Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 22.djvu/885

 HTH CENT.] SYRIAC LITERATURE 849 Sa'id bar Sabuiii. Bar Sarosh- wai. Bar Bahlfil. A.bhziidh. Elias of, al-Anbar, On the death of Athanasius he was reelected patriarch in 1064, and sat till 1073. 1 He carried on a controversy with the patriarch of Alexandria, Christodulus, regarding the mixing of salt and oil with the Eucharistic bread according to the Syrian practice. 2 He com- piled an anaphora, issued a collection of twenty-four canons, 3 and wrote many epistles, 4 chiefly controversial. Such are the letters in Arabic to Christodulus on the oil and salt 5 and the letter to the catholicus of the Armenians. 6 The tract on the oil and salt is ex- tant in Paris, Anc. fonds 54 (Zotenberg, Catal., p. 71), and there is an extract from it in Suppl. 32 (Zotenberg, Catal, ] 54). Bar- Shushan also wrote four poems on the sack of Melitene by the Turks in 1058, 7 and collected and arranged the works of Ephraim and Isaac of Antioch, which he had begun to write out with his own hand when he was interrupted by death. 8 Sa'id bar Sabunl lived during the latter part of the llth century. He was versed in Greek as well as Syriac, and well known as a literary man, 9 especially as a writer of hymns. 10 The patriarch Athanasius VII. Abu '1-Farai bar Khammare (1091-1 129) ra i. se d him to the office of bishop of Melitene (Malatiah) in October 1094. His consecration took place at Kankerath, near Amid, by the name of John, and he set out for Malatiah, which he entered on the very day that the gates were closed to keep out the Turks, who laid siege to it under Kilij Arslan (Da'ud ibn Sulaiman), sultan of Iconium. He was murdered during the course of the siege, in July 1095, by the Greek commandant Gabriel. 11 The Nestorian writers of these two centuries are both more numer- ous and more important than the Jacobite. We may place at the head of our list the name of Henan-Isho' bar Saroshwai, who must have lived quite early in the 10th century, as he is cited by Elias of Anbar, who wrote about 922. 12 He was bishop of Herta (al-Hirah), and published questions on the text of Scrip- ture and a vocabulary with glosses or explanations, 13 which is con- stantly cited by his successor in this department of scholarship, Bar Bahlul. 14 With Bar Saroshwai we naturally connect Isho' bar Bahlul, in Arabic Abu '1-Hasan 'Isa ibn al-Bahlul, the fullest and most valu- able of Syriac lexicographers. His date is fixed by that of the elec- tion of the catholicus 'Abhd-isho' I., in which he bore a part, in 963. 15 'Abhd-isho' in his Catalogue, B.O., iii. 1, 261, mentions an author Abhzudh, a teacher in some school or college (eskolayd), who com- posed a treatise containing demonstrations on various topics, alpha- betically arranged and dedicated to his friend Kurta. 16 In note 5 Assemani makes the very circumstantial statement, but without giving his authority, that Abhzudh was head of the college founded at Baghdadh about 832 by Sabhr-Isho' II. , 17 under Sergius (860-872). But, if this writer be identical, as seems probable, with the Bazudh who was the author of a Book of Definitions described at some length by Hoffmann, De Hermeneutids apud Syros Aristoteleis, pp. 151-153, we must place him nearly a century later, because he cites the " scholia " of Theodore bar Khoni, who was appointed bishop of Lashom in 893. 18 The whole matter is, however, very obscure, and Hoffmann has subsequently (Opusc. Nestor., p. xxii.) sought to identify Bazudh, who was also called Michael (ibid., p. xxi. ), with the Michael who is mentioned as a commentator on the Scriptures by 'Abhd-isho', B.O., iii. 1, 147, and whom Assemani supposed to be the same as Michael bishop of al-Ahwaz (died in 852 or 854). 19 All then that appears to be certain is that the Persian Bazudh also bore the Christian name of Michael, and that, besides the alphabetically arranged demonstrations and the Book of Definitions, he composed a tract on man as the microcosm.- Elias, bishop of Peroz-Shabhor or al-Anbar, flourished about 922, as appears from his disputes with the catholicus Abraham (905-937 ), 21 and his account of the miserable bishop Theodore of Beth Garmai, who, after his deposition by John bar Heghlre (900-905) and subse- quent absolution by Abraham, became a Muhaminadau. 22 He was I Bar-Hebrteus, Chron. Eccles., i. 445 ; B.O., ii. 143 (where there are again many errors, see Add., p. 475), 355. - B.O., ii. 144, 356. 3 Bar-Hebrteus, Chron. Eccles., i. 446 ; B.O., ii. 355. < Bar-Hebraeus, Chron. Eccles., i. 44" ; B.O., ii. 355. 5 B.O., ii. 508, col. 2. Ibid., ii. 211, 383 ; Berlin, Sachau 60, 1. 7 Bar-Hebrseus, Chron. Syr., p. 252 (transl., p. 258) ; B.O., ii. 31T. 8 Bar-Hebrauis, Chron. Eccles., i. 447 ; B.O., ii. 355. 9 Bar-Hebmeus, Chron. Eccles., i. 463 ; B.O., ii. 211-212. 10 See one of these, an acrostic canon, used in the service of the assumption of the monastic garb, in Cod. Vat. Ii. (Catal., ii. 321, No. 31), Brit. Mus. 172:52 (Wright, Catal., p. 372, No. 22), Paris, Suppl. 38 (Zotenberg, Catal., p. 74, No. 34), Bodl. Hunt. 444 (P. Smith, Catal., p. 243, No. 9). II Bar-Hebneus, Chron. Syr., pp. 278-279 (transl., pp. 2S4-2S5). 12 B.O., iii. 1, 260, col. 2, at foot. 13 Hashhdtha are xpr;<rs and X^s ; see Hoffmafm, Opusc. Nestor., p. xiii. " B.O., iii. 1, 261 ; see Payne Smith, Thts. Syr., passim. 15 Bar-Hebrseus, Chron. Eccles., iii. 251 ; B.O., ii. 442, iii. 1, 200 col. 2 ; Gesenius, De BA et BB, p. 26; see Payne Smith, Thes. Syr., passim. An edition of his lexicon, by M. R. Duval, is now (1887) being printed in Paris at the expense of the French Government. 16 B.O., iii. 1, 261. 17 Ibid., ii. 435. 18 See above, p. 848. 19 B.O., iii. 1, 210, note 2, col. 2. Michael's Bool: of Questions is quoted by Solomon of al-Basrah in The Bee, ed. Budge, p. 135. 20 Hoffmann, op. cit., p. xxi. 21 B.O., iii. 1, 258, note 3 ; Baethgen, Fragment*, pp. 84, 141. 22 B.O., iii. 1, 234, col. 1, at foot. the author of a collection of metrical discourses in three volumes, 23 an apology, epistles, and homilies. 24 George, metropolitan of Mosul and Arbel, was promoted to this George dignity by the catholicus Emmanuel about 945, and died after 987. of Mosul He contested the patriarchate three times but in vain, viz., in 961, and when Isra'el was elected, 25 in 963, when 'Abdh-Isho' I. was the Arbel. successful candidate, 26 and in 987, when the choice of the synod fell on Marl bar Tobl. 27 His chief work was an exposition of the ecclesiastical offices for the whole year, in seven sections, of which Assemani has given a full analysis in^.O., iii. 1, 518-540. 28 Some specimens of his turgdme or hymns may be found in Codd. Vatt. xc. and xci. (Catal., ii. 487, No. 27, and 490, No. 24), and Berlin, Sachau 167, 2. The date of Emmanuel bar Shahhare 29 is fixed by his presence at Emma- the consecration of 'Abhd-isho' I. in 963. 30 He was teacher in the nuel bar school of Mar Gabriel in the convent called the Daira 'Ellaita at Shah- Mosul. Cardahi places his death in 980. 81 Besides some minor hare. expository treatises, he wrote a huge work on the Hexaemeron or six days of creation. 32 The Vatican MS. 33 contains twenty-eight discourses, of which the second is wanting, and a twenty-ninth is added On Baptism. It is dated 1707. The MS. in the Brit. Mus., Orient. 1300, dated 1685, also contains twenty-eight dis- courses, of which the second is wanting. 34 Some of them are in seven-syllable, others in twelve-syllable metre. 35 Cardahi has pub- lished a specimen in his Liber Thesauri, pp. 68-71. Emmanuel's brother, 'Abhd-isho' bar Shahhare, is mentioned by Assemani, B.O., iii. 540, and by Cardahi. The latter has printed nut of one of his poems, on Michael of Amid, a companion of Mar Eugenius, in Liber Thesauri, pp. 136-137. It is taken from Cod. Vat. clxxxiv. (Catal., iii. 395). But there the author is called Bar Shi'arah, Ol5J^A*O, and is said to have been a monk of the convent of Michael (at Mosul). Somewhere about the end of this century we may venture to Andreas place a writer named Andrew, to whom 'Abhd-isho' has given a or place in his Catalogue, and whom Assemani has chosen to identify Andrew with the well known Andrew, bishop of Samosata, the opponent of Cyril of Alexandria. 36 The words of 'Abhd-isho', if we understand them rightly, mean that this Andrew wrote turgdme (or hymns of a particular kind) and a work on puhhdm seydme, the placing of the diacritical and vowel points and marks of interpunction. 37 He was therefore an inoffensive grammarian. Elias, the first Nestorian catholicus of the name, was a native of Elias I., Karkha dhe-Ghcddan, 38 was trained in Baghdadh and al-Madain, Nestor- and became bishop of Tlrhan, whence he was advanced to the ian cath- primacy in 1028, and sat till 1049. 39 According to 'Abhd-isho', he olicus. compiled canons and ecclesiastical decisions, and composed gram- matical tracts. 40 According to Marl ibn Sulaiman, 41 he was the author of a work on the principles of religion in twenty -two chapters, which may be identical with the second of the above, and of a form of consecration of the altar (kuddds al-madhbah). His Grammar was composed in his younger days, before he became bishop. It has been edited and translated from a MS. at Berlin 42 by Baethgen. 43 A tract of his on the diacritical points and marks of interpunction is cited and used by John bar Zo'bl. 44 Abu Sa'id 'Abhd-isho' bar Bahriz was abbot of the convent of 'Abhd- Elias or Sa'id at Mosul, and a candidate for the patriarchate when Isho' bar Elias I. was elected in 1028. He was subsequently promoted to Bahriz. be metropolitan of Athor or Mosul. 45 He collected ecclesiastical canons and decisions, 46 wrote on the law of inheritance, 47 and an exposition of the offices of the church. Assemani has assigned the same date to Daniel (the son) of Daniel of Tubhamtha, bishop of Tahal in Beth Garmai, but without any Tahal. sufficient reason. 48 If he be really identical with the Daniel to Sachau . . . ., ., . ibed to Elias of Anbar, but the Syriac text has Paul. 25 E.G., ii. 442. 26 Ibid., ii. 44-2 ; iii. 1, 200, col. 2. 27 Ibid., ii. 443. 28 See also Codd. Vatt. cxlviii., cxlix., and cliii., in Catal., iii. 277 sq. In Cod. Vat. cl. (i 'atal., iii. 280) there are questions regarding various services, baptism, and communion at Easter. er esaur, p. . ..,. , . o. cxxx., aa.,. . 34 There are two MSS. in Berlin, Sachau 1(39-] 70 and 309-310 (see Sachau, Reise, pp. 364-365), and one in the collection of the S.P.C.K. 35 in the MS. Brit. Mus. it is said that this is only the fourth volume of the ' 36 B.O., iii. 1, 202. 37 gee Hoffmann, Opitsc. Nestor., pp. vii., viii. And so Abraham Ecchellensis rendered the words, librum de ratione punctandi. 39 Iii Arabic Karkh Juddan, in Beth Garmai ; see Hoffmann, Ausziige, pp. 254, 275. 39 B.O., iii. 262-263 ; Bar-Hebraeus, Chron. Kecks., ii. 285-287. M> B.O., iii. 1, 265. *1 Ibid., p. 263, col. 1. 42 Alter Bestand 36, 15, in Kurzes Verzeichniss, &e., p. 31. 43 Syrische Grammatik des Afar Elias i-on Tirhan, 1880. 44 See B.O., iii. 1, 265, note 7; Catal. Vat., iii. 411 (under No. ii.); Wright, Catal., p. 1176, col. 2. 45 B.O., iii. 1, 263-264. 46 B.O., iii. 1, 279. 4 7 Ibid., p. 267, col. 2, lin. penult. 48 That he follows 'Abhd-isho' bar Bahriz in the Catalogue of 'Abhd-isho' is no evidence whatever as to his date ; and the work mentioned in B.O., iii. 1, 174, notes 3 and 4, is not by Bar Bahriz, but by George of Mosul and Arbel (see Cod. Vat. cliii.). XXTI. 107