Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 22.djvu/874

 838 SYRIAC LITERATURE [Tin CENT. Sunday, Golden Friday, 1 rogations, 2 and the invention of the cross ; a discourse on Palm Sunday ; and various other writings in which he attacked the teaching of Theodore of Mopsuestia, and which the church therefore placed on its index expurgatorius. 3 Joseph of The doctrines of Hannana found a warm champion in Joseph of Hazza. Hazza (Arbel or Irbil), 4 with whom Babhai the archimandrite entered into controversy. 5 He is said to have composed some 1900 tracts, of which 'Abhd-isho' mentions about a dozen as " profitable," whence we may conjecture that the rest were more or less deeply tinged with heresy. The chief of them are on theory (or specula- tion) and practice ; the book of the treasurer, containing the solu- tion of abstruse questions ; on misfortunes and chastisements ; on the reasons of the principal feasts of the church ; the book of the histories of the Paradise of the Orientals, containing many notices of ecclesiastical history ; an exposition of the vision of Ezekiel and of the vision of St Gregory ; of the book of the merchant 6 ; of (pseudo-)Dionysius (the Areopagite) ; and of the capita scientist or heads of knowledge (of Evagrius) ; besides epistles on the exalted character of the monastic life. Joseph appears to have been made a bishop in his latter days, and to have taken the name of 'Abhd- isho' ; at least a MS. in the India Office (No. 9) contains a tract on Zech. iv. 10 (f. 241b), and three series of questions addressed by a pupil to his teacher, by "Mar 'Abhd-isho', who is Joseph Hazzaya" (f. 293a). 7 Isho'- The successor of Ezekiel as catholicus of the Nestorians was yabh I. Isho'-yabh of Arzon, 581 -595. 8 He was a native of Beth 'Arbaye, of Arzon. educated at Nisibis under Abraham (see above, p. 836), and subse- quently made bishop of Arzon (' Apfav-rjv-ri'). lie managed to in- gratiate himself with the Persian monarch Hormizd IV. ( 579-590), by whose influence he was raised to the archiepiscopate ; and he continued to stand in favour with his son and successor Khosrau II. Parwez, as well as with the Greek emperor Maurice. Doubtless both found the Christian archbishop a convenient ambassador and agent in public and private affairs, for Maurice had given his daughter Maria in marriage to Khosrau. 9 He was also a friend of the Arab king of Ilerta (al-IIIrah), Abu Kabiis Nu'man ibn al- Mundhir, who had been converted to Christianity, with his sons, by Simeon, bishop of Ilerta, Sabhr-isho', bishop of Lashom, and the monk IshS'-zekha. 10 On a pastoral visit to this part of his diocese, the catholicus was taken ill, and died in the convent of Hind (the daughter of Nu'man) at al-Hirah. Among his works are men- tioned 11 a treatise against Eunomius, one against a heretical (Mouo- physite) bishop who had entered into argument with him, twenty- two questions regarding the sacraments of the church, 12 an apology, 13 and synodical canons and epistles. Meshiha- Meshiha-zekha,_ also called Isho'-zekha or Zekha-isho', was a zekha. monk of Mount Izla. 14 When many of his brotherhood were ex- Eelled from their convent by Babhai the archimandrite, 1 "' he betook imself to the district of Dasen, 16 and founded there a monastery, which was henceforth known as Beth Rabban Zekha-isho' or, for shortness' sake, Beth Rabban simply. 17 He was the author of an ecclesiastical history, which 'Abdh-isho' praises as being "exact." Dadh- Dadh-isho' was the successor of Abraham of Kashkar as abbot Isho'. of the great convent on Mount Izla, 18 apparently during the life- time of the latter, who lived to a great age (see above p. 837). ia He composed a treatise on the monastic life and another entitled On Silence in Body and in Spirit, a discourse on the consecra- tion of the cell, besides funeral sermons and epistles. He also translated or edited a commentary on The Paradise of the Western Monks (probably meaning the Paradise of Palladius and Jerome), and annotated the works of Isaiah of Scete. 20 Bar- Hereabout too is the date of the monk Bar-'idta, 21 the founder of 'idta. the convent which bears his' name," a contemporary of Babhai of Izla and Jacob of Beth 'Abhe. 23 He was the author of a monastic history, which is often quoted by Thomas of Marga, 24 arid seems to 1 The first Friday after Pentecost or Whitsunday, with reference to Acts iii. 6. 2 See B.O., ii. 413. 3 Hnd., iii. 1, 84, note 3. 4 Ibid., iii. 1, 100 ; Hoffmann, Aitsziige, p. 117. Asseinani confounds Joseph Tlazzaya with the older Joseph Huziiya, and translates Hazzaya by " videns" instead of "Hazzseus." 5 E.g., his letters to Joseph of Hazza, B.O., iii. 1, 97, and the tract De Unionc, ib., 95. 6 According to Assemani, B.C., iii. 1, 102, note 4, of Isaiah of Scete, who, according to Palladius, was originally a merchant. 7 See Hoffmann, Ausziige, p. 117, note 1057. 8 B.O., ii. 415, iii. 1, 108 ; Bar-Hebraeus, Chron. Eccles., ii. 105, note 3 ; Noldeke, Gesch. d. I'erser u. Araber, p. 347, note 1. 9 See Noldeke, op. cit., p. 283, note 2, and comp. p. 287, note 2. 10 Bar-Hebrseus (Chron. Eccles., ii. 105) tries to make out that Nu'man was a Monophysite, and that Isho'-yabh was trying to pervert him at the time of his death. But in such matters he is hardly a trustworthy witness. " B.0.,iii. 1, 108. 12 See a specimen in Assemani's Catal. of the Vatican Library, iii. 2SO, No. cl., v. 13 Probably a defence of his doctrines addressed to the emperor Maurice ; see B.O., iii. 1, 109, in the note. '* B.O., iii. 1, 216, note 1. See above, p. 836, note 26. 15 Ibid., iii. 1, 88-89. 16 Hoffmann, Ausziige, p. 202 sq. 17 B.O., iii. 1, 216 note 1, 255 in the note ; Hoffmann, Ausziige, p. 206. B.O., iii. 1, 98, note 1. 19 Hoffmann, Ausziige, p. 173. 2!> B.O., iii. 1, 99. 21 Ibid., ii. 415, col. 2. Pronounce Bar-'itta. 22 B.O., iii. 2, dccclxxix. ; Hoffmann, Ausziige, p. 181. 23 Comp. Wright, Catal., p. 187, No. 152. ' 24 B.O., iii. 1, 453, 408, 471. have been a work of considerable value. He must be distinguished from a later Bar-'idta, of the convent of Sellbha, near the village of Heghla on the Tigris, 25 with whom Assemani has confounded him. 26 In the Bibl. Orient., iii. 1, 230, 'Abhd-isho' mentions an historian Simeon whose name is given by Assemani as Simeon Karkhaya, with the Barkaya. additional information that he was bishop of Karkha and flourished under the patriarch Timothy I. about 800. His name seems, however, to have been wrongly read, and he appears to have lived at a much earlier date. At least Elias bar Shinaya speaks in his Chronicle^ of one Simeon Barkaya 28 as the author of a chronicle (in at least two books), who wrote in the reign of the Persian king Khosrau II. Parwez, A. Gr. 902 = 591 A.D. The name of Sabhr-isho' the catholicus carries us over into the Sabhr- 7th century. He was a native of Peroz-abadh in Beth Garmai, Isho'. became bishop of Lashom, and was raised to the archiepiscopate in 596 by the favour of Khosrau II. Parwez. 29 On the murder of his father-in-law Maurice (November C02), Khosrau resolved upon war, and took the field in 604, when he besieged and captured the fortress of Dara, the first great success in a fearful struggle of twenty-five years. Bar-IIebrasus states that Sabhr-isho' accom- panied him and died during the siege 30 ; but other authorities say, doubtless more correctly, that he died at Nisibis. 31 He is said to have been the author of an ecclesiastical history, of which a frag- ment, relating to the emperor Maurice, was supposed to be extant in Cod. Vat. clxxxiii. ; but Guidi has shown that this is incorrect, and that the said fragment is merely an extract from a legendary life of Sabhr-isho' by some later hand (Z.D.M.G., xl., pp. 559-561). 3 - About the same time with Sabhr-isho', if Assemani be right, 33 we Simeon may place Simeon of Beth Garmai, who translated into Syriac the of Bt~th Chronicle of Eusebius. This version seems unfortunately to be Garmai. entirely lost. With the 7th century begins the slow decay of the native litera- Period of ture of the Syrians, to which the frightful sufferings of the people Graeco- cluring the great war with the Persians in its first quarter largely Persian contributed. 34 During all those years we meet with scarcely a War. name of any note in letters, more especially in western Syria. Paul of Telia and Thomas of Harkel were, it is true, labouring at the revised versions of the Old and New Testaments in Alexandria, 3 -' but even there they were scared by the Persian hosts, who took possession of the city in 615 or 616, shortly after the capture of Jerusalem by another army in 614. 36 A third diligent worker under the same adverse circumstances was the abbot Paul, who fled from Abbot his convent in Syria to escape the Persian invasion, and took refuge Paul, in the island of Cyprus. Here he occupied himself with rendering into Syriac the works of Gregory Nazianzen. 37 Of this version, which was completed in two volumes in 624, there are several old MSS. in the British Museum. 38 This Paul was also the translator of the Octoechiis of Severus, of which there is a MS. in the British Museum, Add. 17134, dated 675. 39 To this collection he him- self contributed a hymn on the holy chrism and a translation of the ' ' Gloria in excelsis. " The name of Marutha 40 is the first that deserves mention here, Marutha more, however, on account of his ecclesiastical weight and position of Tagh- than his literary merit. He was a native of Shurzak (?), a village rith. in the diocese of Beth Niihadhre, 41 was ordained priest in the con- vent of Nardus, lived for twenty years in the convent of Zakkai or Zacchseus at Callinicus (ar-Rakkah), and went thence to Edessa fur purposes of study. On returning to the East, he. resided in the convent of Mar Matthew at Mosul, where he occupied himself with remodelling its rules and orders. He sided with the Monophysite party at the Persian court, and, after the death of the physician Gabriel, 42 found it advisable to retire to 'Akola (al-Kiil'ah). 43 He was elevated to the dignity of metropolitan bishop of Taghrith in 640, after the establishment of peace between the Greeks and 25 See Hoffmann, Ausziige, p. 181, note 1414. 26 B.O., iii. 1, 458. 27 See Rosen, Catal, p. 88, col. 1, 2. 28 The difference in writing between j.*;SiO and(.^OiO is not great. The pronunciation of the word j^p;*^ is not quite certain. 29 B.O., ii. 415, iii. 1, 441 sq.; Baethgen, Frarjviente syr. u. arab. Historikcr, pp. 3(3, 119. 30 Chron. Ei:dcs., ii. 107. 31 Chron. Eccles., loc. cit., note 2 ; B.O., iii. 1, 441, col. 1. 32 Assemani, Catal., iii. 387. 33 B.Q., iii. ], 1(58, 633. 34 See the remarks of Noldeke in Gesch. d. Perscr u. Arabvr, p. 299, note 4. 35 See above, p. 825. Thomas of Harkel also compiled a liturgy (B.O., ii. 92, col. 1), and is said to have translated from Greek into S.vriac five other liturgies (ibid., col. 2), viz., those of Gregory N;tzianzen, Basil, Gregory Nyssen, Diony- sius the Areopagite, and John Chrysostom. 36 See Noldeke, Gesch. d. Perser u. Araber, pp. 291-292 ; Chronique de Michel le Grand, p. 222 ; Bar-Hebrseus, Chron. Hyr., p. 99. 37 SeeB.O., i. 171 ; iii. 1,23. 38 See the fine series of MSS. described in Wright's Cutl., pp. 423-435. One of these is dated 790, another 845. Two other MSS. (ibiil, pp. 436-438) seem to contain part of the older version of the Nestorians (B.O., iii. 1, 24, note 1).
 * i!l Wright, Cuttil., p. 330 sq. The translator is wrongly described in the

codex as "bishop of Edessa" (see above, p. 834, note 15). His convent was probably that of Ken-ncshre, of whir.li both John bar Aphtonya (see above, p. 833) and John Psaltes or Calligraphus were abbots. Compare B.O., ii. 54. B.O., ii. 416, 418. 41 See Hoffmann, Ausziige, pp. 208-216, but especially p. 215. 42 See above, p. 837. 43 Bar-IIebnt-us, Chron. Eccles., ii. Ill ; B.O., ii. 410.