Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 22.djvu/867

 6XH CENT.] SYRIAC LITERATURE 831 Persian (Pahlavi), and thus probably ingratiated himself with the king. 1 However, he soon fell under the royal displeasure, was degraded from his office, and ordered to retire to Persis, where he resumed his former duties, 2 and so incurred the anger of Yazdegerd's successor, Peroz. 3 Ma'nii's work, the exact extent of which is not known to us, was carried on and completed by other members of the Persian school, such as Acacius the catholicus and Yazidfulh ; John of Beth Garmai, afterwards bishop of Beth Sari (or Serai ?), and Abraham the Mede, disciples of Narsai ; Mikha, afterwards bishop of Lashom in Beth Garmai ; Paul bar Kakai (or Kaki), after- wards bishop of Ladhan in al-Ahwaz ; 'Abhshota (?) of Nineveh, and others, 4 who are expressly said to have "taken away with them" (appek 'ammZhon) from Edessa, and disseminated throughout the East, the writings of Theodore and Nestorius. 5 Ibas himself was one of these translators in his younger days (see above, p. 829). About the same time with Ma'na's translations began the Aristo- telian studies of the Syrian Nestorians. To understand and trans- late the writings of their favourite Greek theologians, Paul of Samosata, Diodore of Tarsus, Theodore of Mopsuestia, and Nestorius himself, not to mention Theodoret 6 of Cyrrhus, required a consider- able knowledge of the Aristotelian logic. Hence the labours of Probus. Probus (np&pos, in Syriac Probhos, Probhd, or Problie), who trans- lated and commented on the Ilept ep/tnjj'eias, 7 and probably treated in a similar manner other parts of the Organon. It is not easy to fix his date precisely. 'Abhd-isho' 9 makes him contemporary with Ibas and another translator named Kiuni. If the Berlin MS. Sachau 226 can be trusted, he was archdeacon and archiater at Antioch. Hoffmann 10 has assigned reasons for supposing him not to be anterior to the Athenian expositor Syrianus (433-450 ?). Mono- Whilst the Nestorians were thus making rapid progress all over physite the East, another heresy was spreading in the West. Eutyches schism, had found followers in Syria, among others Bar-sauma the archi- mandrite, a man famous for his piety and asceticism, 11 who repre- Bar- sented the abbots of Syria at the second council of Ephesus, 12 and sauma, was afterwards condemned by the council of Chalcedou. 13 He died the in 458. u His life was written by his disciple Samuel, in much archi- the same style as that of Simeon Stylites, and is extant in several man- MSS. in the British Museum. 15 His memory has always been held drite. in the greatest reverence by the Jacobites. The Armenians, accord- ing to Assemani, 16 keep his commemoration on the 1st of February, the Syrians and Copts on the 3d. The decisions of the council of Chalcedon produced an immediate and irreparable breach in the Eastern Church ; and the struggle of the rival factions was carried on with desperate fury alike at Constantinople, Antioch, and Alex- andria. In Syria the persecution of the Monophysites was violent during the years 518-521, under the emperor Justin, and again in 535 and the following years, under Justinian, when they seemed in a fair way of being completely crushed by brute force. Jacob of The first name to be mentioned here, as belonging to both the Serugh. 5th and 6th centuries, is that of Jacob of Serugh, one of the most celebrated writers of the Syrian Church, 17 "the flute of the Holy Spirit and the harp of the believing church." There are no less than three biographies of him extant in Syriac, the first, by his namesake Jacob of Edessa 18 ; the second, anonymous 19 ; the third, a lengthy metrical panegyric, said to have been written for his commemoration 20 by a disciple of his named George. 5 ' 1 This, how- ever, seems, from the whole tone of the composition, to be unlikely, and Bickell is probably right in supposing the author to be George, I Ibid., iii. 1, 376. 2 Bar-Hebneus, Chrnn. Eccles., ii. 63. 3 B.O., ii. 402 ; iii. 1,377. * Ibid., i. 351-354. B.O., i. 350 ; iii. 1, 226, note 8. 6 His Eranistes (of which the fourth book is a dernonstratio per syllogismos of the incarnation) appears as the name of an author in 'Abhd-isho"s Catalogue (B.O., iii. 1, 41), under the form of Eranistatheos, or something similar. 7 See Hoffmann, De Hermeneuticisapud SyrosAristoteleis,IS69. MSS., Berlin, AH. Best. 36, 9, 10 ; Brit Mus. Add. 14660. The translation may possibly be even anterior to Probus. 8 Berlin, Sachau 226, 1, is described as " Isagoge des Porphyrius.von Probus, Presbyter, Archidiacon, und Archiater in Antiorhien" ; and in the same MS., No. 8, is " Erkliirung der Analytica von Probus," with an " Einleitung iu d. Erkl. d. Anal, von Probus," No. 7. 9 B.O., iii. 1, 85. ] Op. cit., pp. 144-145. The name of Fubri or Phubrius, which appears as a variation of Probus in Hottinger (B.O.), in Assemani (B.O., iii. 1, 85, note 5), in Renan (De Philosophia Peripatetica apud Syros, p. 14), and in other books on this subject, has nothing to do with that of Probus, but is an error for Kuwairi, Abu Ishak Ibrahim, a Syro-Arabian Aristotelian who lived about the beginning of the 10th century. See the Fihrist, p. 262 ; Ibn Abi Osaibi'ah, i. 234 ; Wiisten- feld, Gesch. d. Arab. Aerzte, p. 24, No. 62, " Futherl oder Fubri." II All "hypocrisy" in the eyes of Assemani, .0., ii. 2 ; " scelestissimus pseudo-monachus," p. 9. 12 Bar-Hebrseus, Chron. Eccles., i. 161-165 ; Hoffmann, Verhandl. d. Kirchau-er- sammlungzuEphesiis, &<..,?. 4, 1.39. 13 Bar-Hebneus,toc.ci<.,179. H Ibid., 181. 15 B.O., ii. 296, also p. cxlviii. No. 3 ; Wright, Catal., p. 1123. 16 B.O., ii. 9; comp. Wright, Catal., p. 175, col. 2, No. 3, and p. 311, No. ccclxxxvii. 17 B.O., i. 283 sq. ; Matagne, in Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. xii. 824, 927 ; Abbeloos, De Vita et Scriptis S. Jacobi Batnarum Sunigi in Mesopotamia epi, 1867 ; Bickell, Conspectus, p. 25 ; Bickell in Thalhofer, Eibl. d. Kirchenvdter, 58 ; Martin, " Lettres de Jacques de Saroug aux Moines du Couvent de Mar Bassus, et a Paul d'Edesse." in Z.D.M.G., xxx. (1S76), p. 217. 18 B.O., i. 286, 299 ; Martin, in Z.D.M.G., xxx. p. 217, note 3. 19 Abbeloos, op. cit., p. 311. 20 See Wright, Catal., p. 311, No. ccclxxxix. The Armenians hold it on 25th September, the Jacobites on 29th June, 29th July, and 29th October. 21 Abbeloos, op. cit., p. 24 ; B.O., i. 286, 340. bishop of Serugh, a contemporary of Jacob of Edessa. 22 Jacob was born at Kurtam, "a village on the river Euphrates," probably iu the district of Serugh, in 451. His father was a priest, and, as his parents had been childless for many years, his birth was regarded as a reward for their alms, prayers, and vows. Whether he was educated at Edessa or not, he soon acquired a great reputation for learning and eloquence. He appears to have led a life of quiet work and study, and to have devoted himself in particular to liter- ary composition. He became periodeutes of Haura in Serugh, whence we find him writing to the Christians of 'Najran, and to the city of Edessa when threatened by the Persians. 23 As perio- deutes he is mentioned in eulogistic terms by Joshua the Sty lite 24 (503). In 519, when sixty-eight years old, he was made bishop of Batnan, the chief town of Serugh, where he died on 29th Novem- ber 521. Jacob's prose writings are not numerous. 25 A liturgy is ascribed to him, and an order of baptism, the former of which has been translated by Renaudot, 26 the latter edited by J. A. Assemani. 27 Further, he composed six festal homilies, one of which has been published by Zingerle, 28 who has also translated the whole of them into German ^ ; a discourse showing that we should not neglect or despise our sins 30 ; another for the night of Wednesday in the third week of Lent 31 ; and some short funeral sermons. 32 To him we also owe a life of Mar Hannina (died in 500), addressed to one Philotheus. 33 Of his letters a considerable number have been pre- served, particularly in two MSS. in the British Museum, Add. 14587 and 17163, ff. 1-48. 34 Of these Martin has edited and translated the three epistles to the monks of the convent of Mar Bassus at Harim, 35 with a reply by the monks, and another letter to Paul, bishop of Edessa, from all of which it is evident that Jacob always was a Monophysite, and continued such to his death. 36 The letter to Stephen bar Sudh-aile is given, with an English ver- sion, by Frothingham 37 ; and that to the Ilimyarite Christians of Najran has been edited and translated by Schroter in the Z.D.M.G., xxxi. (1877), p. 360 sq. It belongs to the year 519 or 520. 38 Ac- cording to Bar-Hebraus, 33 he also wrote "a commentary on the six centuries of Evagrius, at the request of Mar George, bishop of the (Arab) tribes, who was his disciple." As George, bishop of the Arab tribes, was a contemporary of Jacob of Edessa, this state- ment seems to rest on some misapprehension ; at all events no such work now exists. The paucity of Jacob's prose writings is more than compensated by a flood of metrical compositions, mostly in dodecasyllabic verse, or the four-syllable line thrice repeated. "He had," says Bar-Hebrseus, 40 "seventy amanuenses to copy out his metrical homilies, which were 760 41 in number, besides com- mentaries and letters and odes (madhrdshe) and hymns (sughyathd)." Of these homilies more than the half have perished, but nearly 300 are still preserved in European collections. 42 Very few of them have as yet been published, though many of them are by no means devoid of interest. 43 Indeed Jacob is on the whole far more readable than Ephraim or Isaac of Antioch. Very different from the gentle and studious bishop of Serugh Philo- w r as his contemporary and neighbour, the energetic and fiery Philo- xenus of xenus of Mabbogh. Aksenaya or Philoxenus was a native of Tahal, Mab- somewhere in Beth Garmai, and studied at Edessa in the time of bogh. Ibas. 44 He was ordained bishop of Hierapolis or Mabbogh (Maubij) by Peter the Fuller, patriarch of Antioch, iu 485, and devoted his 22 See Bickell in Thalhofer, Bibl., 58, p. 198. -3 Wright, Catal., p. 520, Nos. 15,16. 24 Chronicle, ed. Wright, ch. liv. Joshua wrote in 507. -JJi.O., i. 300-305. 26 Liturgg. Orientt. Collectio, ii. 356. 27 Cod. Liturg. Eccl. Univers., ii. 309, iii. 184. 28 Man. Syr., i. 91. 29 Seeks Homilien des h. Jacob von Sarug, 1867. 30 Wright, Catal., p. 826, No. 16 ; comp. the Index, p. 1293, col. 1. 31 ibid., p. 844, No. 32. 32 Ibid., -p. 364, col. 2. 33 ibid., p. 1113, No. 14 ; p. 1126, No. 16. 34 ibid., Nos. dclxxii., dclxxiii., and comp. the Index, p. 1293, col. 1. 35 Ibid., p. 602, col. 2. 36 See Martin, Z.D.M.G., xxx. (1S76), pp. 217-219. 37 See his Stephen bar Sudaili the Syrian Mystic and the Book of Hierotheos, Leyden, 1886, p. 10 sq. 38 See Guidi, La Lettera di Simeone Vescovo di Beth-Arsdm sopra i Martiri Omeriti, 1881, p. 11. 39 Chron. Eccles., i. 191. 40 IM. c it. 41 Jacob of Edessa says 763, of which that on the chariot of Ezekiel was the first, and that on Mary and Golgotha the last, which he left unfinished ; see B.O., i. 299 ; Abbeloos, De Vita, &c., p. 312. 42 Comp. B.O., i. 305-339; Abbeloos, op. cit., pp. 106-113. 43 Zingerle has given extracts in the Z.D.M.G., xii., xiii., xiv., xv., and xx., and in his Chrest. Syr., pp. 360-386. The homily on Simeon Stylites has been published by Assemani in the Acta S. Martyrum, ii. 230 sq. ; that on virginity, fornication, &c., by Overbeck, S. Ephraemi Syri, &c., Opera Selecta, p. 385 sq. ; that on Alexander the Great (perhaps spurious) by Knos, Chrest. Syr., 1807, p. 6(5 sq. (there is a German translation by A. Weber, Des Mor Yakub Gedicht uber den gldubigen Ko'nig Alexsandn'ts, 1852); on Habblbh and on Guryaand Shamuna, Edessene martyrs, with a sughithd on Edessa, by Cureton, Ancient Syriac Documents, pp. 86-98 ; on Sharbel by Mosinger, Mon. Syr., ii. 52, and on the chariot of Ezekiel, with an Arabic translation, ibid., p. 76 ; two on the Blessed Virgin Mary by Abbeloos, De Vita, &c., pp. 203-301 ; on Jacob at Bethel, on our Lord and Jacob, the church and Rachel, Leah and the synagogue, on the two birds (Lev. xiv. 4), on the two goats (Lev. xvi. 7), and on Moses' vail, (Exod. xxxiv. 33) by Zingerle, Mon. Syr., i. 21-90 ; on Tamar by J. Zingerle, 1871 ; on the palace which St Thomas built for the king of India in Heaven (perhaps spurious) by Schroter, in Z.D.M.G., xxv. 321, xxviii. 584 ; on the fall of the idols by Martin, in Z.D.M.G., xxix. 107 ; on the baptism of Constantino (perhaps spurious) by Frothingham, in the Atti della Accademia dei Lincei for 1881-82 (Rome, 1SS2). Bickell has translated into German (in Thalhofer, Bibl., 58) the first homily on the Blessed Virgin Mary, that on Jacob at Bethel, on Moses' vail, and on Gurya and Shamuna. Some of Jacob's homilies are extant in Arabic, and even in Ethiopic. His prayer as a child see in Overbeck, oi>. cit., p. 382. B.O., i. 353.