E06065
Literary - Hagiographical - Other saint-related texts
Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Religious History
A number of individual lives of saints from the Religious History, composed in Greek by Theodoret of Cyrrhus (for a general discussion, see E00418), were translated into Syriac during the fifth or sixth century. These include:
(1) Life of Jacob of Nisibis (for a discussion of the original Greek text, see E00418); it is attested in mss. BL Add. 14609 (6th c.), and BL Add. 14612 (6th-7th cc.);
(2) Life of Ioulianos/Julianus Saba (for a discussion of the original Greek text, see E00420); it is attested in mss. BL Add. 14644 (5th-6th cc.), BL Add. 12160 (6th-7th cc.), and BL Add. 14612 (6th-7th cc.);
(3) Life of Abraham of Harran (for a discussion of the original Greek text, see E00435); it is attested in ms. BL Add. 14609 (6th c.).
Some of these translations are transmitted as anonymous works, some are attributed to Ephrem the Syrian, and some are marked as coming from 'Philotheos', i.e. the Religious History. It is unclear at this point whether a complete Syriac translation of Theodoret's History ever existed, from which these chapters might have been extracted, or whether only separate chapters of this work were rendered into Syriac on an ad hoc basis.
No critical edition of these translations, and no comparison with the Greek original, yet exists. The text of the Life of Jacob of Nisibis was edited in Bedjan 1890-1897, vol. 4, pp. 262-273, on the basis of mss. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Syr. 234 (12th c.), and BL Add. 12174 (12th c.). For a discussion of the Syriac translation of the Religious History, see Outtier 1984.
Composing and translating saint-related texts
Discussion
The Syriac translation of these three chapters from the Religious History bears witness to the growing popularity of Theodoret's hagiographical work among Syriac-speaking Christians.Bibliography
Main edition and translation:Bedjan, P., Acta martyrum et sanctorum. 7 vols (Paris / Leipzig: Otto Harrassowitz, 1890-1897).
Further reading:
Outtier, B., “Notule sur les versions orientales de l’Histoire Philothée (CPG 6221),” in: ΑΝΤΙΔΩΡΟΝ: Hulde aan Dr. Maurits Geerard bij de voltooiing van de Clavis Patrum Graecorum / Hommage à Maurits Geerard pour célébrer l’achèvement de la Clavis Patrum Graecorum (Wetteren: Cultura, 1984), vol. 1, 73-80.
Wright, W., Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum, Acquired since the Year 1838. 3 vols (London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1870-1872).
Sergey Minov
23/08/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00296 | Jacob, bishop of Nisibis, ob. c. 337/338 | ܝܥܩܘܒ | Certain | S00344 | Ioulianos/Julianus Saba, monk of Mesopotamia, ob. 367 | ܝܘܠܝܢܐ | Certain | S00366 | Abraham of Harran, monk and bishop of Syria, ob. c. 420s | ܐܒܪܗܡ | Certain |
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