an abbot butcloistered in their cell and meet once a weekfor worship and Eucharist.

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The third type of monk is an anchorite who isnot under any authority, although he must livein community for a period of time and subjecthim to obedience and humility. After thisperiod of time, which could be years, this typeof monk is free to wander. Poverty seems to bethe main characteristic of this type of monk.

The three types of monks are in an order fromthe lowest to the highest. Clearly, theanchorite is the highest ideal.

Materialism was a great threat to monasticlife. This period of time in both the east andthe west was full with greed and avarice.Venetian merchants were moving goods betweenthe east and west creating desires for thingsthat did not advance the soul. Many crusaderswent to the Near East in search of physicalwealth. This disease of materialism could befound on both sides. Christians and Muslims inboth worlds were drawn to opportunity toplunder others for their own benefit.

John of Mardin saw materialism as a great vice.He drew upon a personal example of howmaterialism infects the soul. The more one hasthe more it creates need for more materialthings. If one has excess oil or lentils itrequires more containers and that require more

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work to purchase or trade for more things. Itis an endless cycle of gain until one iscrushed under the weight of materialism.

John sees the threat of materialism as a deeplyspiritual evil, especially as it tends to cutone off from his neighbor. “The one who obtainsdoes not contribute to his neighbor.” This isthe centerpiece of his charge againstmaterialism. If one has excess then one is togive it to the neighbor. When one does not giveto the neighbor it causes a bankruptcy of lovein the person who hoards.

The poor who have nothing can also be infectedby materialism, stricken with jealousy andenvy. The problem of materialism is a spiritualsickness which has nothing to do with how muchor how little one has. Are you rich in heart?John of Mardin is asking in this rule. If youhave an abundance of love you will give withoutthought of reward and praise.

As John was writing this rule he seems to havehad some opposition already to it. He mentionsthose to want to invalidate the rule. There isno doubt that as he began to gather up hisscattered flock for his monastery of Hananyothat there were brothers who resisted. 

There was a check and balance system to the

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office of the abbot. An abbot cannot act aloneaccording to the rule. An abbot must alwaysconsult with his stewards who are elected bythe brethren. This prevents an abbot ofappointing only those who would not resist himon moral and ethical grounds. Especially inregard to money, the stewards control therecording of income and expenses. Bishop Johnclearly lays out a method for such recordkeeping.

While the abbot is kept in check by thestewards, the stewards are kept in check by theabbot whom they must nearly always obey. Onlyfor a case of ethical concern or sickness shallthe steward resist the command of the abbot.John compares the stewards to soldiers who havea life and death duty to obey. John uses anancient Latin image of a soldier pledging hislife on his bier to support his fellowsoldiers.

The genius of John of Mardin was his ability tosynergize the Syriac monastic world withBenedictine influences. It is the same geniuswe see in Benedict and each was able to affecttheir respective cultures in ways that spannedthe centuries.

Notes:

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1.Sources for John of Mardin, Michael the Great Chronique IV,p. 630f., 633. Ms. Dam. Patr. 12/15, fol. 479a-481b, Ms. MardinOrth. 176. Bar Hebraeus Chronicon eccl., II, col 499ff.

2.Voobus, Arthur, Syriac and Arabic Documents, RegardingLegislation Relative to Syrian Asceticism, 1960, EstonianTheological Society in Exile, Stockholm.

3.Runciman, Steven, A History of the Crusades, Vol. II, 1965,Harper torch Books, New York. 

4.Clarke, W.K.L., The Ascetical Works of Saint Basil, pp. 133-228, 1925, SPCK, London.

5.Fry, Timothy, Ed., The Rule of St. Benedict in English, 1981,Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Mn.

6.Ms. Sarfeh Patr. 38, fol. 180a-181a; Ms. Sarfeh Patr. 252,fol. 18b-19b.

St. Augin (Eugene) the Pearl Diver

The Pearl Diver – clue to when St. Auginbecame a monk. St. Augin was a pearl diver for25 years. He was born on an island of Clysmanear the town of modern day Suez. This estuarywas famous for oysters bearing pearls of greatvalue. The island is in the gulf of Suez, anarm of the red sea. An oyster produces a pearlwhen foreign material becomes trapped insidethe shell. The oyster responds to theirritation by producing nacre, a combination ofcalcium and protein. The nacre coats the

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foreign material and over time produces apearl.

At the height of the Roman Empire, whenpearl fever reached its peak, the historianSuetonius wrote that the Roman General,Vitellius, financed an entire military campaignby selling just one of his mother's pearlearrings.

The best natural pearls occur in the speciesMeleagrina vulgaris, native to the PersianGulf. This species is found at the depths of 48to 120 feet. St. Augin would have been highlyathletic to participate in such an occupation.It is also likely that he probably did notstart diving for pearls until he was at least10 years old in order to have the lung capacityfor such work. This would mean that he wouldhave been about 35-40 years old before hebecame a monk under Pachomius, assuming that hewas a diver for 25 years. Thus, St. Augin wasprobably a middle aged man when he arrived onthe slopes of Mt. Izla. This analysis hints ata possible solution to the problem of whichcentury in which St. Augin lived.

The Problem of Dating St. Augin’s Life The account of Isho’dnah says he was a

contemporary of Jacob of Nisibis (d. 338) whichwould have placed him in the 4th century. TheChronicle of Seert, makes no mention of Jacobbut links him to Gregory the Wonderworker fromPontus in north-central Turkey who died about

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270 AD. Also he is associated with Mani inIsho’dhan’s Life of St. Augin. Again this wouldplace him in the 3rd century as Mani is knownto have died in 276 AD.

But it is possible for St. Augin’s life tohave spanned over both the 3rd and 4thcenturies. If he was about 50 years old when hegot to Mt. Izla where he first met St. Jacob ofNisibis around the year 320 AD, St. Augin wouldhave been born around 270 AD or slightlybefore. Therefore, St. Augin would have beenalive at the end of the life of Gregory theWonderworker and also been active during thefinal years of the rule of St. Jacob inNisibis.

As far as which king Shabur he was linked toin the Chronicle of Seert, that appearsambiguous, it seems he was alive during boththeir reigns. King Shabur I died in 272 AD andShabut II, his son, began his reign in 309 AD.The linkage is to this royal Persian family andnot to a particular family member, althoughShabur II was the adult contemporary of St.Augin.

Who were the original disciples? In an article published in Malyalam by

professor Brock a few years ago he identified14 disciples of St Augin in the text ofIsho’dnah. These are likely to be the mosthistorical and also members of the originalgroup that came from Egypt. They are as

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follows: John, who lived near Castra (Roman military

settlement) of Beth Zabdai, and was buried inthe monastery of Castra known as Hlahah.

Sheri, who came to Nisibis and became one ofthe original 18 brothers, Later he went toDara, a few miles west of St. Augin’s monasteryand on the Izla range, and founded a monasterythere. Dara was also a Roman fortification.

Yonan the hermit whose father was a senatorand relative of Emperor Constantine. He laterreturned to Egypt after a brief sojourn inJerusalem.

Shallita, founded a monastery in Qardu andZabdai. He was from an Egyptian family and wastrained in the monastery of St. Pachomius. Hespent his last days in the town of Fenek on theTigris river.

Aho, who founded the monastery of the bucketnot far from Fenek.

John who founded the monastery of Kamul. Hewas from a Zoroastrian fmily from Beth Garmai.He was converted by St. Augin at Nisibis.

Ezekiel, shared a birthday with EmperorConstantine. He was a Jewish convert from thetribe of Manassah. After becoming a monk underSt. Augin he founded a monastery in BethGarmai. He died on December 6th .

Toma Gurya

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Gregorios Serapion Michael – may have been the companion of St.

Aho who served in the military with Aho beforethey became monks.

Thekla – sister of St. Augin Elisha Stratonike, another sister of St. Augin   Tradition built up the number of disciples

to 72. These disciples who were added werememorable abbots and disciples who followed inthe cenobitic tradition attributed to St. Auginand thus were added to his list quitecorrectly. It would be no different than peoplewho are added to schools of thought in variousfields from generation to generation. Followersof Thomas Aquinas who lived centuries afterAquinas would still be called Thomists eventhough they only knew him through books andtradition.

From the Syriac Sources First , concerning the Holy St. Augin who

established the monastery on the mountain ofIzla near Nisibis. His family was from Egypt,from the Island of Clysma (according to Brocknear modern Suez). His occupation was to place

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a mask over his face and dive down into the seato bring up pearls, which he would then give tothe poor. This was his work for 25 years. Hereceived the monastic habit in the monastery ofAbba Pachomius. He and his companions went tothe mountain of Izla where he built thebeautiful monastery. Large groups of monksgathered around him. In those days St. Jacobwas appointed Bishop of Nisibis. He built thechurch at Nisibis. St. Augin made many miraclesbefore King Shabur.

The following were among his many discipleswho built monasteries and convents: St. Thomas,St. Taba, Gurya, Gregorios, Yoannes, John,Shallita, Elisha, Serapion, Thekla the sisterof St. Augin, Strtatonike another sister ofhis, John, St. Sheri, St. Michael. He died andwas buried in the shrine ofthe martyrs next tothe church he built.(2)

Also, “Augin was a contemporary of Anthonyin the time of Constantine. He came to Persiawith 10 brethrern, settled near Nisibis at thetime of Shabur in caves on a mountain calledMarde, that is the monastery of Izla. Heperformed many miracles and even raised a youthkilled by a lion who became a monk namedLazarus.”(3)

  * Fr. Dale A. Johnson is a Syrian Orthodox priest. He is one

of only two priests who are not of ethnic origin in the SyrianOrthodox Church. He has spent several years at Mor Gabriel

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Monastery in Tur Abdin in southeast Turkey, specializing inSyriac/Aramaic texts. He studied at the University of Chicagounder the great Syriac specialist, Arthur Voobus, and followedin his footsteps by helping to make available to the worldmanuscripts of the language of Jesus

Notes 1. S. Brock noted the pushing back of the date of the first

mention of St. Augin in an article published in India in Malyalam. Hewas kind enough to recently provide me with an unpublished Englishversion of the article. He points out in the sources that there is anEnglish summary of the Life of St. Augin (ed. Bedjan, Acta Martyrum etSanctorum II, pp.376-480) by E.A. W. Budge in The Book of Governors byThomas bishop of Marga (london 1893), vol. I, pp. cxxvcxxxi. Alsothere is a well known history by J-M Fiey in his ‘Nisibe: metropolesyriaque orientale et ses suffragantis des origines a nos jour’s(Leuven, 1977), pp.134-41.

2- From Isho’dnah Book of Sobriety, published in a Frenchtranslation, Livre de la Chastete’ Compose’ par Jesusdehah, Paris1891, Syriac text reprinted by P. Bedjan, Liber Superiorum, seuHistorica Monastica auctore Thoma, episcopo Margensi, Paris 1901, pp.437-517. (9th century Syriac document)

3. Dadisho of Qatar (E. Syr, late 7th century) exerpt edited by N.Sims-Williams in Analecta Bollardiana

Siege of Amida (502-3)

I believe that the Siege of Amida in 502-3AD is the single most important event in all of

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Middle Eastern history that created theconditions for the eventual conquest of Islam.Christianity was pushed out to the periphery,westward into barbarian Europe, and eastward tothe Asian east where it flourished away fromthe land of its birth.

It is more important than the Roman defeatin 363 when Julian the Apostate lost his lifeand the battle to the Persian Sassanids. Eventhough Roman was defeated in the easternfrontier, the Persian armies remained strongand in control. The Siege of Amida weakened thePersian Empire in a fatal way from which theynever recovered.

The Siege of Amida is more important thanthe Siege of Amida in 359 AD when Sapur II wasrolling back the Roman Empire to Antioch. Therewere still many battles to come and itcertainly did not give the Arabs an openingeither to Syria or Persia.

The Siege of Amida at the beginning of the6th century weakened the entire social,religious, and economic fabric of the MiddleEast in a way that prepared the way for theBedouin victories that no other battle orcircumstance had ever done before or after.

For hundreds of years the effects of thissiege played out its devastating consequences.It was not until the 9th century that peoplewere able to look back and see with theadvantage of hindsight and realize that the one

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pivotal event was the Siege of Amida. While itwas the golden age for Islam, it was the darkages for the Christian presence in the MiddleEast. The wealth of oriental Christianity movedeast, deep into Asian along the Silk Road tofind relief from the oppression of Islam.

For these reasons it is important to studyand understand the Siege of Amida. Not untilthe third Crusade 600 years later did anybattle have more devastating consequences forChristian history than the Siege of Amida. Itis a history that is not part of westernconsciousness because it is hidden behind therevisionist walls of Islam. Pre-Islamic historyfor Muslims is often not important and is oftenrepressed. The eyes of the West is often morepreoccupied with its own provincial historythan the history of a distant land even thoughit has profound influence on the history ofWestern Christianity. In the Asian East, thehistory of the Siege of Amida was undoubtedlykept alive in the records of Zechariah, Joshuathe Sylite, the writer of the Chronicle ofEdessa, and the historical work of John ofAsia. But Asian Christianity died out afterthe time of the Mongol rule in the 15th centuryand thus a memory of the Siege of Amida.

It is with the revival of interest ineastern and especially Semitic Christianityafter World War II that these histories arecoming to light again.

The Nature of War428

War in one sense is a human failure. Yetwar does produce outcomes that are positive tothe general human condition. There is a sortingof the gene pool. Strong, smarter, and luckierpeople survive war and go on to reproduce.Their genes survive while others do not.Complex systems of organization evolve duringwar. New technologies and advanced systems ofintelligence gathering and disseminationdevelop. This does not justify war for thereare other ways of achieving the same results.But is history of human beings has producedthese results more often through war.

The Siege of Amida in 502 was thebeginning of what are sometimes called theRoman Persian Wars. The Empire of Rome formallyceded to the Holy Roman Empire under EmperorZeno before AD. In actuality the Roman Empirefell in 363 when Julian the Apostate fell onthe battlefield and the Persian treaty, givingNisibis and the eastern frontier to Persia for120 years on the condition they would collecttaxes for Rome. Of course Persia failed tolive up to its obligation under the treaty andwhen Anastasius asked for his share of thetaxes, the Persian Emperor Kawad refused topay. This led Emperor Anastasius to counter byasking for the return of Nisibis. Thus thestage was set for the siege of Amida in 502.Kawad and Anastasius locked horns are were setfor battle.

Kawad was an unhappy man, He had gained

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power in 499 after being on the run from hisenemies in the Persian Court. His moralprinciples had led him to revolt against theliberal social laws that the Zoroastrians. Thereligious powers of the court advocated poolingwives and cattle plus getting rid of privlagesfor the elite. Perhaps it was this latter pointthat Kawad reacted against rather than sexualreligious scruples.

Nevertheless, Kawad found refuge in thecamps of the white huns. This was a Turkishrace of people who were migrating westward intothe Anatolian regions. Kawad alliance with thisgroup set the stage for the Islamic conquest ofthe region in the seventh century. When Kawadtook power upon his return to the Persiancourt, the Huns were a favored group.

To the south there were Arab migrationsnorthward into the upper Mesopotamian regionswhich included Amida. Of course, Mohammed andhis followers arose out of this group. Thecrush of social migratory forces over the next100 years, combined with the Roman PersianWars, created conditions for the eventualIslamic Conquest of the Persian Empire.

Amida was at the crossroads of all theseforces. Most of these events were initiated in297 when Rome conquered Nisibis and took itfrom the Persian Sassanid Emporer Sapur I.Counter attacks over the next 120 years by bothsides wore down the populations. The Persiansbelieved Nisibis was their city. Rome believed

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it was part of their empire. Amida, which layto the northwest of Nisibis was a key piece inthe battle of empires. It is was garden basketof the region. Melons, grapes, figs, nuts ofall kinds, and pasture for domesticated cattlewas abundant in the region. The empire whocontrolled Amida could feed its army.

Disease and famine followed each war.Rivers were polluted with thousands of humanand animal corpses, workers succumbed todiseases and crops could not be planted orharvested sufficiently. It was an endless cycleof decay, destruction, and death.

When we look at the Siege of Amida, weobserve all the ingredients for the preparationof the eventual Islamic Conquest. This is why Ibelieve that the Siege of Amida in 502 capturedthe imagination of historians. Somehow theyknew that the loss of Amida by the Romans, wasnot only the last whimper of a former empirebut it was the beginning of the end ofChristian civilization in Mesopotamia. Thepowerful schools of Edessa and Nisibis werenever the same after this period. The goldenage of genius in figures such as Ephrem, Jacobof Serug, and Narsai never again appeared. Thefoundation for genius requires stablecivilization and generations of consistentsupport. The forces of war, disease, and famineremoved the vital underpinnings that geniusneeds to rise up.

In the Chronicle of Zachariah the author 431

starts out by identifying the seed of war ashaving been planted in the reign of Peroz, theKing who preceded Kawad. The historian allegesthat Peroz had deceived the Huns who haddemanded tribute from him mainly for providingprotection to his empire on the frontier. Perozagreed then through treachery he invited thearmy of the Huns to a mountain camp, got themdrunk, waited until many had wandered away andthen slaughtered them.

The Huns exacted revenge with a fury andcounter attacked and killed Piroz and pillagedthe empire. When Kawad came to power the secondtime he probably had the help of the Huns asthey had provided him sanctuary during his timeof refuge. Kawad had stood against a powerfulZoroastrian prophte during his first reign andlost. Kawad was banished by the prophet Mazdakwho promoted a reformation of Zoroastrianism.Zoroastrians were originally Mithrians, a sunworshiping and fire worshiping cult that cameout of India. Mithra was the eye of the Sun.They practiced a dualistic religion of a battlebetween good and evil. The Sun, stars, and fireforetold omens of the future. In the fifthcentury BC Zoroaster reformed the religion. Butafter a thousand years of practice the religionbecame stagnant and the magi priests becamemore interested in their own security andcomfort than in the true practice of thereligion. Mani rose up during the Sassanidperiod in the 3rd century and formed asynchronistic faith made up of elements

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Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, and Christianity.This was too liberal for many and aconservative reaction occurred in the 4th

century. Mazadak the prophet called for areturn to the more ancient roots of the faith.He called for a return to paradise and the moreidyllic times of equality and communal livingwhen there were no social classes andprivelages. Of course this brought the poor tohis side by alienated the elite classes. Mazadwas a Manichaean but was considered heretical.

Kawad reacted by stirring up the lowerclasses who raided graineries, took overproperty, and generally robbed the rich incomplete confidence they were doing God’s will.A mob mentality overtook the Empire and for ashort time put Kawad on the run as an exiledemperor. It was the beginning of the end of theidealism of the Mazdakites. Eventually theywent too far even for the prophet who tried toput a stop to their communist ideals andactivities. When Mazadak turned against thepoor he lost his base of support and it was theend for him. Kawad was even angrier with theMazdakite mobs. He banished them and they fledto urban areas and found refuge in thecountryside. It was this rebellious segment ofthe population that eventually alliedthemselves with the Moslems in the nextcentury. Some theorize that they had atheological impact on the minority Shiitepopulation of Islam.

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The inhabitants of Amida were victims ofmany powerful forces of religion, government,economics, and nature itself.

The Persian attack on Amida occurredOctober 5, 502. The summer wheat harvest hadjust finished. This was an opportunistic timeto attack as there was an economic advantage tothe Persian army. If they defeated the citythey would have as a prize the graineries ofAmida. The graineries of Amida were the mostprotected in the region. The basalt walls werebuilt in 349AD. Sapur II attacked them thefirst time in 359.

On average the walls two meters thick andfour to five meters high. The construction ofthe walls were created by erecting two parallelwalls about two meters apart. These walls weremortered and the central area was filled inwith loose rock. Most stones were black basaltand weighed approximately 2 kilos, enough for aman to carry up a ladder. The walls stand tothis day. It was a tempting edifice for anyinvading army.

The endless attacks on this fortificationwore down every army and it created conditionsthat allowed the rise of Islam. People weretired, wounded, hungry, and yearning forleadership from whom they would trade personalfreedom for peace. Read the history and weep.

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The Prayer of Moses of Mardin

Moses of Mardin was the diplomat of theSyrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch in 16th

century Rome. He arrived at a critical time inworld history. The Reformation was draining theRoman Church of her power, prestige, andpeople. The Counter-Reformation was led by theJesuits and cleansing the Roman Church of thecancer of corruption. Humanism and science werethe new prophetic voices offering a future freeof superstition and illumined by theEnlightenment

The arrival of Moses in Rome created asensation. He was a curiosity but over time hecame under scrutiny by the theologians of Rome.After much delay he wrote a statement of faithopening with a most remarkable prayer. It isboth a literary masterpiece and at the sametime a study in the theology of the SyriacOrthodox Church.

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The prayer has four parts.4. He opens with an Ephremic image of the

Door of Mercies.5. This is followed by an appeal to be

protected and saved from the attacks ofSatan.

6. Then he professes a beautiful series ofsix promises to God to remain faithful, togive thanks and be grateful, to not bediscouraged by controversies, to not giveSatan a reason to erase his name, and tobe a faithful soldier in the Army of God.

7. The prayer ends with a plea against hisenemies and a thanksgiving for reunionwith the Church of Rome.

The opening of the prayer clearlyestablished Moses’ love for his church. SyriacChristians pray daily a prayer written byEphrem, “Open the Door of your Mercies O Lord”Next to the “Our Father” (aboon dbashmayo....)this is perhaps the most beloved prayer of theSyriac church.

Moses admits his weakness and powerlessnessto resist snares of the Evil One. The enemy ofman uses fraud, deceit, secret weapons, androadblocks to faith. Moses appeals to God tosave him but at the same time recognizes hisresponsibility to be connected to the mind of

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God. This latter point is described in detailin the main body of the prayer that follows.

Moses initiates six lines with therepitition “By no means, O Lord...”( in Latinit is “Necquaquam Domine...”).

First, for Syriac Christians, gratitude isthe heart of prayer. The abundance of Anaphoras(Eucharistis prayers) in every age andgeneration testify to the beauty of Syriacprayer. Even in a Latin translation, thelanguage of Jesus finds its highest expressionin grateful prayer. All of this is shaped bythe Orthodox faith.

Second, Moses pleads with God to guard histongue.

Third, Moses makes a reference to theOrthodox faith. Although Andreas Masius clearlyuses the Latin phrase “fide recta” I cannotimagine this in the Syriac as anything otherthan “hymonutho orthodoxo.” Moses was notrenegade priest acting on his own. He tookgreat pride in his church.

Fourth, Moses promises to stay away from 437

controversies. Moses knew of the manycontroversies both within and outside hischurch. He knew that he came from a quarrelingpeople and rival bishops. This was not becausehis traditions and faith were trivial butbecause they were so important. Enemiesencouraged division, so every quarrel wascharged with a sense of life and death.

Fifth, Moses pleads with God to not allowSatan to erase his name from the earth. Theidea of the “Name” is critical to understandinga culture of honor. A man and a family isbranded by its name. Its value before men andGod is in the “Name.” The culture of the Churchof Rome was a culture of shame. It was aboutguilt and sin. Cultures of shame do not place ahigh value on one’s name but rather on ouranonymity before men and God. Shame arises froman individual sense of self. Moses, in this oneline identified a key psycho/social differencebetween the East and West.

The sixth repetition that leads with theline, “By no means, O Lord ” Moses castshimself before the utter mercy of God.

In the final section Moses requests theenlightenment of God “Illumine me by yourface...” Again, Moses is drawing upon thegenius of Ephrem and the Syriac tradition that

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sees the source of our enlightenment in God andnot in ourselves. In a way this is thechallenge to the humanists of Europe who sawthe origin of faith within man. Moses alludesto military images perhaps to curry favor withPope Julius III who was fighting a war at thetime in northern Italy.

Moses ends the prayer by thanking God forallowing him to meet with the sons of Rome.Moses sees himself and the Syriac church as“scattered” brethren not because of theology orexcommunication but because of the “enemy ofman.” This is an important concept andapproach. He does not see himself or the Syriacchurch as heretical nor does he see the churchof Rome as heretical. He will go on to refutethe doctrines of heresy in Arius and Nestoriuslater in his statement of faith but in theprayer he clearly sees the Church of Rome as abrother in Christ.

Although Moses came before Rome as an equalthey eventually rejected his statement offaith. The reason for this was due in part to areaction by Rome against Semitic influences andthe election of a new Pope. Although Hebrew andSyriac were seen as a way to evangelize theArab world. Rome banned publishing the NewTestament in Syriac and Hebrew for briefperiods. When Pope Julius III was elected in

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1550, he went to war, appointed relatives tohigh positions, banned the publishing of Syriacand Hebrew, lived a life of luxury, sufferedfrom gout, adopted a street boy an action thatstirred many rumors and generally did not havetime or interest in scholarship.

Moses arrived in Rome during the reign ofPope Paul III when there was a morecosmopolitan attitude toward the churches ofthe East. The Patriarch Ignatius III,“Abdullah”, sent Moses as his legate becausethe Syriac church was in need of printed books.Under Ottoman rule, printing presses were notallowed, a ban that lasted from 1483-1720.

Another motive for Moses to go to Rome wasin hope of Union of the Churches. The arrivalwas a precursor to the eventual visit of theSyriac Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius III. Weactually have evidence of this hope and motivein a unique manuscript in the British Museum(Harley 5512). It is Latin but written inSyriac Serto script. Moses describes himself byhis own hand in a colophon as “taking refugein God” with the date 1548. Ignatius III andPope Paul III are paired in the text. Mosestells us that he was living in the monastery ofSt. Stefano Maggiori inside the Vatican. Thismonastery was known for having printed thefirst New Testament in an eastern script

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(Ge’ez), so it was not a surprise that this waswhere Moses resided. The transliteration of theLatin Mass in Syriac script was perhaps createdby Moses to teach himself Latin, the courtlanguage. It certainly was intended to be usedby Syriac readers to pronounce the words of theLatin Mass in Latin.

It was in the monastery of St. Stefano thatMoses became friends with the Cardinal ofSanta Croce, Marcello Cervini, a humanist andgreat support of publishing Syriac texts. Infact, Moses dedicates the Harley manuscript tothe Cardinal as first among the patrons of theHarley text. It is no small accident of historythat the Cardinal became Pope after the deathof Julius III. It is no wonder that theprinting of the Syriac New Testament occurs inthe first few months he became Pope.

Cervini, who became Pope Marcellos II, hadlong supported the publishing of Syriac texts.As protector of the Vatican Library hecollected 143 Greek manuscripts, printed andencouraged the development of Codex Bezae andthe education of gifted men in easternlanguages. Before Moses arrived in RomeCervini was the patron of Widmanstetter. Hespent years preparing the future printer of theSyriac New Testament educating him in orientallanguages. As early as 1534 Widmanstetter was

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promoting the idea of teaching Syriac andArabic before Pope Clement VII. Cervini hadsent deacon Petrus Ghalini from Damascus toGermany to help Widmanstetter with his Arabic.On June 13, 1548, at the Diet of AugsburgAndreas Masius and Widmanstetter met for thefirst time.

Cervini is also responsible for thecollaboration of Andreas Masius and Moses ofMardin on Syriac texts including the Treatiseon Paradise by Moshe Bar Kepha. In fact, theProfession of Faith by Moses of Mardin wasincluded in the Moshe Bar Kepha publication byMasius. Masius must have been deeply trustedby Moses as he selected Masius to translate hisProfession of Faith from Syriac to Latin.

Moses’ hope to achieve Union with Rome wasnot achieved in his lifetime. But later in thecentury Pope Gregory XIII is reported to haveachieved union. But the ex-Patriarch of theSyriac Orthodox church confused the situationwhile he lived in Rome from 1577-1595 insistingthat Pope Gregory XIII negotiate with him. ThePope could not see the legal validity to thisrepresentative nor his authority. The Popewanted to negotiate with the sitting Patriarchof Antioch.

Moses did not have a chance before Pope442

Julius III. It is not surprising that he leftRome and moved to Venice where he and others,including Andreas Masius, his student and Latintranslator, along with Widmanstitter, and G.Postel met and published the Syriac NewTestament in 1555, the year of the death ofPope Julius III.

Moses was reluctant to write the professionof faith, probably for good reason, consideringthe narrow self interests of Pope Julius III.More than likely it was a set up to ostracizeMoses and usher him out of Rome. Nevertheless,we have this beautiful prayer at the beginningof the Profession of Faith. For this we thankMoses of Mardin and honor his courage andintelligence for giving us an insight into theSyriac church of the 16th century.

Profession of Faith by Moses of Mardin,Assyrian, Jacobite, Patriarchal legate, aprofession for the Patriarch of Rome in theyear 1552 declaring by his own hand in Syriacand translated by Andreas Masius of Brussels.

The name of the Father, and Son, and HolySpirit, the one God who is glorified in heaven.

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I beseech you O Lord our God that you openthe door of your mercies for my heart

and accept from me supplications which Ioffer to you neither dismiss your grace becauseof my vain promises nor allow the adversary ofmy soul to awaken in me idle thoughts which arefar from the truth.

Let there not be a place in me for Satan toconfuse me with his fraud.

For he might throw his hidden arrows into meand hinder me along the level path of faith.

Do not let the enemy of my soul to gloatwhen I have been separated from your goodsense.

By no means, O Lord, take away from me yourgratitude so that I am without sincere thought.

By no means, O Lord, may my tongue be theobstacle of my soul.

By no means, O Lord, shall my speech not begrateful to you and may I not hesitate to thinkabout the Orthodox faith.

By no means, O Lord, shall I be kept fromturning to the Lord because of controversiesthat are like a small ship of the soul cast

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about on a stormy sea besieged by crowded wavesand abandon you in the abyss of destruction.

By no means, O Lord, may Satan delight inseeing me and say that God has abandoned me andsay “Come, may we erase his name from theearth.”

By no means, O Lord, let this be.

Illumine me by your face; be near and helpme and cut back my enemies. Like a soldier setmy feet upon the Rock of True Faith and putinto my mouth the word of truth. Test me sothat my soul is made alive.

You are glorious for having brought togetherthis meeting to introduce me in peace andtranquility according to rank your friends whoare the sons of the Holy Catholic Church ofRome and have gathered together each of thescattered children, whom the enemy of man hasscattered, that they may enter into its midstand be one profession that they may proclaimthe Holy Trinity. Amen.

For a more definitive analysis of the key players in the life ofMoses of Mardin read

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Wilkinson, Robert J. Orientalism, Aramaic, and Kabbalah in the CatholicReformation.

About Pope Julius III: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08564a.htmThis is my translation from Latin to English.

Fidei Professio quam Moses Mardinus Assyrius Jacobita Patirachaeantiocheni legatum, suo et patriarche sui nomine est Roma professusAnno 1552 ex ipso profitentis autographo Syrico traducta ad verbum perAndream Masius Bruxellanium

In nomine Patris et Fillis et Spiritus Sancti unius Dei, qui estgloriosus in saecula. Obsecro te Domine Deus noster ut reseres portasmisericordiae tue cora me et acceptes a me supplices preces, quasoffero tibi, neque dimittas me vacuum responso gratie tue. Neque finasut excitentur aduersus me cognitationes vane quae sint de rebusveritatis expertibus. Et non des locum in me diabolo, ut conturbet mefraude sua, et iaciat in me sagittas suas occultas, prohibearque me avia plana fidei. Ne gaudeat de me aduersarius animae meae, cum acognoscedis probis sensis dimotus fuero.

Necquaquam Domine tollas a me gratiam tuam, ut careamcogitationibus sinceres.

Necquaquam Domine sit lingua mea offendiculum animae meae.

Nequaquam Domine loquar quidquam quod tibi non sit gratum, neq;ambigat cogiitatio mea de fide recta.

Nequaquam Domine verfer in illis contouersiis, quae ceu maretempestuosum undis crebris concitiunt nauiculam animae, conanturq;demergere ipsam in abyssum perditionis.

Nequaquam Domine derelinquas me solum, ne gaudeat Satanas vidensme et deleamus nomen eius terra.

Nequaquam Domine ita fiat.

Sed illumina me vultu tuo, atque adsto mihi auxilio, et caedehostes meos retorrsum, pedesque meos constititue super petram fideiveraem et pone in os meum verbum veritatis, ac da mihi cognitionem quaviuat animae mea, Teque gloriosum praeicet propter salutem quamcontulisti in ipsuam, atque introdictio me cum quiete et pace innumerum amicorum tuorum, qui sunt filis ecclesiae: sanctae Catholicae,ecclesiae Romanae, ac colligito omnes proles eius dispersas, quasinimicus homo notus dispersit ut intrent in medium ipsius, sintqueunius professionis et gloriose praedicent tinitatem sanctam. Ita estoAmen

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The Profession of Moses of Mardin Part II

Moses of Mardin was trying to pave the wayin the 16th century for the Bishop of Antioch(his Patriarch) and the Bishop of Rome to meetand make an ecumenical agreement. Unfortunatelymuch unjust suspicion arose among the“gatekeepers” in Rome among those whosurrounded the Pope and protected the RomanChurch. The profession of Faith was the sourceof complaint and accusation.

After a prayer which I explain in part one,Moses presents a Profession of Faith. Itconsists of seven parts:

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GreetingDefinition of the TrinityThe natures of the Son in both his humanity anddivinitySpecific heresies and heretics he rejects andwhyThe Ecumenical Council he accepts and affirmsAcceptance of the present Pope of Rome and allprevious popesA concluding appeal to accept his petition

Moses starts of speaking as a monk in termsof extreme humility. He sets out an extensivedefinition of the doctrine of the Trinity. Hisapproach is to explain the Trinity using allthe terms that had been points of contention inevery ecumenical council. He uses ten specificterms, some more famous than other, such as“homoousion” in Latin. What is remarkable isthat he fully addresses the “filoque”controversy that clearly separated Rome fromall the Byzantine Orthodox. Moses writes, “TheHoly Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.This was strategic and diplomatic. I am surethere were people in Rome who saw all Orthodoxas Byzantine Orthodox of the various kinds(Greek, Russian, Bulgarian, etc.). Upon closeanalysis one can see that each word and eachline was carefully chosen to address possibleissues. If one knows their church history one

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can hear all the echoes pf previouscontroversies and accusations that created thetheological foundations to declare variousgroups as heretics. Arius, Theodore ofMospsuestia, Nestorius, Appollonarious,Eutychius, Dioscorus and many others are justbelow the surface of this profession.

The opening section on the Trinity is amasterpiece of a profession of faith. It shouldbe heralded as a jewel of Christian literatureand art.

The next section addresses the creation ofman and the humanity of Christ. This is whereMoses got into trouble in trying to explain theSon in his limited human condition. Although hespecifically tries to distinguish Syriacdoctrine from Arius, Nestorius, Eutychius andothers he opens himself up to attack. He writes“The Son was a temporary creation, nor was he equal to theFather in essence and substance. The Son was (from) the bodyof Mary without the soul, the truth was diminished in the soul.”Even though he was trying to distinguishhimself from the doctrine of Arius he ends upsounding like him.

Then comes the bombshell, Moses affirms theCouncil of Chalcedon. This is remarkable andone wonders if this was approved by hisPatriarch. If it was, then we have a case

449

history and evidence of complete agreement withRome and the Byzantine Orthodox on the subjectof the ecumenical council. Syriac Orthodox andother Oriental Orthodox are called “non-chalcedonian” to stamp them as heretical andthe specific source of contention. If it turnsout that this was the official position of theSyriac Church at one time, then it couldprovide the grounds for full union.

The final section offers complete effusivehonor to the present Pope of Rome (Julius III)and all the previous popes. He uses eightepitaphs to praise the office of the popeincluding, Father, Shepherd, Ornament, Crown,Light, Blessing, Font of salvation, and carrierof the Keys of power.

He concludes with a personal appeal toaccept his Profession of Faith.

This is a very important document for thefuture of ecumenical and working relationsbetween the Church of Rome and the SyriacOrthodox Church. It is perhaps the mostimportant as a later agreement was made laterin the century between Rome and the SyriacOrthodox but it was made by an ex-communicatedSyriac Patriarch and Pope Gregory XIII did notratify it because it was not made with asitting and valid Patriarch.

450

In a sense, this Profession of Faith isstill valid and awaits ratification because itwas made by a valid sitting patriarch (IgnatiusIII) and any future pope or it could be usedfor a reformed agreement. It was just bad luckor divine providence that this profession wasnot ratified because the pope who was awaitingit died and the next pope had no interest init.

Profession of Faithtranslation from the Latin by Dale A. Johnson from the

Masius text

I, wretched Moses, loving slave of those whoadore Christ with the Father himself and hisHoly Spirit.

I believe in the Father, and the Son, andthe Holy Spirit, the three persons, the threenames, three qualities, who is of onesubstance, one power, one dominion, one will,one operation, one nature, one essence. TheFather begets and does not beget, The Sonbegets and does not beget. The Holy Spiritproceeds from the Father and the Son withoutdivision of their own substance nor is anyperson greater than the other. God created withhis own Son and with his own Holy Spirit. The

451

Holy Spirit created with the Father and Son.With the Father they spoke. The Son and Spiritin themselves knew anytime the Spirit spoke.The Father and Son in himself defined withoutdivision in unity.

The Holy Trinity created man. The Fathersaid to the Son and the Holy Spirit, “Let usmake man in our own image to be like us.”whereby the Holy Trinity placed Eden inParadise and put watch over it so that it waspromised if anyone eats the fruit of it theyshall be ejected. I will go and redeem you

260And the Crucifixion is for us and he

redeemed our human race.Death did not diminish neither his humanity

nor his divinity.Neither did I study Arius of Alexandria who

said the Father alone was the eternal creator.The Son was a temporary creation, nor was heequal to the Father in essence and substance.The Son was (from) the body of Mary without thesoul, the truth was diminished in the soul.

Not did I profit in any way from theMacedonian who adhered to the saying of Ariusabout the Son, that he was temporal and acreated who also said the Holy Spirit was notGod, but created and made, nor was he of the

452

essence and substance of the Father nor theFather and the Son, but separate from thoseexistences in essence and substance.

Neither do I believe what Nestorius said,God was not born through Mary but the Messiah,nor was he the Messiah God but was born ofnature through the body of the Holy Virgin. Hewas a man in whom dwells two natures, one wasthe Eternal God out of the nature of theFather, the other was of temporal man out ofthe nature of Mary.

Neither do I consider that he had a humanwill as spoken by Eutychius and his friendDioscorus who were saying it was nothing likeour human nature. The Messiah before the unionwas of two natures but the two natures wereconjoined and accomplished in nature.

In believe in the Word of God. God isperfect in his being and man was perfect in hishumanity until there was sin.

261In one person there are two with a single

nature with two inseparable wills.

Besides this, I accept the 318 Holy Fathers 453

gathered together in Nicea against Arius.Likewise the 150 Holy Fathers in Ephesus wereagainst Nestorius and finally the Holy Fatherswho gathered together against Dioscorus inChalcedon.

At last, I accept the teachers and the trueshepherds who built the Holy Roman Church andall the Fathers from the beginning of theChristian religion from then until now.

I implore the Holy Father, Shepherd,Ornament of dignitaries, and Crown of ourheads, the Light of our darkness, Blessing ofthe universal Christian Republic, who carriesthe Keys of Power, Font from which flowssalvation, Pope Julius III, who has taken thename of the Trinity that he may be deemedworthy to accept the signature of my name andthe name of our Patriarch.

Having been elected by the Fathers throughthe Holy Cardinals, I beseech you with humilityto accept this Profession on my behalf and onbehalf of our Patriarch who ordered this trueProfession of faith to be made and publicly bepresented. Truly, I came here and I did notimmediately profess it.

454

26(2)4May the profession be as an oil lamp set

upon a chandelier so there may be no darknesseven though darkness is spread over the wholeuniverse so that the sun shines, none the less,over all men even though many do not accept thetruth.

May the love of Jesus, our God, be with youforever.

Amen

455

456

457

458

459

460

Note: there is a mistake in the numbering ofthe text. pp. 62 and 63 are missing. It jumpsfrom 61 to 64.

461

462

Index

Abbysid 18 Abdisho 86 Abi Tahir 18 Abraham 76 Abu Zayd 27 Acapulco 72 accompanied 10 accomplis 41 accounts 38 51 61

82 accurately 12 achievem 56 83 achieves 46 achieving 65 achomplish 13 Acknowledgments 4actions 59 Ad Glauconem 26 AD Severus Sebokht

29

Adam skull of 40 Adam's 40 Addai 80 added 25 adding 32 adjustments 12 admired 30 advancements 28 adversely 22 affectis 26 Africa unification

of 18 Afterward….209 6agree).The 33 Ahbeshab 31 Ahmad 19 Ahmed 18 aided 67 Aisoor 27 Akhsenay 50

463

al 5 12 18 22 2425 27 58

Al Asma'] 27 Al Faraheedi 19 Al Hikma 20 Al Khalil 19 Al Ma'mu 20 22 Al Mu'tasim 22 Al Mutawakkil 22 Al people of 19 Albuquerque duke

of 68 Alcuin 34 Aleppo 58 Alexander Duff 42Alexandri 19 20 32

75 Alexandrian 32 aligned 78 Allah's 14 Allen Lee Johnson

3 alliances 8 allows 82 Aloysius Lilius 13amazingly 11 Ambato 65 America 58 62 72American Silver 69Amida 6 Ammonius 32 Amos 88 Amotapé 66

Anastasiu 51 anathemas 7 ancient recipients

of 30 angels 40 Anglican 56 Anglican Church 42Anglican

Metropolitan 42 Anglo Saxon Book

31 Anglo Saxon

Britain 35 animals 71 annoyed 60 Anoshazad 76 Anthems 91 Antioch 35 45 50

51 Antiochian

Patriarchate 10 Antonio Lilius 9 Antonius 13 ants 70 Apes 25 Aphorisms 25 Aphraates 52 Aphrahaat 77 aphrodisiacs 25 apologized 70 Apophatic 37 Apostles Peter 86appealed 41

464

appeared 56 appears 76 77 81

87 90 approximately 12 April 72 Arab 10 11 27 29

30 72 Arab Christian

Text ¦137 6 Arab Science 28 Arab

Science……28 5 Arab people of 10Arab/Islamic 28 Arabic 7 11 16 17

19 20 25 27 29 30 5258 62 73 83

Arabic Bible 11 Arabic Gospels 11Arabic Latin

Gospels 11 Arabs 27 Aramaic 77 Aramaic Food 6 Aramaic) 8 Aramco World 73 Arbela Chronicle

of 80 Arbeya 88 Archimedes Arcos 61 Arcos Duchy of 61

Areopagite 37 argued 13 argumentativeness

47 argument 46 Arian 43 arises 55 arising 46 Aristotle 17 28 Aristotle's 20 Aristotle's

Categories 26 Aristotle's

Hermeneutica 20 Armenia 86 Armenian 72 armies 81 Aros Duke of 62 aroused 47 arranged 68 arrived 29 60 61

64 66 67 69 70 71 arrows 41 Ars 26 arteriumque 26 Arthur Voobus 4 Arthur Voobus

Syriac Manuscript 73Arthur help of 73Arthus Voobus 77 articles 4 artists 5 7 36

465

Ascension Sunday36

ascribed 20 Asia 17 46 48 aspects 74 assassination 76 assaults 43 ASSEMANI 53 assistants 31 assisted 56 assisting 67 associations 42 Assyrian 7 Assyrian C 78 81

83 astrolobe 28 astronomers 12 astronomically 15astronomically

advancement of 28 athletes 80 Atlantic 62 attacked 42 attacks 43 attempts 41 attended 19 Attila 28 attracted 50 Attributed 39 Audmir 76 Augustine 48 aureola 37 authorities 69

Aveiro duke of 61Avia Bar Avali 88Avicenna 11 awarded 56 awareness 30 B.M 55 56 Babai 82 Babylonians 29 BAETHGEN 53 Baghdad 18 19 20

22 25 58 60 61 72 Baghdad court of

17 Baghdad

engineering of 17 Baghdad populace

of 22 Bakhtishu 19 Bakhtyash 25 Baltasar 70 Bangor 34 banished 50 banishment 51 banners 62 Baptist 86 Bar Hebraeus 83 Barda 90 Bardaisan 79 Bardaisan name of

79 Barhebraeus 50 Barmakid 18 Barmakide 24

466

barriers 18 bars 66 Barsauma 74 Barsauma

invitation of 74 Bart Balgana 76 based 2 51 70 Basilos 20 Basra 19 Battalion East

Yorks 57 battles 78 80 beans 65 Becerra 63 beds 62 begins 68 behalf… 47 Bel Dragon of 77 Bel priests of 77Bel story of 77 beliefs 76 believed 32 34 48

77 believes 77 Belles chair of 15belonged 56 belongs 77 Benedictine 9 Berikha 86 Bet Mar Yohannan

31 Bet Qayama 80 Beth Arbaye 78

Beth Garmai 50 Beth Lapat 76 Beth monks of 53 Bevan 57 Beven 57 bible 11 42 51 52

53 66 biblical 77 Bibliotheca

Orientalis 53 biggest 79 Bin Massawayh 19 Birmingham 38 Bishop Gwynne 57 bishops 76 80 91Bishop's 56 Bishop's College

56 blatantly 42 blending 37 Blessed David King

85 blindness 38 bodies 64 Bolivia 69 bones 6 64 books 7 10 11 21

24 26 27 35 42 43 7580 81 85

books he 33 borders 33 boundaries 46

467

BourgeoisGentleman 60

boys 57 bridged 7 briefly 57 brighter 8 bringing 18 Britain 31 Britian….220 6 British 5 31 34 42British Isl 34 35British Mu 52 57 British Raj 42 British protection

of 42 brothers 31 Buddhism 6 Buddhists 18 buried 25 63 64

79 Burkitt 57 77 burns 68 Byzantine 37 74 75Byzantine Church

29 Byzantine Empire

29 Byzantine/Armenian

40 Byzantium 20 Cadiz 61 Cádiz 62

Cádiz harbor of72

Cæsarea 38 caimans 65 Calandio expulsion

of 50 calculations basis

of 28 Calcutta 42 calendars 12 calendral 12 calendric 13 calendrical 12 Caliph Al 19 Caliph Al Mansur

19 Caliph Al

Mutawakkil 22 Caliph Al Rashid

19 caliphs 87 caliph's 22 Callao port of 70called 1 16 20 32

34 45 51 70 80 87 90Called Nestorian

Crosses 6 Cambridge 56 Cambridge

University 56 Canada 56 Canadian 57 Canaries 62

468

Canary Islands 62canceled 72 candles 64 cannons 62 canons 80 Cantera 66 68 Canterbury 35 canvases 7 capital.He 61 Cappadocia 38 captivated 77 captured 18 Capuchian Fathers

59 Capuchins 58 Caracas 72 Cardinal Sirleto 9careers 8 Caribbean 58 Carl Nordenfalk 33carminic 71 Carpianus 32 carried 8 carrying 64 Cartagena 63 carves 41 Castellar 68 69 catalogued 74 Catholic Epistles

75 Catholicis 67 Catholicos Paul 75caused 71 78

causes 42 causing 69 causis 26 cautions 46 ceased 67 Celtic 3 34 Celtic Gospels 33Celtis 33 cemented 41 centers 48 centimeters] 64 Central America 71Central Asia 18 centuries 28 29 36

63 75 century) 38 Ceriani 53 Chagres River 63 Chalcedo 51 Chalcedon Decrees

of 50 Chalcedonian 50 Chalcedo 46 51 Chaldean 8 62 Chaldean 61 Chaldean Syriac 58challenge 77 changes 67 Chaotic History 22chapters 4 characteristics 80characterized 45 Charcas Elias 69

469

Charlemagne 34 Charles II 60 Charles Wand

Michell 56 Charles W 55 57 Charles life of 57chemistry

subtleties of 55 Chiapas 70 Chicago 73 Chicago University

of 4 children's 5 Chinese 18 chocolate bars of

65 chorepisc 52 Christ 3 40 46 48Christ birth of 28Christ blood of 40Christ figure of

37 Christ figures of

37 Christ nature of

81 Christ time of 12Christian Priest

Influence 6 Christian

University 74 Christian

Propagation of 42

Christiani 27 3841 42 45 51 80

Christians 18 4546 55 76 81

Christians unifierof 7

Christology 81 Christoph Clavius

9 Christopher

Clavius 13 Christ's 40 Christ's Passion

of 39 Chron 50 chronically 61 Chucuito 69 Church Fathers 82churches 43 58 72

77 78 83 church's 72 circles 36 circumstances 16 cities 60 claimed 59 77 claims 4 62 clanging 57 Clavius 14 cleared 74 clergymen

education of 56 closely 13 clues 79

470

co 8 coccidivora 71 Coll 27 collapsed 25 collated 21 colleague 20 collecting 68 Collectio 53 collections 77 Colombia 63 colonies 67 colonized 70 colophons 73 Columbus 62 63 Columbus accounts

of 8 Columbus shadow of

8 Columbus voyages

of 58 Columbus's 61 combining 28 comes 2 65 comforting 69 commenced 74 comment 75 81 commented 30 commissioners 14 committe 43 communications 67communit 76 80 compared 48 compares 66

comparisons 32 competed 62 competin 62 71 compiled 26 complained 78 complaints 22 complete 72 compositions 15 Computing Easter

12 Conde 6 68 69 condemn 83 conditions 17 conducted 80 confiscated 67 conflating 38 conflicts 78 confrontation 60 confused 45 congregat 58 Congress

Cataloging 2 connections 59 conquered 64 Consolatory

Discourses 92 Constanti 51 constellations 28constituted 74 constitutes 83 consulted 15 contains 45 80 81

471

contemporaryvocabulary of 39

contentiousness 46Contents 5 continued 50 51 63

66 continuing 32 continuously 14 contradictions 32contradictories

coincidence of 36 contradictories

realm of 37 contrarieties 36 contributed 10 contributi 17 28

36 38 controlled 59 controversialist

51 controversies 46 converting 43 convinced 29 copied 30 90 copies 11 copiously 40 Coptic 3 35 Córdoba Ponce 62Corinthians 52 cornerstones 17 Corpus Sy 2 corrected 21 correcting 12

countered 43 counting 63 countrymen 57 couplets 15 courts 59 Coyne 15 crafted 8 created 9 31 61

77 82 creating 10 creatures 45 creatures… 48 credited 25 28 crisibus 26 crosses 12 crucifixes 40 Crucifixions 38 Crusader 40 crushed 75 Cuba 72 Cuenca 65 Cuenca governor of

65 Cueva EnrÃquez 70Cueva EnrÃquez

Arias 68 culturally 28 cultures 18 42 cured 38 Curetonian 78 Cusa 36 37 CW Mitchell 56 cycles 12

472

Daghal 25 damaged 60 Damascus 20 Damian 31 danger post of 57Daniel 77 Daniel Wilson 42 Danish 33 Dante 26 Dark Ages 7 Dark Evening 87 darker 37 Daughters 80 David Psalms of 77Dayr 38 39 40 De Lacy O'Leary 27deacons 31 death darkness of

39 December 70 decisions 60 declining 72 decrees 51 decretoriis 26 dedicatory 31 Deeds 93 deepens 77 deeper 57 defaulted 72 defender 41 67 defrayed 68 delicate pages of

56

demande 76 80 demonstr 18 demonstr 73 demonstrating 32 Denmark 42 denomina 43 Departing 65 depicting 38 deposed 50 deposited 73 derived 40 derives 40 described 37 64 describes 62 69 70descriptions 24 deserves 51 desiccation 70 Designated 79 destroyed 32 58 72destroying 37 details 57 detractors 13 devastated 87 develope 32 35 48

83 devours 65 di 53 dialects 83 diaries 69 diaspora 80 diatesser 33 77 82Diatesseron Knots

34 473

dictionaries 8 diebus 26 died 11 16 22 24

25 50 75 76 Dier Zaferon 16 difference…..100

5 differenc 46 differentiated 37difficulties 73 Digging 6 Din Malekshah

Saljuqi 12 Dionysius 37 Dioscorid 26 directing 59 disappearing 55 disappears 36 disasters 43 disciplined 43 discounted 40 discovere 67 69 discoverers 30 discoveri 29 discovering 24 diseases 24 Disert Uilag 34 dismissed 69 disorders 22 disregarded 40 dissectione 26 dissemination 39 distinctions 37

distributed 31 Divine Comedy 26 Divine

Prohibitions 85 divisions 46 docked 63 doctrines 81 85 document 67 73 78

80 81 dogmas 81 domesticated 71 Dominican 9 Don Alonso 65 Don Antonio 63 Don Baltasar 68 Don Nicolás

Fernández 62 Don Pedr 66 Don house of 68 doors 4 d'Or 59 Dormition 37 Down's Syndrome 3Dr. Barrett 56 drags 65 dramatists 15 draperies 40 dreams 73 dressed 71 drifted 43 drifting 12 drifts 14 Drs 56

474

drums 62 Dublin 53 duc 59 Durrow 31 Durrow 34 Dutch 67 duties 2 72 76 Duval 2 53 EA Wallis Budge 52earlier 30 50 52

60 81 earliest 36 38 80earnestly 20 East Indies 61 East Syriac 90 East Syrian 83 Easter 1 28 Easter d 28 29 Easter feast of 12Easter/Passover 80easterlies 62 Eastern

Christianity 80 Eastern Church 34Eastern Orthodox

Church 37 Ebed Jesu] 86 eccl 50 eclipses 28 ed 53 Eden Paradise of

86

Edessa 50 51 7579 80 83

Edessa School of74

edited 52 Egypt 17 18 20 34

40 Egypt' 38 egyptiaci 34 Egyptians 34 Eight Tones 89 elected 24 elegantly 14 elementis 26 elements 37 Elias 5 8 58 59 60

61 62 63 64 65 66 6768 69 70 71 72 83 90

Elias Tirhan 83 Elias journey of

72 Elias Monastery of

92 Elias writing of

62 Elias's 6 62 65 69

71 eliminate 83 Eliya 80 87 embarked 52 embezzlement 69 embraced 27 embraces 28

475

emerged 77 emerges 77 emerging 37 Eminence

Athanasius 4 Emmanue 90 Emperor Anastasius

50 Emperor Maurice 78Emperor Zeno 53 emphasized 74 employed 73 encountered 73 encourag 29 endured 37 enemies 76 England Church of

42 English MSS 35 Englishmen 42 entered 72 entering 66 Ephesians 53 Ephraim 90 Ephraim's Prose

Refutations 55 Ephrem 91 Ephrem's Prose

Refutations 56 episodes 29 equipping 41 errors 12 escaped 82

essays 8 establish 42 43 estates 61 et 26 53 etc 90 91 Ethiopic 52 Euclid 11 Euclid's Elements

11 Euclid's recension

of 11 Eugene 6 Euphrates 40 58 66Eurocentric 41 European 22 Eusebian 32 Eusebian Tables 33Eusebios 31 Eusebius 77 Eusebius letter of

33 Eusebuis 32 evangelis 32 33 82

83 86 events 17 evidence 80 evokes 39 Ex Patriarch

Ignatius 13 examined 33 examples 73 excommunicated 76exercised 19

476

exerted 24 exhauste 71 exiled 1 69 existed 51 expected 75 expenses 68 experiences 47 explorers 7 8 exported 65 expressed 39 extending 83 extensive 82 extracted 68 extracting

technologies of 65 Eygpt 40 Ezekiel 88 Ezekiel image of

36 F.C 57 faced 18 facilities 74 facultibus 26 failed 6 61 faintly 56 faith themes of 52faiths 22 falls 83 families 61 62 farmed 71 faster 61 fasting tears of

41

Father Timothy 74fathers 34 fatigues 68 favorably 60 features 31 55 78febrium 26 February 62 Female Saints 76 Female text of 56females 70 fertilized 71 Festival Breviary

85 festivals 80 fi 27 figuratively 36 Filosseno 53 finest 18 fins 64 fires 71 fished 62 flags 62 flanking 32 Flavian 51 Flavian II 51 Flavian

replacement of 51 flecks 40 fleeing 40 flooding 69 Florence 33 flourishe 40 flowed 77

477

flows 40 Focusing 39 folios 31 followed 24 50 72

81 follows 21 fols 31 32 forays 8 Forces 57 forged 7 8 24 formalized 83 formed 28 32 64 forms 6 75 Fortunately 41 founded 19 42 56

74 78 founding 56 Fourfold Harmony

32 Fr 74 fragments 52 framed 33 France 58 59 62 Francis Burkitt 56Franciscan Latin

78 Frankfort 53 Frankfurt 11 Franks 65 Fred Aprim 26 freed 76 French Court 60 French King 60

friars 58 friends 69 fringes 29 FROTHINGHAM 53 fueled 7 fulfilled 36 functions 22 furnished 71 fused 1 36 Gabriel 78 88 Gabriel

Metropolitan 90 Gabriel's 78 gained 11 Galen 8 17 24 Galen Treatises of

26 Galen's 27 Galen's Methodus

25 galleons 72 Gallican Liberties

59 Gangra 51 gasping 83 Gehenna 49 Generallly 77 generatio 19 geographically 28George Mountain 56German Jesuit 9 Germany 42 giants 6 64

478

giants bones of 63Gibson 56 gifts 15 gifts giving of 73Giglio 9 Giovan Battista

Raimondi 11 Giunta Pisano 40 Giwargis 78 Giwargis 91 Giwargis 79 Glaubenin

Zeitschrift 53 Goa city of 61 God fear of 52 God lover of 31 God mind of 48 God Pardon of 86 God Son of 38 God's 45 46 47 48God's Meridian 15God's experience

of 46 Golden Legend 38 Gospel According

32 Gospel Harmony 32Gospel Propagation

of 42 gospels 34 51 52

56 78

Gr 75 76 77 78 7980 81 82 83 85 86 8788 89 90 91 92 93

grabs 65 Grace Parumala

Thirumeni 41 grace optimism of

48 gradually 29 Graff 71 grammarians 90 grammars 83 Grammer 90 grammer science of

8 grams 6 66 granted 67 gratefulness 41 gratified 16 Greece 30 Greek 7 10 15 17

18 19 20 25 27 28 2930 73 75 78

Greek Pat 73 78 Greek Septuagint

27 Greek dominance of

36 Greek eye of 17 Greek transfer of

29 Greeks 19 29 30 Greetings 32

479

Gregorian 12 14 15Gregorian

Calendar…………95

Gregorian Calender9

Gregorian Reform13

Gregory 10 Gregory presence

of 13 Gregory's

proposals of 15 grinding 69 grounds 83 Guachanama 66 Guadelupe 61 guarding 69 Guatemal 70 Guayaquil 65 guided 43 guides 81 GUIDI 53 Gundashapur 18 Gunduk Shapur 76 Gwynn 53 Habakkuk help of

77 hair strands of 40Hajjaj 22 Halle 41 Hanna 5 58 Hanna Mawsili 8

happened 68 harassing 29 Harkel 51 Harkel's 75 Harmonius manner

of 82 Harmony Gospel of

77 Harran 22 Harun 24 Havana 63 Hdatta Bishop of

86 Head Quarters 57 headings 32 heard 64 heating 60 heats 68 Heavenly Father 55heavier 40 Hebrew 56 Hebrew Feasts

According 87 hedges 71 heights 83 Hellenistic 30 Hellenized 75 helped 40 45 Henana 78 heptasyllabic 91 Heresies 79 heretics 67 Hesna 40

480

Hexameron 82 Hidden Genius 6 Hierapolis 50 Hierotheos Book of

53 highlighting 40 Hindu 30 Hindus 42 Hippocratem 26 Hippocrates 26 Hippolitus 17 Hira 27 hired 63 his/her 47 Hispanic Mexico 70historians 8 histories 82 87 history light of 8history tests of

18 Hmanitarian 6 holds 52 holes 68 Holland 67 Holy Apostles 88 Holy Feasts 79 Holy Land 39 Holy Martyr

Anastasius 87 Holy Martyr

Eugenius 87 Holy Nestorians 88Holy Office 67

Holy Office's 66 Holy Philip 87 Holy Scripture 52Holy Scrip 86 Holy Sepulchre 39Holy Theodore 88 homilies 50 52 82honored 8 honors 72 Horae Syriacae 53horses 64 Hoskin 15 hours 71 housed 78 houses 42 http://

www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Philoxenus 53

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12040a.htm 53

http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/philoxenus_discourse00_4_works.htm 53

Huancavelica 68 Huancavelica

governor of 68 Human Trafficking

5

481

Human TraffickingReport…..105 6

humans 37 Hunayn 27 Hunayn's 27 Hunayn's

Translations 26 Hunein 19 20 21

22 24 25 26 Hunein Ib 20 22 24Hunein's 19 25 Husein Ibn Ishak

24 hymnboo 89 Hymnbook Syr 79 hymnbooks 78 hymns 79 88 90 Ibadi 27 Ibas 50 ibn 5 8 18 22 24

25 27 58 Ibn Bahlool 27 Ibn Masawai 25 Ibn Masawaih 25 Ibn Sahda 24 Ibn Sina 27 Ibrahim 20 iconographic 31 icons 37 40 ideas 18 36 45 46

48 identified 28 identifies 40

Idrisi 11 Ignatius 11 16 Ignatius Dantes 9Ignatius N 10 13

14 15 16 Ignatius Nemet

Allah's 14 Ignatius 16 Ignazio Danti 9 ignorance… 46 II 6 53 75 85 II Peter 85 III 6 III John 85 Iliad 15 illuminat 33 34 35illuminati 33 34 illustrating 36 Immaculate

Conception 8 immensely 26 immigrated 55 immortali 26 83 implementation 14implemented 14 implications 77 important 41 improved 74 Incarnatione 53 inches 64 includes 79 82 Includes Hosea 88increases 37

482

incursions 41 India 7 29 41 42

72 Indian 5 17 28 29

66 Indian

Christianity 41 Indian Christians

42 Indian Re 43 Indian knowledge

of 29 Indian.. 63 Indians 64 indicates 29 infested 64 inflated rafts of

66 influence 13 17 influences 73 infrastructures 41infuriated 10 injuries 25 inoculated 71 Inquisition office

of 67 inquisitors 67 Inscriptions 92 insects 71 inserts 70 insights 8 inspected 65 instituted 78

institutio 43 intellectually 28intellectuals 29 Interestingly 71 intervening 69 introduce 19 56 Introduction….21

1 6 Introduction……

…..7 5 Introduction……

93 5 introductions 24 invaders 40 invading 81 invented 7 inventors 30 invited 15 19 Iraq 45 Iraq) 29 Ireland 34 Irish 34 35 Irish Book 31 Irish Litany 34 Irish MSS 31 Irish MSS…..31 5Isa 20 Isaac 5 45 46 47

48 88 Isaac writings of

49 Isaac's 4 48 Isaiah 51

483

Isaias Book of 52ISBN 2 Ishaq 20 24 25 27Ishodad 86 Ishoyab 78 Ishoyab

Metropolitan 88 Iskenderun 58 Islam 10 18 19 87Islam rise of 29 Islam science of 7Islam veil of 7 Islamic 13 17 22

83 Islamic

World….123 6 Isoyab 78 Isoyab theology of

78 Israel 8 issue) 69 issues 46 Italian 4 58 Italian influence

of 40 Italianate Christ

40 Italio Byzantine

Art 36 Italio Byzantine

Art…….36 5 Jabril Ibn

Bakhtyshu Grandson 24

Jacob 87 Jacobite Monastery

90 Jacobites 7 Ja'far 24 Jehovah Witness

Church 43 Jeremiah 88 Jeremie Prize 56 Jerusalem 73 Jerusalem…….71

5 Jesus 14 36 38 Jesus Ascension of

36 Jesus heart of 36Jesus Inc 92 Jesus lan 56 Jesus words of 83Jew Tobias 80 Jewish 67 80 Jewish mark of 80Jews 66 67 JibriI 24 Jibril 19 Jibrll 25 Jirgis 19 Jirjis 24 Joannitius 17 Joel 88 John Freeman 4 John XXI 26 John History of 87

484

John sayings of 81John Writings of

89 John's 40 Johnson 2 joined 5 68 Jonah 88 Joseph 87 Joseph Huzuya 74 Joseph Justus

Scaliger 15 Joseph Peet 42 Joseph Scaliger 16Joshua Marshman 42journeyed 72 joy… 46 Judaism 67 Judaizing

Portuguese 67 Jude 75 85 judgment pessimism

of 48 Julian 9 12 July 71 Jundi Shapur 19 Jundishapur 25 Justin 5 51 Kamis 8 90 Kashkool 90 Kaskoul 87 Katar 82 Kazakhstan 18 Kells 31

Kells Book of 34 Keneserin 29 Kenneserin 28 Kephalia 85 Khalaf Al Jarrad

27 Khalid 20 Kharput town of 40Khayyám 12 Khorasan 18 Khusro 78 Khusro II 78 Khwarizmi al Kindi

22 King Frederick IV

42 King Son of 89 king's 5 69 Kings 81 Kirchgeschichte 53Kitab Al Ahjar 27knots 33 knowledge depth of

73 knowledge

preservation of 18 knowledge

transmission of 30 known… 49 Kudrah 85 Kurdish 58 La Lettera 53 labeled 59

485

labors 8 Laetilia 71 LaGrange 77 Lake Titicaca 69 lakes 69 Lancaster 61 languages 42 43 56languages study of

8 Latin 16 17 25 29

40 58 73 Latin America 8 Latinized 17 Latter Day Saints

43 Laurent 71 Laurenziana

Library 10 Lawrence Bond 37 laws 76 layers 68 leaders 76 léans 59 learning benefit

of 30 lectionaries 79 lections 79 lecturing 56 lengths 20 Lennoxville 56 Leon 8 61 62 León 62 63 70

León streets of70

Levante 67 Leyden 15 liberties 67 libraries 73 libraries amassing

of 8 lies 31 Life….119 Speed

of 6 Likewise Syr 79 Lilius's 13 Lima 66 68 69 70 Lima tribunals of

67 Lindisfarne Book

of 31 linguistically 28linguists 7 8 15lire 60 Lisbon 2 61 listened 43 Litterature

Syriaque 53 Liturgiarum 53 liturgies 43 Liturgy According

88 lived 7 10 17 24

27 28 29 34 41 50 5183

located 18 486

locis 26 London 53 57 Longinus 38 looked 34 60 63

64 76 looted 71 Lord Jesus Christ

87 lords 10 Louis XIV 59 Louis age of 59 Louis co 60 Louis courts of 60Louis's 59 love language of 3Lower Canadian

Church University 56Lucian 52 Lucy Anne Hunt 38Luke 33 lured 58 Lutheran Institute

78 Lutheran School 73Lutherans 41 lxvi 52 Mabbog 53 Mabbogh 53 Mabbogh…..49 5 Mabbug 75 Mabug 53 machines 69 Madain 24

Madrid 61 Magellan 8 Magna Moralia 26 makes 2 30 86 Malayalum 43 Males 70 Malik Shah 12 Malphono Isa

Gulten 4 Ma'mun 25 Manbidj 50 Manicheans 18 Manila 72 mankind's 39 Manufactured 2 manufacturing 17 Manuscript Syr 81manuscript] 20 manuscri 7 17 18

24 25 31 33 34 52 7374 75 76 78 80 81 8291

Manuscri 81 manuscripts

paucity of 82 Maqulas 26 Mar Aba 82 Mar Aba Catholicos

85 Mar Elias 87 Mar Ishoyab 78 Mar John Bar

Pankeya 89 487

Mar Marutha 65 Mar words of 75 Maram Issac 90 Mardin 10 16 Maria 6 62 Maronite 7 Martyr Ina 87 Martyr Maurikios

87 Martyr Shamoun 87martyred 38 martyrs 87 marveling 64 Masawayh service

of 19 Massawayh 19 masters 52 mastodons 64 Mat Thomas Issuer

85 mathematicians 28matters 59 Matthew 33 Mawsili 58 medendi 25 26 mediated 10 medica 26 Medici 11 Medici Oriental 11Medici Oriental

Press 10 Medici Press 11

Medicine Canon of27

Mediterranean 39 Megatherium 64 Memorials 85 memory faculty of

15 menologion 79 mentione 43 78 79Mepharesshe 78 merchants practice

of 66 merging 40 Merv 82 86 Mesopota 61 Mesopotamia lands

of 20 Mesopotamia region

of 31 Mesue 25 Mesue Major 25 meterology 28 meters 69 methodo 26 methods 29 Methodus 26 Mexico 67 70 71 Mexico Ci 71 Mexico viceroy of

70 Micah 88 Michelangelo's 24Middle Ag 25

488

Mighty Lord 10 migrated 74 Milan 53 milieus 46 mind peace of 46 mindedness 46 minds 1 77 mines 6 68 69 mingled 18 Ministers 91 mirrored 43 misc 93 Missal Crucifixion

40 Mission Movement

42 missionar 41 42 43

46 48 Missionary…..111

6 missions 41 Mitchell 57 Mitchell's 56 mithaal 64 Mixtexs 71 molds 65 Moliere 60 moments 37 monaci 53 monarchs 59 Monastic Social

Work….114 6

monastic sanctityof 80

Mondovi 9 Moneda 69 Mongol 40 Mongol Raider 6 monks 34 40 45 53

80 88 91 Monomorium 71 Monophysite 29 Monophy 50 months 45 59 60

61 65 69 71 72 Monumenta 53 Mopsuest 88 Mor Gabriel 6 Mor Gabri 78 Mor death of 44 Moses 6 Moses Prayer of 6Moses Profession

of 7 Moslem 12 Mosul 4 58 60 78

82 90 motivated 48 moved 76 movements 42 MS 31 MS Syr 75 MS. 81 Ms. Br 91 MS. Camb 91

489

MSS 31 mules 6 71 Murad IV 72 murdered 50 Mus 91 Musa 19 20 Musa Sons of 20 musculorum 26 Muslim 22 Muslims 42 Mu'tasim 25 MV 27 mysteries 57 mystics 46 Nahum 88 named 31 34 38 names 7 27 80 Naples 60 Narsai 74 Narsai arrival of

74 Narsai instruction

of 74 Narsai's 74 nations 61 naturalibus 26 negotiate 74 nervorum 26 Nestorian 29 Nestorian 46 Nestorius 83 Nestorius writings

of 83

Netherlands 67 Nicaea 13 Nicaragua 70 Nicene 15 Nicholas 37 Nicolas 71 nights 71 Nina

Bigholeeviskaya 27 Ninevah 45 Nineveh 27 Ninivites 81 91 Nisibis 74 75 78

80 86 90 Nisibis

Metropolitan of 87 Nisibis s 75 83 nominally 14 Norrisian

Professor 56 North Am 43 notably 25 Notes 26 noticed 33 noting 22 Nov 44 Oaxaca 70 obeyed 60 obliterated 37 observations 45 obstacles 74 obtained 51 70 obtaining 70

490

Obviously 66 occupied 87 occurred 57 occurs 1 36 October 13 October month of

13 Odyssey 15 Oedipus 15 offered 41 offers 46 Olivedo 62 Omar Kay 13 ones 48 one's 73 online 73 openings 68 openness 45 opposites 37 opposites

coincidence of 36 opposites world of

36 oppositorum 36 oppressors 30 opted 8 optholologist 17 opthomolgy 24 opthomology

fathers of 22 ordained 50 Ordinary Evenings

92

organizational 18orientalium 53 origins 75 Orthodox Easter 39ossibus 26 ostensibly 60 Otavalo 65 Ottoman Court 59 Ottoman Decline 69Ottoman King Murad

IV 58 ounces 66 ousting 51 outlets 18 Overbeck 56 overcoming 36 overstayed 62 paces 64 pads 71 pages 5 85 86 87

88 89 90 91 92 93 painted 40 Paita 66 69 Palazzo Vecchio 11Palermo 60 Palestine 20 palimpsest…..53

5 Palimpsest….197

6 Palimpsest…….9

5 5 palimsest 56

491

Panama 70 Panama city of 63Panama Isthmus of

63 papermaking 18 papermaking secret

of 18 papers 24 Paphlago 51 páramo 65 Paris 15 24 53 59

60 70 partially 30 partnerships 8 Parumala 44 Parumala

Thirmeni's 43 Parumala 41 43 Parumala birth of

42 Parumala genius of

42 passages 72 passengers 62 Passover 88 Patriarch Ignatius

11 Patriarch Nemet

Allah 14 Patriarch name of

10 Patriarch position

of 10

Patriarchs 6 patronize 42 patrons 19 patterns 37 Paul 28 51 82 86 Paul Lunde 73 Pearl Diver 6 pearls 63 peculiarly 15 Pedersen's

Gregorian Reform 15 Peña Monte Negro

65 perceived 36 pericopes 34 78 89

92 periodicals 43 periods 83 Persia 1 29 76 Persia) 19 Persian 50 76 78Persian Gulf 45 Personal

Sutra….140 6 personalities 82 personifications

39 persons 38 persuaded 50 Peru 58 61 63 66

67 69 Peru kingdom of 67

492

Perugino'sAscension 37

PeruvianInquisition 66

Peshitta 77 Petrus Ciaconus 9Philippines 72 Philippop 51 Phillip Hitti 27 philosoph 30 Philoxeni

Mabbugens 53 Philoxeni 52 53 Philoxenian Syriac

52 Philoxenu 8 50 51

52 53 75 Philoxenus

Discourses of 53 Philoxenu 52 Phoenician 62 photographing

possibility of 73 photos 73 physician 19 24 65pieces 5 61 63 65

66 72 pierced 38 Pietro Spano 26 Pilate Acts of 38pioneered 8 pirates 71 Piura 66

Piura governor of66

placed 77 places) 77 placing 61 plagued 81 plans 72 planting 71 plants 71 Plato 8 17 Plato's Republic

26 played 60 plotting 67 Plymouth 57 pocketed 11 poems 91 poetic 82 poets 15 Polycarp 52 Poor) 26 Pope Gre 14 24 Pope Gre 10 12 13

15 Pope Innocent XI

72 Pope Innocent Xl

59 Pope Joh 24 26 Pope John

XXI….17 5 Pope tomb of 9 pope's 59

493

populatio 87 portions 52 Portobelo 66 70 portraits 31 Portugal 61 positioned 62 posits 39 Potosà 68 69 pound] 64 powers 51 praised 30 prayer hours of 28prayerbook 79 prayers 89 pre 70 preceded 37 64 65precedes 37 preceeded 33 predates 29 predators 70 predicted 8 preferred 19 67 presbyters 31 preserved 27 52 53

75 78 preservers 80 preserving 32 presided 51 previousl 26 56 73

79 priests 76 80 81

91 printed 17 52

prisoners 76 privileges 76 proceeded 20 processes 65 processions 85 procuring means of

51 produced 15 22 51produces 70 profana 53 Professor Voobus

83 Profitable Sayings

89 prohibitions 75 promised 68 Propaganda Fide 72Prophet Daniel 77Prophet Jonah 87 prophets 88 proposed 14 propositions 90 Prose Refutations

79 proselytizing 42 protestan 41 42 43

48 Protestant Assault

41 Protestant

Assault…….41 5 Protestant

Reformation….141 6494

Protestan 67 Protestants 41 protests 76 protonotary 72 provinces 58 Psalter 76 77 87

89 Ptolemy 28 Publication Data 2publications. 11 published 43 52 53

56 73 pueri 34 Puerto 72 Puerto governor of

61 pulsibus 26 punishments

severity of 66 pupils 20 purchase 71 74 Qatar 45 quantities 61 quarrels 16 Quebec 55 Queen Victoria 41Quito 65 quotation 82 quoted 45 quotes 79 Qurra 22 Rabban 80 Rabban Gabriel 82

Rabban Khormizd 83Rabban Kormizd 87Rabbula 31 Rabbula G 38 Rabbula G 36 38 Rabbula MS 31 Rabbula 38 Rabbula MS of 31 Rahid 18 Raimondi 11 raising purpose of

58 ranks 24 50 59 Rashid 24 reached 20 22 69readings 83 readings

interconnection of 32reads 31 Realejo 70 realized 25 reasons 67 received 51 66 75recind 76 recipes 26 reckoned 46 recognized 15 records 11 74 75

76 81 recovered 71 recoveries 73 recruited 22

495

RediscoveringForgottenAnaphoras…..161 6

reference 61 78 referred 26 refers 48 refining 69 reformers 48 refugees 8 refusals 74 refused 60 76 reigned 59 rejects 28 relating 79 relationships 61 religions 18 Religious Views 46religious practice

of 45 relying 61 remained 19 remaining 11 remarkably 34 remembered 34 Remnants 53 RENAUDOT 53 renderings 51 renewal light of

39 Rennaisance 15 rented 71 reopened 22 repeating 14

repelling 70 replacing 51 reported 67 representing 39 reprisals 59 reproduc 71 repudiated 42 required 45 55 65requires 12 requiring 12 requisites 92 researchers 27 resided 78 resides 47 resources 18 responded 59 responsibilities

25 rest coincidence

of 37 restored 14 48 50resulting 87 returned 61 66 69

72 75 returning 19 reunited 56 revealed 42 Revelation books

of 75 revenues 59 Reviewing 11 revisions 16 rewards 73

496

richer 63 richest 69 richness 43 riders 64 Rio Colán 66 rites 41 rivals 25 River Santa 66 rivers 65 Rogations Feast of

75 Roman Ca 58 Roman Catholic

Church 48 Roman Catholic

West 7 Roman Pope 17 Romanesque 37 Romans 52 Rome 1 16 33 53 58

59 72 rows 68 Royal Court 76 ruins 25 ruled 87 rules 74 runs 11 66 ruthlessly 71 s/he 47 Saavedra 68 Sabdanai 90 Sabian 22 Sabian Thabit 22

Sabians 18 sacra 53 sacraments 80 sadistic 22 safely 6 70 sailed 1 61 62 72sails 64 Saint Longinus 38Saint Peter's

Basilica 9 Saint image of 38saints 3 41 56 76

79 82 Salmanwaih 25 Salmawaih Ibn Buan

25 Saltana Bart

Balgana 87 Samarra 25 Samuel 4 Samuel Lee 6 San Salvador 70 Santa Elena 63 Santa Maria 72 Santa peninsula of

64 satirized 60 saudiaramcoworld.c

om/issue/199203/the.new.world.through.arab.eyes.htm 73

saved 48

497

SavedDarwin….129 6

Sayings 91 Scalier 16 Scaliger 16 scenes 32 scheduling 12 schlars 22 scholarly 26 scholars 9 10 20

26 28 scholar's 82 schools 29 42 43

80 science limits of

29 science progress

of 24 Science….147 6 sciences 28 scientists 7 12 20

30 scolded 80 Scriptorum

ChristianorumOrientalium 53

Sebokht 28 secretes 70 Section II 94 Section III 6 sections 45 sectis 2 26 secundum 26

secured 74 seeded 35 seeds 8 seeking 80 seemingly 74 seething 42 selected 40 71 Selected Spiritual

Writings 37 self fruit of 49 Seljuk 12 Selucia 76 Semitic 75 88 sentenced 51 separated 78 Septuagin 52 56 Serampur 42 Seraphinus

Olivarius 9 sermonic 82 sermons 86 served 17 58 67 Service Books 79 servicebook 80 services 81 sets 37 65 settled 19 Seven Coptic 34 Seventh Day

Adventists 43 Severus 30 50 51Severus S 28 29 30

498

Severus party of51

Seville 72 Shakir 19 Shammar 91 shelters 71 Shemon 83 Sherbrooke 55 Shinaya 83 87 90shipped 63 ships 61 63 64 Shorncliffe 57 Short History 53 SHRORO 4 Sicily 60 sicknesses 46 Sidon 51 Siena 24 signed 76 signs 29 Simancas 67 Simeon 74 similarities 33 simplest 14 sin fruit of 49 Sinai 40 Sinaitic 56 Sinaiticus 78 sinfulness 48 sins 48 Siryan 27 Six Days 90 Size:22x16 88

Size:8x13 89 skies 29 skills 43 76 skulls 64 slavishly 28 sloths 64 Smith

Sisters…212 6 socdigest.org 4 soldiers 38 solitaries 80 Solomon Sayings of

89 sons 19 80 91 souls 26 Souq 18 sources 34 53 73South American 63Spain 26 58 59 62

65 67 72 Spaniards 69 Spanish 60 61 62

63 67 Spanish Court 61 spans 64 SPCK 42 speaks 46 specifically 25 spheres 18 spilled 38 spiritually 55 sponsors 59 Spring Equinox 14

499

squeezed 75 St. Anthony 34 St. Augin 6 St. John 52 St. Longinus 38 St. Paul 48 St. Peter 52 St. Peter's

Basilica 16 St. Apocalypse of

53 St. Epistle of 52St. Epistles of 52St. monastery of

24 stages 5 26 stands 41 Staphanos 20 started 42 starting 32 Statements 85 Stationers 18 stayed 59 63 69

71 staying 51 Stephen 82 86 stirred 47 stirrings 47 stones 41 Stones Book of 27stored 72 stories 38 56 story…103 5

stowed 63 stressed 66 strokes 8 strongly 48 students 24 79 81studies 55 77 studying 57 subjects 52 73 82Subsequently 19 substances 49 subsumed 38 succeede 50 51 succeeding 20 successors 71 Sudaili 53 suffered 19 suggested 77 Sulayman arrival

of 59 Sultan Jalal 12 summone 51 Sunday 12 80 superseded 51 Supp 56 supplied 59 supported 42 suppressed 14 Suprema 67 Supreme Feasts 85Surat 72 surfaced 15 Suriani 39 40 surprisingly 26

500

surrounds 37 survived 24 Surya Siddhanta 30suspected 67 swallowed 36 symbiotic 80 symbols 29 symptomatibus 26 synagogues 67 Syr 51 52 53 76 77

78 79 80 81 82 83 8586 87 88 89 90 91 9293

Syr copiest of 78Syria 28 29 40 Syria Version 53 syriac 4 7 8 9 10

16 17 20 24 25 28 2930 31 33 34 35 36 3843 46 48 50 51 52 5355 56 58 73 74 75 7778 79 82 83 90

Syriac Art 31 Syriac Artists 7 Syriac Bibles 52 Syriac Bishop 28 Syriac Chr 46 Syriac Chr 38 45 Syriac

Christianity Save 6 Syriac Christians

28 Syriac Church 48

Syriac Codes 6 Syriac Columbus 58Syriac

Columbus…56 5 Syriac Con 36 Syriac Dayr 40 Syriac Faith 6 Syriac Gospel 83 Syriac Gospel MSS

33 Syriac Language 90Syriac Literature

53 Syriac Ma 73 Syriac Medical

Text 6 Syriac Monasteries

6 Syriac Orthodox 7Syriac Ort 10 Syriac Ort 9 Syriac Phy 17 Syriac Physicians

ReinventGalen…..176 6

Syriac RabbulaGospels 31

Syriac Stu 78 Syriac Versions 53Syriac crucible of

24 Syriac emergence

of 17 501

Syriac father of79

Syriac language of7

Syriac pens of 7 Syriac presence of

73 Syriac tr 65 Syriac/Christian

24 Syrian 5 28 40 41

45 82 Syrian Christians

42 Syrian Church 50 Syrian Liturgy 81Syrian Mystic 53 Syrian Ort 41 43

58 Syrian Ort 42 Syrian Orthodox

Patriarch 9 Syrian Orthodox

Seminary 42 Syrian Patriarch

Peter III 41 Syrians 38 Syro Chaldaicae

Institutiones 53 systems 13 Tabi'iyat 26 tables 3 32 tabulated 30

Tahal 50 Talas battle of 18Tamerlane 6 Tang Dynasty 6 tasted 47 Tatian 3 77 Tatian Diatesseron

of 32 Tatqana 31 Taylors Merchant

School 57 teachers 59 teaches 45 teachings 35 technological 18 Telia 51 Tell Adda 53 temperamentis 26 temptations 48 ten error of 13 tended 80 Teofilus Martius 9territories 76 Testamen 77 Testament Text 75Testamentv 85 texts 20 21 29 30

35 43 75 78 82 Thaqafat 27 Theodore 82 Theodore life of

83

502

Theodore writingsof 74

Theodorus Lector51

theologia 7 8 Theological

Manuscripts 81 Theophanes 51 Theophania 77 Theotokos 37 Thesaurus Pauperum

26 thieves 66 Third Catholicos

87 Third Epistles 52Thomas 51 75 Thomas Christians

7 Thomas Daniel 4 Thomas texts of 75thousands 15 Thrace 51 threatening 59 Tigris 66 times 80 tirones 26 titles 11 32 tones 79 tons 69 tools 8 Topikon 86 tossed 10

towns 64 Tractatus 53 traditions 35 41

75 82 trained 24 Tranquebar 41 transcripts 27 transferred 29 transform 74 translated 17 20

24 25 29 30 42 52 75translation effect

of 30 translatio 17 27 translator 25 73 transplanted 34 traveling 66 travels 58 72 treatises 26 45

52 treatments 24 treats 52 Trent Council of

12 tribes 8 27 tribunals 67 Trinitate 53 trips 58 Tur Abdin 78 Turk 71 Turkish 22 58 59Turks 67

503

Twenty EightSayings 90

types 78 typis 26 Tyrwhitt,Universit

y Scholarship 56 uber 53 unchastity 52 undated 81 understandings 81undervalued 36 undifferentiated

37 undisturbed 25 undoubtedly 20 unexplored 39

Unfortuna 15 24 57 5860 61

unites 7 Unity……44 5 universities 56 unpalatable 71 unsold 11 Upper Monastery 78urine study of 20using 14 65 utterly 32 validation 62 variants 78 various mornings

of 80 VASCHALDE 53 Vatican 53 59 60

VaticanObservatory 13

venarum 26 Venezuela coast of

62 Venice 10 vents 68 Veracruz 72 Veracruz port of

71 Veracruz sack of

72 verses 86 Vesica Piscis 37 vessels 68 Vetus Syrus 77 viceroys 60 vicuña 63 viewed 40 views 45 Vincentius Laureus

Bishop 9 Virgin Mary 37 Visions 87 visited 71 visiting 69 Viterbo 25 vols 53 Volumn II 1 von 53 voyages 62 Wadi Natrun 38 waiting 72 73

504

WALLIS BUDGE 53 walls 7 71 Warda 91 warehouses 11 Warraqin 18 wars 87 washed 55 Wathiq 22 waves 10 weaving 34 weekdays 80 weeks 91 weighed 64 welcomed 68 Western Desert 38western attention

of 78 William Carrey 42William Ward 42 Willibrord Gospel

of 34 Winds 13 Wisdom 18 20 22 Wiseman 53 wished 57 WisTta 27 withered 8 witnesses 34 work. 83 workers 68 worlds 73 writers 73 78

writes 1 32 38 4663 83

writings 25 45 4648 52 81 82 85 86 88

xlii 52 xlix 52 Yahya 1 19 20 Youkhanna 19 Zagba 31 Zapharan 40 Zaruma 65 Zaruma mines of 66zealousne 47 Zeno 50 Zeno Henoticon of

50 Ziad 40 Ziggelaar S.J 15 Zoroastria 76

505