Initial Woodbrooke Studies: Woodbrooke Studies 1 9781463214265

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Initial Woodbrooke Studies

Initial Woodbrooke Studies

Woodbrooke Studies 1

Alphonse Mingana

9

34 2012

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‫ܒ‬

9

ISBN 978-1-59333-832-9

Printed in the United States of America

WOODBROOKE VOL.

I

STUDIES

TO

MR.

EDWARD CADBURY

WHOSE GENEROSITY AND ENCOURAGEMENT HAS MADE POSSIBLE THE PUBLICATION OP THE " WOODBROOKE STUDIES

"

INTRODUCTORY NOTE. The

"

"

Woodbrooke documents

of Christian

translations

my own

collection,

which, for the

the custody of the Rendel Harris Library,

in

is

and

Arabic, and Garshuni drawn from

in Syriac,

the manuscripts forming part of

time being,

will consist of texts

Studies

Selly

1

Oak, Birmingham.

These Studies the

"

Bulletin of the

will

appear

John

first

Ry lands

in serial

form

Library," which

in

the columns of

is

published twice

At

during the course of the year, in the months of January and July.

the end of each year they will be issued in a separate volume uniform

with the present

initial issue.

Dr. Rendel Harris has kindly consented to write an introduction to each treatise in the series. I

find

impossible adequately to express

it

appreciation of the generosity of cial assistance

these studies

him

I

;

for that reason

this first-fruit of his

feelings of grateful

Mr. Edward Cadbury, whose

and encouragement has made and

my

I

finan-

possible the publication of

take the liberty of dedicating to

generous encouragement.

To my colleague, Dr. Henry Guppy, the editor of offer my sincere thanks for his painstaking interest in

the

" Bulletin,"

the editing and

publication of these Studies.

A. THE JOHN RYLANDS

MINGANA.

LIBRARY,

MANCHESTER.

1

The history

catalogue of

it,

of the collection will

upon which

I

am

be dealt with

at present

vii

engaged.

in the introduction to the

CONTENTS. PAGE

Introductory Note

A

vii

Treatise of BarsalTbi against the Melchites

Introduction

........ ..... ....... ..... :

Preface and Translation

Text

in

Facsimile

Index of Proper

Names

2-9

17-63

64-92

93-96

Genuine and Apocryphal Works of Ignatius of Antioch Introduction

9-16

.

.......

Preface and Translation

Garshuni Text

A

96-109 110-120

Facsimile of the First Page of the Paris MS. Facsimile of the First Page of the Mingana MS.

122

Facsimile of the Canon of Ignatius

123

Jeremiah Apocryphon Introduction

121

........ :

Preface and Translation

Text

in Facsimile of

Text

in

A New

148-191

Mingana Syr. MS. 240

Facsimile of Paris Syr.

Life of

John the Baptist

192-216

.

MS. 65

217-233

:

Introduction

138-145

Preface and Translation

Garshuni Text

125-138

234-260

.

261-285

.

Facsimile of Page from Mingana Syr. Facsimile of Page from Mingana Syr.

Some Uncanonical Psalms

MS. 22 MS. 183

286 .

287

:

Introduction

145-147

Preface and Translation

288-292

Text

in

Facsimile of Mingana Syr. MS. 31

viii

.

293-294

WOODBROOKE

STUDIES

WOODBROOKE

STUDIES.

CHRISTIAN DOCUMENTS IN SYRIAC, ARABIC AND GARSHUNI EDITED AND TRANSLATED WITH A CRITICAL APPARATUS

BY A. MINGANA. WITH INTRODUCTIONS

BY

RENDEL HARRIS. FASC.

(i)

A

1.

Treatise of Barsalibi against the Melchites.

Genuine and Apocryphal Works of Ignatius of Antioch.

(ii)

INTRODUCTIONS. BY RENDEL HARRIS. I.

A

TREATISE OF BAR SALIBI AGAINST THE MELCHITES.

WE

have been advised by our Master (whose name is Peace and whose admonitions are all of the nature of Benedictions) that

we

ought not to waste our time gathering grapes of

thorns or searching for

no doubt, include

figs

among

thistles

;

his

words and warnings,

in their scope our literary occupations as well as our

theological studies or our philanthropic activities.

Here, as elsewhere, and it wasted time and unremunerative labour are under His ban ;

may,

therefore, well

be asked whether

it

is

wise to spend our slender

residue of years over extinct literatures, forgotten writers

and churches

that are near to disappearance (e'yyus d^avtcr/^oi), as the writer of the

Hebrews would say, in view which came under his own observation). Epistle

We

to

of

the inveterascence

who was

once a great leader

the

have before us a

in the religious

life

treatise

and thought

by one

of the Syrian

Church

;

but his

name

INTRODUCTIONS is

known

scarcely

in the

West, and the church

leader has practically perished,

literature

its

3 of

which he was the

has ceased and has become

the dryest of dry roots persecution has accomplished a disintegration which piety was insufficient to prevent. How many people know, or care to know, about Bar Salibi and his writings ? Why should we ;

try to recall the author or search the dust

heap

of his literary remains

for grains of possible gold ?

When we

have asked ourselves that question, there

one direction

is

which we immediately receive an encouraging response. Bar Salibi was not only a great ecclesiastic in a church that had passed its zenith,

in

he was also a great scholar

in the time of decline of the Syriac literature,

and being a scholar as well as an administrator, he had a great library, which he knew how to use as well as to value. Alas that it has !

perished

It

!

had many ancient works

of great worth, not only the

original writings of Syrian fathers, but early translations

Greek is

made from

which have disappeared in the West. For instance, it almost certain that he had a copy of the Diatessaron or Gospel writers

Har?nony

of Tatian, to

which he

refers

and from which he quotes

;

he had also a copy of a work of Hippolytus of Rome, called Heads against Gaius which was lost in the West its value can be inferred ;

from

its

theme when the heads

There was a his critical

certain Gaius, faculties,

of the contention referred to are defined.

who in

the second or third century exercised

exactly as scholars are doing in the twentieth

Christian aeon, over the authorship of irreconcilability with the authorship

gives us

many

quotations from the

the Fourth Gospel, and

of the

lost

Apocalypse.

Bar

its

Salibi

Gaius, and helps us to see that

devotee of Higher Criticism was not, as Lightfoot supposed, a mere phantom, a creation by Hippolytus of a straw-man for subsethis early

quent demolition, but a real

man

of flesh

intellectual apparatus attached to his

The

and blood, with a powerful

anatomy.

Bar Sahbi's works, both in compass and in variety is his commentary on the Scriptures covering the whole space from Genesis to Revelation, and filled with patristic matter both Eastern and Western. Complete copies are very rare, and we have the good fortune to possess the whole in one of our Woodbrooke MSS. It was this commentator's work that first drew the attention of Western scholars

greatest of

;

the portion of the

Gospels was done

into

commentary which deals with the Four

Latin by Dudley Loftus, in the seventeenth

WOODBROOKE

4

MS.

century, from a

STUDIES

in Trinity College,

Dublin

;

and

in recent times

the commentary on the Apocalypse, Acts and Catholic epistles, and in part the Gospels has been edited by Sedlac.ek in the series of Scriptores If we may judge from the parallel case of his successor Bar Syri.

Hebraeus, there will, before long, be many theses presented for doctor's degrees in German Universities, from the commentaries of Bar Salibi.

The

we

which

treatise

scriptural interest

present in the following pages has no special

ecclesiastical rather than Biblical

it is

;

but

;

it

has a

own, inasmuch as the controversy which it reflects throws a good deal of light on the relations of the Greek and Eastern churches

value of

in

Bar

its

own

Salibi's

day.

It

will bring vividly before us the facts of

the subdivision of the Syrian churches and

days before the

Roman

terests of unity,

made

three branches, in the

its

church had invaded the area, and, in the in-

three divisions into

us the Nestorian or East Syrian

We

six.

Church with

its

shall

have before

God-and-Man

doctrine

of Christ, its noble protest against the deification of the Blessed Virgin,

and to

its

unparalleled record in the Mission fields of the far East

them

we

God- Man theology,

shall

Christology, or as

its

called

it is

by

the wise,

exaltation of the Virgin to celestial rank,

Between the two

who

next its

its Monophysite and its defect of

a slender group of Syrian have succumbed to the claims of the Greek theology of

missionary zeal. believers

;

have the Jacobite or West Syrian Church with

Antioch and Constantinople, securing

lies

their

orthodoxy on the one hand

by the acceptance of the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon, which made other Syrian churches excommunicate on one side or the other, and

same time obtaining protection as well as patronage by attachment to the State church and the Imperial city. They are known at the

as Melchites,

or

Royalists,

and

if

few

number and confined

in

to

and North Syria for the most part, are an aggressive minority with the Ruling State and Dominant Greek Church at their back. Palestine

We

shall not hear

much

of the Nestorians in our tract

too far East to be troublesome or troubled

;

it is

the

;

little

they are

Melchite

community that provokes the controversy reflected in the following the little man that is trying to put its arms round pages of Bar Salibi ;

its

big brother,

one Rabban

Church and

and

'Isho', its

to

annex him

who

in reality a half-anonymous monk, seems to have been reconciled to the Greek

theology and

Salibi in his embrace,

and

;

rituals,

and who

will prove to

him

will

that

he

have the great Bar is

both insignificant

INTRODUCTIONS and wrong, a

points of the appeal

but

;

The

appointment ensue. of

We

terrible combination.

shall

see presently the chief

as well to be forewarned, lest dis-

is

it

5

matters discussed will not strike us as being

Probably the reader will say, as he watches bone of contention (as indeed happens comstrife), that, if this is Christianity, then I have

any great importance.

the

two dogs over

their

in ecclesiastical

monly

The

chance of being a Christian.

little

ritual will

trivialities of

have

proper attention, the supposed decencies of liturgical usage and the like ; we shall know all about the war, and what they killed (or ex-

communicated) each other

we

can set the

what Bar

Salibi, but

worthy

drawn

infinitely little

We

is left.

When we

for.

on one

probably be impressed with the adroitness of more with his noble Christian spirit and temper,

shall

still

East

of the Patriarch of half the

to his

Monophyite doctrine, too tenaciously and too intelligently by the

side,

have finished our study, and estimate the value of

bait of a personal

knew

church, which he

we

we do

if

not feel

be glad that he held

be allured

to

it

to its

abandonment, and promotion in a State be a focus of increasing impurity, and

attachment to

and, even

;

shall

to,

political corruption.

Now let portion

union

tract to

which the is

'

Rabban

before us.

tion of re-union

with two

which Bar

us very briefly analyse the discussion of '

is

Isho

The

latter replies in ten chapters.

that the Jacobites

Salibi's

has written to Bar Salibi, a re-

how

must learn

do the Greeks and Latins

first

condi-

to cross themselves

and they must give up the practice of crossing themselves with one finger, which is a dangerous illustration of the Monophysite doctrine. They must also change the fingers, as

which the

direction in

from

left to

right

and no longer operate such making changes, Bar Salibi will is

crossing

Further, in

;

exhibited,

he has gone over to the majority. The suggestion provokes '* a noble protest from Bar Salibi we not be in the right with May t find that

:

two

"

or three ?

fingers,

and

discussion

or

right-to-left

tedious, but the spirited reply

The

is

tedium

made

is

to

is

left-to-right crossing.

in serving

two

of view, that

is

becomes very

A

by thejtheological implication. the question whether Bar Salibi really believes

two natures masters,

It

relieved

the Greeks to hold the doctrine of

they believe in

continued over one finger or two

two natures

in Christ.

in Christ or not, they believe

Truth and Untruth.

the real heresy.

He tells

Whether

most assuredly

From Bar

Salibi's point a tale of a philosopher, who,

WOODBROOKE

6 like the

Vicar of Bray

in the

with every successive king.

STUDIES

popular English song, changed his faith But, at

last,

unlike the profane Vicar, he

realized that one must not change one's faith with the colour of the

"

"

and besought people to Pity the salt that has lost its savour The argument over the two natures is resumed. Rabban 'Isho' is times,

his best

in

when he

argues for

one corporate body

;

Bar

did not the Apostle tell us not to judge " Did he not say Pray for one another," ?

Salibi has great reply to this seducing doctrine

Court Party

Constantinople do not

at

at

the comprehension of inconsistent beliefs

another man's servant ? " " and not Anathematize one another

that the

!

;

he points out

practise the toleration

which they invoke they expel our people from their city, burn their books, and suppress our Meeting-places. Away from the city, they 'Isho' proposes to annex as Rabban heretics whom our people rebaptize ;

And

as believers. to

whom

is

it

such

is

their doctrine of toleration

and the persons

applied, that, suppressing the Jacobites, they have actu-

Moslems

ally permitted the

to build a

Mosque

One may

in the city.

It judge the value of their charity, by the range of its application. and Moslem embraces the Christian unbeliever. the Syrian passes by

Bar Salibi goes on to point out that, although it is inconsistent on the part of the Melchites and their friends to curse and bless in this way, yet after all the power and faculty of judgment is Christian, and it

follows that there St.

tion.

Paul

made of the Rabban 'Isho'

is

is

also in the

is

on the

clear

Bar

He

has

Salibi

now

better to live at peace with every-

turns the tables

on

his

adversary

;

he discloses

and shows what peace with anybody and everybody means. taken the Puritan position, and refuses fellowship with

now

light that

light indeed.

and

it is

the Imperial City and in the prominent church

in

murderers, adulterers,

The

excommunica-

Jacobite position from the side of Ecclesiastical History. proceeds in favour of his doctrine that Christians are

the state of morals of the city,

of

A spirited defence

right of anathema.

not to judge Christians, but that

body.

Church a power

He

is

talks of

vicious practices

ventions of

liars,

nature.

and

thieves.

turned on the church of Constantinople

an emasculated

clergy,

and

is

a

fierce

of adulterous

which naturally are associated with such contra" "

Like

priest,

like

people

;

the city

is

full

of

outrage and villany.

The argument now

turns to the order of the Liturgy

and the ex-

INTRODUCTIONS

7

arrangement made by the Greeks for lections and for the tones which the psalms and hymns are sung to how beautiful to see such universal order and harmony

quisite

;

!

Bar

good deal to say on these matters, but he carefully

Salibi has a

points out that the church

was

that the creed

was antecedent

to

its

before the metrical canons.

musical services, and In the beginning they

had only the reading and interpretation of the Scriptures. The use of lustful melodies had not arrived. The Sirens had not come into the

was

church.

It

melodies

like

better to preach, teach,

the Sirens, bray like asses,

swans, and then occasion of

and convert, than

finish

up the

sing

like

to invent

nightingales

or

day with such feasting as makes the

sin.

new Rome is now emphasized by the Melchite. an quotes apocryphal prophecy of Jeremiah about the Latter House, and the Latter City. This prophecy, he says, refers to ConThe

glory of the

He

Bar

stantinople.

Who

relics,

supposed

New

and denies

and

Jerusalem to worship

etc.

hand

Bar

?

They go

to

picture of Christ on Veronica's handkerchief

the right

his interpretation.

buy and sell. Do they boast of their the rod of Moses and the ark in which it was

there to grub,

and

Salibi disputes his text,

goes to this

sanctities laid,

the

and the Virgin's robe,

John the Baptist, which they use in consecrations, makes short work of these relics and the use to which

of

Salibi

the Greeks put them.

The argument now Church

:

passes over to the question of authority in the according to Rabban 'Isho', there is primacy in the church,

that primacy has been located by God with the Greeks. There a prescription against Christians, just as there is against heretics.

and is

We were

there before you.

Bar Salibi wonders why, from displaced.

He

three in the

name

this

point of view, the

Jews were two or

returns to his argument for the sanctity of of Truth.

The argument now

turns

on the power

God

and wealth which

has given to the Greeks, Mammon being called in as the chief witness to the divine election of the Greeks, and

per contra

of

the

divine

reprobation (relatively) of the povertyBar Salibi has little difficulty in proving that

stricken Syrians.

"

Gold and Grace did never yet agree " Religion always sides with poverty !

!

WOODBROOKE

8

Mammon

STUDIES

the prosperous leaves the witness box, and Lazarus and a

Bar Salibi comes of poor folks occupy it. and holds up the Gospel. The case for the

crowd

Mammon

collapses.

You

to numbers.

The argument

God, and have the

lost their first

who

Greeks,

varied

are

social

and wealthy

now from

a handful in

;

wealth Edessa,

Evidently they have been uprooted by

another handful in Melitene.

with

is

Jacobites are very few

box himself

into the

It is otherwise acceptance and favour. a prickly shrub that bears a beautiful

rose.

Bar

Salibi wishes to

Greeks. Is

In

what

have a further

their elaborate liturgy ?

it

holiness, chastity, perfection.

further discussion

definition of the rose of the

sense does Constantinople blossom like the rose ?

is

made on

The

true rose

Does

is

meditation and prayer,

Greek shrub bear

the

A

these ?

the sign of the Cross, and on the addition

which the Syrians make to the Trisagion of the words "who was crucified for us." The Greeks interpret the Trisagion of the Trinity,

=

the Father), Sanctus es omnipotens ( = the Son), Sanctus es immortalis ( = the Spirit) ? The Syrians refer all three

Sanctus es Deus

(

classes of the Trisagion to the Son,

"

qui crucifixus es It is

for the

and can,

therefore, properly

add

pro nobis."

rather difficult to follow the argument

Monophysite use

of the Trisagion

which Bar

Salibi

makes

plus the added phrase qui

crucifixus es pro nobis. It is

an

interesting study to observe

regarded as a definition of the Trinity,

how

the Trisagion

and so

to

came

be

to

be inconsistent with

qui crucifixus es pro nobis. In the first instance it was Jesus and his Glory that were sought for in the sixth chapter of Isaiah, while the same chapter yielded the convincing anti- Judaic testimony in

the addition

regard to the blinded eyes and hardened hearts of the chosen people. Of the antiquity of this testimony there can be no doubt, seeing it is

employed by and by Paul according to

have

Jesus, according to the

Gospel

in the closing sentences of

Luke (Acts

xxviii.

26, 27).

of

Mark (Mark

iv.

1

2)

the Acts of the Apostles, In the Fourth Gospel,

we

"

Isaiah said this testimony expanded by the statement that This can only mean that his Glory and spake of him." there has been an identification of Jesus with the Lord Sabaoth or, in this

when he saw a sense that

Thus

it

was

is

common

in the

Targums, with the Divine Glory.

not the Trinity that the early Christians looked for in the

INTRODUCTIONS In that sense

Trisagion, but Jesus in Glory.

add

"

The

qui crucifixus es pro nob is."

9 it

was

quite proper to

be made

could

addition

a charge of Patripassianism or Pneumatopassianism. But what might be good theology in the first stratum of the deposit of belief might be quite the opposite when a further plane of theological

without any

risk of

had been reached.

definition

an early position

in

Christology

Bar Salibi ;

retains

In a

which Renaudot published, and which

Monophysite leanings, we and use of the Trisagion

to

be

may, however, be doubted whether

it

the Monophysites consistently did the same. to Ignatius,

what appears

Liturgy attributed

is

supposed to have

find the following Trinitarian interpretation

:

Sanctus enim es, Deus Pater, Sanctus etiam unigenitus Filius tuus Sanctus etiam Spiritus tuus.

We cannot,

however,

infer that in this

Liturgy there once stood

the ascription of crucifixus along with the adoration of the Seraphim.

We

will

hand Bar

what they

will

Salibi over to the students of liturgiology

make

of him.

There

we know

the matter, in proportion as

is

no doubt more

to

be

and see said

on

less.

His concluding appeals to the Greeks to cease from persecuting the Syrians and the Armenians, to whom they are doing more harm than the Turks themselves, are written in an excellent spirit and like

He

concludes by a challenge to his opponents generally to meet him in a public discussion, when he proposes to clear up any remaining difficulties. do not know whether this a true father

in Israel.

We

debate ever came success

;

off

;

a priori

we

should have our doubts of

in fact, the greater the success, the less in

many

its

cases the

Nothing so much narrows and dries up the heart as controversy does it must be admitted, however, that no controversial writer shows less sign of the threatened narrowness and actual good resulting.

;

dryness than our good Syrian father. II.

GENUINE AND APOCRYPHAL WORKS OF IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH.

The above profess

to

treatise is

be related

in

followed by some stray documents, which

some way

to

Antioch, the martyr bishop of that great

the

person of

city.

Around

Ignatius his

of

name,

WOODBROOKE

10 as in

so

Clement

the parallel case of

much

spurious matter,

ditions, that

it

in

the

of

Rome,

there

accumulated

shape of interpolations and ad-

not to be wondered

is

STUDIES

if

at,

in the first ages of the

Renaissance of Criticism, doubts should have arisen whether any of In the Ignatian matter could be referred to his time, place, or person.

Supernatural Religion, Mr. W. R. " the whole of the literature ascribed declared roundly that

own

our

Cassels,

time the author of

to Ignatius

even

if

is,

such a tissue of fraud and imposture,

in fact,

any small

original

"

impossible to define

it

;

element

.

.

.

referrible to Ignatius,

exist

that it

and made Dr. Lightfoot very angry by

is

his

statement.

We

we are making to have to be classed with the Ignatian Aporather than with what Lightfoot shows to be canonical

are afraid that the contributions which

Ignatian literature will

crypha,

Our

Ignatiana.

first

epistle of Ignatius,

document,

who

is

for instance, professes to

carefully defined,

be an actual

against misunderstanding

or possible confusion with later Patriarchs of his name, by the titles which belong to the first of the line, the designation of him as the

God-bearer

or the punning Syriac

title

of

Nurana,

or the

Fiery

=

Even if the epistle should be condemned contemptuously Ignatius. as an obvious product of a later rhetorician, we shall be able to show that there are traces of genuine Ignatian expressions in the text.

This

leads us to the reflection that a possible motive for the composition, it

assuming

to

be

spurious, lies in the

undoubted

fact that

a genuine

letter, and perhaps more than a single letter, from Ignatius to the Church at Antioch, is actually missing. The proof of this is interesting

and

fairly

complete.

Philadelphia, Ignatius remarks that turn in report has reached him that matters had taken a favourable the Church at Antioch : he begs the Philadelphians to appoint an In writing to the

Church

at

ambassador to take a message of congratulation to the Antiochenes. This must mean a written communication either from Ignatius or from the Philadelphian Church. passage

The

following

is

the text of the

:

Ign.,

ad

Pkilad.,

c.

10.

"Seeing that in answer to your prayer and to the tender sympathy which ye have in Christ Jesus, it hath been reported

INTRODUCTIONS to

me

it is

that the

Church which for you, as a

becoming

to go thither as

in

is

Antioch

Church

of Syria

that

together,

he

may

1

hath peace,

to appoint a

God,

of

God's ambassador,

them when they are assembled

1

deacon

congratulate

and may

glorify the

Name." on to say that the good news had been brought to deacon a from Cilicia and by Rhaius Agathopus, who him by Philo, had followed him from Syria. Lightfoot suggests, from the language Ignatius goes

Smyrna, that he had already left Smyrna when the messengers from Antioch arrived, and that they then followed him to Troas. Assuming this to be the case, it is

of Ignatius' letter to the

Church

at

almost unthinkable that Philo and his companion should have had no letter to carry back from Ignatius himself, or that Ignatius should have advised the churches to which he

was

writing to despatch messengers

and congratulatory messages on their own account, while he himself There must be a letter or letters from Ignatius to remained silent. the Philadelphians and Smyrnaeans assisted and whether Antioch, joined in the correspondence or not.

would be

The

natural thing to

happen

Philo and Rhaius should immediately turn back and carry with them the felicitations of the bishop to his own Church. that

Other communications require time and

The

message

Ign.,

to the

ad Smyrn., "Your

Antioch

special

Smyrnaeans from Ignatius c.

1

is

official

as follows

messengers :

1 .

prayer sped forth

unto the

Church which

is

in

meet that your Church should appoint for the honour of God, an ambassador of God, that he may go as far as Syria, and congratulate them because they are at peace, of Syria

.

.

.

it is

and have recovered

their proper stature, and their proper bulk hath been restored to them. It seemed, to me, therefore, a fitting

thing that ye should send one

letter, that he might join with

which by God's

will

them

of your own people with a in giving glory for the

calm

had overtaken them, and because they were

already reaching a haven through your prayers." Similar advice is given to Polycarp, as the bishop of Smyrna, and the suggested ambassador from Church to Church is described playfully as

God's courier

:

the following

is

the passage

:

WOODBROOKE

12

ad. Polyc., "

Ign.,

STUDIES

c. 7.

Seeing that the Church which peace, as it hath been reported to also

myself banished

my is

us,

Antioch

of Syria hath

through your prayers,

I

have been the more comforted, since God hath care. ... It becometh thee, most blessed Polycarp,

to call together a goodly council,

you, who

in

is

and

some one among

to elect

very dear to you, and zealous also,

who

shall

be

fit

to bear the name of God's courier, to appoint him, I say, that he may go to Syria, and glorify your zealous love unto the glory

God."

of

two separate

embasssies, and two separate out of the question to suppose that he had himself nothing to say to the Church at Antioch. What

appears, then, that

It

asked for by Ignatius.

letters are

It is

he did say has disappeared.

Now

what was the matter

at

Antioch, for

has been a storm either in the Church or against Lightfoot takes Ignatius

its

is

it

?

clear that there

for granted that the persecution

which made

had also affected the Church. In consequence members had relapsed, and now there was good news of

central object,

of the

many

it

it

" Philo and his companions were, says Lightfoot, doubtthe bearers of the good news that the persecution at Antioch had

their return. less

This

ceased." things

may be

the correct explanation, but there are some

which suggest that there was trouble inside the Church as well it and around it. Lightfoot further remarks that the Church

as outside

"

had been previously weakened and diminished by the That would dispersion and defections consequent on persecution." of the Church but we the restored dimension reference to the explain at

Antioch

;

must keep our eyes open of the is

an

for

Church membership.

exhortation to priests

an

alternative reason for the diminution

The document which we and deacons

are here printing

to practise personal piety

and

It may be nothing more not to be led away into immoral actions. but there are some than a general exhortation addressed to all clergy passages in it which seem to suggest an individual priest who has fallen the supposed letter suddenly becomes in the highest degree into sin An appeal is made which begins with and personal. eloquent ;

;

:

"

Who "

cator ?

envied you,

O chaste

one,

and made you a

forni-

INTRODUCTIONS and the supposed

"You

faithless priest is

13

addressed as

dear and beloved ram

who became

"

wolf

the prey of a

!

The person addressed has become a pagan, and is now "a " mediator to idols and so on, with much eloquence and force of :

personal appeal, which the reader must estimate for himself.

If

it

should be judged that the supposed faithless priest to whom the appeal is made has a real existence, the possibility will have to be reckoned

with that there has been a factious and perhaps an immoral person among the leadership of the Antiochene Church, who may even be a

and contemporary of Ignatius himself. This is, of course, a In that case we should fall speculation which may not find support.

rival

back upon Lightfoot's theory, that the persecution under Trajan had been general, as well as personal and particular.

Now pick up

let

First of all

we

way

priest

is

document and

of Scriptural references

and

see

what we can

possible local allusions.

notice that in one passage, the writer quotes the

harmonized form.

in a

has

us turn to the text of our

in the

compared

lost its savour,

Gospel

At

the beginning of the letter the impious " to the salt that has lost its savour. If the salt

wherewith

shall

it

be seasoned

?

It

is

thenceforth

good for nothing, neither for the land nor the dung, but it is cast out and trodden underfoot by men." This is a harmonization of Matthew

and Luke.

If

we examine

of Ciasca, or in the old

the Tatian

Dutch

Harmony,

either in the

version of Dr. Plooij,

we

Arabic

shall find that

we have

an independent harmonization, which does not appear to be derived from the Syriac of Tatian.

The

next thing

we

notice

is

that

greatest of all Syriac writings, the

address to the Antiochene clergy,

"

wipe This

is

Solomon

off

he

is

acquainted with one of the

Odes of Solomon. He opens by appealing to them to

his

the dirt from your hearts."

almost exactly the language of the beautiful 13th

Ode

of

:

"

Wipe the dirt from off your faces, And love his holiness and clothe yourselves There

is

one expression

the writer says

:

in

our tract which

is

therewith."

distinctly Ignatian

:

WOODBROOKE

14 " care

STUDIES

We cannot

avoid answering for all those he confided to our the souls redeemed by the innocent blood of God, and he

;

gave us a covenant that

we

should worship him and shepherd

his flock."

At

first

member

sight this looks like

that

Ephesians,

it

Monophysite language, but In the epistle of

also Ignatian.

is

in the

Ignatius

we

re-

to the

opening chapter, the saint speaks of the Ephesian

Church as "

"

kindling into living

There

is,

fire

"

by the blood

(so Lightfoot)

God."

of

however, an objection to the description of the term

"

It is well known that it is implied in the blood of God," as Ignatian. elders of the Church at Ephesus (Acts of St. Paul to the language " feed the Church of God, which He xx. 28) who are admonished to

" hath purchased with His own blood and on comparing the language " " to of our tract, we see the reflection of the shepherds of the flock ;

which

Paul

St.

So

refers.

Pre-Ignatian as Ignatian,

it is

and the language hand we have the

Ignatian expression

On

the other

as likely that the expression

just

and perhaps

we

of our tract as Pauline.

similar expression in the opening

"

where Christians are spoken of as partakers the pure and precious blood of the Great God, This has a very Monophysite appearance, and

of the Syriac Didascalia, in the sprinkling of

Jesus the Christ."

shows, at

is

ought to describe both the

all events, that

the term

"

Blood

of

God

"

is

not theologically

colourless.

The next point that interests us, is that our supposed Ignatius is made responsible for the Wednesday and Friday fasts of the early Church, and the question must be asked whether there

is

an element of

It is not negatived by the observation that our document has the week-day fasts in an accentuated form, at least

truth in the suggestion.

problem is to determine if the fasts in question are Of their antiquity there is no doubt, possibly of Antiochian origin. in for they are the Teaching of the Apostles : nor can it well be

for the clergy the

denied that they are originally anti-Judaic, since the Teaching says " Let not your fasts be with the hypocrites, for they fast Monday and :

Thursday, but do you are here the

fast

Jews and

Wednesday and

Judaisers.

No

The

hypocrites reason appears for the choice

Friday."

INTRODUCTIONS of the particular

days

reference of the kind

15

nor does there appear in the Ignatian letters any what does appear, however, is the anti- Judaic

;

;

displacement of the Sabbath by the Sunday, as Christians are described " as no longer Sabbatizing, but living with the Lord's Day in place of the Sabbath." Thus the anti-Judaic element in the Teaching has its parallel in Ignatius.

At this point a curious parallel comes to light, for which we must now turn to our second document, the supposed Canon of Ignatius. In this

Canon

weekly

fasts,

there

is

with an

a clear indication of the establishment of the

For

anti- Judaic reference.

the curious statement that

"

we

instance,

we have

observe the night of Friday, because in

our Lord was seized by the Jews? It is further stated that on the night of Saturday they broke the legs of the robbers, in order that the

it

Sabbath might not begin for them (which must mean the Jews), and that they might not be condemned in the eyes of the law (which must

mean

Our Canon

the Jewish law).

is,

therefore, anti- Judaic, like the

It Teaching of the Apostles and the Ignatian letters. cannot, however, be derived directly from the Teaching. Nor can it be

derived directly from the seventh book of the Apostolical Constitutions, which works over the instructions of the Teaching. For here the anti-Judaic reference has disappeared, and the fast-days are kept commemoration of the Betrayal and the Crucifixion. There is,

in

however, some similarity of treatment

;

each writer has the problem of

explaining the change in the fast- days from the Jewish customs, but the explanations are not the same. conclude that the Canonist

We

is

working on an independent

line,

and we cannot confirm

his reference

to Ignatius as his authority.

Now let by

us see

the Canonist.

what can be made out First

of all

we

Wednesday in the Passion week next we are told was seized by the Jews on the night of Friday then

the night of

our Lord

of the explanations furnished

have the Last Supper referred to ;

he descended into Sheol on the night of Saturday. (which must in this connection mean, we are to night and Friday night, to fast)

on Saturday. "

and

we

There "

is

;

We are

to observe

fast)

on Wednesday

are not to observe (that

much

that

that

is,

we

are not

confusion here, which cannot be

"

by reading vigil for night," and making the vigil anticipate the next day. For the Last Supper cannot be put on Thursday, in

got rid of

this hypothesis,

without putting the arrest on Saturday, and the descent

WOODBROOKE

16 into

Hades on Sunday.

The

STUDIES

our Lord and

arrest of

his

binding by

Jews must take place the same day as the Last Supper. the Last Supper on Wednesday by the Oriental hypothesis

the

To of

date

making

the day begin at sunset, would require that the Supper took place before sundown on Thursday, which is absurd. cannot make the " " " So we afternoon of Thursday." into the night of Wednesday

We

conclude that the Canonist has

lost

his reckoning

;

his statements are

inconsistent with the evangelical tradition.

The

reader will have noticed a reference to the patronage of Simon

and John

of the

be writing.

Church

of Antioch, to

which

Ignatius

is

supposed to

apostles, Peter and John, are invited to join It is certainly peculiar to an apostate priest. have St. John associated with St. Peter in the presidency of the Church at Antioch. But there can be no mistake as to the intention of the

These two

in the lamentation over

writer, since,

a

little

later,

brother of Simon and John.

connecting these

While

two

the unfaithful steward

Where

shall

we

is

addressed as a

find parallel statements

apostles with the Church of Antioch

these pages

were passing through the

Ignatiana were brought to light. Canon which we have discussed

The ;

first is

the second

press

?

two more

another recension of the is

a genuine fragment of

the Epistle to the Ephesians, which does not appear in the collection of Lightfoot. So we have one more fragment of the lost Syrian

Version recovered.

AND TRANSLATIONS.

PREFACES, EDITIONS

BY A. MINGANA.

A

(i)

Treatise of Barsalibi against the Melchites.

PREFATORY NOTE.

GIVE

I

in the following pages the translation,

accompanied by a

apparatus, of a very rare treatise of Dionysius Barsalibi, West Syrian or Jacobite writer who died in A.D.

critical

the well-known

The

1171.

treatise is

indeed so rare that not even a reference to

it

1

Baumstark, and no acquaintance with its existence is shown by the early Syrian bibliographer who wrote a complete list of 2 Barsalibi' s works. is

found

in

The address

treatise is in

a certain

to,

the form of a discussion with, or rather a long

Rabban

who had

importance,

community to join them. on this subject, and it is present treatise.

and

refutes

to

He

this lost

letter that

has given birth to the

Barsalibi analyses verbatim his opponent's missive,

As

it.

a

evidently

and was about

Melchites,

West

Syrian monk of some shown some leniency towards the leave, or had already left, his own had written a long letter to Barsalibi

'Isho',

the author does not give any clear indication

his

own

sentence ends and

our

way

in this matter,

that

of

his

where

have adversary begins, experienced some difficulty in following his argumentation ; but I believe that I have succeeded in overcoming the obstacles thrown in clearness

my

I

but not without sacrificing to the altar of

predilection for literal translations.

been compelled to mark in the translation " " You write which are not in the Rabban 'Ish6''s text by the words text, and here and there I have added words and even complete I

have,

therefore,

:

phrases in order to make it easier for the English reader to follow the author's too concise, too disconnected, and sometimes obscure reasoning. 1

Gesch. der Syr. Lit., pp. 295-298. Assemani, Bibl. Orient., ii, 210-21 17

1.

WOODBROOKE

18

STUDIES

"

"

The Greeks assailed by Barsalibi are better known to us under name of Melchites, who in the West Syrian Orthodox Church

the

"

the

are

"

Chalcedonians," although generally styled " also Melchites is very often ascribed to them.

The

MS. in which own collection my

Syriac

tegral part of

the treatise of Syriac

is

appellation

found constitutes an

MSS.,

in the

in-

custody of the

Rendel Harris Library, Birmingham, where it has the class-mark Syriac MS. Mingana 4. It was copied in A.D. 895 by Deacon Matthew, 1

'

MS. preserved in Tur Abdln,

near the monastery of Dairuz-za'faran, the residence of the monophysite Patriarchs of Antioch. Because of the rarity of the MS. I have deemed it advisable to give a

from a very ancient

complete facsimile of tion to

or

first

at the

and

its text,

refer in the footnotes of the transla-

some lexicographical and grammatical

by

An index of

the second copyist.

end

errors

made

by the

either

proper names

will

be found

work.

of the

TRANSLATION.

We

will further write the ten chapters composed by Dionysius, metropolitan of Amed, who is the illustrious Jacob Bar Salibi, against

The humble and

his

'

Isho'.

Dionysius, the servant of

prayers,

Providence

Rabban

O

Rabban

'Isho*

;

God,

may

offers

you be

you

his greetings

in the

keeping of

!

Any work from which spring good and gain for the souls of both the speaker and the attentive hearer, is not to be hindered or silenced. These words we write at the beginning of our discourse to you, as we have read your conciliatory

treatise

which stands between

falsehood in order not to hurt anybody's feelings.

we

will deal with the worldly questions that

spiritual questions

which give

life

it

truth

and

In another place

raises.

So

to the souls are concerned,

far as the it is

more

and avoid ambiguity, twist the facts and who those with people especially in our dealings mix straw with corn, water with wine, and all kinds of impure alloys " Prove all things, The Apostle of the Gentiles has said with gold. advantageous to

strive

after undiluted

truth

:

hold

fast that

how Paul

which

is

good, and abstain from any form of

'

evil."

See

teaches us to prove and examine everything, and hold fast

M

Thes.

Y.

21-22.

BARS ALIBI which

that

good before God, and from nests of snakes.

flee

is

teaching, as

We are

from

shown how a man can

also

he must either follow one

who

19 all

bad things and

learn with certitude

false

where

acknowledged to be wise and learn little by little from him, as Philip taught the eunuch of the Queen of Sheba, or he must read studiously the Books of the He who Spirit and acquire from them the knowledge of truth. truth lies

:

is

universally

1

believes that he has attained truth from hearsay, or from the ravings

a seducer, or from the sight of an occurrence that happens to be in harmony with his beliefs, does not lean on truth but on a broken reed, of

on a shadow

But

only.

time

it is

now

CHAPTER

On You you

wrote

embark on our

subject.

I.

the Sign of the Cross.

to us that neither

from nature nor from any book did

two

learn to cross yourself with

in this

to

fingers,

but that you are following

the habit of the Greeks, of the Franks,

and of twenty-four Hungarians and

other peoples such as the Iberians, Alans, Russians,

who cross themselves with two fingers. This, we will answer in the following manner An intelligent man like you should weigh his words in

others 'Isho',

of justice before

all

the universe,

foundation

?

The Book

the landmark

it

how

then can you neglect the truth of both "

says

3

fulfilled

it,

that

Remove

:

is

not based on any real "

not the eternal landmark

nature and book, in rejecting

on the boundaries

naturally trespass

the law but

is

and

the balance

If

book and nature, and follow something if

Rabban

you have not acquired a subject from nature, the two sources which

uttering them.

from a book, nor learned

embrace

now

O

:

we

4

;

them both we

Christ did not destroy

of truth.

contend that

we

are not to follow

nature and the law, but to step in strange Do we not fear paths " then a rebuke from David who When thou sawest a thief, then says !

:

thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers."

Among 1

the peoples

See Acts

viii.

whom

27.

The

you have mentioned there author identifies

Sheba with

is

2

y

Prov.

xxii.

Cf Matt .

28 and

v.

1

7.

xxiii-

10 (Peshitta). 4 Sic Cod.

5

injustice,

Ethiopia.

'

Ps. L

1

8.

;

WOODBROOKE ESSAYS

20

murder, immorality and

them

in

many other Sound judgement

these ?

abominations forbids

should

;

Even

it.

we

follow

those people

whom

you have mentioned, if they do not prove the truth they hold from nature and book, no one will ever induce himself to listen to them,

and

their

own

we who are right and we are walking in you is why we make the sign of the But

followers will forsake them.

possessors of the truth, will demonstrate to

the path of nature and book, and that

that

one finger only. nature teaches us that the cross to which Christ was attached

cross with First,

was not composed of double pieces of wood stretched in its perpendicular and horizontal side, as a symbol to the two fingers used by the Greeks in crossing themselves, but had only one piece of wood on Further, the rod of Moses which was a symbol of the and not two like that symbolized by two fingers. one was cross, Finally, the crosses made of silver, brass and wood, and those found

each

side.

on the walls are not fashioned by the peoples you mentioned in double perpendicular and horizontal lines, but in one line only as the symbol These arguments from nature will suffice, and we will of one finger.

now enumerate That

the arguments from book.

universal Doctor,

John Chrysostom,

saying thus in the fifty-third discourse of his

"

clearly

shows

this in

commentary on Matthew "

:

Ye are bought with a price,' signifies the price it does not fit to and servants of any on the be behalf, your you paid " " to the cross Price man. (Paul) alludes by the word you should '

l

(Paul's saying)

;

not

make

should print

it

the sign of the cross with the finger in a simple way, but you

make

first

in this

it

way

and then if you with will and with great faith on your forehead, no vile demon will be able to ;

:

prevail against you."

and

two or

not of

fingers

See

he would have

how the Doctor If we were to

speaks of one finger only

cross ourselves with two " " " with two fingers." or said with the fingers

three.

when the Apostle Thomas wished One who was crucified, he only desired

Further,

to test the resurrection of

the

to put his finger into the

1 1

Cor.

2

Here hominum.

vii.

is

23.

the

whole passage

" :

Pretio, inquit, empti eslis

Cogita, inquit, pretium pro pretium vero crucem vocat efformare oportet, sed prius voluntate et eris servus

:

;

facie tua depinxeris,

Pat. Gr.

t

Iviii.

557.

nullus

;

ne

sitis

servi

numeratum, atque nullius hominis neque enim simpliciter illam digito Si hoc modo illam in multa fide.

te

impurorum daemonum contra

te stare potent."

BARSALIBI he said

print of the nails, because print of the nails,

Himself

" said,

Reach

Book mentioned one finger only and not two or several.

From

"

we may

I

Except

:

put

And when

will not believe."

I

He

to him,

21

my

finger into the

our Lord revealed

See how the

:

hither thy finger."

and the second

in the first

instances,

making the sign of the cross upon oneself or upon the holy elements is not done with two The Greeks, however, who believe in two fingers but with one only. these

natures in Christ say fingers

wrote

learn that the act of

"

We

:

make

the sign of the cross with

at length in

suffice us to

say

two

Against this we our controversial treatise against them here it will If the natures in Christ are as separate from each

because there are two natures

Christ."

in

;

:

other as two fingers are, they have no unity, and the Doctors of the

Church who say

that the

iron, are in error.

Further,

one

other, are really

Word was

Son

stance with the flesh which

is

of the

flesh as fire is to

although separate from each

fingers,

and

in substance (ovcri'a),

of the Greeks, the eternal

is

two

His

united to

thus, in the contention

Father would be one in sub-

created and subject to time

and

;

this

blasphemy.

We will

further rebut the

that Christ, the Son, divinity

He

you show

was

that

Greeks as follows

was attached

to

in

it

neither extended nor attached

He

was extended on the

cross

the cross teaches us

:

the flesh, while in ;

and

but with two fingers

is

the

human

Christ

is

;

nature

one, and

be made with one finger have learned from both nature and book.

one, the sign also of the cross

is

to

we You write The sacrament of the sign of the cross Word of God who became flesh and came down from

only

and

His two

crucified in

You are thus Theopaschites, because with you crucify God also. As to us, we believe that as natures.

the cross

His

this

'*

:

the

and removed mankind from the hand and light."

earth, right

We

left

do not drive away darkness with

consists in

heaven to

hand and darkness

light, as

you

to the

write, because

we make

the sign of the cross from right to left ; everyone knows that darkness is the very antithesis of light, and that if the latter is mixed

up

in the

former

it

the bitterness of a 1

3

becomes swallowed up little

in

it

brackish water in a jug

John xx 25. Read Mnaik'itha

2

for

3

in

the same

3

of

way

as

sweet water, or

John xx. 27. mainoktha.

WOODBROOKE

22

myrrh or wormwood

STUDIES

a considerable quantity of Let us admit that light drives away darkness, how can the honey. left hand drive away the right ? Our Lord has said that He will set a

that of

little

in

the sheep on His right hand and the goats on His left Saviour demonstrated that the right cannot expel the

who make the own free will,

l ;

in this our

but those

left,

from right to

sign of the cross

left, move, out of their from the right hand to the left which is that of the goats, and are counted with the robber who was on our Lord's left. But see how in the consecration of the elements and in the final

make

prayers of the service the Greeks

from

and

left to right,

You

wrote

" :

in this

way

the sign of the cross like

us,

they contradict themselves.

twenty-four peoples use two fingers," but your ten. Do not listen, therefore, to some

number did not reach even

who say

deceivers truth

is

that

we

have with us twenty-four peoples. Further, Consider that there are seventy

not always with the majority.

different peoples,

and that those who follow the gospel are less numerare still pagan and no one pretends that because

who

ous than those

;

have greater

of their higher number, the pagans

Abraham and Moses there was Hebrews, who worshipped God, and the

right than

we

have.

In the time of

only one people, that

of the

rest

and no one says that because

worshipped

idols,

of that the worshippers of idols

greater right than the single people of the Hebrews.

This

had

suffices for

this chapter.

CHAPTER

A /so You

wrote

cross with

others ?

mouth

of

one

" :

on the Sign of the Cross.

What

finger ?

is

the meaning of our making the sign of the

Could we

possibly have greater right than

Christ ordered that every

two

II.

or three witnesses,

2

word should be

and

in

all

established at the

our case there are more than

three."

your words are true, it follows than wherever there are several people holding an opinion, they have more truth than one people and this leads us, as we wrote in the first chapter, to the assumption that If

;

the Gentiles had more truth than the Jews, and that

^att.

xxv. 33.

2

Matt,

xviii.

16.

Abraham was

BARSALlBI he was the only one

error because

in

the numerous men, his contemporaries,

Our

right.

word

three every to

it

;

it

Lord's sentence

"At

:

23

who worshipped God, and who worshipped idols, were

the

mouth

established," has not the

is

of

meaning

two witnesses or that

attribute

bears exclusively on the fact that the testimony of a single

be accepted against him out

witness should not

against a culprit, lest

testifying falsely

of spite

two

you

;

he should be

when, however, there are him in a biased

or three witnesses, they could not testify against

way, but only

truly

and

"

You write

Is it

:

rightly.

not more advantageous that a

man

should cross

himself in beginning with the right side, which is the side of light, and then pass this light over his face and with it drive away darkness, than " to cross himself from the side of darkness and pass it over his face ? If

darkness and

horizontally, ourselves,

tell

which

is

consists in

from our head downwards

defined by the right hand moving meant by the first act we do in crossing moving our hand in a perpendicular way

are

light

me what

You

?

might say that the top movement

light and the bottom one darkness, and that a man first takes and comes down to darkness, and then takes light again to another

means light

The Greeks would have

darkness.

and would begin with yours

is

not a

light

thus

two

lights

happy one, and the

single cross

is

horizontal sides and darkness in the other, but sides.

It is

be on the

also advantageous that the

hand, that

right

is

and two darknesses, This theory of

and end with darkness.

end

to say, good,

not light in one of

its

both of

its

light in

it is

of all our

and

it is

works should

thus better to end

the sign of the cross with the side of the right hand, and not with the side of the left which is, according to the words of our Lord, that of the goats. Further,

two

we

lines in its

maintain that the cross of the Greeks has not only horizontal side, but four lines. In the first act of cross-

ing themselves they form their cross from top to bottom with two fingers, and then in making the horizontal part of the cross, they form it, also

with two

fingers,

nay, even four

put

it,

horizontal

left,

part

and

finally they return

of their cross has then

counting the two fingers. had driven away the darkness of the left

right, return its

from right to

The

to the right.

two

Those who,

lines, in

now

backwards

by

from the light right to the dark

lines,

as

you

the light of the

left,

and take over

darkness which they carry to the right, so that they become involved

WOODBROOKE

24

STUDIES

both their right and left. If they were consistent with themselves, since they form their cross from right to left, they should have crossed themselves with the left hand, because in this way

in thick darkness in

would have been more natural and it would not have been them to move their hand twice over.

their cross

necessary for

Our

historians are in accord with their ecclesiastical

ecclesiastical

historians in

what they wrote concerning the Emperor Constantine, day in which the sun was hottest, he saw in

that at the hour of the

heaven a column "

the words

By

shape of a cross, on which there were thou shalt conquer," and after the pattern

of light in the this sign

which he saw he fashioned the about that column

two

Was

?

it

fingers, or in the shape of

Now

cross.

in the

shape one column ?

of

what do the Greeks say double columns, If

in the

shape

of

like the

double

columns, two of which stretched perpendicularly and two horizontally, why is not the fact mentioned in any ecclesiastical history ? If the

column

of light

with one

Greeks

finger,

was

why

And why

?

shape of one column only, corresponding 1 should we not have greater right than the

in the

should

ourselves with one finger

do

as they,

we

2

only,

not

make

and from

the sign of the cross on

left to right as

we, and not

?

In administering the baptism even the

Greeks make the

sign of the

on the child with a collyrium-pencil which has one point only not two points, which would correspond with the two fingers, and and

cross

move

also the instrument

right to

Had

left.

from

left to right as

we

do,

and not from

they not done so in this case even their cross would

not have been straight but twisted.

You

*'

write

:

As we heard and

saw,

all

the Fathers and Doctors

mentioned, whether they be Prankish, or Egyptian, or and we have Greek, make the sign of the cross with two fingers never heard that any of them has made it with one finger."

whose names

I

;

You

have not attained yet the age of seventy years, and consequently you could not have seen Athanasius the Great, Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, John Chrysostom, Cyril of Alexandria, and others.

We

when you say that you heard, but who can believe saw ? You should not, therefore, have written that you you If you mean that you saw their books, how did you then write

might believe you that

you saw.

1

2

Read Sharririnan for Sharrlrin Read Sib'a for Sliba.

(copyist's inadvertence).

BARSALIBI

25

previously that you had not learned this either from book or from nature ? Is it because you forgot what you wrote previously that assert

you

fingers ?

which

now If

them made the

that all of

you have heard and

So

treatise ?

as

far

sign of the cross

us in which

seen, tell

we

are

concerned

with two

book and

in

we have already who refutes

quoted you John Chrysostom, the glory of the Greeks,

them and corroborates

You why

us.

"

Since the Armenians profess one nature in Christ, are they not ordered to make the sign of the cross with one finger " write

:

only ?

Some some

of the

Armenians make the

them with three

of

fingers,

sign of the cross

and some

of

with two

them with

fingers,

all their

hand,

among them who are ignorant and mixed with the Greeks, who make the sign of the cross with two fingers but who can hold a discussion with illiterate and insensible people, Franks.

like the

It

is

only those

;

except those who wish to throw their pearls into the depth of the sea ? Further, the Armenians did not remain united with us long enough to learn all the Christian sacramental customs

dogma went

one nature

in the

own.

Word

They

that

after

became

somewhat

are

having accepted the they

flesh,

left

us

and

inconsistent with their

on the one hand they believe in one Lord, and in one nature the Word who became flesh, and on the other they believe in two

belief

in

of

after their

;

;

natures in

Him,

a proposition which they

they but told that with two fingers.

You fingers,

write

do we

it is

" :

would

readily reject,

were

implied in the act of making the sign of the cross

We

believe in

who make

the sign of the cross with

two natures in Christ

God

?

two

forbid that this

should ever happen." If you do not believe in two natures after the union, how then do you make the sign of the cross with two fingers ? In your mouth you 1 believe something, and with your hand which makes the sign of the

cross

you believe something

else.

The Greeks

at

any rate

the two fingers symbolize the two natures in Christ. show us then the sacrament of the two fingers.

How

up two incompatible propositions orthodox Syrians, and we make the 1

Remove

in

saying

"We

assert that

If this is

not

so,

can you mix

believe like the **

sign of the cross like the

the dalath before

mtddaim.

Greeks

?

WOODBROOKE

26 This amounts

can serve two masters follow the others, and if

"

to saying,

We accept

1

if

;

if

we

truth

have the truth with

who

can that section of Christians

and the other

flesh,

who makes makes

who will

believes in

we

us,

you cannot and

are liars

believe you

How

?

one nature that became

and how can that section

natures,

;

them

of

the sign of the cross with one finger and the other

with two

it

two

in

No man

and untruth."

the others have the truth,

pretend that both of us are right,

you

STUDIES

fingers,

be

in

who

harmony with each other and be

equally right ?

You

write

two

believe in

few Franks, It is

" :

We

not reject the Greeks because they

should

natures, since apart from us

all

Christians believe in

and the Armenians, and a

two natures

in Christ."

narrated that a philosopher used to change his faith with every

When

rising king.

eventually he repented and realized that

it

was

not good to forsake truth and change with the times, he wrote " brother, no one in your Pity the salt which has lost its savour." if they are position should say that he does not reject the Greeks :

O

;

and should not be

right

rejected,

wrong and should be rejected will believe

you

our enemies in

also,

but

;

tell

and

;

if

us now,

Word God and

if

?

you know, which are the two natures The Franks and some others call

I

He

the body with a soul which

to Himself, but the Greeks think otherwise, is

people are, therefore,

the Syrians are rejected, no one

because you are a Syrian from us and not from

which the Greeks believe

natures the

your own

and

their story

on

united

this subject

if it ever becomes clear, a long one, and not even yet quite clear that will never I am convinced and know accept any Melchite. you ;

how

sinians,

did you assert that all Christians believe in two natures and the Armenians, while the Egyptians, Nubians, Abysthe majority of the Indians, and the country of Libya which

in the

time of Dioscorus

Further,

except us

13

hundred

and

3

parishes,

was composed

of

one thousand and

accept the faith of St. Cyril

and

St.

five

Dioscorus,

of the great Severus.

1

Matt,

2

The word Indian

vi.,

24. in

the

mouth

3

Lit. thrones, chairs.

sees, but

who

a

of

designates the Himyarites, or Southern Christianity in India, 1926, pp. 11-14.

West

Arabs.

Syrian writer often

See

The word Kursya commonly

could believe that there were

1

my Spread

of

refers to episcopal

500 bishoprics

in

Libya

?

BARSALIBI Even the Greeks when brought Athanasius the believe like

them

27

face to face with the

Great and Cyril the Wise are put to in one nature of the Word who became

and they believe

words

of

shame and l

flesh

this

;

but they " one nature" and say afterwards "two explain away the expression " the natures to contrary teaching of the Doctors, and give a meaning

is

written in their books

own

of their

he

to the

in

it

like ourselves,

words used by Cyril the Great, and pretend that natures, and this in spite of the fact that those

meant two

really

Arabs and Persians

the East

of

and the South who are Christians

understand like us the doctrine of one nature in the

and they are known

'

Word who

be Arabs or Persians by the flesh, fact that they are not versed in any other language but Arabic and Let now the subject end here. Persian.

became

to

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