The Christian Heritage of Iraq: Collected papers from the Christianity of Iraq I-V Seminar Days 9781463217136

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The Christian Heritage of Iraq

Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies

13

Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies brings to the scholarly world the underrepresented field of Christianity as it developed in the Eastern hemisphere. This series consists of monographs, collections of essays, texts and translations of the documents of Eastern Christianity, and studies of topics relevant to the unique world of historic Orthodoxy and early Christianity.

The Christian Heritage of Iraq

Collected papers from the Christianity of Iraq I-V Seminar Days

Edited by Erica C. D. Hunter

9

34 2009

Gorgias Press LLC, 180 Centennial Ave., Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA www.gorgiaspress.com Copyright © 2009 by Gorgias Press LLC

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the prior written permission of Gorgias Press LLC. 2009

‫ܕ‬

9 ISBN 978-1-60724-111-9 ISSN 1539-1507

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Christianity in Iraq I-V Seminar Days (Brunei Gallery : 2004-2008) The Christian heritage of Iraq : collected papers from the Christianity in Iraq Seminar Days, 2004-2008 / edited by Erica C.D. Hunter. p. cm. --

(Gorgias Eastern Christian studies, ISSN 1539-1507 ;

13) "This volume presents a selection of papers given at the Christianity in Iraq I-V Seminar Days that have been held annually at the Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre, School of Oriental and African Studies since 2004." Includes bibliographical references. 1.

Christianity--Iraq--Congresses. 2.

history--Congresses. 3.

Iraq--Church

Christianity and other

religions--Islam--Iraq--Congresses. 4. Islam--Relations--Christianity--Iraq--Congresses. Erica C. D. II. Title. BR1105.C47 2004 275.67--dc22 2009011358

Printed in the United States of America

I. Hunter,

TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents.....................................................................................v Foreword .................................................................................................vii Preface.......................................................................................................xi Abbreviations ..........................................................................................xv List of Contributors .............................................................................xvii Listing of Plates .....................................................................................xxi The Patriarch Išo‘yahb III and the Christians of Qaṭar in the first Islamic Century John Healey ......................................................................................1 Greek Philosophy and Syriac Culture in Early ‘Abbasid Iraq John Watt........................................................................................10 Patriarch Timothy and an Aristotelian at the Caliph’s court Sidney Griffith ...............................................................................38 The Great Monastery at Mount Izla and the Defence of the East Syriac Identity Florence Jullien ..............................................................................54 The Cultural Contribution of Monasticism in Iraq Sebastian Brock..............................................................................64 Der Mār Behnam - The Monastery of Saint Behnam Suha Rassam...................................................................................81 The Syriac Bible in Central Asia Mark Dickens.................................................................................92 Prester John’s Realm: New Light on Christianity between Merv and Turfan Alexei Savchenko and Mark Dickens.......................................121 Syriac inscriptions from Tokmak and Biškek, Kirghizstan Wassilios Klein.............................................................................136 Chaldæans and Assyrians: the Church of the East in the Ottoman Period Heleen Murre-Van Den Berg ....................................................146 v

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Commemorating Church History in the Ottoman Era: Monumental Inscriptions and Art Amir Harrak .................................................................................165 Magic and Medicine amongst the Christians of Kurdistan Erica Hunter.................................................................................187 World War I and the Assyrians Martin Tamcke.............................................................................203 The Syriac Bible in the Private Assyrian Schools in Iraq Robin Bet Shmuel .......................................................................221 The Neo-Aramaic Dialects of Iraq Geoffrey Khan.............................................................................226 Christianity in Iraq: Modern History, Theology, Dialogue and Politics (until 2003) Anthony O’Mahony ....................................................................237 Plates (Black and White) ....................................................................285 Plates (Colour) ......................................................................................289

FOREWORD IRAQI CHRISTIANS SHOULD REMAIN IN THEIR LAND TO UPHOLD THEIR MILLENNIAL MULTI-HERITAGE Christianity entered Mesopotamia (called later by the Arab Moslems ‘Iraq’) at the end of the first century and at the beginning of the second century. From these early origins, the new faith witnessed a remarkable spread in the land of the two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates. Churches were established, schools and dispensaries were built. The sixth century witnessed a burgeoning of monasticism, with many monasteries being established around Baghdad and in the southern region of Ḥira (now famous for the holy Shi’ite cities of Najef and Karbala) as well as in the north around Mosul. Before the coming of Islam, Christians formed a major component of the population. However, over the centuries, many converted to Islam, either by force or through economic pressures, due to the onerous taxation which Christian communities were obliged to pay for the privilege of maintaining their faith. Some people perhaps were attracted to the faith, thinking that Islam was in reality a Christian sect. By the ‘Abbasid era, Christians became a permitted minority i.e. a dhimmi community, with all its privileges and restrictions. In spite of this status, which severely limited in many ways how Christians could function in the new Muslim state, they collaborated and found a modus vivendi. Muslims were taught by the Qur’an to consider Christians and Jews, as ‘people of the book’ and as such, recognized the values of their practices, which included prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and pilgrimage. The clergy of the various churches in Iraq were also traditionally respected. Muslims accepted their responsibility to vii

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protect the Christians in times of war and internal strife, in return for payment of a tribute (jizia) that was levied on males. At certain times this was very high and, as mentioned above, economic considerations was one of the reasons that prompted conversion to Islam. During first couple of centuries of Islam, especially under the ‘Abbasid Caliphate, many civil servants, doctors, engineers, scribes (kuttabs), translators, philosophers and astronomers saw service at the Royal Palace. Their contributions were many, but amongst these one of the most notable was the role of the Christian scholars at the ‘The House of Wisdom’ (Beit Al-Hikma) in Baghdad. But, even in these golden times, Christians knew hard moments and tension, even refutation of their beliefs, seen in the works of Muslim writers. The debates which took place on between Muslims and Christians produced important literature which, apart from the polemical value, is especially significant for the light it throws on theological labours in general as well as the translation of the Christian message into a non-Christian milieu and into Arabic language. It shows the considerable intellectual effort that was expended to find a philosophical vocabulary to explain the differences and an adequate logic system to defend the faith. Iraq today, is a mosaic of religions, races and languages; it is not easy to keep a harmonious co-existence. Muslims now account for 96% of the population. Until very recent times, the Christian communities in Iraq did not face the prospect of Islamicisation which has been accompanied by a new rise in fundamentalism. During the twentieth century, and in particular during the past thirty-five years, the country’s government adopted a secular approach. Religious activities: books, sermons in the mosques as well as religious programs in the schools were controlled creating a spirit of secularism and equality. The slogan of Iraqi law then was: ‘Religion is for God, the country is for everyone’. The government took an active stance opposing the Islamic Revolution of Iran. However after the end of the war with Iran, the Ba’athist régime changed its position and began to politicise religion in order to present its concern and compassion for Islam to the neighbouring Muslim countries. That was only propaganda for outside and was not in response to the overwhelmingly moderate mood of the Muslim citizens of Iraq

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Since the attacks in New York on 11th September 2001, things have changed for the worse, a trend exacerbated by the invasion of Iraq that rapidly transformed Mesopotamia into a camp of terrorism. After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Sunni have been influenced and infiltrated by Al-Qa’eda and Wahabi fundamentalists from Saudi Arabia. Shi’ite militias have infiltrated Iraq, often with much support from Iran. Today Islamic fundamentalists control many places in Iraq and try to eliminate all those elements that might be in their way as they pursue their strategy to establish an Islamic state. Generally, the Islamic fundamentalists do not accept a secular state, nor a multicultural society and the values of other communities. They want to live under Islamic (Sharia) law and in a theocratic state. They express their religiosity through their attire, the growing of beards and common prayers. The Qur’an is used to supply arguments to justify their position. Thus, they consider that, accordingly, the world is divided into Muslim and non-Muslim blocks: the true Muslims (dar al-Islam) and false Muslims and others (infidels). The false Muslims and infidels are a target (dar al-Harb) and subject to holy war (jihad). The situation of religious freedom in Iraq is worsening, and remains a serious cause for concern. Many individuals from various religious groups have been targeted because of their religious identity or their secular leanings. The most extreme fundamentalists aim to Islamize not only Iraq, but the entire world. In their quest, they are supported by certain radical Muslim clerics who promise that persons who sacrifice themselves with bombs strapped to their bodies will have a ‘quick trip to paradise’. Since 2005, Christians have become a specific target. Conditions are deteriorating at an increasing and an alarming pace, so much so that it is sometimes hard to quantify the extent of the persecution in some cities like Baghdad, Basra and Mosul. But the real fact remains of kidnappings, ransom, torture and executions. The reasons given for such attacks are various: not being Muslim, belonging to a Western religion, assimilation with coalition forces, criminals looking for money, and the lack of an official position of Christians. Another significant factor of destabilization in Iraq is the regional interference that is in force, from neighbouring countries including Iran and Saudi Arabia.

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In this context we must understand the mortal exodus that afflicts the Christian community. Now almost half of the Christians live as refugees in neighboring countries including Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Turkey. Others have returned to their villages of origin in the safer northern region of Kurdistan, from whence they were originally displaced almost one hundred years ago. Over the course of history, the Christian presence has contributed greatly to the development of Iraq. Christians have been, and can continue to be today, an instrument of dialogue, peaceful coexistence, and collaboration. Emptying the country of this ancient community is not only a catastrophe but a mortal sin. I would thank Dr. Erica Hinter for organizing the Christianity in Iraq Seminar Days I-V between 2004- 2008. The aim was to inform people on the situation of Iraqi Christians, their historic, liturgical, spiritual heritage and their presence that is being threatened by many challenges. The western churches and the international community should protect Christian presence in Iraq and in the Middle East, sustain it and confirm it through deeds. Louis Sako Chaldæan Archbishop of Kirkuk, Iraq

PREFACE The Centre of Eastern and Orthodox Christianity (CEOC), Department for the Study of Religions at The School of Oriental and African Studies in London focuses on the Church of the East, the Syrian Orthodox Church as well as the Uniate branches: the Chaldæan and Syrian Catholic Churches. These churches have played a rich role in the Middle East for two millennia. CEOC promotes the teaching, research and study of these churches for staff and students within SOAS and also for scholars from other institutions, both within the U.K. and internationally, as well as for the diaspora communities that are now in Europe, America and Australia. As well as providing a forum for lectures and seminars throughout the year, CEOC hosts the annual Christianity in Iraq Seminar Day. The sixth in this series is planned for Saturday April 25th, 2009. This volume presents a selection of papers given at the Christianity in Iraq I-V Seminar Days that have been held at the Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre, School of Oriental and African Studies since 2004. The primary aim of the Seminar Days has been to inform scholars and public alike of the rich contribution that Christianity has made, for eighteen hundred years, in various ways to the fabric of Iraqi society. The Seminar Days have been organized around various themes including: the tradition of monasticism, the missions of Iraqi churches particularly to Central Asia, the transmission of Greek (Aristotelian) philosophy to the ‘Abbasids and the heritage of the Syriac Bible. The current –and sixth- Christianity in Iraq Seminar Day (on 25th April, 2009) will explore the legacy of Christian education in Iraq over seventeen hundred years. The range of papers presented in this volume, attest to the wealth and fecundity of Christianity in Iraq down the centuries:

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• •

• •

John WATT and Sidney GRIFFITH analyse the Christian input into the transmission of Aristotelian philosophy. The monastic heritage, that is still alive in northern Iraq today, is discussed by Florence JULLIEN, Sebastian BROCK and Suha RASSAM. John HEALEY provides valuable testimony of contacts between Christian communities in the Gulf with Muslims during the early centuries of the Islamic era. Archaeological evidence of the Church of the East from Urgut, in Uzbekistan is presented by Alexei SAVCHENKO; the tombstones discussed by Wassilios KLEIN show a Christian presence in Kirghizstan to the thirteenth century. Bible manuscripts from Turfan, written in various languages including Sogdian and Christian Uighur, are treated by Mark DICKENS. Heleen MURRE-VAN DEN BERG and Amir HARRAK examine the contributions of the communities during the Ottoman era, before the atrocities that took place in the opening decade of the twentieth century which are detailed by Martin TAMCKE. Erica HUNTER draws attention to erstwhile vernacular religious practices, whilst Geoffrey KHAN focuses on the Neo-Aramaic dialects that are now seriously endangered. Robin BET SHMUEL summarises religious education in Assyrian schools in twentieth-century Iraq, whilst Antony O’MAHONY provides a comprehensive survey of the situation of the Christian communities up to 2003.

It is most encouraging that the contributors to the volume include several Iraqi Christians. However, as His Grace, Louis Sako, Chaldæan Archbishop of Kirkuk, reminds us in the Foreword, today the Christian communities survive under very difficult and perilous circumstances, facing an uncertain future and with a real possibility that they will disappear entirely from Iraq. One prays that the tenacity and resourcefulness that has been shown down the ages, and through all shades of political, economic and theological vicissitudes, will provide an inherent stamina for the Christians of Iraq to continue to dwell in, and to

PREFACE

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contribute to, the land of their ancient heritage as they have done for the past eighteen hundred years. The Editor wishes to thank both the British Institute for the Study of Iraq and the Anglican and Eastern Churches Association, without whose generous financial support the Christianity of Iraq Seminar Days would not have been possible. She also wishes to thank all the participants and speakers who have contributed enormously to the enjoyable days over the last five years.

Erica C.D. Hunter Lecturer in Eastern Christianity Chair, Centre of Eastern and Orthodox Christianity Dept. for the Study of Religions School of Oriental and African Studies Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square London WC1H 0XG, ENGLAND.

ABBREVIATIONS Add = Addition BM = British Museum col. = column CSCO = Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium ed. = edited ed./tr. = edited and translated et. al. = and others f – folio ff. = folios fs. = feminine singular MS = manuscript ms. = masculine singular pl. = plate r = recto repr: = reprint Ser. = series tr. = translated v = verso vol. = volume

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LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Mr. Robin BET SHMUEL Dohuk, IRAQ Dr. Sebastian BROCK Emeritus Reader in Syriac Studies The Oriental Institute University of Oxford Pusey Lane, Oxford OX1 2LG ENGLAND Dr. Mark DICKENS Teaching Fellow in Eastern Christianity Dept. for the Study of Religions School of Oriental and African Studies Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square London WC1H 0XG ENGLAND Prof. Sidney GRIFFITH Dept. of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literature The Catholic University of America 035 Mullen Library 620 Michigan Ave NE Washington DC 20064 USA

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Prof. Amir HARRAK Dept. of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations University of Toronto 4 Bancroft Avenue, 2nd floor Toronto, Ontario M5S 1C1 CANADA Prof. John HEALEY Professor of Semitic Studies, School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PLl ENGLAND Dr. Erica HUNTER Dept. for the Study of Religions School of Oriental and African Studies Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square London WC1H 0XG ENGLAND Dr. Florence JULLIEN École pratique des Hautes Études, Section de Sciences religieuses, 46, rue de Lille 75007 Paris FRANCE Prof. Geoffrey KHAN Professor of Semitic Philology Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies University of Cambridge Sidgwick Ave, Cambridge CB3 9DA ENGLAND Prof. Wassilios KLEIN Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Bonn Religionswissenschaftliches Seminar Adenauerallee 4-6 53113 Bonn GERMANY

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Prof. Heleen MURRE-VAN DEN BERG Leiden Institute for Religious Studies Leiden University Matthias de Vrieshof 1 2311 BZ Leiden THE NETHERLANDS Dr. Anthony O’MAHONY Dept. of Theology Heythrop College University of London Kensington Square London W8 5HQ ENGLAND Dr. Suha RASSAM 43 Valley Drive Thames Ditton Surrey KT7 0TJ ENGLAND Dr. Alexei SAVCHENKO East Sogdian Archaeological Expedition Bekhterevsky per. 13, kv.9 04053 Kiev, UKRAINE Prof. Martin TAMCKE Faculty of Theology University of Göttingen Platz der Göttinger seven 2 D-37073 Göttingen GERMANY Dr. John WATT The Cardiff School of Religious & Theological Studies Cardiff University Humanities Building Colum Drive Cardiff CF10 3EU WALES

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LIST OF PLATES Black and White Plates Amir Harrak Commemorating Church History during the Ottoman Era: Monumental Inscriptions and Art. Plate 2. Syriac Catholic Church al-Ṭahira. Relief Plate 3. Chaldaean Ṭahra. men’s gate. Plate 4. Chaldaean Ṭahra. Façade. Plate 5. Chaldaean Ṭahra. Inscription above Royal Gate. Plate 6. Chaldaean Ṭahra. Screen. Plate 7. Chaldaean Ṭahra. Tripartite Arcade. Plate 8. Qaraqōsh. Gate, Church of the Mother of God.

Colour Plates Sebastian Brock The Cultural Contribution of Monasticism in Iraq. Plate 1. Front view of the monastery of Mār Mattai. Plate 2. Approach to Rabban Hormizd monastery. Plate 3. Inner courtyard of ‘Our Lady of the Sown’. Plate 4. Doorway, Mār Behnam monastery. Suha Rassam Der Mār Behnam - The Monastery of Saint Behnam. Plate 1. detail of carved lintel, Mār Behnam monastery. Plate 2. modern entrance to Mār Behnam monastery.

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Mark Dickens The Syriac Bible in Central Asia. Plate 1. Syriac Psalter fragment, Turfan Collection. Plate 2. Pahlavi Psalter fragment, Turfan Collection. Plate 3. Christian Sogdian C5 lectionary fragment, Turfan Collection. Plate 4. Christian Uyghur fragment in Uyghur script with noncanonical saying from Luke, Turfan Collection. Plate 5. Christian Uyghur wedding blessing in Syriac script, Turfan Collection. Alexei Savchenko and Mark Dickens Prester John’s Realm. New Light on Christianity between Merv and Turfan.1 Plate 1. Bronze censer from Urgut. Photo N. Tikhomirov. Plate 2. Sogdian Christian coinage, 7th century (bronze). Top group: Bukhara oasis (Western Uzbekistan). Bottom group: Samarkand area (Central Uzbekistan and Tajikistan). Right (obverse only): Chach (Tashkent region). Plate 3. Cross, bronze, Quwa (Ferghana Valley, Eastern Uzbekistan). Plate 4. Cross, bronze, Qashqadarya province (Central Uzbekistan). Plate 5. Cross of thin sheet gold (sewn onto funeral clothing of the deceased), Durmon (near Samarkand). Plate 6. Cross with the ornamental design of grapes (a Eucharistic symbol), coal shale (Samarkand province). Plate 7. Pendant with Virgin and Child, glass in silver mounting, Balalyk-tepa (Surkhandarya province, southern Uzbekistan). Plate 8. Ceramic jug, Taraz region (Kazakhstan). Photo C. Baumer. 1 Unless otherwise indicated, photos are by Alexei Savchenko, drawings are by Olga Zhuravlëva.

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Plate 9. Ceramic bowl for ritual washing before ceremony, Andijan (Ferghana valley, Eastern Uzbekistan). Plate 10. Ceramic cast for moulding crosses, Rabinjan (Samarkand area). Plate 11. Northern nave with chancel in the background. Plate 12. Southern nave with chancel in the background. Plate 13. Ascetic caves with Syriac inscriptions near the monastery site. Plate 14. Syriac inscription in one of the caves, with the personal name ‘Abdisho‘ (‘servant of Jesus’). Plate 15. Ceramic pot with imitation Syriac writing, Gus, near Urgut. Wassilios Klein Christianity in Central Asia: Syriac inscriptions from Tokmak and Biškek. Plate 1. Grave-marker with Nestorian cross and Syriac inscription. Anthony O’Mahony Christianity in Iraq: Modern History, Theology, Dialogue and Politics (until 2003). Plate 1. Consecration of Raphael Bidawid, Baghdad 1989. Amir Harrak Commemorating Church History during the Ottoman Period: Monumental Inscriptions and Art. Plate 1. Syriac Catholic Church al-Tahira: Iconostasis Plate 9. Qaraqōsh, church of saints Sergius and Bacchus.

THE PATRIARCH IŠOYABH AND THE CHRISTIANS OF QATAR IN THE FIRST ISLAMIC CENTURY JOHN HEALEY

UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER In the pre-Islamic era there was a flourishing Christian community in Qaṭar/Baḥrain. At that time, the whole of the region of what are now Qaṭar and Baḥrain and the adjacent coast of Arabia was known to the Syriac-speaking church as Bēt Qaṭrāyē, literally ‘the territory of the Qaṭaris.’ The Christians of this area were closely linked to the church organization of Rev-Ardashir/Bushire in Iran, but ultimately accepted the authority of the head of the Church of the East, whose patriarchal see was at the Sasanid capital SeleuciaCtesiphon, south of Baghdad. The early history of the Church of the East at SeleuciaCtesiphon has been discussed at length by other scholars.1 Suffice to note for the present purpose that the first clearly known bishop of Seleucia was Pāpā at the beginning of the fourth century (31029). According to legend, he was ordained by Mārī, though this is impossible if Mārī was a disciple of Addai, supposedly active in the early 1st century.2 It is not, however, until we move into the periods covered by the Synodicon Orientale, the records of the synods held from 410 1 See J.-M. Fiey, Jalons pour une histoire de l’église en Iraq. CSCO 310, Subsidia 36 (Louvain: 1970) and more recently W. Baum and D. Winkler, The Church of the East: a concise history (London: 2003), also Ch. and F. Jullien, Aux origines de l’église de Perse: Les Actes de Mār Māri. CSCO 604, Subsidia 114 (Louvain: 2003b). 2 Ch. and F. Jullien, Les Actes de Mār Māri. CSCO 603-3, Scriptores Syri 234-5 (Louvain: 2003a) Acts of Mārī §6.

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to 775 that are preserved in an 8th-century collection, that we are on firm ground.3 Held in Seleucia-Ctesiphon in 410, the first fully recorded synod was called on the authority of the Sasanian king Yazdagird I (399-420). He recognized Mar Isaac, Bishop of Seleucia from circa 399, as head of the church in Persia. Isaac is described as ‘the great metropolitan, the catholicos of Seleucia and Ctesiphon.’ Already, before theological controversy became a major factor, the Church of the East was beginning to organize itself on an independent basis. Canons regulating aspects of church life were passed at the Synod of 410 and the precedence of the different bishops was established, with metropolitans of Bēt Lapaṭ/Jundishapur (Khuzistan), Nisibis (now in south-east Turkey), Pherat (Mayshan on the Gulf), Arbela (Adiabene in the north of Iraq) and Karkā in Bēt Garmay (the Kirkuk area). There is also mention of other bishoprics, including those covering the islands in the Gulf. The gradual separation of the Church of the East from the western church should not be thought of as an overnight decision. The Synod of 410 accepted the Nicene Creed (Council of Nicaea in 325) and agreed with the western church the dates of the principal feasts. It held no theological views that would set it apart from the western Church. Although ‘Nestorian’-type formulations became popular in the Persian church, even after the Council of Chalcedon (451) there was no footnotereal difference between the Chalcedonian and Church of the East doctrines. The split became more formal in later synods (notably those of 486, 544, 680), but there can be no doubt that a major factor in this was the political isolation of the Church of the East under the Sasanians until 637. My concern here is with the seventh century CE.4 It was during the time of the Patriarch Išo‘yahb II (628-646), who had earlier taken part in an embassy to the emperor Heraclius who was in Aleppo in 630, that Seleucia-Ctesiphon fell to the Muslim Arabs 3 J. B. Chabot, Synodicon Orientale ou recueil de synodes nestoriens (Paris: 1902) referred to below for particular synodical decrees or canons. Some citations in English are in W. McCullough, A Short History of Syriac Christianity to the Rise of Islam (Chico, CA: 1982). 4 J. Healey, ‘The Christians of Qatar in the 7th century A.D.’ In: Studies in Honour of Clifford Edmund Bosworth: I Hunter of the East. ed. I. Netton (Leiden: 2000) 222-37.

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(637).5 Išo‘yahb appears to have reached an accommodation with the conquerors, as reported by the Syriac historian Barhebraeus. According to the twelfth century writer Mārī b. Sulaimān, Išo‘yahb even met Muḥammad and received from him a document conferring privileges on the Church of the East.6 There are several such stories and they have mostly been regarded as fictional. As we will see, however, there is some first-hand evidence of the Christians’ reaction to the new Muslim authorities.

IŠO‘YAHB III AND THE DISPUTE IN QATAR Išo‘yahb II’s successor (after the brief rule of Māremmeh), Išo‘yahb III (650-58), has left behind an invaluable collection of his letters (edited by Duval 1904-5), which include five letters to the church authorities in Bēt Qaṭrāyē. This church community already had a long history.7 Bishops of several places in the Gulf region attended the synod held in Seleucia in 410. Bēt Qaṭrāyē, it appears, was subordinate to the metropolitanate of Fārs and may have been largely Persian-speaking. The unreliable Chronicle of Arbela claims that already in about A.D. 225, a bishopric was in existence at Bēt Qaṭrāyē.8 It certainly came to prominence in the middle of the seventh century during the reign of Išo‘yahb III, as his letters show. This was a critical period immediately after the Muslim conquests of Seleucia (in 637) and Fārs (in 648/9) and it created, at least temporarily, a political division within the Church of the East as part of its territory was under Islamic control and part was not. These circumstances contributed to some difficulties in Bēt Qaṭrāyē, where the church ended up in dispute with the Patriarch. His letters to its members go into all the details. He wrote to the bishops of the area, the lay people and lower clergy and also to the monks. The letters indicate that the Patriarch was complaining about the fact that many of his flock were resorting to secular, nonChristian courts to settle disputes. There is also reference to the McCullough (1982) 162-3, Baum and Winkler (2003) 40-1. A. Atiya, A History of Eastern Christianity (London: 1968) 268. 7 See amongst others H. Bin Seray, ‘The Arabian Gulf in Syriac Sources’, New Arabian Studies 4 (1997) 205-32. 8 P. Kawerau, Die Chronik von Arbela. CSCO 467-8, Scriptores Syri 199-200 (Louvain: 1985) 31 [Syriac text]. 5 6

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fact that many Christians in Oman had converted to Islam rather than pay the required tax (see further below). The main accusation, however, is that they had cut themselves off from their ‘home’ bishopric in Fārs as well as from Seleucia-Ctesiphon and they had thereby lost all ecclesiastical legitimacy. There is a particularly bitter attack on the bishop of Mashmahīg, which is probably Samāhij on Muḥarraq Island in Baḥrain (as found in the patriarchal letters XVIII and XXI). The Patriarch sent two bishops to plead with the church authorities in Qaṭar and said that he was willing to make a visit himself. It was in fact only after his death that another Patriarch, George (661-80), resolved the issue after holding a local council at Dīrēn or Dārīn on Tarūt Island of the Arabian coast in May 676.9 As was noted above, among the causes of the dispute in Bēt Qaṭrāyē were relations with the secular powers. This kind of concern is reflected also in the canons of the synod, which resolved the dispute in 676. Priests must not, it was decreed, appear before secular rulers without episcopal permission and legal disputes between Christians were to be settled internally (canon 6). The poll-tax (jizyah) was to be paid, but not by the bishop (canon 19). Exhortations against Christian women marrying ‘pagans’ may have been partly directed against marriage to Muslim men and possible conversion to Islam (canon 14).

IŠO‘YAHB’S MUSLIMS

REFERENCES

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ARABS

AND

There are only two or three places in his lengthy correspondence where Išo‘yahb refers directly to Islam.10 But what is interesting is that these are some of the earliest non-Muslim references to the new faith. Many of the letters date to circa 640 CE, while Išo‘yahb was still only a bishop. Of course many later Syriac sources have a lot to say about Islam and its arrival in their midst, but few are as close to the events as was Išo‘yahb.

9 E. A. W. Budge, The Historia Monastica of Thomas, Bishop of Margâ, A.D. 840, 2 vols. (London: 1893) II: 179-86 [English translation]. 10 R. Duval, Išo‘yahb Patriarchae III, Liber Epistularum. CSCO 1112, Scriptores Syri 11-12 (Paris: 1904-5).

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His concerns are ecclesiastical, so that his allusions to Islam only arise in the context of the internal affairs of his Church. In patriarchal letter XIV, addressed to the Bishop of Rew-Ardashir near Bushire, he says: For also these Arabs, in whom God has placed at this time authority over the world, behold, they are with us, as you know. Not only do they not oppose Christianity, but they are even inclined to praise our faith and honour the priests and holy men of Our Lord and help the churches and monasteries. (Syr. 251/Lat. 182)

Further on in the same letter he specifically complains that the Mazūnites (Mazūn being an Iranian name of Oman which is regularly used in the Syriac sources) are converting to Islam, not because they are forced to do so by the Muslims and not out of religious conviction, but solely because they want to avoid tax (jizyah or a local impost): Why, then, have your Mazūnites abandoned their faith on account of [the Arabs]? It is not, as the Mazūnites themselves say, that the Arabs forced them to abandon it: they only ordered them to abandon half of their property in order to keep their faith. But they have abandoned the faith which lasts forever and kept half of their possessions which belong to transient time. (Syr. 251/Lat. 182)

So far as he is concerned their motive is an unworthy one. The implied forfeiting of half of their property seems very high, but that tax was high in this area is confirmed by al-Baladhūrī.11 He is also concerned about his Christian theological opponents who, he claims in a letter apparently written when he was a bishop (Episcopal letter XLVIII), are spreading disinformation about Islam. This matter is complicated from the point of view of Christian theology, but his essential point is that those of his own particular brand of Christianity had much in common with the Muslims. He notes, for example, that the Church 11 A. Tritton, The Caliphs and their Non-Muslim Subjects: a critical study of the Covenant of ‘Umar. Islam and the Muslim World 14 (London: 1970) 203.

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of the East’s insistence that the divinity in Jesus could not have suffered and died, resonates with the Islamic view that Jesus only appeared to die on the cross. He accuses his Christian opponents, the Monophysite heretics: It is by order, they say, of the Arabs that what was done was done. This is not true at all, for the Muslim Arabs (ṭyyē mhgrē) do not favour those who say that suffering and death came upon God, the Lord of All. And if it happens that they do favour them for any reason, you can inform the Muslims (mhgrē) and persuade them concerning this matter if you attend to it rightly. (Syr. 97/Lat. 73)

Mārī b. Sulaimān reports that Išo‘yahb found favour with the Muslim rulers of the region, who approved a tax-document reflecting a policy of non-interference in Church affairs. He apparently went every Friday to ask for what his community needed.12 But perhaps most interesting of all is the term Išo‘yahb uses to describe the Muslims. Where the concept of followers of the Islamic faith appears he calls them in Syriac ṭayyāyē mahgrē or mhaggrē. Both elements of this title are interesting in their own way. Firstly ṭayyāyē: it literally means “members of the Ṭayy tribe”, but Syriac writers, from the earliest time, began to use this term to refer to all the Arabs and later it became synonymous with ‘Muslims’. In the first Islamic centuries, of course, there were many Arabs who were of Christian background (notably the Ghassānids and some of the Lakhmids), so calling the members of the new religion ṭayyāyē would not have a clear religious meaning (though it is used in a religious sense sometimes). So added to this is the adjective or participle mahgrē or mhaggrē. This latter term is always treated in Syriac sources as deriving from the name of Hagar, the mother of Ishmael.13 This is explicit, for example, in the colophon of a 12 H. Gismondi, Maris, Amri et Slibae de patriarchis nestorianorum commentaria (Rome: 1896-99) Arabic 62/Latin 55. My Manchester colleague, Dr Andreas Christmann is to be thanked for helping me to disentangle this report of Mārī. Any remaining misunderstandings are my own. 13 P. Crone, and M. Cook, Hagarism: the making of the Islamic world (Cambridge: 1977) 8-9.

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manuscript dated 682 in the British Library, where it is explained that mahgrāyē/mhaggrāyē means “sons of Ishmael son of Hagar”.14 It seems, therefore, to allude to the fact that the Arabs/Muslims were descended from or followers of Abraham. The verb involved is really a denominative (’ahgar or haggar) meaning in Syriac “to convert to Islam”. Thus ṭayyāyē mahgrē would literally mean “those Arabs who had converted to Islam”.15 It is tempting to see here also a reference to the hijrah and the muhājirīn, but the verb hajara does not exist in Syriac and such a meaning cannot have been in Išo‘yahb’s mind.

CONCLUSIONS The letters of Išo‘yahb III are a precious resource in the study of the history of the church in the Gulf and of the first Christian interaction with the Muslims. On neither topic should they be taken as representing the whole picture, but for what it is worth: • •

the letters suggest a Church in the Gulf which was far from at peace with itself: this was a major revolt against the authority of the hierarchy in Rev-Ardashir and in Seleucia. the letters give us an interesting insight into the very complicated reaction to Islam. Išo‘yahb takes an eirenic view and emphasizes spiritual issues rather than political ones. The Christians of the Gulf should, he thinks, pay whatever taxes are demanded rather than give up their faith.

We do not know in detail how the Christians of Qaṭar reacted but, in the longer term, the flourishing Church in this area vanished. The patriarchal letter quoted above implied that the Gulf Christians had two choices: either convert, or pay the taxes W. Wright, Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum, 3 vols. (London: 1870-2) cxlii. 15 It is not clear whether the word is to be understood as an ’aph‘el or a pa‘‘el participle. See R. Payne Smith, Thesaurus Syriacus (Oxford: 1879-1901) col. 971, C. Brockelmann, Lexicon Syriacum, 2nd ed. (Halle: 1928) 171. Also R. Hoyland, Seeing Islam as Others Saw It: a survey and evaluation of Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian Writings on Early Islam. Studies in Late Antiquity and Early Islam 13 (Princeton: 1997) 179-80. 14

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demanded. Išo‘yahb does not mention a third possibility, that they could leave and seek refuge in a more favourable environment. But it is possible that some of the communities did shift to southern Mesopotamia.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Atiya, A. (1968). A History of Eastern Christianity. London: Methuen. Baum, W. and Winkler, D. (2003). The Church of the East: a concise history. London: RoutledgeCurzon. Bin Seray, H. (1997). ‘The Arabian Gulf in Syriac Sources’, New Arabian Studies 4: 205-32. Brockelmann, C. (1928). Lexicon Syriacum. 2nd ed., Halle: Max Niemeyer. Budge, E. A. W. (1893). The Historia Monastica of Thomas, Bishop of Margâ, A.D. 840. 2 vols., London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner and Co. Chabot, J. B. (1902). Synodicon Orientale ou recueil de synodes nestoriens. Paris: Klincksieck. Crone, P. and Cook, M. (1977). Hagarism: the making of the Islamic world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Duval, R. (1904-5). Išo‘yahb Patriarchae III, Liber Epistularum. CSCO 11-12, Scriptores Syri 11-12. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale. Fiey, J.-M. (1970). Jalons pour une histoire de l’eœglise en Iraq, CSCO 310, Subsidia 36. Louvain: Secretariat du CSCO. Gismondi, H. (1896-99) Maris, Amri et Slibae de patriarchis nestorianorum commentaria. Rome: de Luigi. Hoyland, R. (1997). Seeing Islam as Others Saw It: a survey and evaluation of Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian Writings on Early Islam. Studies in Late Antiquity and Early Islam 13. Princeton, NJ: Darwin Press. Healey, J.F. (2000). ‘The Christians of Qatar in the 7th century A.D.’. In: Studies in Honour of Clifford Edmund Bosworth: I Hunter of the East, ed. I. R. Netton. E. J. Brill: 222-37. Jullien, Ch. and F. (2003a). Les Actes de Mār Māri, CSCO 603-3, Scriptores Syri 234-5. Louvain: Peeters. ----(2003b). Aux origines de l’église de Perse: Les Actes de Mār Māri, CSCO 604, Subsidia 114. Louvain: Peeters.

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Kawerau, P. (1985). Die Chronik von Arbela. CSCO 467-8, Scriptores Syri 199-200. Louvain: Peeters. McCullough, W. (1982). A Short History of Syriac Christianity to the Rise of Islam. Chico, CA: Scholars Press. Payne Smith, R. (1879-1901). Thesaurus Syriacus. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Tritton, A. (1970). The Caliphs and their Non-Muslim Subjects: a critical study of the Covenant of ‘Umar. Islam and the Muslim World 14. London: Frank Cass. Wright, W. (1870-2) Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum I-III. London: British Museum.

GREEK PHILOSOPHY AND SYRIAC CULTURE IN ‘ABBASID IRAQ JOHN WATT CARDIFF UNIVERSITY The early ‘Abbāsid period in Iraq, from the second half of the eighth century to the second half of the tenth, is widely recognised as one of the pivotal moments in the history of ideas. During those years almost the entire available corpus of pre- and non-Christian Greek works was translated into Arabic, and a body of Arabic scholarship created in philosophy, medicine and science which profoundly influenced not only the intellectual history of the Middle East, but also, in the longer term and through further translations into Hebrew and Latin, that of Europe as well. The number of Greek works translated, and the range of questions treated in the Arabic writings of the early and later ‘Abbāsid period, far exceeded anything that had gone before in the areas where Greek was not the predominant spoken language, but it was nevertheless not the first time that scholars in the Middle East had concerned themselves with the understanding and appropriation of the classical Greek patrimony. For over two centuries before the ‘Abbāsids came to power, a number of translations of Aristotle and Galen into Syriac had been made by philo-Hellenic Syrians, and both Aristotelian logic and Galenic medicine were well entrenched as subjects of study within the Christian Syriac community. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Syriac Christians of Iraq played an important part in the ‘Classical Renaissance’ which occurred in the Arabic literature of the ‘Abbāsid era. Their importance is generally recognised, for many of those who made the translations into Arabic were Syriac Christians, and many of the Arabic translations were made from (or with the aid of) Syriac

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translations of the Greek texts. However, it remains a matter of some scholarly controversy as to just how important Syriac Christians were in the efflorescence of scholarship in the classical tradition in ‘Abbāsid Iraq. The issue appears in sharp relief in a famous text (The Appearance of Philosophy) from the greatest philosopher of the period, the Muslim al-Fārābī, which actually asserts at one point that Christians held back the advance of philosophy. The text is transmitted by Ibn Abī Uṣaibi‘a, and is an account of how philosophy reached Baghdad from Alexandria. The story it tells is that philosophy, originally taught only in Alexandria, was also taught in Rome until the coming of Christianity. It then ceased in Rome, and was subsequently severely curtailed in Alexandria because the Christian bishops, considering which parts of it should be kept and which abolished, decided that the logic curriculum beyond the assertoric figures was harmful to Christianity, while the previous material could be useful for the promotion of their religion. The teaching of philosophy was transferred to Antioch, where eventually only a single teacher survived. He had two disciples, one from Harran and one from Merv, and they each had two disciples, all four of whom came to Baghdad. Abū Bishr Mattā, the founder of the Aristotelian School there, was a pupil of one of them (al-Marwazī), al-Fārābī a pupil of another (Yūḥannā ibn Ḥailān). Al-Fārābī reports that under Yūḥannā ibn Ḥailān he studied to the end of the Analytica Posteriora, i.e. beyond the assertoric figures.1 The account is for the most part fictional, but both its fictional and non-fictional elements are significant for our theme. Non-fictional, we may assume, are the names of the four scholars who ‘came to Baghdad’, all of whom were Christian, as are also the remarks concerning the teaching of Yūḥannā ibn Ḥailān. The 1 Ibn Abī Uṣaibi‘a, ‘Uyūn al-anb’ f abaqt al-aibbā,’ ed. A. Müller (Cairo/Königsberg, Al-Maba‘a al-wahbya: 1882-1884) II: 134-5; German translation in M. Meyerhof, ‘Von Alexandrien nach Bagdad’, Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, phil.-hist. Klasse 23 (1930) 394, 405; English translation in F. Rosenthal, The Classical Heritage in Islam (London: 1975) 50-1. Similarly in al-Mas‘ūdī: Kitāb al-tanbih wa al-išraf, ed. M. de Goeje. (Leiden: 1894) 121-122; English translation in S. Stern, ‘Al-Mas‘ūdī and the Philosopher al-Fārābī.’ In: Al-Mas‘ūdī Millenary Commemoration Volume, ed. S. Maqbul Ahmad and A. Rahman (Aligarh: 1960) 39-41.

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account thus indirectly points to the enormous importance of Christians in this ‘school of philosophy’, the dominant one in Baghdad. Quite fictional, by contrast, is the assertion that bishops forbade the teaching of logic beyond the assertoric figures, i.e. beyond the first half of Aristotle’s Analytica Priora, although there seems to be some truth in the assertion that in fact (though not for this reason) the later parts of the Organon were not studied to the same extent in the East during the Late Antique and Umayyad periods. Utterly fictional is the picture of a ‘single thin line’ of philosophy teachers linking Late Antique Alexandria to ‘Abbāsid Baghdad; the reality was quite different as philosophy was taught in a number of places east of Alexandria before the ‘Abbāsid era. While in the information it provides towards its end about the beginnings of the school of the Baghdad Aristotelians the account confirms the importance of Syriac Christians in the development of Aristotelian and logical studies in Islam, the fictional character of its assertions about the role of bishops suggests that the relation of Christianity and philosophy was a subject that had to be treated with care by the Muslim al- Fārābī.2 Not only in the development of philosophical teaching and writing is the balance between the Syriac or Syro-Arabic Christians and the Muslim Arabs a subtle one, but even in the assessment of the driving force behind the translation movement differing evaluations are possible. There can be no doubt that the Syriac translations made from Greek in Late Antiquity and during the Umayyad caliphate (that is, from the fifth or sixth to the early eighth century) were made in order that Syriac speakers might read them in Syriac. Those made in ‘Abbāsid times, however, were mostly subject to further translation into Arabic (and indeed to a great extent are not extant and are only known to have existed on account of their translation into Arabic). They are therefore often thought to have served only as ‘intermediaries’; that is to say, it is assumed that they came into existence only because Arabic Muslim patrons desired to read a Greek work in Arabic and turned to See G. Strohmaier, ‘Von Alexandrien nach Bagdad-eine fiktive Schultradition.’ In: Aristoteles: Werk und Wirkung. Paul Moraux gewidmet, ed. J. Wiesner (Berlin: 1987) II: 380-9 and F. Zimmermann, Al-Farabi’s Commentary and Short Treatise on Aristotle’s De Interpretatione (Oxford: 1981) xcix-cviii. 2

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Syrians to produce such a version, which the Syrians made by first translating the work from Greek to Syriac and then, either from or with the aid of the Syriac version, producing the Arabic. In these instances, however, we have no evidence proving that the Syriac was always made merely to serve the purpose of generating an Arabic version, and it remains entirely possible that in many cases a Syriac version arose in ‘Abbāsid times which was not immediately translated into Arabic and which was intended to be read by interested Syrians, not merely used by a translator to produce an Arabic version. It is true that the greatest of all the translators, Ḥunain ibn Isḥāq, translated for Arabic-speaking patrons, but there were many other Syriac translations produced in the period other than those which can be attributed to Ḥunain, and it is dangerous to generalise from an individual case. Furthermore, even when a Syriac translation may have been made for the purpose of producing an Arabic version for an Arabic patron, it could well be that the work in question became an object of interest to the patron because he had learnt of it from Syrians familiar with the Greek. It may be that our tendency to think of these translations merely as ‘intermediaries’ owes much to the fact that most of them are no longer extant, and we attribute this precisely to the fact that because they were merely intermediaries, they no longer had any function after the Arabic had appeared. However, this was not the reason for their disappearance; they were still known to and used by Syriac scholars who could read Arabic with ease, such as Bar Hebraeus in the thirteenth century, and well before that time there is evidence that scholarly Syrians continued to take great pride in their language.3 The real reason for their disappearance is that over time-but certainly not all at once, and certainly not as early as the time when these translations were made in the eighth and ninth century-Arabic replaced Syriac as the language of science even among Syriac Christians.4 The fact that the translations are no

3 Compare the robust defence of Syriac by the rhetor Antony of Tagrit, The Fifth Book of the Rhetoric of Antony of Tagrit, ed./tr. J. Watt (Louvain: 1986) 2-3, 8-9/2-3, 6-7. 4 See S. Brock, ‘Changing Fashion in Syriac Translation Technique: The Background to Syriac Translations under the ‘Abbasids’,’ Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies 4 (2004) 10-11.

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longer extant therefore tells us nothing about the motives of those who produced them. These issues are well illustrated in two letters of the East Syrian Patriarch Timothy I (d. 823) from the last decades of the eighth century. Timothy had been requested by the caliph al-Mahdī to make a translation of Aristotle’s Topics into Arabic from Syriac, and the work had been done, partially by Timothy himself but much more fully by Abū Nūḥ, later to become secretary to the governor of Mosul. Both Timothy and Abū Nūḥ had been pupils at the School of Mar Abraham at Bashosh, north-east of Mosul. Now we know that Timothy and Abū Nūḥ had no need to make an ‘intermediate’ Syriac translation from Greek, for a Syriac version already existed and was known to them, although now it is no longer extant. It was made by Athanasius of Balad (d. 686), and its existence is attested in the marginalia of the great Arabic manuscript of the Organon (Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale 2346), as is the later ‘Abbāsid-period Syriac version of Isḥāq, also no longer extant. In these letters Timothy also mentions Athanasius’ translation of the Posterior Analytics, a work the study of which, we may recall, was said by al-Fārābī to have been forbidden by the bishops. Timothy not only knew the Topics in Syriac translation, he also asked Pethion, his correspondent (and former teacher at the School of Mar Abraham) to enquire, particularly at the monastery of Mar Mattai ‘whether there is some commentary or scholia by anyone, whether in Syriac or not, to this book, (that is) the Topica, or to the Refutations of the Sophists, or to the Rhetoric, or to the Poetics’.5 Timothy, therefore, was interested in the entire (eight- or nine-volume) Organon, and assumed that the monks of Mar Mattai could also have been interested in it. It does not in itself prove that 5 For the Syriac text of the two letters, see O. Braun, ‘Briefe des Katholikos Timotheos I’, Oriens Christianus 2 (1902) 4-11 (‘Letter 43’, text and German translation) and H. Pognon, Une version syriaque des aphorismes d’Hippocrate (Leipzig: 1903) xvi-xix (‘Letter 43’, text and French translation) and xxi-xxv (‘Letter 48’). The text has been studied anew utilising two further manuscripts (London, British Library Oriental 9361 and Birmingham, Mingana Syriac 587) and provided with a new English translation and commentary by S. Brock, ‘Two Letters of the Patriarch Timothy from the Late Eighth Century on Translations from Greek’, Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 9 (1999) 233-46. The citation is from Brock, 236.

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all the books of the Organon had been translated into Syriac by his time, but it certainly demonstrates that the interest of Syriac Christians in the later books of the Organon was not originally due to Arabic influence. Timothy does not tell us why al-Mahdī wanted an Arabic translation of the Topics, so we are left to speculate on the reason. Timothy and al-Mahdī engaged in a cordial theological debate on Islam and Christianity shortly before the first of these two letters, and since dialectic is the subject of the Topics, it seems probable that al-Mahdī’s wish to have it at his disposal stemmed from his interest in such debates. The question then arises as to how he might have learned that Aristotle’s Topics was a useful book on debating. The most likely answer is surely that he would have discovered this from Syriac Christians. It is only they to whom the work would have been long familiar, in the translation of course of Athanasius. The counter argument has been made that al-Mahdī ‘was certainly not interested in the book because of its place, rather insignificant, in the Graeco-Syriac logical curriculum of late antiquity’.6 If one puts the limit of Late Antiquity at the end of the sixth century, it is true there is no great evidence of Syriac interest in it at that time. But from the seventh century we have the translation of Athanasius of Balad, and Timothy not only assumes that there might be a commentary or scholia on it at the monastery of Mar Mattai, but reports that Job the Chalcedonian had shown him some scholia on certain chapters.7 There was therefore enough interest in the book on the part of Christians in the eighth century for it to be quite probable that it was precisely because the book was highly regarded by them that al-Mahdī wished to be able to read it in Arabic. If it was al-Mahdī’s advisors who referred him to it, these advisors could have been East Syrians, of whom there were many at the caliph’s court among the secretaries and physicians; and if he preferred Timothy’s translation from Syriac to the attempts then being made to translate it from Greek

6

D. Gutas, Greek Thought, Arabic Culture (London and New York:

7

Brock (1999) 236.

1998) 62.

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(mentioned in Timothy’s letter), that may point to the influence of Syriac Christians in the matter.8 The only indication of Arabic engagement with Aristotelian logic before the time of al-Mahdī is the Logic Compendium of Ibn al-Muqaffa‘, encompassing the Eisagoge, Categories, De interpretatione, and Prior Analytics; thus like the sixth century Syriac evidence confined to the first half of the Organon. Not only its range, but also its method shows it to have been written under the influence of Syriac logical studies, and it was not based on a Persian original or a Persian translation of Aristotle.9 It is striking, and surely significant, that the two areas in which, according to all our evidence, Syriac Christians played a dominant role in the ‘Abbāsid classical renaissance were Aristotleian logic and medicine, two subjects closely connected in Late Antique scholarship and the two secular themes most actively cultivated in Graeco-Syriac scholarship prior to the ‘Abbāsids. Syriac Christians did not create the ‘Abbāsid renaissance by themselves, and the contribution from the Persian side was also of great importance, but the scholarly expertise of the Syrians and the prestige of their physicians were a vital ingredient in the movement, and their input was not confined to translation at the request of others. As Graeco-Syriac medicine and the Galen translations which supported it swept all competitors before it in that field,10 so also in logic the Zoroastrian encounter with Greek thought bequeathed nothing to ‘Abbāsid society which could compete with the Syriac range of expertise in the subject. 8 Gutas (1998) 62 notes the translation of Athanasius and concludes this implies ‘that (the Topics) was known also to those unable to read Greek (and) was therefore somehow brought to al-Mahdī’s attention’. The point is, however, that among those unable to read Greek, it was known only to those able to read Syriac. Timothy’s letter is discussed in greater detail in J. Watt, ‘Syriac Translators and Greek Philosophy in Early ‘Abbasid Iraq’, Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies 4 (2004) 17-19. 9 See H. Hugonnard-Roche, ‘L’intermédiaire syriaque dans la transmission de la philosophie grecque à l’arabe: le cas de l’Organon d’Aristote’, Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 1 (1991) 203-4, P. Kraus, ‘Zu Ibn al-Muqaffa‘,’ Rivista degli studi orientali 14 (1933/4) 8-9. 10 See M. Dols, ‘Syriac into Arabic: The Transmission of Greek Medicine’, Aram 1 (1989) 45-52.

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Despite his negative remarks about ‘the bishops’ in his Appearance of Philosophy, this was implicitly recognised by al-Fārābī. Thus despite his assertion that the full logical curriculum remained concealed under Christianity until the coming of Islam, he named not a single Muslim predecessor, such as Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ or alKindī, but only Christian teachers, the founders of the School of Baghdad Aristotelians. The fictional account of the history of philosophy prior to the mention of the philosophers who came to Baghdad could be a product of the anti-Byzantine philo-Hellenic ideology propagated in the reign of al-Ma’mūn, a version of the propaganda proclaiming the superior enlightenment of the ‘Abbāsids over the Byzantines.11 Antioch and Harran might well have found a mention in this perspective because they were associated with groups, Nestorians and pagans, which had been ‘outcast’ by the Byzantine emperors.12 But it may also represent an attempt by al-Fārābī to protect himself and the study of Aristotelian philosophy from too close an identification with Christianity. It was the head of the School, the East Syrian Abū Bishr Mattā, who publicly argued the case for logic against grammar.13 While the School was inter-confessional, it was predominantly Christian and therefore exposed to any traditionalist Muslim reaction against philosophy. Al-Fārābī may therefore have had to chart a careful course, but it is clear in his programmatic work The Attainment of Happiness what he conceives the real history of logic to have been: It is said that this science [of demonstrative logic] existed anciently among the Chaldeans, who are the people of Iraq, subsequently reaching the people of Egypt, from there transmitted to the Greeks, where it remained until it was transmitted to the Syrians and then to the Arabs. Everything

See Gutas (1998) 83-95. See J. Lameer, ‘From Alexandria to Baghdad: Reflections on the Genesis of a Problematical Tradition.’ In: The Ancient Tradition in Christian and Islamic Hellenism. ed. G. Endress and R. Kruk (Leiden: 1997) 181-191, esp. 189-91, also Watt (2004a) 20. 13 See Zimmermann (1981) cv-cxii, cxxii-cxxix. 11 12

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As in The Appearance of Philosophy, his presentation of the history of philosophy long before his own time is imaginative. His statement, however, that philosophy was expounded in Greek, then Syriac, and then Arabic is based on the knowledge and activities of his contemporaries and no doubt primarily has in view the Syriac and Syro-Arabic study and translation of Aristotle’s Organon with which he himself was acquainted as a pupil in the School of the SyroArabic Baghdad Aristotelians, and that of their Graeco-Syriac predecessors. Not only before, but also after al- Fārābī, the School seems to have been predominantly Christian. Its most tangible product today is the great Paris manuscript of the Arabic Organon, in its marginalia a witness to the efforts of its members (ignorant of Greek) to reach a true reading or understanding of Aristotle through recourse to the multitude of Syriac and Arabic versions. 15 Al-Fārābī’s own writings seem to have had little impact on Muslim philosophers of his own day, but they did influence Christian members of the School, notably his pupil and later head of the School, the West Syrian Yaḥyā ibn ‘Adī, who came to Baghdad from Tagrit. The central role of Aristotle in the teaching of this School and its influence on al-Fārābī were eventually, however, to have a profound effect on Islamic philosophy, when Ibn Sīnā took up and developed the thought of the ‘First’ and ‘Second Teachers’ (i.e. Aristotle and al-Fārābī). Aristotelian logic is not the only sphere in which we can discern an affinity between al-Fārābī and the Christian philosophers of Baghdad. Another such sphere is political thought, 14 M. Mahdi, Alfarabi’s Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle (Ithaca, N.Y.: 1969) 43; Arabic text in Al-Fārābī, Taḥṣīl al-sa‘āda, (ed.) J. Al-Yāsīn (Beirut: 1981) 38. 15 On this manuscript see R. Walzer, ‘New Light on the Arabic Translations of Aristotle’, Oriens 5 (1953) 91-142, also H. HugonnardRoche, ‘Une ancienne édition arabe de l’Organon d’Aristote.’ In: Les problèmes posés par l’édition critique des textes anciens et médiévaux. ed. J. Hamesse (Louvain-la-Neuve: 1992) 139-57; J. Hamesse, ‘Remarques sur la tradition arabe de l’Organon d’après le manuscrit Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, ar. 2346.’ In: Commentaries and Glossaries on Aristotelian Logical Texts. ed. C. Burnett (London: 1993) 19-28.

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and in particular what we may term, with some reservation, Platonic political philosophy.16 The reservation arises from the fact that it is by no means certain that a complete text of the Republic or the Laws ever existed in Syriac or Arabic. No work of Plato is extant in either language, and it appears that al-Fārābī did not know the full text of the Laws.17 However, the Fihrist of Ibn al-Nadīm asserts that Ḥunain explained (fassara) the Republic and translated (naqala) the Laws, as did also Yaḥyā ibn ‘Adī.18 It may be that epitomes, rather than complete texts, are what is referred to here. In al-Fārābī’s political thought the central concepts which we may designate ‘Platonic’ are the analogies between the harmonious functioning of the different parts of the ideal state and those of the cosmos and the human soul, the need in the ideal state for a single ruler who possesses the classical cardinal virtues, and the combination of kingship and philosophy in the person of a philosopher-king. The ‘Platonism’ with which we are concerned here is therefore the widespread Platonism of imperial times, rather than a close exegesis of Plato’s political texts. Al-Fārābī gave his fullest exposition of these concepts in his work entitled Principles of the Views of the Citizens of the Perfect State. The clearest evidence that this work was of interest to Christians is that the earliest extant manuscript of it comes from the hand of the West Syrian theologian Abū Naṣr Yaḥyā ibn Jarīr of Tagrit, a pupil of Ibn Zur‘a (himself a pupil of Yaḥyā ibn ‘Adī). Yaḥyā ibn Jarīr not only copied the text, he also made marginal annotations referring to Gregory (presumably Gregory Nazianzus).19 The only original Syriac work known to date containing some of the concepts of the Late Antique political Platonism found in al- Fārābī is the Rhetoric of Antony of Tagrit. On the testimony of Bar Hebraeus he is usually assumed to have flourished in the 16 On the following, see J. Watt, ‘Syriac and Syrians as Mediators of Greek Political Thought to Islam.’ In: Mélanges de l’Université Saint-Joseph 57: The Greek Strand in Islamic Political Thought. ed. E. Gannagé et. al. (Beirut: 2004b) 121-49. 17 See D. Gutas, ‘Galen’s Synopsis of Plato’s Laws and Farabi’s Talkhis’, in Endress and Kruk (1997) 101-19. 18 Ibn al-Nadīm, Kitāb al-Fihrist, ed. G. Flügel (Leipzig: 1871) 246, The Fihrist of al-Nadm, tr. B. Dodge (New York: 1970) 592-3. 19 See R. Walzer, Al-Farabi On the Perfect State. A Revised Text with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (Oxford: 1985) 22-5.

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ninth century, but this is uncertain and he may be of later date.20 He was a rhetor, not a political philosopher, but anyone familiar with Aristotle’s Rhetoric is unlikely to miss the point that ‘rhetoric is a kind of offshoot of dialectic and of the study of ethics, which may justly be called politics. Thus rhetoric dresses itself up in the schema of politics’.21 In the Late Antique commentaries both of the philosophers on Aristotle and the rhetors on Hermogenes, rhetoric appears largely to have lost its connection to politics, while preserving that to dialectic, but as long as rhetoric was perceived as public address to the multitude, there was always the possibility that the connection could be restored. This certainly happened with al-Fārābī who wrote that after Aristotle gave an account of how to instruct the one who should be given certainty about the beings [i.e. in the main six books of the Organon], he then gave also an account of the art and faculty by which to instruct all others in these very same beings [i.e. in the Rhetoric and Poetics]. Therefore he gave an account [in the Rhetoric] that enables man to persuade the multitude regarding all theoretical things, and those practical things in which it is customary to confine oneself to using persuasive arguments based on particular examples drawn from men’s activities when conducting their public business-that is, the activities through which they labour together toward the end for the sake of which man is made.22

According to Antony, although rhetoric is ‘a faculty of persuasive speech on any matter … theoretical or practical, having the power to prevail over the multitude’, some maintain that it ‘is concerned (primarily) with matters of civic life, for they say that the subjects treated by its pioneers were the customs relating to the individual and the community, but that subsequently its other forms were created when it was discovered that it was also useful for inciting to battle and exhorting to good works [i.e. deliberative rhetoric], praising [epideictic rhetoric], and causing justice to prevail in Antony of Tagrit (1986) vol. 481, v-x. Aristotle, Rhetoric 1356a 25-8. 22 Mahdi (1969) 92; Arabic Text in Al-Frb. Falsafat Arisṭūṭālīs, ed. M. Mahdi (Beirut: 1961) 84-5. 20 21

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lawsuits [judicial rhetoric]’.23 As yet no direct evidence has been found in Antony’s Rhetoric of a knowledge of Aristotle’s Rhetoric, but we have seen that Timothy was interested in it and knew it belonged to the collection we designate the (larger) Organon. A Syriac translation of the Rhetoric was made before Ḥunain; it is no longer extant but was used by Bar Hebraeus.24 Bar Hebraeus himself greatly admired Antony’s treatise and recommended it as a propaedeia to the study of Aristotle.25 The connection with Platonic political philosophy is found in Antony’s treatment of epideictic rhetoric, much of it familiar from Greek rhetorical theory. In one chapter of his work he has a set of theoretical prescriptions, in another he offers a model encomium. However, he does not deal with all the various types of epideictic speech that are discussed in the treatise on epideictic by Menander Rhetor. His prescriptions in fact fit only one of them, the royal oration (basilikos logos). This is evident not because Antony explicitly says so, but because their content is appropriate to no one other than a ruler. His division of the sources of praise appears at first sight to conform to the general pattern of the Greek rhetors, but there are some striking differences. Surprisingly, they can best be explained by assuming that the traditional rhetorical outline has been brought into conformity with the statements about the guardians in the text of Plato’s Republic. Thus instead of the usual threefold division of goods of soul, body, and externals, we find in Antony a fourfold partition comprising a new division of ‘the participation of both soul and body’. Three of the traditional cardinal virtues: temperance, justice, and courage, appear under this new heading of ‘soul and body’, but the fourth, wisdom, does not appear there. In this we may be reminded of Plato’s division of the soul into rational and irrational parts, and the frequent discussion in Hellenistic and later writers concerning the distribution of the virtues among the parts of the soul, with wisdom (phronēsis or sophia) assigned to the rational. Antony’s terminology, however, is 23 See J. Watt, ‘The Syriac Reception of Platonic and Aristotelian Rhetoric’, Aram 5 (1993a) 585-6. 24 See J. Watt, Aristotelian Rhetoric in Syriac (Leiden and Boston: 2005) 19-29. 25 See J. Watt, ‘Grammar, Rhetoric, and the Enkyklios Paideia in Syriac’, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 143 (1993b) 64-8.

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closer to Plato himself, when the latter states that ‘to know what the soul is in truth, we must behold it not maimed by the participation of the body … but we must look elsewhere … to its philosophy (philosophia)’.26 And when we look at the sources of praise for the soul in Antony, ‘philosophy’ is more or less what we find-or rather, in our terms, philosophy combined with philanthrōpia and public and private activity. Philanthrōpia, although it could in principle be possessed by any man, was predominantly a divine27 and royal virtue, and when it comes to ‘public activity’ it is clear that Antony is really talking about a ruler, for the subject of his model encomium is ‘a ruler, because he governs the multitude with care’. The third branch of praise for the soul is ‘sciences’, and these are divided in the same way as in the schemes for the division of the sciences elaborated in the prolegomena to philosophy of the Alexandrian commentators on Aristotle.28 The subject of Antony’s encomium, therefore, is the Platonic philosopher-king. Antony, to be sure, does not say so; nor does he say that the schema of the sciences which he attributes to his philosopher-ruler is Aristotelian. But there can be no doubt about either case. And when we examine in the model encomium the private and more particularly the public actions for which this imaginary subject is praised, the closeness to Plato’s guardians and the text of the Republic becomes increasingly evident. This Syriac rhetor in ‘Abbāsid Iraq presents a scheme of praise and model encomium which is closer to the text of the Republic and to the philosopher-king as envisaged in the imperial age than anything found in Greek rhetorical manuals. In Muslim Arabic writings we have accounts of the virtues of the Platonic ruler from al-Fārābī

Republic 611b-e. See Laws 713d-e: ‘The god Cronos, being philanthrōpos, appointed as kings and rulers over men the nobler race of daemons’. 28 See Watt (1993a) 588-93, J. Watt, ‘The Philosopher-King in the Rhetoric of Antony of Tagrit.’ In: VI Symposium Syriacum, 1992: University of Cambridge, Faculty of Divinity, 30 August-2 September 1992, ed. R. Lavenant (Rome: 1994) 247-53. There is an English translation of part of Book I of Antony’s Rhetoric together with a facsimile reproduction of one of its manuscripts in P. Eskenasy, Antony of Tagrit’s Rhetoric Book One: Introduction, Partial Translation, and Commentary [Unpublished Dissertation, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University: 1991]. 26 27

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and the Epistles of the Sincere Brethren29 that may be compared with that of Antony. From this it is clear that the Christian Syriac and Muslim Arabic versions of the virtues of the ruler are very similar and are both inspired by the Platonic passages, but they are not mere copies of one another. It is not impossible that Antony’s Syriac presentation of the ideal ruler is derived from Muslim thinkers and does not represent an intermediate stage in the history of the idea between Greek and Arabic. Nothing, however, in Antony’s version points directly to an Arabic or Muslim source, and his treatise as a whole is inspired by the Graeco-Syriac tradition.30 It seems likely, therefore, that the concept first became known in Christian circles, from where it passed to Islamic thinkers.31 One particular virtue worthy of mention here is that of eloquence, which does not appear in the relevant passages of the Republic. In al-Fārābī and the Epistles of the Sincere Brethren, the ruler has to be well spoken and eloquent, while in Antony ‘he encourages, leads, persuades, and turns his subjects towards the Good’. Perhaps Antony’s formulation reveals the ground for the introduction of eloquence into the virtues of the ruler: the statesman’s need to master the ‘true rhetoric’ which will ‘persuade … the citizens to that on account of which they would become 29 See Walzer (1985) 246-9, 445-6. Also C. Baffioni, ‘The Platonic “Virtues of the Ruler” in Islamic Tradition’, Études orientales 9-10 (1991) 111-8. For the comparable texts of Antony, see the passages quoted in translation in Watt (1993a) and (1994) articles cited in the previous footnote. The same passages are in Eskenasy (1991) 99-106, 13141. Of the twelve qualities of the ruler listed in the Arabic works, only ‘number three’, a good memory, makes no appearance among the qualities mentioned for praise in Antony’s encomiastic scheme and model. 30 The barrage of Greek loanwords in the texts of Antony referred to in the two previous footnotes above is suggestive but not decisive. His derivation of the three species of rhetoric from the Platonic tripartition of the soul (see Watt (1993a) 586-588) is clearly of late antique Greek origin and has, to the best of my knowledge, no parallel in Arabic texts. Antony himself believed that his Syriac treatise derived from Greek models, not Arabic. See Antony of Tagrit (1986) 6-8, 65/5-7, 54. 31 J. Kraemer, ‘Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam. A Preliminary Study’, Journal of the American Oriental Society 104 (1984) 161 notes the likely Hellenistic and Christian inspiration of the kingly philanthrōpia ideal manifested in both Christian and Muslim Arabic philosophers.

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better’,32 and the legislator’s need to ‘add to his statutes (words) of encouragement and persuasion’.33 The formal prescriptions make even more clear the fundamental structure of the imperial doctrine of the philosopher-king. The ruler has all the ‘normal’ human virtues of external goods, bodily goods, and those of ‘soul and body’, but his soul is characterised by possession of the sciences, personal virtues, statecraft, and philanthrōpia. If political philosophy, and in particular the ideal of the philosopher-king, plays a greater role in the writings of the Neoplatonists of Late Antiquity than has until recently been generally assumed, both Christians and Muslims could have picked up these concepts from Neoplatonist literature available to them in ‘Abbāsid Baghdad. In the case of the Christians, however, there is another source close to hand, namely, the oratory of the fourth century Greek Fathers, and Gregory of Nazianzus in particular. Gregory was the single most influential author of Eastern Christianity. Not only did the orations of ‘the Theologian’ become the pre-eminent model of Christian eloquence, they were also enormously influential and read by virtually every later thinker in Eastern Christianity who touched on the subject of theology, including those of them who were also interested in Greek philosophy. His orations were translated into Syriac probably in the sixth century, and a new translation was made by Paul of Edessa and completed in 624.34 Athanasius of Balad, who wrote on Aristotelian logic and made many translations of Aristotelian logical works, revised Paul of Edessa’s translation, and the abiding interest of philosophically minded Syrians in Gregory’s works is illustrated by Timothy’s request to Pethion in the letter noted earlier to look not only for scholia on the Organon, but also for the second volume of Athanasius’ revised translation. (Timothy mentions that he already has volume one).35 Antony of Tagrit called him ‘the prince Plato, Gorgias 517a-b. Cf. Statesman 304a: rhetoric, when ‘it partakes of the kingly art, persuades to justice and thus helps to govern events in states’. 33 Laws 720a. Watt (1993a) 582-5, 591-3 on Antony. 34 See A. de Halleux, ‘La version syriaque des discours de Grégoire de Nazianze.’ In: II Symposium Nazianzenum, ed. J. Mossay (Paderborn: 1983) 75-111. The Syriac version contains the entire fortyfour authentic orations of Gregory. 35 See Brock (1999) 237. 32

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of rhetors and chief of sophists’ and quoted him frequently. As already noted, Abū Naṣr Yaḥyā ibn Jarīr of Tagrit cited him in his marginal annotations on al-Fārābī’s Perfect State. Gregory did not set forth a systematic political philosophy, but he had a great deal to say about the role of the emperor, and in this way embedded the Platonic philosopher-king and the Hellenistic concept of kingship in Eastern Christian thought. A similar apotheosis of the emperor, against a background of Platonic and Christian ideas, can be found in Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, and John Chrysostom, all of whom were widely read and translated into Syriac, at least in part. The ‘political Platonism’ of these Christian orators would thus have been well known among Syriac Christian thinkers, and might have been transmitted to al-Fārābī in the predominantly Christian school of the Syro-Arabic Baghdad Aristotelians. Another fourth century orator, pagan but widely respected by Gregory, was also known to Syriac Christians. The political orator and Aristotelian commentator Themistius, a proponent of religious toleration, was addressed as a ‘friend’ by Gregory, who asked him in a letter to confirm as a philosopher ‘the saying of your trusted Plato, that the cities will not cease to see evil as long as power is not united to philosophy’.36 The political ideas expressed in many of Themistius’ orations represent a Platonism quite similar to that of the fourth century Christian authors on the one hand and al-Fārābī on the other. Pagan and Christian orators shared the one set of concepts: monotheism and monarchy belong together, philosophy and philanthrōpia should direct the king. They offered the same justification for monarchic government: imperial rule reflects a theological monarchism, and as with a plurality of gods, a plurality of rulers produces schism and discord. The old Greek love of concord and peace, and horror of their opposites, strife and division, are fully manifest in Themistius, as is the old analogy See P. Gallay, Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, Lettres, vol. 1 (Paris: 1964) 32-3. Thirty-one of Gregory’s epistles, but not this one, are transmitted in the same Syriac manuscript. (British Library Add. 17209) as are the two orations of Themistius mentioned below. It is quite likely, however, that this letter was also translated into Syriac, as the colophon of British Library manuscript Add. 18821 notes that it originally contained a hundred and sixty-six of Gregory’s letters and two hundred and nineteen of his poems. See W. Wright, Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum acquired since the Year 1838 (London: 1870-2) 775b. 36

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between the cosmos, the state, and the human soul and body. The same correspondence between these various levels is found in Gregory Nazianzus and would not have appeared strange to Syriacspeaking Christians. Another Leitmotiv of Themistius, linking him both to fourth century Christian orators and Christians in ‘Abbāsid Iraq, is his emphasis on the emperor’s philanthrōpia.37 We have noted the occurrence of this theme in Antony’s encomium of the ruler, and it is clear that the concept of the monarch as the true philosopher filled with philanthrōpia remained alive among the Christian elite of Baghdad.38 Yaḥyā ibn ‘Adī wrote no extant works on political philosophy, but in his Ethics he emphasised philanthrōpia and its connection to the rule of the rational over the irrational soul: ‘and so it is meet for the lover of perfection to love all men, having pity and mercy for them, especially the king and head, for the king is not a king so long as he does not love and pity his subjects’.39 Gregory’s orations were without doubt influential in Graeco-Syriac circles in the Christian East, but the hypothesis that much attention was also given there to Themistius is more speculative. Only two of Themistius’ orations are extant in Syriac, for one of which there is no evidence in Greek.40 It is possible, however, that many more might have been translated or at least known among literary Graeco-Syriac circles. The suggestion that among some Syrians there was an interest in Themistius’ political thought is not, however, based entirely on extrapolating the evidence of the translation of these two orations, but also on the attested fact that a Syriac translation existed, although neither it nor the original Greek is now extant, of a ‘letter’ (risāla)-in fact, a short treatise in the form of a letter-of Themistius on Government.41 This letter survives in two Arabic manuscripts, in one of which it is 37 See G. Downey, ‘Philanthrōpia in Religion and Statecraft in the Fourth Century after Christ’, Historia 4 (1955) 199-208. 38 See J. Kraemer, Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam (Leiden: 1986-1992) 17-9. 39 Kramer (1986-1992) 115. 40 Themistius. (C). E. Sachau, Inedita Syriaca (Vienna: 1870) 48-65 (Or. 22) and 17-47 (Or. peri arets, not extant in Greek, also in Themistius Themistii Orationes (1965-1974) 3: 7-72. 41 Themistius. Risāla, ed. and tr. I. Shahd. In: Themistii Orationes (1974) 3: 73-119.

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said to have been translated by al-Dimashqī (died after 914), in the other by Ibn Zur‘a (943-1008) from Syriac. Arguing from silence, it can be proposed that al-Dimashqī’s translation was made directly from the Greek, but the similarity of the two translations suggests otherwise, and the normal practice of the school of Ḥunain, to which al-Dimashqī belonged, was first to make a Syriac version or revise an existing one before proceeding to coin an Arabic. Ibn Zur‘a almost certainly did not know Greek, and there is no reason to doubt the superscription of the manuscript which states that he translated it from Syriac-which we might interpret to the effect that he revised al-Dimashqī’s version on the basis of the Syriac. This is a good example of the point mentioned earlier, that we often cannot tell whether a Syriac version which was subsequently rendered into Arabic was originally made to be read in Syriac or created merely to facilitate the production of the Arabic. The fact that two orations of Themistius are extant in Syriac, but neither they nor any other extant in Arabic, might be thought to favour the former, but it has to be noted that in one way or another Miskawayh, a Muslim contemporary of Ibn Zur‘a and fellow member of the School of Yaḥyā ibn ‘Adī, was familiar with the content of one of them.42 The document is important because it provides concrete evidence for an interest in Themistius’ political thought in Syriac or Syro-Arabic Christian circles and especially, with the mention of Ibn Zur‘a, in the circle of the Baghdad Aristotelians,43 among whom, in the generation before Ibn Zur‘a, al-Fārābī pursued his studies. Ibn Zur‘a himself discussed ‘politico-theological’ issues in a response to a Jewish correspondent to the question why Christians did not consider themselves bound by the Mosaic law.44 The basic Platonic inspiration of the concepts expounded in Themistius’ risāla is clear, drawing in particular on the analogy in the Republic and the Laws between the philosopher-rulers and ruled multitude of the state on Under the name of Socrates, Miskawayh presented an Arabic paraphrase of sections of Themistius’ Or. 22 derived from the Syriac version. See F. Rosenthal, ‘On the Knowledge of Plato’s Philosophy in the Islamic World’, Islamic Culture 14 (1940) 402-5. 43 On Ibn Zur‘a (943-1008), Kraemer (1986-1992) 116-23. 44 See S. Pines, ‘La loi naturelle et la société: la doctrine politicothéologique d’Ibn Zur‘a, philosophe chrétien de Bagdad’. ‘In: Studies in Islamic History and Civilisation. Scripta Hierosolymitana 9. ed. U. Heyd (Jerusalem: 1961) 154-90. 42

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the one hand and the ruling reason and irrational passions and desires of the soul on the other.45 Many other similar points in the risāla stemming from Plato, or from a fusion of Platonic and Aristotelian elements, can also be found in the orations.46 There are also some differences, which have led some to question its authenticity; for us, the essential point is that it was attributed to Themistius in the Syro-Arabic circles with which we are concerned, whether or not it originally came from his pen. It may still be thought surprising that the political writings of the pagan Themistius were admired by Iraqi Christian philosophers. There is, however, a certain striking similarity in their respective situations: Themistius was a monotheistic pagan philosopher living (for the most part) under Christian emperors, the Syro-Arabic Baghdad Aristotelians were Christian philosophers under a Muslim caliph. What they presumably both valued was being under a ruler like a Platonic philosopher-king who manifested philanthrōpia and tolerance towards those of a different religion.47 For Themistius various religions were different cultural expressions of a universal human veneration for a single God common to all mankind. Therefore he could declaim to Jovian: You are the first not to have misperceived that the king cannot exercise force on his subjects in all matters, and that there are things which by their nature … are above menace and compulsion, namely the domain of virtue in general and religious piety in particular … You prescribe that the domain of the cult concerns each individual, imitating in this respect God himself who has made a disposition to piety a common trait of human nature, but has left the mode of adoration to each … “Each sacrificed to a different god” (Iliad II, 400) is a truth older than Homer. Thus it has never been displeasing to God that this concert of different voices has appeared among men … Consider that the master of the universe also rejoices at this diversity … It is his will that the Syrians (i. e. Christians) Plato, Rep. 435a ff., 443e, Laws 689a ff. See J. Croissant, ‘Un nouveau discours de Thémistius’, Serta Leodiensia (Liège/Paris: 1930) 44: 11-8. 47 On the Christian interest in promoting philanthrōpia within an Islamic society and raising the universalism of philosophy above the particularism of religious affiliation, Kraemer (1986-1992) 76-7. 45 46

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choose one politeia, the Greeks another, the Egyptians another, and his will also that the Syrians differ among themselves and are divided into small groups.48

This would surely have been congenial to a Christian minority (which was indeed divided into small groups) under a benign Muslim ‘emperor’. Al-Fārābī’s view that diverse religions are different imaginative representations of a single philosophical truth-which allows for the possibility that one representation may be closer to the truth than another-could have been absorbed from the Baghdad Aristotelians, a Christian-dominated but still religiously plural philosophical school.49 The theory of religion as an imaginative representation of philosophical truth was worked out by al-Fārābī in connection with his interpretation of Aristotle’s Poetics, which of course he read in Arabic. The Arabic translation, made from Syriac, was the work of the head of the Baghdad School, the East Syrian Abū Bishr Mattā.50 We do not know how Matt interpreted the work, but it seems very unlikely that an active philosophical thinker such as he would have undertaken the translation without thinking about its meaning, and we may well wonder if al-Fārābī’s interpretation was in fact derived from that of Mattā. After all, al-Fārābī’s understanding of the purpose of the other books of the Organon, from the Categories to the Rhetoric, was that of Syriac Christian thinkers before him.51 It is true that we cannot find in Antony of Tagrit any clear connections to al-Fārābī’s statements about religion and poetics, as we can about civic life and rhetoric, but we do find in Antony examples of 48 Themistius, Or. 5, 67b-70a, translated by G. Dagron ‘L’empire romain d’Orient au IV siècle et les traditions politiques de l’hellénisme. Le témoignage de Thémistios’, Travaux et Mémoires 3 (Paris: 1967) 168-72. 49 See Kraemer (1986-1992) 14-5, 118 n.41 and J. Watt, ‘The Strategy of the Baghdad Philosophers. The Aristotelian Tradition as a Common Motif in Christian and Islamic Thought.’ In: Redefining Christian Identity. Cultural Interaction in the Middle East since the Rise of Islam, ed. J. van Ginkel et. al. (Leuven: 2004c) 151-65. 50 See W. Heinrichs, ‘Die antike Verknüpfung von phantasia und Dichtung bei den Arabern’, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 128 (1978) 256-9, 269-84. 51 See D. Gutas, ‘Paul the Persian on the Classification of the Parts of Aristotle’s Philosophy: A Milestone between Alexandria and Bagdad’, Der Islam 60 (1983) 231-67.

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biblical passages interpreted as poetic representations of general truths.52 The similarity of al-Fārābī’s theory of religion and philosophy to that of Greek Neoplatonism has recently been made clear, and there is no doubt that Christian and Muslim philosophers in Baghdad were well acquainted with much of the teaching of the Alexandrian School of Late Antiquity.53 Only in al-Fārābī, however, and, I suggest, Abū Bishr Mattā and his Syro-Arabic successors in the Baghdad Aristotelian School, is this interpretation of religion and philosophy linked to that of Aristotle’ Poetics. The reason the theory could have appealed to them is the same as that which would have attracted them to Themistius: in both Themistius and al- Fārābī, philosophy was the key to human perfection, and different religions partial and imperfect representations of universal truth. Not everyone, however, in Iraq or elsewhere, shared this universalistic outlook. In the second half of the ninth century traditionalist Muslim reaction against rationalism grew strong and generated some opposition to the religiously sensitive discipline of philosophy in particular. A cleavage thus appeared in the Muslim community between the adherents of the specifically Islamic disciplines and the circles which admired the foreign sciences.54 The rise of the traditionalists thus pitched Christian and Muslim philosophers into the same camp on the side of the foreign against the Islamic sciences. Each stood to gain from the tacit support of the other, for philosophy was threatened by the traditionalists’ 52 Interpreting the ‘battles of the gods’ in Iliad 20,67-74 and 21,403-407 as figurative expressions of ethical truths (Ares represents anger, Athena prudence, etc.), Antony does the very same with I Kings 22,30-34 (Ahab represents frenzied violence, the bowman who shot him the art which pierces it). See Antony of Tagrit (1986) 77-8/66-7. 53 D. O’Meara, Platonopolis. Platonic Political Philosophy in Late Antiquity (Oxford: 2003) 187-97, also D. O’Meara, ‘Religion als Abbild der Philosophie. Zum neuplatonischen Hintergrund der Lehre al-Farabis.’ In: Metaphysik und Religion. Zur Signatur des spätantiken Denkens. ed. T. Kobusch and M. Erler (Munich and Leipzig: 2002) 343-53. 54 See Zimmermann (1981) cxxii-cxxvi, G. Endress, ‘The Defense of Reason: The Plea for Philosophy in the Religious Community’, Zeitschrift für Geschichte der arabisch-islamischen Wissenschaften 6 (1990) 13-6.

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implicit claim of its irrelevance within the ‘house of Islam’. Armed with the complete Organon, the Christian members of the Baghdad School could fight alongside sympathetic Muslims on behalf of philosophy against both Arabic grammar and Muslim kalām. Wishing to defend their role as philosophers within a Muslim society in a way which neither antagonised those Muslims who were favourably disposed towards them nor undercut the legitimacy of their own Christian confessions, the exposition of religion as a necessary complement of philosophy and an imitation of it through the similitudes best known to a particular nation would have been well suited to further their aims. It would both have bound them together with Muslim philosophers in the defence of reason against the jurists of traditionalist Islam,55 and also allowed them, when they so wished, to argue for Christianity, or indeed for its West Syrian or East Syrian varieties, as a closer imitation of ultimate truth than religions professed by rival confessions.56 If the Christian philosophers of Baghdad did indeed make common cause there with their Islamic counterparts in the defence of philosophy against Muslim traditionalists, their successes were notable but not permanent. The golden age ended for both in Baghdad around the end of the tenth century. In Islam philosophy flourished elsewhere, in the East especially under the impact of Ibn Sīnā. Evidence of interest in the subject among Syrians, however, is not forthcoming until the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the period of the ‘Syriac Renaissance’. This was not focused on a single centre, and neither was it confined to Iraq. Nevertheless, the monastery of Mar Mattai, near Mosul, figures prominently both in this as in the previous period, associated as it was during the ‘Syriac Renaissance’ with Jacob Bar Shakko and Bar Hebraeus. According to a common view, any philosophy books in its library had lain there gathering dust for a century or two untouched by readers, while philosophical studies lay dormant among Syrians, to be See Endress (1990) 16-23. See al-Fārābī in Walzer (1985) 278-80: ‘Some of those who know them through similitudes which imitate them know them through similitudes which are near to them, and some through similitudes slightly more remote, and some through similitudes which are even more remote than these, and some through similitudes which are very remote indeed’. 55 56

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awakened only by the vivifying touch of Arabic scholarship. Such a scenario is possible, but does seem on the face of it rather improbable. It is based primarily on the absence of any significant Syriac writer on philosophy between the era of the Baghdad Aristotelians and the Syriac Renaissance, and the lack of positive evidence of Syriac interest in secular subjects within the pages of Thomas of Marga’s Historia monastica and Bar Hebraeus’ Chronicon ecclesiasticum.57 These works, however, were not designed to be histories of secular scholarship. Bar Zo‘bi, Bar Shakko, and Bar Hebraeus all had Muslim Arabs among their teachers, but Bar Ṣalibi seemingly did not, yet he also wrote on Aristotle.58 It may thus be the case that some Syriac Christians continued to study philosophy during these intervening years, but no writer (apart from Bar alibi) emerged from among them who attracted sufficient attention to be noted by contemporaries or posterity. A possible explanation for this is not hard to find. If Syriac Christians continued to study philosophy in the manner of pre- and early‘Abbāsid times, their work would have seemed quite passé to those whose thought was dominated by the appearance of Ibn Sīnā (d. 1037). In the East, in the years following his death, Arabic Aristotelianism moved on from the Graeco-Syriac model, and any Syriac writers on philosophy who remained exclusively attached to that older model would have had little impact in the new intellectual environment.59 In the writings of Bar Zo‘bi, Bar Shakko, and Bar Hebraeus, it may be that what we see is not a resurrection from the dead of Syriac interest in philosophy as such, but rather a new-and revitalised-phase in that interest, as Syrians gave up an exclusive attachment to the older ways of doing 57 See J. Ruska, ‘Studien zu Severus bar Shakku’s “Buch der Dialoge”’, Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 12 (1897) 12-26. 58 That Bar Ṣalibi’s commentaries on Aristotle are of the older Graeco-Syriac type can only be asserted provisionally whilst these commentaries remain unedited. However from the information in W. Wright, A Catalogue of the Syriac Manuscripts preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge (Cambridge: 1901) 1009-17 (MS. Gg.2.14) this proposition seems to be valid. 59 See D. Gutas, ‘Aspects of Literary Form and Genre in Arabic Logical Works.’ In: Glosses and Commentaries on Aristotelian Logical Texts. The Syriac, Arabic and Medieval Latin Traditions, ed. C. Burnett (London: 1993) 43-8.

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philosophy and, while continuing to make use of the Graeco-Syriac literary heritage, nevertheless plunged into the current of postAvicennan Arabic Aristotelianism. In relation to the achievements of the Syriac Christians in the early part of the ‘Abbāsid period, there is therefore both continuity and change in the impressive and voluminous work of Bar Hebraeus at its end.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Antony of Tagrit (1986). The Fifth Book of the Rhetoric of Antony of Tagrit, ed. and tr. J. Watt. CSCO 480-1. Louvain: Peeters. Baffioni, C. (1991). ‘The Platonic ‘Virtues of the Ruler’ in Islamic Tradition.’ Études orientales 9-10: 111-8. Braun, O. (1902). ‘Briefe des Katholikos Timotheos I.’ Oriens Christianus 2: 4-11. Brock, S. 2004). ‘Changing Fashion in Syriac Translation Technique: The Background to Syriac Translations under the ‘Abbasids.’ Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies 4: 13-4. ----(1999). ‘Two Letters of the Patriarch Timothy from the Late Eighth Century on Translations from Greek.’ Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 9: 233-46. Croissant, J. (1930). ‘Un nouveau discours de Thémistius.’ Serta Leodiensia. Liège and Paris: Bibliothèque de la Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres de l’Université de Liège, 44: 7-30. Dagron, G. (1967). ‘L’empire romain d’Orient au IV siècle et les traditions politiques de l’hellénisme. Le témoignage de Thémistios.’ Travaux et Mémoires. Paris: Centre de Recherches d’histoire et civilisation byzantine, 3: 1-242. Dols, M. (1989). ‘Syriac into Arabic: The Transmission of Greek Medicine’, Aram 1: 45-52. Downey, G. (1955). ‘Philanthrpia in Religion and Statecraft in the Fourth Century after Christ.’ Historia 4: 199-208. Endress, G. (1990). ‘The Defense of Reason: The Plea for Philosophy in the Religious Community.’ Zeitschrift für Geschichte der arabisch-islamischen Wissenschaften 6: 1-49.

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Eskenasy, P. (1991). Antony of Tagrit’s Rhetoric Book One: Introduction, Partial Translation, and Commentary [Unpublished Dissertation, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University]. Al-Fārābī (1981). Taḥṣīl al-sa‘āda, ed. J. Al-Yāsīn. Beirut: Dār alAndalus. ----(1961). Falsafat Arisṭūṭālīs, ed. M. Mahdi. Beirut: Dār Majallat Shi‘r. Gallay, P. (1964). Saint Grégoire de Nazianze, Lettres 1. Paris: Les Belles Lettres. Gutas, D. (1998). Greek Thought, Arabic Culture. London and New York: Routledge. ----(1997). ‘Galen’s Synopsis of Plato’s Laws and Farabi’s Talkhis’. In: The Ancient Tradition in Christian and Islamic Hellenism, ed. G. Endress, and R. Kruk. Leiden: Research School CNWS: 101-19. ----(1993). ‘Aspects of Literary Form and Genre in Arabic Logical Works.’ In: Glosses and Commentaries on Aristotelian Logical Texts. The Syriac, Arabic and Medieval Latin Traditions. Warburg Institute Texts and Surveys 23, ed. C. Burnett. Warburg Institute, University of London: 29-76. ----(1983). ‘Paul the Persian on the Classification of the Parts of Aristotle’s Philosophy: A Milestone between Alexandria and Bagdad’, Der Islam 60: 231-267. de Halleux, A. (1983). ‘La version syriaque des discours de Grégoire de Nazianze.’ In: II Symposium Nazianzenum, Studien zur Geschichte und Kultur des Altertums, 2 Reihe: Forschungen zu Gregor von Nazianz 2, ed. J. Mossay. Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh, 75-111. Heinrichs, W. (1978). ‘Die antike Verknüpfung von phantasia und Dichtung bei den Arabern’, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 128: 252-98. Hugonnard-Roche, H. (1993). ‘Remarques sur la tradition arabe de l’Organon d’après le manuscrit Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, ar. 2346.’ In: Glosses and Commentaries on Aristotelian Logical Texts. The Syriac, Arabic and Medieval Latin Traditions. London: Warburg Institute Texts and Surveys 23, ed. C. Burnett. London: Warburg Institute, University of London: 19-28.

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(1992). ‘Une ancienne édition arabe de l’Organon d’Aristote’. In: Les problèmes posés par l’édition critique des textes anciens et médiévaux, ed. J. Hamesse. Louvain la Neuve: Université Catholique de Louvain, 139-57. ----(1991) ‘L’intermédiaire syriaque dans la transmission de la philosophie grecque à l’arabe: le cas de l’Organon d’Aristote.’ Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 1: 187-209. Ibn Abī Uṣaibi‘a 1882/1884: ‘Uyūn al-anbā’ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbā’, ed. A. Müller. Cairo and Königsberg: Al-Maṭba‘a al-wahbīya. Ibn al-Nadm 1871: Kitāb al-Fihrist, ed. G. Flügel, Leipzig: F. C. W. Vogel; 1970: The Fihrist of al-Nadm, tr. Dodge, Bayard, New York: Columbia University Press. Kraemer, J. (1986-92). Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam. Leiden: Brill. ----(1984). ‘Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam. A Preliminary Study’, Journal of the American Oriental Society 104: 135-64. Kraus, P. (1933-4). ‘Zu Ibn al-Muqaffa‘,’ Rivista degli studi orientali 14: 1-14. Lameer, J. (1997). ‘From Alexandria to Baghdad: Reflections on the Genesis of a Problematical Tradition’. In: The Ancient Tradition in Christian and Islamic Hellenism, ed. G. Endress and R. Kruk. Leiden: Research School CNWS: 181-91. Mahdi, M. (1969). Alfarabi’s Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. al-Mas‘ūdī. 1894. Kitāb al-tanbih wa al-išraf, ed. M. de Goeje. Leiden: Brill. Meyerhof, M. (1930). ‘Von Alexandrien nach Bagdad’, Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, phil.-hist. Klasse 23: 389-429. O’Meara, D. (2003). Platonopolis. Platonic Political Philosophy in Late Antiquity. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ----(2002). ‘Religion als Abbild der Philosophie. Zum neuplatonischen Hintergrund der Lehre al-Farabis’. In: Metaphysik und Religion. Zur Signatur des spätantiken Denkens, ed. T. Kobusch and M. Erler. Munich: K. G. Saur, 343-53. Pines, S. (1961). ‘La loi naturelle et la société: la doctrine politicothéologique d’Ibn Zur‘a, philosophe chrétien de Bagdad’. In: Studies in Islamic History and Civilisation. Scripta Hierosolymitana 9. ed. U. Heyd. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 154-90.

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Pognon, H. (1903). Une version syriaque des aphorismes d’Hippocrate. Leipzig: Hinrichs. Rosenthal, F. (1975). The Classical Heritage in Islam. London: Routledge. ----(1940). ‘On the Knowledge of Plato’s Philosophy in the Islamic World’, Islamic Culture 14: 387-422. Ruska, J. (1897). ‘Studien zu Severus bar Shakku’s “Buch der Dialoge’’, Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 12: 8-41, 145-61. Stern, S. (1960). ‘Al- Mas‘ūdī and the Philosopher al-Fārābī’. In AlMas‘ūdī Millenary Commemoration Volume, ed. S. Maqbul Ahmad and A. Rahman. Aligarh: Indian Society for the History of Science: 28-41. Strohmaier, G. (1987). ‘Von Alexandrien nach Bagdad-eine fiktive Schultradition.’ In: Aristoteles: Werk und Wirkung. Paul Moraux gewidmet. ed. J. Wiesner. Berlin: De Gruyter, II: 380389. Themistius (1974). Risāla. ed./tr. I. Shahid. In: Themistii Orationes, vol. 3, 73-119. ----(1965-1974). Themistii Orationes. ed. H. Schenkl et. al., vols.1-3. Leipzig: Teubner. ----(1870). (C) E. Sachau, Inedita Syriaca. Vienna: Königliche Akademie der Wissenschaften, 48-65 (Or. 22) and 17-47 (Or. peri aretēs, also in Themistii Orationes [1965-74] vol. 3, 772). Walzer, R. (1985). Al-Farabi On the Perfect State. A Revised Text with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ----(1953). ‘New Light on the Arabic Translations of Aristotle.’ Oriens 5, 91-142. Watt, J. (2005). Aristotelian Rhetoric in Syriac (Aristoteles SemiticoLatinus 18). Leiden and Boston: Brill. ----(2004a). ‘Syriac Translators and Greek Philosophy in Early ‘Abbasid Iraq.’ Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies 4: 15-26. ----(2004b). ‘Syriac and Syrians as Mediators of Greek Political Thought to Islam.’ In: Mélanges de l’Université Saint-Joseph 57: The Greek Strand in Islamic Political Thought, ed. E. Gannagé et. al. Beirut: Université Saint-Joseph, 121-49.

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(2004c). ‘The Strategy of the Baghdad Philosophers. The Aristotelian Tradition as a Common Motif in Christian and Islamic Thought.’ In: Redefining Christian Identity. Cultural Interaction in the Middle East since the Rise of Islam. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 134, ed. J. van Ginkel et. al. Leuven: Peeters: 151-65. ----(1994). ‘The Philosopher-King in the Rhetoric of Antony of Tagrit.’ In: VI Symposium Syriacum, 1992: University of Cambridge, Faculty of Divinity, 30 August-2 September 1992. Orientalia Christiana Analecta 247, ed. R. Lavenant. Rome: Pontificio Istituto Orientale: 245-58. ----(1993a). ‘The Syriac Reception of Platonic and Aristotelian Rhetoric.’ Aram 5: 579-601. ----(1993b). ‘Grammar, Rhetoric, and the Enkyklios Paideia in Syriac.’ Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 143: 45-71. Wright, W. (1870-2). Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum acquired since the Year 1838, 3 vols. London: Trustees of the British Museum. ----(1901). A Catalogue of the Syriac Manuscripts preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge, 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Zimmermann, F. (1981). Al-Farabi’s Commentary and Short Treatise on Aristotle’s De Interpretatione. Classical and Medieval Logic Texts III. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

PATRIARCH TIMOTHY I AND AN ARISTOTELIAN AT THE CALIPH’S COURT SIDNEY GRIFFITH

CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA The long-lived Patriarch Timothy I (727-823), who for forty-three years was the patriarch of the so-called ‘Nestorian’ Church of the East,1 first in Seleucia-Ctesiphon and then in Baghdad (780-823), is well known among historians for his spirited defense of Christian doctrines and practices at the court of the Muslim caliphs.2 While he no doubt spoke Arabic, the patriarch wrote in Syriac. Among the many works ascribed to him, most of which have not survived to modern times, some fifty-nine of his letters are still extant, of the approximately two-hundred he is reported to have written. While they are addressed to friends, mostly fellow church officials, they are more that just personal correspondence. Many of them are on the order of public letters, or letter-treatises, perhaps best thought of as essays. In them, Timothy discusses a number of liturgical, canonical and theological topics, and several of them have to do with issues of Muslim-Christian interest. These include letters in which the patriarch describes in some detail the responses he has given to questions put to him by Muslims or inspired by

1 See S. Brock, ‘The ‘Nestorian’ Church: A Lamentable Misnomer,’ Bulletin of the John Rylands Library of the University of Manchester 78 (1996) 23-5. 2 See H. Putman, L’église et l’islam sous Timothée I (780-823): Étude sur l’église nestorienne au temps des premiers ‘Abbasides, avec nouvelle edition et traduction du dialogue entre Timothée et al-Mahdi (Beyrouth: 1975), H. Suermann, ‘Timotheos I, +823.’ In: Syrische Kirchenväter, ed. W. Klein (Stuttgart: 2004) 152-67.

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Muslim concerns.3 By far the best known of these is the patriarch’s account of his debate with the caliph al-Mahdī (775-785) on the beliefs and practices of the Christians.4 Patriarch Timothy’s account of his defense of Christian doctrine and practice in the majlis of the caliph al-Mahdī, sometimes listed among his works as ‘Letter 59’, was destined to become one of the classics among the Christian apologies of the early Islamic period. It circulated in its original Syriac in a fuller and in an abbreviated form,5 and it was soon translated into Arabic,6 in which language the account of Timothy’s days in the caliph’s court has enjoyed a long popularity, extending well into modern times. But it is not the only one of the patriarch’s letters that takes up what we might call Islamic issues. Several others discuss questions that were obviously posed with Muslim challenges in mind. In ‘Letter 34’ Timothy discusses the proper understanding of the title ‘Servant of God’ as an epithet for Christ;7 ‘Letter 35’ is in defense of the doctrine of the Trinity; and ‘Letter 36’ is against the opinions of those who demean the majesty of Christ.8 ‘Letter 49’ contains another little known essay by Timothy, which the patriarch 3 See T. Hurst, ‘The Syriac Letters of Timothy I (727-823): A Study in Christian Muslim Controversy,’ [Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation; Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America, 1986, University Microfilms International, #8613464], also H. Suermann, ‘Der nestorianische Patriarch Timotheos I. Und seine theologischen Briefe im Kontext des Islam.’ In: Zu Geschichte, Theologie, Liturgie und Gegenwartslage der syrischen Kirchen. Studien zur Orientalischen Kirchengeschichte 9, ed. M. Tamcke and A. Heinz (Münster: 2000) 217-30. 4 See A. Mingana, ‘Timothy’s Apology for Christianity,’ Woodbrooke Studies: Christian Documents in Syriac, Arabic and Garshuni; Edited and Translated with a Critical Apparatus, II (Cambridge: 1928) 1-162. Also A. Mingana, ‘The Apology of Timothy the Patriarch before the Caliph alMahdī,’ Bulletin of the John Rylands Library of the University of Manchester 12 (1928) 137-226. 5 See A. van Roey, ‘Un apologie syriaque attribuée à Elie de Nisibe,’ Le Muséon 59 (1946) 381-97. 6 See Putman (1975). 7 See T. Hurst, ‘The Epistle Treatise: An Apologetic Vehicle; Letter 34 of Timothy I.’ In: IV Symposium Syriacum 1984: Literary Genres in Syriac Literature. Orientalia Christiana Analecta 229, ed. H. Drijvers et al. (Rome: 1987) 367-82. 8 For more on these letters see Hurst (1986) esp. 43-68.

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addressed to his former academic colleague Sergius, director of the school of Bashosh and soon to be the bishop of Elam.9 In it Timothy presents a somewhat detailed account of his colloquy with an interlocutor whom he met one day at the caliph’s court.10 He says the man was a devotee of the philosophy of Aristotle. But the course of the conversation which the patriarch reports in his letter/treatise, on the ways to know the one God, the three persons of the one God, the doctrine of the Incarnation and the significance of various Christian religious practices, reads much like an account of a conversation with a Muslim mutakallim, rather than a philosopher more properly so called.11 This paper will discuss very briefly this somewhat neglected text.

TIMOTHY’S ‘LETTER 40’ ‘Letter 40’ survives in at least ten manuscripts, nine of which are nineteenth or twentieth century copies of a thirteenth or fourteenth-century manuscript preserved in the Chaldæan monastery of ‘Our Lady of the Seeds’ near Alqōsh in Iraq.12 Timothy seems to have addressed the letter to Sergius sometime in the year 780-781, perhaps in the same year as the report of his more celebrated debate in the majlis of the caliph al-Mahdī.13 The patriarch opens ‘Letter 40’ on an anti-Jewish note, but it quickly emerges that his purpose in the opening paragraphs is to represent the contemporary situation of the Christians under Muslim rule as a recapitulation of the earlier, apparent “defeat of 9 See H. Suermann, ‘Timothy and his Concern for the School of Basos’, The Harp 10 (1997) 51-8. 10 The text of the letter is published and translated into French in H. Cheikho, Dialectique du langage sur Dieu: Lettere de Timothée I (728-823) à Serge: étude, traduction et edition critique (Rome: 1983). An earlier, unpublished edition and English translation was the MA thesis of T. Hurst, “Letter 40 of the Nestorian Patriarch Timothy I (727-823): An Edition and Translation,’ [unpublished MA Thesis; Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America, 1981]. 11 See, in this connection the remark of J, van Ess, Theologie und Gesellschaft im 2. Und 3. Jahrhundert Hidschra: Eine Geschichte des religiösen Denkens im frühen Islam (Berlin: 1991-7) III, 23. 12 See R. Bidawid, Les letters du patriarche nestorien Timothée I [Studi e Testi 187] (Vatican: 1956) 12-5. 13 Bidawid 59-75 re the chronology of the patriarch’s letters.

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Jesus on the cross and the victory of the Jews and Satan,” as he puts it.14 He is confident that in this new station of the cross, as earlier, the truth will triumph. Timothy says: In the days of Herod, Pilate, and the old Jews, there was both defeat and victory, and truth and falsehood. So also now, in the days of the present princes, in our own time, in the days of the new Jews among us, there is the same struggle and the same contest to distinguish falsehood and truth. The stumbling block of the cross has still not passed away, but there is nothing to fear from such a contest and struggle.15

What is striking here is Timothy’s characterization of the Muslims as ‘new Jews’. It echoes the opinion of the patriarch’s contemporary, Theodore bar Kônî, who in a literary dialogue between a Christian Master and a Muslim Disciple put the following assessment of the disciple’s Islamic faith into the mouth of the master, “As I see it, you are believing as a Jew.”16 This theological assessment of Islam served Timothy both as a succinct statement of the nature of the Islamic challenge to Christians and as a polemical frame of reference for the Christian’s estimation of the significance of the challenge.17 Having provided this attitudinal frame of reference, Patriarch Timothy tells his friend Sergius about the wealthy and important man whom he met at the caliph’s court and with whom he had a long conversation about God.18 He said the man “possessed a knowledge of nature and he had special training in the thinking (hawnâ) of Aristotle.”19 Timothy said the man very politely MS Vatican Syriac 605, f.216r. MS Vatican Syriac 605, ff. 216r-216v. 16 Theodorus Bar Koni. Liber Scholiorum. CSCO 55 and 69, ed. A. Scher (Paris: 1910 and 1912) 69: 235. See S. Grifffith, ‘Chapter Ten of the Scholion: Theodore Bar Kônî’s Apology for Christianity,’ Orientalia Christiana Periodica 47 (1981) 158-88. 17 See S. Griffith ‘Jews and Muslims in Christian Syriac and Arabic Texts of the Ninth Century,’ Jewish History 3 (1988) 65-94. 18 So far no plausible identification of this person has been suggested. See J.-M. Fiey, Chrétiens syriaques sous les abbassides surtout à Bagdad (745-1258). CSCO 420 (Louvain: 1980) 38, n.44. 19 MS Vatican Syriac 605, f. 216v. 14 15

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approached him and proposed that they engage in a conversation (mamllâ) with one another. To the patriarch’s question, “In what way do you want us to converse (nmallel) with one another?” The man answered, “In the way of debate (drāshâ).” And when Timothy asked what the man wanted to debate with him about, the man answered simply, “About God.”20 Timothy’s mention of his interlocutor’s training in the thought of Aristotle evokes the reader’s recollection that in the patriarch’s day the great Abbasid translation movement of the eighth to the tenth centuries was just getting underway in Baghdad.21 Indeed, as John Watt has recently written in reference to a commission for a translation which Timothy himself received from the caliph,22 “The earliest unambiguous evidence of interest in Aristotelian philosophy in the upper levels of Abbasid Muslim society is the commission of al-Mahdī to the East Syrian Patriarch Timothy I for a translation of Aristotle’s Topics from Syriac into Arabic.”23 So Timothy’s mention in ‘Letter 49’ of his interlocutor’s keen interest in the thought of Aristotle once again documents the entrée of Aristotelianism into the early stages of the development of Islamic religious discourse. Presumably Timothy spoke with his interlocutor in Arabic, albeit that he reports the course of the ensuing conversation to Sergius in Syriac. And in this connection it is notable that the courtier invites Timothy to a conversation (mamllah) in which they might converse (nmallel) with one another about God in the way of a debate (drāshâ), that is to say dialectically. At intervals throughout the report, Timothy even refers to his interlocutor as ‘that dialectician’ (haw mlîlâ).24 One can almost still hear behind the Syriac MS Vatican Syriac 605, f. 217r. See D. Gutas, Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early Abbasid Society (2nd-4th/8th-10th centuries) (London and New York: 1998). 22 See S. Brock, ‘Two Letters of the Patriarch Timothy from the Late Eighth Century on Translations from Greek,’ Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 9 (1999) 233-46. 23 J. Watt, ‘Syriac Translators and Greek Philosophy in Early Abbasid Iraq,’ The Canadian Society for Syriac Studies Journal 4 (2004) 15-26, esp. 17. 24 See, e.g., MS Vatican Syriac 605, f. 219r. Once he even calls him ‘adept in debate’ (ḥakīm badrāshâ). See MS Vatican Syriac 605f. 224r. 20 21

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words, the echoes of the formal exchange in Arabic in the manner of the Islamic ‘ilm al-kalām as it was formally developing at that very time, in which the conversation partners (mutakallimūn) in the caliph’s majlis and elsewhere would engage in the kalām almunāżarah the formal debate or dispute methodology of early Islamic, dialectical theology. As Timothy’s account goes on to report the exchange between himself and his conversation partner, the repeated cadences of ‘he said’ and ‘I said’ fairly well reflect the old ‘Question and Answer’ procedure of dialectical inquiry as it found its way from Greek and Syriac into the more fluid Arabic style of the Kalām theology’s more characteristic phrases, such as: in qāla qā’ilun fanaqūlu lahu etc.25 In Timothy’s day, the Mu‛tazilite originators of this distinctive discourse were already in their second generation, in Baṣra, Kufa and Baghdad.26 In all likelihood, the concerns of his interlocutor reflect the development of Mu‛tazilite thinking as we find it in the reports of the teaching of the long-lived Abū lHudhayl al-‛Allāf (c.750-c.840).27 We know from surviving reports that Abū l-Hudhayl took cognizance of the teachings of the Christians; he even wrote a refutation of the work of his younger Christian contemporary, the ‘Nestorian’ ‘Ammār al-Baṣrī (fl. c. 850), who in turn in his own work took some pains to refute positions which exactly replicate those we find attributed to Abū lHudyayl in the sources.28

25 See M. Cook, ‘The Origins of Kalam,’ Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 43 (1980) 32-43, also M. Cook, Early Muslim Dogma (Cambridge: 1981) and R. Frank, ‘The Science of Kalam,’ Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 2 (1992) 9-37. See also S. Pines, ‘A Note on an Early Meaning of the Term Mutakallim’. In: S. Pines, Studies in the History of Arabic Philosophy [The Collected Works of Shlomo Pines, vol. III] (Jerusalem: 1996) 224-40, [62-78]. 26 See W. M. Watt, The Formative Period of Islamic Thought (Edinburgh: 1973), also van Ess (1991-5) especially vol. II. 27 See H. Nyberg, ‘Abū l-Hudhayl al-Allāf.’ In: Encyclopedia Islam, new ed., I: 127-9, also R. Frank, The Metaphysics of Created Being according to Abū l-Hudhayl al-‘Allāf: A Philosophical Study of the Earliest Kalām (Istanbul and Leiden: 1966) and R. Frank, ‘The Divine Attributes according to the Teaching of Abū l Hudhayl al-‘Allāf,’ Le Muséon 82 (1969) 451-506. 28 See S Griffith, ‘‘Ammār al-Baṣrī’s Kitāb al-burhān: Christian Kalām in the First Abbasid Century,’ Le Muséon 96 (1983) 145-81.

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What is more, when one considers the matter from the point of view of the major concerns of the contemporary Mu‛tazilite mutakallimūn, the dialogue partner’s stipulation that he and Timothy have a conversation ‘about God’ (‘al Allāhâ), invites the supposition that the course of their conversation will in fact follow the lines of the Mu’tazilite discussions of at-tawḥīd, the profession of the ‘one-ness’ of God. This was a topic which the Mu‛tazilite mutakallimūn were actively pursuing with Christian interlocutors at that very time. And as we shall see, the very outline of Timothy’s description of the conversation confirms this supposition.29 But there is a big difference between the ways in which the partners discuss the relevant topics. In the conversation as Timothy reports it, he leads his Muslim partner to make positive statements about the topics under discussion, in the typical way in which the mutakallimūn customarily affirmed them and then, from the perspective of Aristotelian logic, Timothy shows their inadequacy and commends the Christian point of view as the one vindicated by that same logic. After the few introductory statements that we have mentioned, Timothy begins to recount for Sergius the course of his conversation with the Muslim courtier. One can only provide an outline of it in the present circumstances, but this outline will be sufficient to show how closely the report mirrors the topical outline of certain portions of the typical Mu‛tazilite Kitāb at-tawḥīd of the period, as we shall delineate it below. Timothy’s report of his conversation with the Muslim Aristotelian falls into three main parts: I: Human Knowledge and the Knowledge of God After a brief discussion of the modes of human knowledge, which in the typical Mu‛tazilite Kalām treatise are said to lead to the knowledge of the existence and nature of the one Creator of all that is, namely God, Timothy, on the basis of his deployment of the Aristotelian categories of being, argues that human beings can only attain a knowledge of God from what they can know of created things, by way of negation, and not by way of the positive 29 See S. Pines, ‘Some Traits of Christian Theological Writing in Relation to Moslem Kalām and to Jewish Thought,’ in Pines (1996), 10525 [79-99].

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affirmation of what the names one then applies to God positively affirm.30

II: The Knowledge of God in Himself The mutakallim (mlîlâ) responds that there are in fact predicates which are positively indicative (m‘awwyānyātâ) of God; they are his names, such as ‘seer’, ‘hearer’, ‘knower’, ‘wise one’, ‘maker’ and ‘provider’. The reader readily recognizes these names as among those called ‘the beautiful names’ (al-asmā’ al-‘usnā) of God in the Qur’ān, deriving from the ‘attributes of God’ (ṣifāt Allāh), the descriptive adjectives applied to God in the Islamic scripture.31 The Mu‛tazilite mutakallimūn, following the principles of the current, theoretical grammar of Arabic, went to great lengths in their treatises to show how the affirmation of the truth of these attributes did not compromise the divine unity required by their faith.32 Timothy makes a point of reminding his interlocutor that they are engaged in an Aristotelian inquiry,33 then proceeds on this basis by question and answer to deconstruct the Mu‘tazilī line of reasoning by showing how it logically requires one to posit unacceptable descriptions of God, attributing plurality, compositeness and even bodily-ness to Him.34 Timothy goes on from this point to argue that logically, only the Christian doctrine of the Trinity does justice to the veracity of the scriptural attributes of God. In what is the longest part of the letter to Sergius about this debate,35 Timothy reports his argument that to affirm that God sees and hears, for example, or that He has a Word and a Spirit, which the Qur’ān can be taken to affirm (IV an-Nisā’ 171), one can only logically express this truthfully in terms of one, eternal ousia existing in three eternal ‘hypostases’ (qnômê), conceived as begetter, begotten and emanating, or Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To the interlocutor’s MS Vatican Syriac 605, ff. 217r-20v. See D. Gimaret, Les noms divins en islam: exégèse lexicographique et théologique (Paris: 1988). 32 See R. Frank, Beings and their Attributes:The Teaching of the Basrian School of the Mu‛tazila in the Classical Period (Albany, NY: 1978). 33 See MS Vatican Syriac 605, f. 221v, ll. 3-4. 34 MS Vatican Syriac 605, ff. 220v-26r. 35 MS Vatican Syriac 605, ff. 226r-37v. 30 31

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objection that Timothy has relied too much on demonstration (taḥwītâ) from nature in these matters and not enough on the scriptures, he cites a number of passages from the Old Testament and the New Testament, and even a number of passages from “your own scripture,” where we find words referring to God both in the singular and in the plural.”36 Timothy closes this discussion with the following affirmation: If it is necessary that the divine nature see and know itself, but an act of seeing can see and know Him completely only in the hypostases which derive from Him essentially and naturally, then the Son and the Spirit necessarily derive from the Father eternally. Each one of the hypostases sees and knows the other eternally, and in ousia, and in infinity, and in all divine glory.37

III: The Doctrine of the Incarnation The final section of Timothy’s report to Sergius about his conversation with the devotee of Aristotle whom he met at the caliph’s court has to do with the patriarch’s response to his interlocutor’s question in reference to the Christian doctrine of God the Word’s incarnation in Jesus the Messiah.38 The interlocutor asked, “How did what was without a body become embodied?”39 Timothy’s reply begins with the observation that ‘how?’ is an impertinent question; God does as He wills. Timothy then argues that the scriptures teach that God habitually communicated with the prophets through a created intermediary. And he says: We understand that God, the Word, became man and took a body from a virgin while His nature was neither changed nor limited by reason of the flesh. Just as God was the one who was revealed to the ancients in a genuine image (badmûtâ

MS Vatican Syriac 605 f. 235v. MS Vatican Syriac 605., f. 237v. 38 MS Vatican Syriac 605, ff. 237v-44r. 39 MS Vatican Syriac 605, f. 237v, l. 13. 36 37

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sharîrtâ), so also the Word-God was the one who was revealed in the flesh and came down to the world.40

In the ensuing discussion, the interlocutor queried Timothy about how he dealt with the fact that God’s man was a composite being, as were the images and likenesses in which God had appeared to the prophets. Timothy replied that the honor shown to God’s man, like the honor shown to other images, rebounds to God and not to the image as such. He uses other examples too, but none is more to the point than the following one: You worship God in a sacred house, and the house is not treated with contempt and you never worship God without reference to it. In remote (places) your minds (and) faces turn towards that devoted place, and even in nearby (places), all around, and everywhere you offer worship to God in that house and yet no one accuses you of worshipping stones. So also everywhere we worship God in the rational image in which He is clothed, and no rational man would accuse us of worshipping creatures. Is it more suitable that God be worshipped in His image, or in lifeless, non-rational stones? If Jesus Christ is the Word and the Spirit of God, [and the Word and Spirit of God] are more fitting for Him than stones without sense or reason, then the worship that is through Christ is more fitting for God.41

From this point the conversation moves to other, related issues. For example, the interlocutor asks about the Christian affirmation of the death of Christ on the cross, an event which the Qur’ān suggests did not in fact happen (cf. IV an-Nisā’ 157). Timothy explains how the Christian affirmation of Christ’s suffering and death does not in fact, according to his own ‘Nestorian’ doctrine, attribute suffering and death to God. Rather, he says, God “is in His body, yet His nature does not suffer or die when His body suffers and dies,”42 any more than God who is MS Vatican Syriac 605, f. 238v. MS Vatican Syriac 605, f. 239v. 42 MS Vatican Syriac 605, f. 242r. 40 41

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everywhere would drown in the sea, be burnt in the fire or be harmed by the plough which furrows the earth. Finally, the interlocutor asks Timothy about the Christian practice of worshipping the cross and about Christ’s own practice of worship and prayer. Regarding the cross, Timothy points out that just as the worshipper in the temple worships God and not the temple, so the Christian who bows before the cross, worships not the cross but Christ, whose icon it is. When the Muslim argues that such practices as worship and prayer on the Messiah’s own part should logically preclude the attribution of divinity to him, Timothy points out the fallacies in the Muslim’s logic; according to Timothy, he misconstrues the proper definitions and applications of the terms of the argument. When they are properly deployed, Timothy argues, Christ’s actions, as the Word and Spirit of God (cf. IV anNisā’ 171), which might seem to be merely human actions, are understood in terms of the Messiah’s intention in performing them. In these instances, for example, his purpose was to teach his disciples, and through his disciples to teach the whole world the proper ways to worship God. Timothy’s letter ends somewhat abruptly. He reports that his interlocutor suddenly stood up, blessed him and said, “Since a great number of people have gathered around us, and here is a stopping point, I will see you again at another gathering.”43 In conclusion, Timothy remarks to Sergius that such contests and conflicts as he has just reported in connection with his encounter with the Muslim enthusiast for Aristotle at the caliph’s court are increasingly common. And he says he will write more on the subject. With this remark he ends the letter, giving glory to God and asking his mercy on the world and on the church.

CONCLUDING COMMENTS Patriarch Timothy’s ‘Letter 40’ to Sergius about his encounter with the un-named devotee of Aristotle at the caliph’s court is an ingenious composition which for the eyes of his Christian reader in one stroke both deconstructs the intellectual pretensions of the Muslim courtier and defends the credibility of Christian teaching against the counter claims of the Muslim mutakallimūn of his day. 43

MS Vatican Syriac 605, f. 244r.

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Timothy says that his interlocutor was a man “possessed of knowledge of nature, who also had abundant instruction in the thinking of Aristotle.”44 One knows, of course, that it was precisely in the days of the caliph al-Mahdī (775-785) and his sons that the Abbasid translation movement began in earnest,45 and it was also at this time that the cultivation of an interest in Aristotle became something of a fad, an intellectual feature of the Abbasid court culture which would support the translation movement and the work of philosophers for generations to come.46 One can imagine that the unknown Muslim courtier was proud of his knowledge of Aristotle, albeit, as we shall elaborate below, that his language and his concerns were very much those of the contemporary Mu‛tazilite mutakallimūn. It is for this reason that Timothy’s very Aristotelian deconstruction of the interlocutor’s positions is particularly devastating. In the letter, it is Timothy himself who emerges as the real Aristotelian. The topical outline of Timothy’s report in ‘Letter 40’ of his conversation with his Muslim partner readily reveals its congruence with the sequence of topics as one finds them in the typical Mu‛tazilite Kalām treatise on at-tawḥīd, one of the major concerns of this school of thought, about which mutakallimūn like Abū lHudhayl al-‛Allāf were arguing with Christian theologians already in Timothy’s day. This typical outline comes into sharp focus for modern scholars not in Islamic texts from Timothy’s day, but only in the works of later Muslim religious thinkers, such as in the Kitāb at-tawḥīd of the Sunnī writer, Abū Manṣūr Muḥammad al-Māturīdī (d. 944) that alone have survived the vicissitudes of time and controversy. Here one can see clearly the typical progression of thought on the topic of at-tawḥīd: the theory of knowledge about God and the world; God’s names and attributes; anthropomorphisms in the scriptures; the refutation of adversaries; and the proofs of prophecy.47 As one can see from the surviving reports of earlier writers, the three main agenda items were: the MS Vatican Syriac 605, f. 216v. See Gutas (1998) 61-74. 46 See H. Kennedy, The Court of the Caliphs: The Rise and Fall of Islam’s Greatest Dynasty (London: 2004) 253-60. 47 See U. Rudolph, Al-Māturīdī und die sunnitische Theologie in Samarkand. Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science, Texts and Studies 30. (Leiden: 1997) especially 221-35. 44 45

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ways of knowing God and the world; the names and attributes of God; and the proofs of prophecy.48 Curiously, but not surprisingly, this topical agenda is also the one to be found in the Christian apologetic texts of the early Islamic period, where in the place of the Muslim concern for the proofs of prophecy, Christian mutakallimūn discussed the doctrine of the Incarnation, just as we have found it in Timothy’s ‘Letter 40’.49 For example, one can find it clearly deployed in Theodore Abū Qurrah’s Arabic treatise, On the Existence of the Creator and the True Religion, probably written early in the ninth century.50 Then some years ago, Ulrich Rudolph called attention to the fact that the Mu‛tazilite topical agenda for the discussion of the doctrine of at-tawḥīd could be discerned as the organizing principle of the first book of the ‘Jacobite’ Moshe bar Kêphâ’s (d.903) Hexaemeronkommentar,51 thereby showing the influence of Muslim thought on the work of contemporary Christian scholars. With the discernment of this same topical agenda in Timothy’s ‘Letter 40’, we can now show that this development in the presentation of Christian thought in the Islamic milieu can be seen to have been underway more than a century before the time of Moshe bar Kêphâ, in one of the earliest Christian texts seriously to confront the intellectual challenge of Muslims to the doctrines and religious practices of the Christians.

See Pines (1996a and 1996b). See S. Griffith, ‘Answering the Call of the Minaret: The Topics and Strategies of Christian Apologetics in the World of Islam.’ In: Die Suryoye und ihre Umwelt: 4. deutsches Syrologen-Symposium in Trier 2004; Festgabe Wolfgang Hage zum 70. Geburtstag. Studien zur Orientalischen Kirchengeschichte 36, ed. M. Tamcke and A. Heinz (Münster: 2005) 1142. 50 See S. Griffith, ‘Faith and Reason in Christian Kalām: Theodore Abū Qurrah on Discerning the True Religion.’ In: Christian Arabic Apologetics during the Abbasid Period (750-1258). Studies in the History of Religions 63, ed. S. K. Samir and J. Nielsen (Leiden: 1994) 1-43. 51 See U. Rudolph, ‘Christliche Bibelexegese und Mu‛tazilitische Theologie: Der Fall des Moses bar Kepha (gest. 903 n. Chr.),’ Oriens 34 (1994) 299-313. 48 49

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Bidawid, R. (1956). Les letters du patriarche nestorien Timothée I. Studi e Testi 187. Rome: Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana. Brock, S. (1999) ‘Two Letters of the Patriarch Timothy from the Late Eighth Century on Translations from Greek,’ Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 9, 233-46. ----(1996). ‘The ‘Nestorian’ Church: A Lamentable Misnomer,’ Bulletin of the John Rylands Library of the University of Manchester 78, 23-35. Cheikho, H. (1983). Dialectique du langage sur Dieu: Lettere de Timothée I (728-823) à Serge: étude, traduction et edition critique. Rome: Pontificio Istituto Orientale. Cook, M. (1981). Early Muslim Dogma. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ----(1980). ‘The Origins of Kalam,’ Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 43, 32-43. van Ess, J. (1991-5). Theologie und Gesellschaft im 2. Und 3. Jahrhundert Hidschra: Eine Geschichte des religiösen Denkens im frühen Islam. 6 vols. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. Fiey, J.-M. (1980). Chrétiens syriaques sous les abbassides surtout à Bagdad (745-1258). CSCO 420. Louvain: Peeters. Frank, R. (1992). ‘The Science of Kalam,’ Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 2 (1992) 9-37. ----(1978). Beings and their Attributes:The Teaching of the Basrian School of the Mu‛tazila in the Classical Period. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. ----(1969) ‘The Divine Attributes according to the Teaching of Abū l Hudhayl al- ‘Allāf,’ Le Muséon 82, 451506. ----(1966). The Metaphysics of Created Being according to Abū lHudhayl al-‛Allāf: A Philosophical Study of the Earliest Kalām. Istanbul and Leiden: Nederlands HistorischArchaeologisch Institut in het Nabije Oosten. Gimaret, D. (1988). Les noms divins en islam: exégèse lexicographique et théologique. Paris: Editions du Cerf. Griffith, S. (2005). ‘Answering the Call of the Minaret: The Topics and Strategies of Christian Apologetics in the World of Islam’. In: Die Suryoye und ihre Umwelt: 4. deutsches SyrologenSymposium in Trier 2004; Festgabe Wolfgang Hage zum 70

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Geburtstag. Studien zur Orientalischen Kirchengeschichte 36, ed. M. Tamcke and A. Heinz. Münster: Lit Verlag: 1142. ----(1994) ‘Faith and Reason in Christian Kalām: Theodore Abū Qurrah on Discerning the True Religion.’ In: Christian Arabic Apologetics during the Abbasid Period (750-1258), Studies in the History of Religions 63, ed. S. K. Samir and J. Nielsen. Leiden: Brill, 1-43. ----(1988). ‘Jews and Muslims in Christian Syriac and Arabic Texts of the Ninth Century,’ Jewish History 3, 65-94. ----(1983). ‘‘Ammār al-Basrī’s Kitāb al-burhān: Christian Kalām in the First Abbasid Century,’ Le Muséon 96, 145-81. ----(1981). ‘Chapter Ten of the Scholion: Theodore Bar Kônî’s Apology for Christianity,’ Orientalia Christiana Periodica 47 158-88. Gutas, D. (1998). Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early Abbasid Society (2nd4th/8th-10th centuries). London and New York: Routledge. Hurst, T. (1987). ‘The Epistle Treatise: An Apologetic Vehicle; Letter 34 of Timothy I.’ In: IV Symposium Syriacum 1984: Literary Genres in Syriac Literature. Orientalia Christiana Analecta 229, ed. H. Drijvers et al. Rome: Pontificium Institutum Studiorum Orientalium: 367-82. ----(1986). The Syriac Letters of Timothy I (727-823): A Study in Christian Muslim Controversy. [Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation; Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America, 1986, University Microfilms International, #8613464]. ----(1981). ‘Letter 40 of the Nestorian Patriarch Timothy I (727-823): An Edition and Translation,’ [Unpublished MA Thesis; Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America, 1981]. Kennedy, H. (2004). The Court of the Caliphs: The Rise and Fall of Islam’s Greatest Dynasty. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. Mingana, A. (1928a). ‘Timothy’s Apology for Christianity,’ Woodbrooke Studies: Christian Documents in Syriac, Arabic and Garshuni; Edited and Translated with a Critical Apparatus II. Cambridge: Heffer, 1-162. ----(1928b) ‘The Apology of Timothy the Patriarch before the Caliph al-Mahdī,’ Bulletin of the John Rylands Library of the University of Manchester 12, 137-226.

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Nyberg, H. (2004) ‘Abū l-Hudhayl al-Allāf,’ Encyclopedia of Islam, new ed. 12 vols. ed. H. Gibb et. al. Leiden: Brill, I: 127-129. Pines, S. (1996a). ‘Some Traits of Christian Theological Writing in Relation to Moslem Kalām and to Jewish Thought.’ In: Studies in the History of Arabic Philosophy [The Collected Works of Shlomo Pines vol. III], ed. S. Stroumsa. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 105-25. ----(1996b). ‘A Note on an Early Meaning of the Term Mutakallim.’ In: Studies in the History of Arabic Philosophy [The Collected Works of Shlomo Pines], ed. S. Stroumsa. The Magnes Press, The Hebrew University: III: 224-40. Putman, H. (1975). L’église et l’islam sous Timothée I (780-823): Étude sur l’église nestorienne au temps des premiers ‘Abbasides, avec nouvelle edition et traduction du dialogue entre Timothée et al-Mahdi. Beyrouth: Dar el-Machreq Éditeurs. van Roey, A. (1946) ‘Un apologie syriaque attribuée à Elie de Nisibe,’ Le Muséon 59 (1946) 381-97. Rudolph, U. (1997). Al-Māturīdī und die sunnitische Theologie in Samarkand. Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science, Texts and Studies 30. Leiden: E.J. Brill. ----(1994). ‘Christliche Bibelexegese und Mu‛tazilitische Theologie: Der Fall des Moses bar Kepha (gest. 903 n.Chr.),’ Oriens 34, 299-313. Theodorus Bar Koni. (1910-1912). Liber Scholiorum, 2 vols. CSCO 55 and 69, ed. A. Scher. Paris: Typographeo Reipublicae. Suermann, H. (2004). ‘Timotheos I, +823.’ In: Syrische Kirchenväter, ed. W. Klein. Stuttgart: Verlag W. Kohlhammer, 152-67. ----(2000) ‘Der nestorianische Patriarch Timotheos I. Und seine theologischen Briefe im Kontext des Islam.’ In: Zu Geschichte, Theologie, Liturgie und Gegenwartslage der syrischen Kirchen. Studien zur Orientalischen Kirchengeschichte 9, ed. M. Tamcke and A. Heinz. Münster: Lit Verlag. ----(1997). ‘Timothy and his Concern for the School of Basos,’ The Harp 10, 51-8. Watt, J. (2004). ‘Syriac Translators and Greek Philosophy in Early Abbasid Iraq,’ The Canadian Society for Syriac Studies Journal 4, 15-26. Watt, W. M. (1973). The Formative Period of Islamic Thought. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

THE GREAT MONASTERY AT MOUNT IZLA AND THE DEFENCE OF THE EASTSYRIAN IDENTITY * FLORENCE JULLIEN ECOLE PRACTIQUE DES HAUTES ETUDES, SCIENCES RELIGIEUSES, PARIS Asserting while confronting: the actions of the monks of the Great Monastery at Mount Izla, centre of Abraham Kashkaraya’s reforms, correspond well to this proverb. Abraham was a monk from Ṭur ‘Abdīn who lived during the sixth century (d. 588). His monastic foundation became one of the principal institutions of East Syrian Christianity, mainly due to the quality of the instruction that the monks received. When reading the sources, the polemical talents of the monks of Izla are frequently noted.1 This paper develops this aspect to highlight its importance for the history of the Church of the East, especially the monastic documentation between the seventh and ninth centuries. One of the aims of Abraham’s reform consisted firstly in distinguishing the monk from other heterodox persons, especially the Syrian Orthodox. At this time, the context was in favour of a disciplinary restoration. Indeed, the rigorous ascetic partisans of Severus of Antioch and Ja‘qub Baradaï, a contemporary of Abraham, had gradually spread through the territories of the Sasanian empire, owing to political and religious circumstances. *Part

of this paper was presented in French at the colloquium, “Controverses des chrétiens dans l'Iran sassanide”, Collège de France, Paris (27 September 2006). 1 F. Jullien, ‘S’affirmer en s’opposant: les polémistes du Grand monastère (VI-VIIe siècle)’, Controverses des chrétiens dans l'Iran sassanide. Studia Iranica. Cahier 36. (Paris: 2008) 29-40.

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‘The Chronicle’ attributed to Joshua the Stylite shows, for example, how the taking of Amid by the Persian troops and the deportations which followed contributed to an expansion of Monophysitism at Mount Izla and Beth-‘Arabaye.2 Furthermore, the East Syrian monastic movement was marginalized at the end of the sixth century, due to Barṣauma; the consequences were felt deeply, especially in north Mesopotamia.3 We are aware of the “relaxed canons” under Acace in 486, that were reiterated by his successor, Mār Bāboy, which officially abolished celibacy for secular priests and deacons.4 Patriarch Isho‘yahb I would say, one hundred years later (585), that “the negligence and the relaxation of the children of our disturbed generation was cause of ruin” for the monasteries built by the Elders.5 Many convents that were opposed to these disciplinary directions went over to Monophysitism. The reform of Abraham of Izla can be seen then as a work of restoration of monasticism within the Church of the East: the Great Monastery became par excellence the bastion of Nestorianism. In this way, the appearance of the monk already appears as a distinctive sign of an engagement. As says the author of the Chronicle of Seert: “It is Abraham who prescribed [to the monks] the tonsure; he changed their costume and the shape of their shoes to distinguish them from the heretics”.6 And elsewhere: “He changed the costume of the monks, to make them distinguish from the heretical monks”.7 What were this costume and this tonsure? W. Wright, The Chronicle of Joshua the Stylite composed in Syriac A.D. 507 (Cambridge: 1882) 42-3. In the Life of the Eastern saints, John of Ephesus, and more later Michael the Syrian, who was influenced by this source, give an idea of the monastic implantations in the Roman area during this period. They mention, in particular, Zeugma, Qenneshrīn and the region of Amida where lived circa a thousand monks. See E. W. Brooks, John of Ephesus. Lives of the Eastern Saints. Patrologia Orientalis 19. (Paris: 1926) 206-27. 3 F. Jullien, Le monachisme en Perse. La réforme d'Abraham le Grand, père des moines de l'Orient. CSCO 622, Subsidia 121 (Louvain: 2008) 1-14. 4 J.-B. Chabot, Synodicon orientale (Paris: 1902) 302-6, 312. Monks were obliged to settle outside towns. Chabot (1902) 55-6 [text], 302-3, 305 [translation]. 5 Chabot (1902) 408. 6 A. Scher, Histoire nestorienne (Chronique de Séert) II/1. Patrologia Orientalis 7 (Paris: 1911) 134 [42]-135 [43]. 7 Scher (1911) 172 [80]. 2

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Regrettably the rules have not preserved many details. For the tonsure, some indications a contrario appear however in the Monophysite rules: the monk must not let his hair grow ; much more, he ought to shave off all and “not leave on his head a crown (klyl’) of hair”.8 In the eyes of Thomas of Marga, the partisans of Severus of Antioch were “shaved” (gry‘’)9 in the context of dissent with the brothers of the Great Monastery. According to Abraham’s will, through tonsure the monk showed his ecclesiastical membership. From the beginning, it seems that Abraham wanted to make his monastery become a “pilot” East Syrian formation centre. The History of Rabban Bar ‘Edta, his first disciple, tells us that Abraham invited his brothers to reject any teacher or doctor who did not confess the doctrine of the “brilliant lights” i.e. Diodore of Tarsus, Theodore of Mopsuestia and Nestorius.10 His successor Dadisho‘ would reiterate this requirement in the preamble to his rules.11 The reference to these three theologians indicates that their works constituted the principal readings in the monastery; Mār Theodore’s commentaries were even learned by heart. Abraham required Bar ‘Edta to recite one book a week, and his biographer reports that this training began with the complete work of Theodore.12 Did they have books of other Christian confessions? This must remain a question. In the fifth century, Rabbula, bishop of Edessa forbade the possession of other books.13 However, given the number of brother polemicists at Izla who wrote theological treaties (against the Severians in particular), it seems likely that the library contained manuscripts expounding theologies that were considered heretical. 8 A. Vööbus, Syriac and Arabic Documents regarding legislation relative to Syrian Asceticism. Papers of the Estonian Theological Society in Exile 11. (Stockholm : 1960) 111, canon 6. 9 E. A. W. Budge, The Book of Governors. The Historia Monastica of Thomas, Bishop of Marga A.D. 840, 2 vols. (London: 1893) I: 91, II: 211. 10 E. A. W. Budge, The Histories of Rabban Hôrmîzd the Persian and Rabban Bar-‘Idtâ 2 vols. (London: 1902) I: 125-6, II: 184-5. 11 Vööbus (1960) 168, canons 1 and 2. 12 Budge (1902) I: 119, II: 173; I: 124, II: 182. They began with the Psalms, repeated word by word, and then the Old and New Testaments. 13 Jullien (2008a) 175.

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The training given in the convent of Abraham first aimed to safeguard the unity of the East Syrian faith. This is why these monks took an active part in the controversies of their time. For example: Guiwarguis (George) the martyr. All sources state that he had been a Zoroastrian and even a doctor of the Magians.14 After his conversion and a theological education at Izla, Guiwarguis became a staunch defender of the faith. He took part, by the drafting of several books, in theological discussions, especially with his former Mazdean co-religionists. Another important monk was Babaï, whose “fame was spread in all the Persian empire”.15 His singular work is primarily doctrinal or polemic. The Chronicle of Seert also insists on the intelligence of Ḥenanisho‘; his contemporaries saying “at that time nobody was similar to Ḥenanisho‘ by the orthodoxy of the doctrine and the ascetic life”. 16 According to the primary sources, the brothers applied themselves to the great theological debates of the Church, primarily with the West Syrians, but also with the Chalcedonians and Messalians. At the time of Abraham's reform, the proChalcedonian positions had spread into the ascetic circles of Beth‘Arabaye and north Mesopotamia. At this epoch, Ḥenanā of Adiabene taught at the school of Nisibis and was critical of Theodore of Mopsuestia’s doctrine.17 His opinions are especially well-known owing to Babaï of Izla who, in his De Unione, castigated Ḥenanā as “the cesspool of all the heresies”.18 Among the students For the history of Guiwarguis Mihr-Māh-Gushnasp, see P. Bedjan, Histoire de Mar-Jabalaha, de trois autres patriarches, d'un prêtre et de deux laïques, nestoriens (Paris: 1895) 416-571. This biography was written by Mār Babaï the Great. 15 A. Scher, Histoire nestorienne inédite (Chronique de Séert) II/2. Patrologia Orientalis 13. (Paris: 1919) 531 [211]. 16 Scher (1919) 535 [215] and J.-B. Chabot, Le livre de la chasteté composé par Jésusdenah, évêque de Basrah. Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire 16 (Rome: 1896) 12. 17 Chabot (1902) 626: “Ḥenanā d'Adiabène, cet homme qui enseigne le fatalisme, prêche la fatalité et profère diverses impiétés avec de honteux blasphèmes (…) Tous les hommes participent à la nature de Dieu, comme l'a dit Origène, le païen des païens”. A. Guillaumont, ‘Justinien et l'Eglise de Perse’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 23-24 (1969-1970) 61. 18 A. Vaschalde (1915) Babai Magni, Liber de Unione. CSCO 79, scriptores syri 34 (Louvain: 1915) 111. 14

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of the school opposed to Ḥenanā, several found refuge in the monastery of Izla.19 Thanks to the chronicler of the Nestorian History, the names of some Ḥenanians against whom several brothers disputed are known: “the dissident Isaïe Taḥlaya and Meskena ‘Arbaya”. 20 East Syrian authority in the Church was also challenged by charismatic itinerants whose success was growing in Mesopotamia and Babylonia. The anonymous Syriac Chronicle attests the outbreak of the Messalian movement in Beth-‘Arabaye, particularly in the southern area of Nisibis, at the end of the sixth century.21 This fact is also confirmed by the synod of Ezechiel in 576 which condemned these troublemakers “covered by the misleading dress of the ascetics”, who “pervert the conscience of the faithful ones”.22 The bishops especially reproach them for preaching contempt of the hierarchy, and for associating with women in their itinerant life. And it was a monk from the Great Monastery who was entrusted with the control of the convents that were suspected of having affinities with the Messalian doctrine. Babaï the Great, third abbot of Izla, was chosen as general inspector by the bishops of Mesopotamia and Babylonia.23 The function of Mār Babaï was a decisive one for the Church of the East as there had been no Catholicos since 609, the year of Mār Grigor’s death. This custodial function was a sort of patriarcal “vicariate”, with the assistance of Mār Aba, the archdeacon.24 Babaï thus appeared as a protector of the Church and because of his work he was proposed as a candidate for the seat of catholicos under the reign of Sheroe Jullien (2008a) 17. Scher (1919) 534 [214]-535 [215]. 21 I. Guidi, “Chronicon anonymum”, Chronica Minora. CSCO 1, scriptores syri 1 (Paris: 1903) 18, translation 17. On sources concerning Messalianism, see M. Kmosko, Liber graduum. Patrologia Syriaca 3. (Paris: 1926) col. CLXIX-CCXCIII, also D. Caner, Wandering, Begging Monk : Spiritual Authority and the Promotion of Monasticism in Late Antiquity. The Transformation of the Classical Heritage 33. (Berkeley : 2002) 150-7. 22 Chabot (1902) 374-5. 23 Budge (1893) I: 51, II: 91. 24 See H. Gismondi, Maris, Amri et Slibae De patriarchis nestorianorum commentaria, Pars Prior (Rome: 1899) 54; Pars altera (Rome: 1897) 30. “Le premier, le chef et le plus distingué [parmi les chrétiens influents du temps de Khosrau II]”. Also Scher (1919) 522 [202]-524 [204]. 19 20

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(628).25 All this testifies the impact and the notoriety of the Great Monastery, the guarantor of East Syrian orthodoxy throughout the whole region of Persia. But, in particular, Abraham’s disciples were confronted by the Syrian Orthodox at various levels. The public theological debates that were organized at the court of Khosrau II, in particular that of 612, are famous and an account was recorded in the acts of the synods.26 Ḥenanisho‘ and Guiwarguis, monks of Izla, were involved in this debate. What appeared to be initially a royal entertainment in fact had a very serious stake: to gain the favour of the monarch for the Church of Persia that had been without a Catholicos for more than six years. There were also what might be termed, “controversies on the ground”, i.e. offensive actions that were waged against the West Syrians. The Syriac sources indicate that the monastic foundations were part of a strategic programme of territorial occupation, with four types of polemical actions:

•

•

•

First: popular preaching. Abraham organized missions to consolidate the faith. The History of Rabban Bar ‘Edta describes in detail such an initiative: Bar ‘Edta was made leader of a group in order to preach in the areas of Marga and Mosul. 27 Secondly: the creation of schools was also part of this plan. In his Life of Maruta of Takrit, the Syrian Orthodox Mār Denḥa describes the action of the “Nestorians of the East—who”, he says, “want to lure the simple ones into their error and to delight the ear of the secular ones by songs and soft modulations … had established a school in each of their villages”.28 Thirdly: the establishment of convents in the Monophysite environment. There are many examples, although the toponyms mentioned in the documentation still need to be decoded. When some brothers left the Great Monastery

Budge (1893) I: 63-4, II: 115-6. Chabot (1902) 585. 27 Budge (1902) I: 128-30, II: 189-91. 28 F. Nau, Histoires d'Aḥoudemmeh et de Marouta, métropolitains jacobites de Tagrit et de l'Orient. Patrologia Orientalis 3 (Paris: 1909) 65-6. 25 26

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after their formation, they settled in the Sinjar mountain, at Bar Ṭura; this was an area in which both Messalian and Syro-orthodox communities were well established.29 Also the monk Bar Kawla, following the death of his master Abraham, went to Kephar-Tuta near Mardin, in the south of Arzanene.30 We learn from the Liber Castitatis that, “This city was famous because of the impiety of Ja‘qub Baradaï, of Severus and Cyrillus”.31 Kawla thus settled in a Monophysite stronghold. Another monk Simeon offers a rare example of success in this kind of action. At the beginning of the seventh century, he left Mount Izla for Shenna (Al-Sin, on the Little Zab).32 There was a Syrian Orthodox bishop in this city, which was an important centre for doctrinal diffusion after Takrīt,33 the seat of the Monophysite Catholicos of the East. Thomas of Marga says that, at the beginning of the ninth century, there were no longer Syrian Orthodox Christians in the city and as he explains this was because of the role and the influence of Simeon's monastery. Shenna had become an East Syrian faith model.34 Fourthly and finally, the most spectacular action was undoubtedly the taking of convents of rival confession, sometimes involving direct confrontations. The History of Rabban Bar ‘Edta reports the taking of East Syrian monasteries in the Ṭur ‘Abdīn by Syrian Orthodox monks led by a man called Zakkaï35 and supported by Gabriel of Singar (whose implication is confirmed by the anonymous Chronicle).36 Zakkaï is presented as a charismatic

29 J.-M. Fiey, Nisibe, métropole syriaque orientale et ses suffragants des origines à nos jours. CSCO 388, Subsidia 54 (Louvain: 1977) 270-1. See also F. Jullien, ‘Réseaux monastiques en Mésopotamie. À propos du pacte de Bar Qaiṭi’, Oriens Christianus 93, 2009 [in press]. 30 Chabot (1896) 33-4, translation. 29, §§ 52-3. 31 Chabot (1896) 20-1, translation 19, § 32. 32 About Shenna, see J.-M. Fiey, Assyrie chrétienne III. (Beirut : 1968) 83-5. 33 Fiey (1968) 29. 34 Budge (1893) I: 303, II: 538. 35 Budge (1902) I: 157, II: 236. 36 Guidi (1903) 22-3; translation 20.

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missionary who did not cease harming the Nestorians, as the historian deplores, with some bitterness.37 The Nestorian Rabban Hormizd went on several occasions to Mār Mattai in order to take provocative action. His biographer relates that he entered one day by subterfuge into the martyrion where the relics of Mattaï rested. Inside, he alleged that he found a small idol—the syriac term ptkrwn’ is a diminutive indicating contempt—in which, it is specified, resided a demon, a symbol of the doctrines of the monastery38. This episode was soon used as a pretext to slander the Syrian Orthodox of Mār Mattai in the cities and villages near the monastery. On another occasion, Hormizd, defender of the faith, destroyed what is presented as the “books of the error”, that were thrown, one by one, in a muddy and nauseous brook (the smell of the heresy, naturally) which then gushed out miraculously in the library!39 The same life of Rabban Hormizd tells another anecdote concerning the confrontations between the monks of these two Christological sides. Near the monastery of Hormizd, in the area of Alqosh, was the Syrian Orthodox convent of Bezqīn (the author refers to it as “the tavern”40). It is said that, in response to the prayers of Hormizd, an earthquake occurred forcing the Syrian Orthodox monks to leave the place. Some East Syrian monks then settled on the site. The narrative detail of the earthquake may conceal the fact that the destruction of the monastery was by the Nestorian monks themselves. It appears that confrontation between the communities adhering to different Christologies reached its climax during the first half of the seventh century. These dissents usually reveal a will of visibility between the various monastic movements; but they also specially testify, concerning the Nestorians monks, what one might call a ‘fight for survival’. The dynamism of these polemists, the monks from the Great Monastery, was a decisive factor in the maintaining of the Church of the East in the territories of northern Iraq. Budge (1902) I: 161, II: 244. Budge (1902) I: 80-2, II: 118-22. 39 Budge (1902) I: 92-4, II: 138-41. 40 Budge (1902) I: 93, II: 138. 37 38

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Bedjan, P. (1895). Histoire de Mar-Jabalaha, de trois autres patriarches, d'un prêtre et de deux laïques, nestoriens. Leipzig: Harrasowitz. Brooks, E.W. (1926). John of Ephesus. Lives of the Eastern Saints. Patrologia Orientalis 19. Paris: Firmin-Didot. Budge, E. A. W. (1902). The Histories of Rabban Hôrmîzd the Persian and Rabban Bar-‘Idtâ, 2 vols. Luzac’s Semitic text and translation, series 9. London. ----(1893). The Book of Governors. The Historia Monastica of Thomas, Bishop of Marga A.D. 840, 2 vols. London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner & co. Caner, D. (2002). Wandering, Begging Monks : Spiritual Authority and the Promotion of Monasticism in Late Antiquity. The Transformation of the Classical Heritage 33. Berkeley, CA.; London: University of California Press. Chabot, J.-B. (1902). Synodicon orientale, ou Recueil de synodes nestoriens. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale. ----- (1896). Le livre de la chasteté composé par Jésusdenah, évêque de Basrah. Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire 16. Rome: École française de Rome. Fiey, J. M. (1977). Nisibe, métropole syriaque orientale et ses suffragants des origines à nos jours. CSCO 388, Subsidia 54. Louvain: Secrétariat du CorpusSCO. ----([1965]-1968) Assyrie chrétienne. Contribution à l’étude de l’histoire et de la géographie ecclésiastiques et monastiques du nord de l’Iraq 3 vols. Beirut: Imprimerie catholique. Gismondi, H. (1896-1899) Maris, Amri et Slibae de patriarchis Nestorianorum commentaria, 2 vols. Rome: C. de Luigi. Guidi, I. (1903-1905). Chronica Minora. CSCO 1, scriptores syri 1. Paris: Typographeo Reipublicae. Guillaumont, A. (1969-1970). ‘Justinien et l’Eglise de Perse’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 23-24, p. 36-66. Jullien, F. (2009). ‘Réseaux monastiques en Mésopotamie. À propos du pacte de Bar Qaiṭi’, Oriens Christianus 93 [in press]. ----(2008a). Le monachisme en Perse. La réforme d'Abraham le Grand, père des moines de l'Orient. CSCO 622, Subsidia 121. Louvain: Secrétariat du CorpusSCO. ----(2008b). ‘S'affirmer en s'opposant: les polémistes du Grand monastère (VI-VIIe siècle)’, Controverses des chrétiens dans

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l'Iran sassanide. Studia Iranica. Cahier 36. Paris: Association pour l'avancement des études iraniennes. 29-40. Kmosko, M. (1926). Liber graduum. Patrologia Syriaca 3:1. Paris: Firmin Didot. Nau, F. (1909) Histoires d'Aḥoudemmeh et de Marouta, métropolitains jacobites de Tagrit et de l'Orient. Patrologia Orientalis 3. Paris: Firmin-Didot. Scher, A. (1919). Histoire nestorienne inédite (Chronique de Séert) II/2. Patrologia Orientalis 13. Paris: Firmin-Didot. ----(1911). Histoire nestorienne inédite (Chronique de Séert) II/1. Patrologia Orientalis 7. Paris: Firmin-Didot. Vaschalde, A. (1915). Babai Magni, Liber de Unione. CSCO 79, scriptores syri 34. Paris: Typographeo Reipublicae. Vööbus, A. (1960). Syriac and Arabic Documents regarding legislation relative to Syrian Asceticism. Papers of the Estonian Theological Society in Exile 11. Stockholm: Etse. Wright, W. (1882). The Chronicle of Joshua the Stylite composed in Syriac A.D. 507. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

MONASTICISM IN IRAQ: THE CULTURAL CONTRIBUTION SEBASTIAN BROCK

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD Christianity reached Iraq well before it reached Britain, and throughout the centuries it has remained a significant presence, right up to the present day, even though numbers are now rapidly diminishing as a result of emigration on a large-scale, especially over the last fifteen years. Today Christianity in Iraq is represented by a number of different indigenous Christian Churches, of which the majority adhere to the Syriac liturgical tradition. These latter divide up into three groups: (1) the Church of the East, which is today divided between those who follow the Old Calendar (the Ancient Church of the East), and those who follow the New Calendar (the Assyrian Church of the East); (2) the Syrian Orthodox Church and (3) the two Eastern Rite Catholic offshoots of the previous two groups, the Chaldean Catholic Church (by far the largest Christian community in Iraq), and the Syrian Catholic Church. The Patriarchs of the Ancient Church of the East and of the Chaldean Catholic Church both reside in Baghdad.1

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND The spread of Christianity westwards, from its home in Palestine, with Greek and Latin as the languages of communication, is well known. What is often forgotten is that it also spread eastwards, using as its literary language the dialect of Aramaic known today as Syriac. Aramaic had already been spoken in the Middle East for more than a millennium and in the sixth century B.C. it was 1

See further, below, for the historical background.

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adopted in the Achaemenid Empire as the standard language of international communication. Official documents in Aramaic from that period survive from places as far apart as Egypt and Afghanistan. By the time of the turn of the Christian era, a number of different written forms of Aramaic had emerged, amongst which were Palestinian Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus, Palmyrene, i.e. the Aramaic dialect of Palmyra, and Syriac, which was the local Aramaic dialect of Edessa (modern Sanliurfa in southeast Turkey). Since Edessa evidently was the most centre of important Aramaic-speaking Christianity in the Eastern Roman Empire, its dialect became the standard literary language of Christianity’s eastward expansion into the Parthian Empire, which approximately corresponded to the area covered by modern Iraq. According to tradition, Christianity was brought to Iraq by Mār Mārī, a disciple of Mār Addai, the traditional founder of Christianity in Edessa. To penetrate behind the accumulation of legend in the accounts of these men is a difficult task, but one can be reasonably sure that Christianity had crossed into the Parthian Empire, long before it was replaced by the Sasanian Empire circa 226. By the early fourth century, the Sasanian winter capital, Seleucia-Ctesiphon (situated to the south of modern Baghdad) had emerged as the seat of the most important bishopric. The first half of that century also produced the first Syriac author from Iraq whose writings survive. The author of twenty-three ‘Demonstrations’, he was generally known as ‘the Persian Sage’, while his real name, either Jacob or Aphrahat, remains uncertain (although today he is generally referred to as Aphrahat). He lived to witness the first serious persecution of Christianity in the Persian Empire that, significantly, took place after Constantine’s conversion and the end of persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. ‘The Acts of Mārī’ were probably written in the late sixth or early seventh century,2 and by that time Christianity had become a significant minority religion within the Persian Empire, and a modus vivendi had been achieved. The only martyrs from this period For an English translation, see A. Harrak, The acts of Mār Mārī the apostle. Translated [from Syriac] with an introduction and notes (Boston: 2005). The historical background has been studied by C. and F. Jullien, Apôtres des confins. Processus missionaires chrétiens dans l’empire Iranian. Res Orientales XV (Bures-sur-Yvette: 2002). 2

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were individual aristocratic Zoroastrians who had converted to Christianity and so earned the ire of their former co-religionists. The sixth century had brought with it two further important developments for Christianity in Iraq. Firstly, within the Roman Empire the two Church Councils, of Ephesus in 431 and of Chalcedon in 451, had been convened by the Roman Emperors at those times in order to end disputes over Christology and to describe the relationship between the divinity and the humanity in the incarnate Christ. As it turned out, however, the Council of Chalcedon in particular met with much opposition in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, and the continuing disputes led to the emergence within Eastern Christianity of a three-way split, which was shortly to become fossilized due to the Arab invasions of the seventh century. As a result, this three-way split is still very much a reality in the modern Middle East, as seen in the following breakdown: (1) Churches which accept the Council of Chalcedon. These are represented by the Latin Catholic, Eastern Rite Catholic, Reformed and Eastern Orthodox Churches. In Iraq this primarily means the Latin Catholic, Chaldean Catholic and Syrian Catholic Churches. (2) Churches which dislike the formula of faith as laid down at the Council of Chalcedon. These include the various Oriental Orthodox Churches, Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian and Syrian Orthodox Churches. In Iraq this primarily means the Syrian Orthodox. (3) Church of the East, which grew up within the Sasanian Empire (i.e. modern Iraq), and thus was not involved in the Councils of the Roman Empire that were convened by the Roman Emperor. In recent decades there has been a schism within this Church; the two groups are called the Ancient Church of the East (following the Old Calendar) and the Assyrian Church of the East (following the New Calendar). The second important development of the sixth century was the revival of monasticism in Iraq, led by Abraham of Kashkar. This led to an enormous number of new monastic foundations in both Iraq and Iran, many of which are listed in a ninth-century

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work known as ‘The Book of Chastity’, by Isho‘dnah of Basra. In the seventh and eighth centuries this gave rise to a flourishing literature on the spiritual life, several of whose authors (most notably Isaac of Nineveh, who originally came from Qatar) are still read with profit today.

MONASTICISM AS A CULTURAL TRADENT One has only to consider the history of Europe to see how important monasticism has been in preserving and promoting culture, both in the field of literature and in that of the arts. Many of the great names in medieval literature and science were monks, and monastic libraries have preserved, not only religious writings, but also all sorts of texts of secular interest and concern. A similar picture is to be found in the Christian Orient.3 There was one short period in the history of the Middle East when scholars-often monks-of the various Syriac Churches played a vital role in the course of intellectual history, providing the link between Greek philosophy and science of Late Antiquity and the Arab world. In the late eighth century, when the early Abbasid Caliphs decided to promote the large-scale programme of translation of Greek philosophical, medical and scientific texts into Arabic, at the beginning they had to make use of the expertise of scholars from the Syriac churches who already had a long tradition of translating technical Greek texts into Syriac, whereas no such tradition for translating directly from Greek into Arabic yet existed. Accordingly the earliest translations were done first into Syriac, and then from Syriac into Arabic, it being much easier to translate from one Semitic language into another, rather than direct from IndoEuropean Greek. It is interesting to note that, nearly a century later, the greatest of the Syriac translators, Hunain ibn Ishaq (d.873) still found it most convenient to work in this way, translating from Greek into Syriac, and then from Syriac into Greek. By the end of the ninth century, however, Muslim scholars had acquired the ability of doing the translations themselves, directly from Greek. Nevertheless, without the work of the Syriac scholars at the initial stages of the ‘translation movement’ (as it has been called), the 3 For the Syriac Churches, see S. Brock et al., The Hidden Pearl: The Syrian Orthodox Church and its Ancient Aramaic Heritage, 3 vols. (Rome: 2001) II: 134-66.

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whole course of Islamic-and of medieval western-philosophy would have been completely different.4 Fortunately we are given a few glimpses of the sense of intellectual excitement at the time through the ‘Letters’ of Timothy I, Patriarch of the Church of the East (780-823). Timothy left a collection of 59 Letters, written in Syriac, not all of which have yet been published. Some of these give details concerning the role of Syriac scholars in the early years of the ‘translation movement’. ‘Letter’ 43, addressed to Rabban Pethion, head of the important theological school of Bashosh (to the north-east of Mosul), opens excitedly with the following words:5 The royal command required of us to translate the Topika of the philosopher Aristotle from Syriac into the Arabic tongue. This was achieved, with God’s help, through the agency of the teacher Abu Nuh. A small part of it was done by us, as far as the Syriac was concerned, whereas he did it in its entirety, both Syriac and Arabic. The work has already reached a conclusion and has been completed. Although there were some others who were translating this from Greek into Arabic ... nevertheless (the Caliph) did not consider it even worth looking at the labours of those other people on the grounds that their (translation) was barbaric, not only in phraseology, but also in sense, whether because of the natural difficulty of the subject - for you are well aware of the style of the philosopher (Aristotle) in matters of logic, and how and to what extent he infuses obscurity into the beauty of his meaning and sense -, or as a result of the lack of training of those who approached the task. For you know the extent and magnitude of the toils and labours which such a task requires! But (the 4 For the importance of the role played by the early translations see, S. Brock, ‘Changing fashions in translation technique: the background to Syriac translations under the Abbasids’, Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies 4 (2004) 3-14. See also the contributions in Centre d’Études et de Recherches Orientales ed., Les Syriaques transmetteurs de civilisation. Antélias: 2005. 5 English translations of ‘Letter’ 43, and ‘Letter’ 48 (quoted below) are given in S. Brock, ‘Two Letters from the Patriarch Timothy from the late eighth century on translations from Greek’, Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 9 (1999) 233-46.

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Caliph) entirely approved of our labours, all the more so when from time to time he compared the versions with each other.

From this it is at once clear that the initiative for undertaking the translation came from the Caliph al-Mahdi, (774-85). Abu Nuh had been a fellow student of Timothy’s, and is known from other sources to have been an important translator. Translators often seem to have worked in pairs, with one reading out a literal oral translation, and the other writing it down in a more reader-friendly form. Whether this was how Timothy and Abu Nuh worked is not entirely clear. It is interesting that, even at this early date, there were people trying to translate directly from Greek into Arabic. From what Timothy says about their work it is clear that it was so crude and unintelligible as to be worthless. Such a result is in fact hardly surprising, given the complete absence of any precedents for direct translation from Greek into Arabic; only later on was the requisite expertise built up. In ‘Letter’ 48, written in 799, Timothy adds further information, for he mentions in passing, “[w]hen we were translating the Book of the Topika into Arabic from Syriac, we had with us some Greeks, and one of them was the Patriarch of the Melkites (i.e. Chalcedonians).” Evidently they were primarily concerned with translating from the original Greek, while Timothy and Abu Nuh were dealing with the second stage, from Syriac into Arabic. They were, however, of assistance to their Melkite colleagues when the latter came across a puzzling Greek term, for they were able to resolve the problem by turning to an earlier Syriac translation of the Topika by Athanasius, the learned Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Athanasius II (680-87). Where would Timothy have found this translation and other translations of Greek philosophy? A clue is provided by several of his Letters where he asks his correspondents to look for manuscripts of particular philosophical, patristic or biblical commentaries, and on several occasions he specifically mentions the Syrian Orthodox Monastery of Mār Mattai as a likely source. In ‘Letter’ 43 Timothy goes on, after the passage quoted above, with the following request: Let your Eminence sagely ask and enquire whether there is some commentary or scholia by anyone, whether in Syriac or not, to this book, the Topika, or to the Refutation of the

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BROCK Sophists, or to the Rhetorika, or to the Poetika; and if there is, find out by whom and for whom it was made, and where it is. Enquiries on this should be directed to the Monastery of Mar Mattai - but the enquiries should not be made too eagerly, lest the information be kept hidden, rather than disclosed, if (the purpose of the enquiry) is perceived.

In his official position as Patriarch of the Church of the East Timothy was likely to be a persona non grata to the Syrian Orthodox monks of Mār Mattai, and accordingly the search for relevant manuscripts would have needed to be done in a discreet and roundabout manner!

THE MONASTERY OF MĀR MATTAI6 The Monastery of Mār Mattai, which still functions today, lies on the slopes of mount Alfaf, to the south-east of Mosul, with its imposing buildings looking out over the Mesopotamian plain to the west.7 Already by the late eighth century it had become the most important Syrian Orthodox monastery in Iraq, and it was renowned for its library holdings. That Timothy should have looked for earlier Syriac translations of Greek philosophical texts is not at all surprising, since it had been certain learned monks of the Syrian Orthodox Church who, in the course of the seventh and early eighth century, had translated, revised and commented on many of the works on logic which constitute Aristotle’s Organon, or ‘Tool’. As Sergius of Resh‘aina, who, in the early sixth century, was one of the first Syriac scholars to translate Greek philosophical and medical works into Syriac, observed: ... without these writings (sc. Aristotle’s logical works) neither can the meaning of medical writings be attained, nor can the opinion of the philosophers be understood, nor indeed can the true sense be uncovered of the divine Scriptures, wherein lies our hope of salvation - unless it should be that someone receives divine ability thanks to the exalted nature of his way of Plate 1. Front view of the monastery of Mār Mattai. On the history of the monastery see J.-M. Fiey, Assyrie chrétienne, vols. I-III (Beirut: 1965-1968) II, 759-70. Also J. Leroy, Monks and Monasteries of the Near East (London: 1963) 172-7. 6 7

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life, with the result that he has no need for human instruction. But education and advancement in the direction of all the sciences, as far as human ability is concerned, cannot take place without the exercise of logic.8

This was something that subsequent scholars of all the Syriac Churches very much took to heart. Almost all of seventh-century Syrian Orthodox scholarship on Greek philosophy had been undertaken in monasteries of the former Eastern Roman Empire, most of which were located in what is today Syria. Once the political boundaries had been radically altered by the Arab invasions, all these monasteries now found themselves under Arab rule, making contact much easier with other Syrian Orthodox monasteries further east, situated, like Mār Mattai Monastery, in the former territory of the Sasanian Empire. It was no doubt thanks to this new political situation that manuscripts containing the fruits of this seventh-century translation activity were able to travel without much difficulty from Syrian Orthodox monasteries in Syria to those, such as Mār Mattai, in Iraq. Timothy mentions Mār Mattai monastery in several of his ‘Letters’ as the place to look for manuscripts of rare works. Among those that he specified are various seventh-century Syrian Orthodox revised translations of writings by the Church Fathers, notably the Corpus attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite9 and the Discourses and Poems of Gregory of Nazianzus.10 Timothy was also interested in secular philosophy, and in another Letter (19) he asks his correspondent to look for a manuscript with Olympiodorus’ Commentary on Aristotle’s Logical works. It is very likely that it was from Mār Mattai Monastery that he managed, indirectly of 8 An English translation of further parts of his (unpublished) Discourse addressed to Theodore on Aristotle’s Categories is given in S. Brock, A Brief Outline of Syriac Literature (Kottayam: 1997) 201-4. 9 ‘Letters’ 16, 33, 37, 43. Summaries of Timothy’s Letters can be found in R. Bidawid, Les Lettres du patriarche nestorien Timothée I [Studi e Testi 187] (Rome: 1956). 10 ‘Letters 17, 22, 24. Other works he requested include John Chrysostom’s Letters (‘Letter’ 20), Athanasius’ Apology for his Flight, Gregory of Nyssa on the death of his sister Macrina, and Eustathius’ Against the Arians (‘Letter’ 39).

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course, to borrow a copy of the massive work of biblical scholarship known as the ‘Syrohexapla’. This was a Syriac translation made circa 615 in a Syrian Orthodox monastery outside Alexandria of Origen’s revised text of the Greek Septuagint that was accompanied by marginal notes giving the readings of various Jewish Greek translations (notably Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion). In ‘Letter’ 47 Timothy tells how he hired six scribes, working with two people who read out the text for the scribes to copy. The work took six months and was both very difficult and expensive; nevertheless it bore fruit, in that subsequent biblical commentators of the Church of the East, such as Isho‘dad of Merv, writing in the 9th century, made excellent use of it as a valuable exegetical resource. In passing, it is worth mentioning that, in the same letter, Timothy described a recent discovery near Jericho of ‘Dead Sea Scrolls’, a forerunner of the famous discoveries of the mid twentieth century.11 A certain number of manuscripts copied at Mār Mattai still survive, though none of these are older than the thirteenth century. The earliest of these is an illustrated Gospel Lectionary in the Vatican Library (Sir. 559).12 This luxury work was commissioned by the abbot of the monastery, Rabban ’Abdallah, and was completed by the scribe Mubarak on Saturday, the beginning of May in the year 12-0. Unfortunately the figure for the decade is ambiguous, and it could be read either as 1220 or as 1260. The earlier date was usually assumed to be the correct one, until the late Jean-Maurice Fiey, the great authority on the history of Syriac Christianity in Iraq, pointed out that the portrait of Constantine and his mother Helena,13 included in the cycle of miniatures, looked as if it had been modelled on the Mongol khan Hulagu and his Christian wife, Doquz Khatun, which would only be possible if the date were read as 1260.14 From about the eleventh century the Monastery of Mār Mattai became the seat of the senior Syrian Orthodox bishop in 11 An English translation of this fascinating ‘Letter’ can be found in Brock (1997) 245-50. 12 J. Leroy, Les manuscrits syriaques à peintures, vols. I-II (Paris: 1964) I: 280-302. 13 Leroy (1964) II: 99, fig.2. 14 J.-M. Fiey, ‘Iconographie syriaque: Hulagu, Doquz Khatun ... et six ambons?’, Le Muséon 88 (1975) 59-68.

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Iraq, and it is thanks to this that the greatest of all Syriac scholars, Mār Gregorius Yuhanon bar ‘Ebroyo (better known in the West as Gregory Bar Hebraeus), was buried there after his death in 1286. One of the most learned men of his day, he was the author of encyclopaedic works on medicine, astronomy, philosophy and grammar, as well as on theology and biblical studies.

THE MONASTERY OF MĀR SABRISHO‘ AND THE UPPER MONASTERY The Church of the East had a number of monasteries likewise famous for their scholarship. Two important ones that are no longer functioning are the Monastery of Sabrisho‘, close to the Greater Zab river, and the Monastery of Mār Gabriel in Mosul, better known as the ‘Upper Monastery’. The Monastery of Sabrisho‘ was founded in the early seventh century, and was in existence for about a thousand years (though on occasion it was temporarily destroyed through raids).15 Among the small number of surviving manuscripts that were written at this monastery is a very important work of biblical scholarship; this is a manuscript of the New Testament, completed in 768, which contains the only known example of the so-called ‘Euthalian’ material from the Church of the East (it is slightly better known from Syrian Orthodox manuscripts). This material consists of learned notes, mainly on the Pauline Letters, which (among other things) identify Paul’s quotations from pagan writers. It was while he was staying at this monastery that the Uighur monk Markos, who had set out from Beijing with his companion Rabban Sawma as envoys of the Mongol Il-Khan,16 received the prophecy that he would end up as Catholicos-Patriarch of the Church of the East. This indeed proved to be the case, for he was shortly afterwards elected, taking the name Yahballaha III (1281-1317). The two latest surviving manuscripts written at the monastery of Sabrisho‘ are both dated 1461, one being written on 16th June, the other on 17th July of that year; the former is a copy of Fiey (1965) I: 130-57. The fascinating account of their journeys survives in Syriac, with an English translation by E.A.W. Budge, The Monks of Kublai Khan (London: 1928). 15 16

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a famous group of elaborate poems known as the Paradise of Eden, by ‘Abdisho‘ of Nisibis (d.1318). Little is known of the history of the ‘Upper Monastery’ in Mosul. It was probably a foundation of the seventh century, and it continued in existence probably until some time in the thirteenth century, when it was destroyed. No manuscript known to have been written there survives, but a very large number of liturgical manuscripts contain the statement that the rite which they are copying is ‘according to the rite of the Upper Monastery, that is, the Monastery of Mār Gabriel and Mār Abraham near Mosul’. Evidently the liturgical tradition of the Monastery at some time came to provide the norm for many of the most important liturgical books of the Church of the East. When or how this came about, however, remains a mystery.17

THE MONASTERY OF RABBAN HORMIZD18 Probably the most famous monastery of the Church of the East in Iraq is that of Rabban Hormizd, a little north of Alqosh (itself to the north of Mosul).19 Its founder, Rabban Hormizd, belongs to the seventh century and was one of the many monastic founders of that period. Some precious insights into the life of the monastery in the tenth century are to be found in the Biography of Rabban Joseph Busnaya, who spent quite a number of years in this monastery, before moving on elsewhere. A considerable number of manuscripts written at the Monastery of Rabban Hormizd still survive, the oldest being from the thirteenth century. Four of these happen to have been written by the same scribe, the priest and monk Daniel, and all consist of Gospel Lectionaries written for different monasteries: one (dated 1208) was specifically written for the Monastery of Beth ‘Abhe, which is a little surprising, since that famous monastery20 had its own scribal tradition and a fine example of a Gospel Lectionary written there in 1218 survives today in the Chester Beatty Collection, Dublin (ms 4). J.-M. Fiey, Mossoul chrétienne (Beirut: 1959) 126-32. Plate 2. Approach to Rabban Hormizd monastery. 19 Fiey (1965) II: 533-48; Leroy (1963) 164-72. 20 Fiey (1965) I: 236-48. 17 18

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By the end of the fifteenth century the Monastery of Rabban Hormizd had become the seat of the Catholicos-Patriarchs of the Church of the East, and it was a monk of this monastery, Sulaqa, who was elected in 1552 as a rival Catholicos to the unpopular Simeon VII. Sulaqa, who travelled to Rome in 1553, thus became the first of a separate line of Chaldean Patriarchs. The Monastery of Rabban Hormizd, however, remained under the control of the other line, whose Patriarchs were buried there, their tombs being provided with long and informative inscriptions.21 In the course of the eighteenth century the monastery suffered a number of serious raids and had to be abandoned. In 1808, however, the monastic life there was re-established by the Chaldean monk Gabriel Danbo (d.1832). Further raids, however, following (in one of which Gabriel Danbo was himself killed), and in 1858 a new monastery, dedicated to Our Lady of the Seeds, was founded much closer to Alqosh.22 This flourished for a century or so, but eventually, owing to increasing unrest in northern Iraq, its rich library had to be transferred to Baghdad. The clergy of Alqosh played a very important role in the development of Modern Syriac as a written language. By the sixteenth century the spoken forms of Syriac had become vastly different from Classical Syriac, and it was towards the end of that century that the priest Israel of Alqosh initiated the idea of writing down poetry in the vernacular dialect, rather than in the classical language. In doing so he initiated a tradition that continues up to the present day.23

J-M Vosté, ‘Les inscriptions de Rabban Hormizd et de Notre Dame des Semences, près d’Alqosh, Iraq’, Le Muséon 43 (1930) 263-316. English translations are given in A. Harrak, ‘Patriarchal funerary inscriptions in the monastery of Rabban Hormizd’, Hugoye [http://syrcom.cua.edu/Hugoye] 6:2 (2003). 22 Plate 3. Inner courtyard of ‘Our Lady of the Sown’. 23 See examples, with English translation, in A. Mengozzi, Israel of Alqosh and Joseph of Telkepe. A Story in a Truthful Language. Religious Poems in Vernacular Syriac. CSCO 589-90 (Leuven: 2002). 21

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THE MONASTERY OF MĀR BEHNAM The Monastery of Mār Behnam, some twenty miles south of Mosul, is unique among the monasteries of Iraq in that a considerable part of it goes back to large-scale restoration undertaken in the mid thirteenth century.24 Significantly, this was a period of great artistic activity in nearby Mosul under the Atabeg ruler Lu’lu’ (1233-59). A very distinctive feature of the restoration was the extensive use of carved inscriptions in very elegant Syriac script.25 Included in these inscriptions are the names of the two main artists, the monks Abu Salem and Ibraham. We also learn that a contribution to the expenses was made by a woman named Bahiya, who is described as the widow of Muqadder, evidently a local layman of distinction. The earlier history of the Monastery is clouded in obscurity, and the same applies to the saint after whom it is named: Behnam and his sister Sarah are said to have been the children of Sennacherib, king of Nimrud. The children are converted by Mār Mattai (who probably lived in the fourth century), after he had healed Sarah of an illness. In fury their father killed them, but then, struck by illness, he and his wife Shirin also converted. Whether there are any historical grains that can be gleaned from this dramatic story remains doubtful; nevertheless Behnam and Sarah enjoyed great popularity as saints, and the monastery named after them also became associated in Muslim eyes with the folk-hero alKhidr. It was perhaps this association that saved the monastery from raids, though a Syriac inscription of 1295 in the monastery tells how ‘the victorious king Khan Baidu’ looted the monastery and committed many massacres in the region. Subsequently, however, the abbot Jacob went in person to the Il-Khan and managed to get the plundered treasures restored, as offerings to the saint. Evidently he must have suggested to Baidu that there was a link between Mār Behnam and al-Khidr, since shortly after that Baidu ordered an inscription in Uighur (a Turkic language) to be

24 Fiey (1965) II: 565-609. Also Leroy (1963) 177-83 (though the date given for the main restoration, 1164, is incorrect). 25 Plate 4. Doorway, Mār Behnam monastery.

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put up, reading, ‘May the happiness and praise of Khidr Elias befall and settle on the Il-Khan and the nobles and the noble women’.26 A certain number of manuscripts written at the Monastery of Mār Behnam survive, the oldest of which go back to the sixteenth century. Of particularly interest is a manuscript of 1651 that is still in the monastery: this is extremely unusual in being a complete Bible, containing both Old and New Testaments.27 Complete New Testament manuscripts are not uncommon, but there are only five complete Old Testaments older than the seventeenth century, and none of these (at least today) have the New Testament as well. It so happens that there are several complete Old Testament manuscripts of the seventeenth century, but these are all the work of Maronite scholars who were working under the influence of European scholars. Thus, this Syrian Orthodox manuscript is all the more remarkable. Raids in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries led eventually to the cessation of the monastic life in the monastery. In 1839 the monastery passed into Syrian Catholic ownership, but it was not until the twentieth century, with the appointment (in 1934) of Monsignor Ephrem Abdal as abbot, that new life was breathed into the monastery.28 In recent years yet further restorations have taken place.

CONCLUSION In the seventh and eighth centuries there were literally hundreds of flourishing monasteries in Iraq; many of these surviving until at least the late thirteenth century. It would seem that the fourteenth century, with Mongol raids and destruction, together with the spread of the Black Death, led to a rapid decline. Only a rather small number of monasteries managed to survive when the general situation began to improve at the very end of the fourteenth century. The eighteenth century was again a time when 26 A. Harrak and N. Ruji, ‘The Uighur inscription in the mausoleum of Mar Behnam’, Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies 4 (2004) 66-72. 27 For a photograph see, R. Fischer (ed.), A Tribute to Arthur Vööbus (Chicago, 1977) Plate 1. 28 His 1951 monograph, written in Arabic, remains the most detailed history of the monastery.

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several long-lived monasteries, such as that of Rabban Sabrisho‘, finally disappeared from the scene, the victims of repeated raids and lawlessness. The late nineteenth century witnessed a remarkable revival of scribal activity,29 and it was thanks to these copyists that a number of important works are known today, seeing that the medieval manuscripts which they were copying from have subsequently been destroyed, either during the first world war, or indeed more recently. As a result of the tragic events surrounding the history of the Church of the East in the twentieth century, monasticism has disappeared (one hopes, only temporarily) from that Church, but it still remains a vital feature in the life of the

other Syriac Churches.

LISTING OF PLATES Plate 1. Front view of the monastery of Mār Mattai. Plate 2. Approach to Rabban Hormizd monastery. Plate 3. Inner courtyard of ‘Our Lady of the Sown’. Plate 4. Doorway, Mār Behnam monastery.

BIBLIOGRAPHY d’Ancona, C. (2005). ‘Le traduzioni di opere greche e la formazione del corpus filosofico arabo: Le traduzioni dal greco in siriaco.’ In: Storia della filosofia nell’Islam medievale, ed. C. d’Ancona. Einaudi: I: 180-91. Baumer, C. (2006). The Church of the East. An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity. London: IB Tauris. Brock, S. (2004). ‘Changing fashions in translation technique: the background to Syriac translations under the Abbasids’, Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies 4: 3-14.

29 Many of the copyists, however, were village priests or deacons, rather than monks.

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(1999). ‘Two Letters from the Patriarch Timothy from the late eighth century on translations from Greek’, Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 9: 233-46. ----(1997). A Brief Outline of Syriac Literature. Kottayam: SEERI. Brock, S. et. al. (eds.) (2001). The Hidden Pearl: The Syrian Orthodox Church and its Ancient Aramaic Heritage, I-III. Rome: Transworld Films. Centre d’Études et de Recherches Orientales (ed.) 2005: Les Syriaques transmetteurs de civilisation. Antélias: CERO. Le Coz, R. (2004). Les médecins nestoriens au moyen âge: les maîtres des arabes. Paris: Comprendre le Moyen Orient. Fiey, J.-M. (1975) ‘Iconographie syriaque: Hulagu, Doquz Khatun ... et six ambons?’, Le Muséon 88: 59-68. ----(1965-8) Assyrie chrétienne I-III. Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique. ----(1959). Mossoul chrétienne. Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique. Harrak, A. (2005) The Acts of Mār Mārī the Apostle. Society of Biblical Literature. Leiden: Brill/Atlanta. ----(2003) ‘Patriarchal funerary inscriptions in the monastery of Rabban Hormizd’, Hugoye 6:2 [http://syrcom.cua.edu Hugoye]. Harrak, A. and Ruji, N. (2004). ‘The Uighur inscription in the mausoleum of Mar Behnam’, Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies 4: 66-72. Hugonnard-Roche, H. (2005). ‘Textes philosophiques et scientifiques’, in Centre d’Études et de Recherches Orientales ed., Nos Sources: arts et littératures syriaques. Sources syriaques I. Antélias: CERO: 475-509. ----(2004). La logique d’Aristote du grec au syriaque. Paris: Vrin. Leroy, J. (1964). Les manuscrits syriaques à peintures, I-II. Paris: Geuthner. ----(1963). Monks and Monasteries of the Near East. London: Harrap. Rassam, S. (2005). Christianity in Iraq. Leominster: Gracewing. Saliba, G. (2004). ‘Revisiting the Syriac role in the transmission of Greek sciences into Arabic’, Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies 4: 27-32. Troupeau, G. (1991). ‘Le rôle des syriaques dans la transmission et l’exploitation du patrimoine philosophique et scientifique grec’, Arabica 38: 1-10.

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Vosté, J-M. (1930). ‘Les inscriptions de Rabban Hormizd et de Notre Dame des Semences, près d’Alqosh, Iraq’, Le Muséon 43: 263-316. Watt, J. (2004). ‘Syriac translators and Greek philosophy in early Abbasid Iraq’, Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies 4: 15-26. Yousif, E.I. (2003). La floraison des philosophes syriaques. Paris: L’Harmattan. ----(1997). Les philosophes et traducteurs syriaques. D’Athènes à Bagdad. Paris: L’Harmattan.

DER MAR BEHNAM: THE MONASTERY OF SAINT BEHNAM SUHA RASSAM LONDON

The monastery of Mār Behnam is located in the plain of Mosul about 10 kilometers east of the ancient city of Nimrud and 35 kilometers south east of the city of Mosul, at the point where the tributary of the river Tigris, al-Zab al-Kabir meets the river Tigris near a village called al-Khidr. The monastery is named after a famous martyr of northern Iraq, Behnam, whose date of martyrdom is given as 10 December 352. The story of his conversion to Christianity and martyrdom is recorded in ‘The History of the Unknown Edessene’ and is available in various manuscripts that are dated between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries now found in repositories in Europe and the Middle East. Francis Jahūla has listed extant Syriac and Karshuni manuscripts that include the story of Mār Behnam.1 European repositories include:2 • The British library, London Jahūla notes that five manuscripts are held in the British Library

1 F. Jahūla, The Life of the Hero Martyrs, Prince Behnam and his Sister Princess Sarah (Qaraqōsh: 2005) 11 and repeated on 49. 2 Editor’s note: As well as the Syriac lives, two lives of Mār Behnam, written in Karshuni, are in the University Library, Cambridge. Add 2881 and Add 2885 are dated 1795 (Greek) and 2083 (Greek), i.e. 1484 and 1771 respectively. See W. Wright, A Catalogue of the Syriac Manuscripts preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge (Cambridge: 1901) II: 714 and 728.

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with three of the manuscripts having colophon details. 3 (i) the oldest copy is dated 1197, was prepared by the monk Yousif from Der Bar Soma in Homs, Syria. Another copy was written in 1199 by the monk Zakka in the Monastery of the Mother of God in Egypt.4 (ii) A third copy was made in Der Walidat Allah in Raha mountain during the 12th and 13th centuries.5 Two other manuscripts are dated to the 12th and 13th centuries, but supply no details re place of copying or copyist.6 • Bibliotheque Nationale: ms. Syr. 183 Jahūla notes that two copies were prepared by Constantine ibn Yaqub in Antioch between 1112-1192. Index in Paris Library: no. 234/3 [page 182].7 • Staatsbibliothek, Berlin; 1 manuscript This manuscript was used as the prime text by P. Bedjan, Acta Martyriorum et Sanctorum, 7 vols. in 4 (Paris: 1890-7) II:10.8 •

Vatican Library, Rome: 1 manuscript

Jahūla (2005) 11. Editor’s note: W. Wright, Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum acquired since the Year 1838 (London: 1870-2) III: 1138 records that the manuscript [Add 14,733] was written in a “good regular hand, dated Gr 1510, AD 1199”. Fol. 32a states that the provenance of the manuscript in the convent of Sr. Mary Deipara in the desert of Scete and that the copyist was a native of arfsq amr|k near Tekrit. 5 Editor’s note: Wright (1870-2) III: 1148 records that the manuscript [Add 14,735] which was written in a “rather inelegant hand of the xiith or xiiith century” includes a history of the martyr Behnam and makes a cross-reference to Add. 14,733. Wright details that the manuscript was written in the convent of St Mary Deipara which was called ayn|ska tyb near Edessa. A marginal note, on the same page, indicates a later transfer to the Scetan desert, by informing that the manuscript belonged to the “Syrian” (ayy|rWs) convent of S. Mary Deipara which was “in the desert” (arbdmB). 6 Editor’s note: Wright (1870-2) III: 1120 records that the manuscript [Add 12, 174] was written in “a good current hand of about the xiith century”. The story of Mār Behnam’s martyrdom is listed as no. 70 (fol. 400a-fol. 410b) in this collection of saints’ lives. 7 Jahūla (2005) 49. 8 P. Bedjan, Acta Martyriorum et Sanctorum (Syriac Text), 7 vols in 4 (Paris: 1890-7) II: 397-441 reproduces the Syriac text. 3

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Bedjan also used this manuscript in the above work, collating it with the Berlin copy. 9 Middle Eastern repositories divide between Iraq and The Lebanon: • Der Mār Behnam, Iraq: 2 manuscripts10 • Der al-Sayyida, Iraq: 3 manuscripts. These are nos. 212, 214 and 217 in the index of the Chaldæan Library that was prepared by Father Fossi11 • Several copies in the al-Ṭahira church, Qaraqōsh, Iraq12 • Der al-Sharfa, The Lebanon: 1 manuscript13 • Maronite Patriarchate library, The Lebanon: 1 manuscript14 • Syrian Catholic library, Sharfa, The Lebanon15

THE STORY OF MĀR BEHNAM IN THE ‘THE HISTORY OF THE UNKNOWN EDESSENE’: Behnam, the son of king Senharib [Sennacherib] of Athur [Assyria], went out on a hunting trip with his retinue. The chase of a stag, led them to the foot of a mountain, where they became exhausted and stayed overnight in a cave. There, an angel told Behnam in a dream that a saint, Mār Matta, who lived in the mountain, would lead him to the path of truth. In the morning, he and his companions looked for the saint and listened to what he had to say. In order to be convinced, Behnam asked Mār Matta to cure his sister from a chronic skin disease. The saint retorted, ‘you have to believe in order to be healed’. The sister was brought to the saint, believed and was cured after immersing her in the water of a spring that flowed when the saint hit the ground with his stick. Behnam, together with his sister and companions were baptised there and then by Mār Matta. When the king heard that his children had abandoned the religion of their ancestors [Zoroastrianism], he 9 Editor’s note: Bedjan (1890-7) II: X states, “L’Histoire de Mar Behnam a été copiée sur le manuscript de Berlin et collationée à Rome”. 10 Jahūla (2005) 49, but gives no further details. 11 Jahūla (2005) 49. 12 Jahūla (2005) 49 but supplies no further details. 13 Jahūla (2005) 49 gives this as Bakarki Library no. 15, 251. 14 Jahūla (2005) 49 records as Bakarki Index no. 160. 15 Jahūla (2005) 49. Editors note: see I. Armalah, Catalogue des manuscrits de Charfet : Publié à l’occasion du 150e anniversaire de l’installation du siège patriarcal à Charfet, 1786-1936 (Paris: 1936) 219, no. 17/11.

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ordered their execution. As they fled the palace, they were followed by the king’s soldiers and were killed at the site where a tomb and a monastery were built at a later date. The king lost his mind after the death of his children and was taken by the queen to the site of their martyrdom. Mār Matta was called and cured the king from his insanity who then converted to Christianity and built a monastery for Mār Matta in Mountain Maqlūb where he and his monks lived. The queen built a tomb at the site of the martyrdom of her children which soon became famous for cures and attracted crowds of sick people seeking healing. A man from Persia called Ishaq was on his way to Jerusalem when he heard of the cures that were happening at the site. He stopped overnight as he had a slave who was possessed. There, he was told in a dream by Mār Behnam himself to build a monastery. This the king did with the help of the queen. This story has undergone extensive criticism16, with prevailing opinion being that it was transmitted to written form some eight hundred years after the date of martyrdom, probably in the second half of the 12th century by a monk from Der Mār Matta as more importance is given to Mār Matta than to Mār Behnam, his sister and his martyred friends. Behnam Soni who provided an index of the manuscripts of the library, states that no mention is made of any books related to Mār Behnam before the twelfth century. This does not mean that other versions of the story, including oral, did not exist beforehand. However, Khisron alRahhawi, a famous monk and calligrapher, who lived and was buried in Der Mār Behnam (d.1139) does not write about previous manuscripts of the monastery or the story of Mar Behnam.17 Furthermore, Yuhanna, Bishop of Mardin (1125-1165), states that there was no written history of Mār Behnam before the 12th century.18 There is evidence that oral versions existed beforehand, probably dating from the seventh century, but the oldest historical reference that tells the story occurs in the aforementioned ‘The 16 For detailed analysis and the significance of the story see: Y. Ḥabbī. (1990). ‘Mār Behnam between the event and the story’. In: The Monastery of the Martyr Behnam. The Book of the Sixteenth Hundred Jubilee, ed. G. Kassmousa (Diwan Press: Baghdad) 111-37. 17 Ḥabbī (1990) 130. Also J.-M. Fiey, Assyrie chrétienne, 3 vols in 2 (Beirut: 1965) II: 1683. 18 Ḥabbī (1990) 134.

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History of the Unknown Edessan’ (al-Rahawi al-Majhūl).19 Whatever doubts exist about the accuracy of the details of the story as we have it, the reality of the existence of Mar Behnam is not doubted. Mār Behnam was enlisted amongst the saints of the Eastern Churches from early times including the Coptic and Armenian Churches.

THE MONASTERY SITE AND ITS SURROUNDS The archaeologist, Behnam abu al-Souf20 and Yousif Dhanoun21 have described the site as consisting of three main parts: 1. An oval shaped hill called Tel al-Khidr. 2. The Gibb which contains the tomb of Sara & Behnam at the foot of the northern part of the hill. 3. The monastery with its church. 1. The hill or Tel al-Khidr: The oval-shaped hill, extending from east to west, is no more than five meters high. The shape of the hill, suggests to the onlooker that it probably hides within it a church, especially since churches were usually built with their direction facing the east. This could only be confirmed by a full archaeological examination, although excavations at the base of the hill, near the tomb, have revealed remnants of buildings possibly passing through the sequence of the Hassuna, Ubaid, Warka’, Akkadian, Assyrian, and Sassanid periods.22 Examinations at the top of the hill, have revealed bricks with designs that point to their origin from the Atabeg period. The same style of bricks can be seen incorporated within the walls of the tomb and the present church in the monastery. It is thought that the site may originally have been an ancient temple or a shrine. It has also been suggested that the personality of al-Khidr after which the hill is named is related to an ancient Mesopotamian legend. Alternatively the name might be Ḥabbī (1990) 134. Bayn al-Nahrayn (1985) 49-50. 21 Bayn al-Nahrayn (1985) 49-50. 22 B. Abu al-Souf, “The archaeology of Monastery of Mar Behnam”. In: The Monastery of the Martyr Behnam. The Book of the Sixteenth Hundred Jubilee, ed. G. Cassmousa (Baghdad: Diwan Press) 280. 19 20

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attributed to the prophet Elijah who is famous for his miracles. Mār Behnam has been called Khidr Alyas It might be mentioned that the Yezidis also revere Mār Behnam and his monastery, calling it ‘the monastery Der Khidr Alyas’. Every year, they fast for three days in his honour, celebrate his feast and come to visit the monastery bringing their offerings. They inhabited the monastery in the late eighteenth century when the Syrian Orthodox bishopric was moved to Der al-Za’faran. 2. The tomb or al-Gibb: The area known as al-Gibb includes the tombs of Sara and Behnam, together with a small church, at the base of the northern border of Tel al-Khidr. It is accessed by steps that reach the ground level, three metres below. The tombs are in the southern face of the room where there is an opening that leads to a pit. The presence of such a depression in the ground, connected to the burial-spot of the saints is probably behind the idea that there was a tunnel between the palace of the king in Nimrud and the site. Behnam and his party are alleged to have escaped through this tunnel when they heard that the king intended to kill them. However, archaeologists have not been able confirm its presence. Alternatively, the pit could be the site of a well, connected to an ancient temple, into which the bodies of the martyrs were thrown. It could also be the entrance to a small church attached to a collective tomb that was dug three meters under the ground according to ancient Mesopotamian custom. Such a church would be within the hill that awaits excavation. Both the tomb and the church are decorated with various designs and calligraphy in Estrangelo Syriac, Arabic and Uighur that date to the Atabeg period of the 12th and 13th centuries. 3. The main church and the monastery The main church and monastery are situated at a short distance west of the tomb. After the modern entrance the monastery consists of two parts: a large courtyard, the church and twenty-five guest-rooms and secondly a large courtyard and rooms where the monks live. It used to be exclusively for the monks but recently a new wing has been added with a hall for gatherings and meetings.

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The church is one of the most beautiful ancient churches in the Middle East, with elaborate decorations on its facade and interior. Intricate designs, sculpture and images, from the Atabeg period, are carved in marble.23 The many inscriptions are incised in Estrangelo Syriac, Arabic, Uighur, as well as old Armenian shedding light on the monastery’s medieval history. One inscription, written in both Eastrangelo Syriac and Uighur tells of the monastery’s looting by the Mongols in 1295.24 When Ilkhan Baidu subsequently visited, he commanded the return of stolen articles and ordered an inscription that reads: ‘May the happiness and praise of Khidr Alyas settle on the Il-Khan and the nobles and noble women’. The spring of Sarah. Three kilometres from Der Mār Behnam’s monastery in the direction of Der Mār Matta is ‘the spring of Sarah’. It is not part of either the sites of the Mar Behnam and Mār Matta monasteries. However its proximity to both, its fame for cures and the fact that it carries the name of Sarah who was cured after her immersion is relevant.

EARLIEST HISTORY OF THE MONASTERY The earliest available written reference to this monastery dates to the tenth century. The building as it stands now dates to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.25 The present church has been renovated and extended twice. The original church includes the southern part of the present church only and is thought to date back to the tenth century. The first extension dates from the 13th century, whilst the second extension occurred either at the end of the 13th or beginning of the 14th centuries. It was at this time that the tomb, in its present form, was built and in which were placed the remains of the saints. The original tomb should be underneath the present one in the area known as al-Gibb. Plate 1: Detail of carved lintel, Mār Behnam monastery. A. Harrak and N. Ruji, ‘The Uighur inscription in the mausoleum of Mar Behnam’, Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies 4: 66-72. 25 Jahla (1990) 167-80. 23 24

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Piecing together the information about the site and the story of Mar Behnam, the most likely sequence of events is: 1. The very first beginnings of the monastery is a small place at the burial spot of Saint Behnam, his sister and friends at which a tomb was built, possibly by the king and the queen after their conversion, at the end of the fourth century. 2. The sick started to come to this site seeking healing. As the number of cures increased so did the number of visitors. One of them, a rich trader called Ishaq, built some rooms which became attached to a place of worship, a small church. This probably occurred in the seventh century. 3. At the end of the 10th century, the Syrian Orthodox Christians of Tikrit were persecuted and many fled to the north of Iraq. Some settled in Qaraqōsh, others in Mosul. During this period, the monks of these communities began to take an interest in building the monastery. Since the Tikritis were educated and rich, they made efforts to decorate the church and the tomb. From then on the monastery became famous.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE MONASTERY AND ITS LATER HISTORY Apart from its importance, both as a place of healing and a monastery housing hundreds of monks over the centuries, Der Mār Behnam became the residence of the Maphrian of the Syrian Orthodox Church during the years 1415-1508 CE and was the seat of the ‘Bishopric of Der Mār Behnam and Bēth-Khudēdā’ from 1576-1782 CE. In 1782, Bishop Hindi ibn Ishaq Zora al-Mosili moved the centre of his bishopric to Der al-Za’faran, in view of disturbances in security and lack of support from the citizens of Qaraqōsh. Following the desertion of the monastery by the Syrian Orthodox leadership, the Yazidis inhabited it for a time. However, in 1798 the Patriarch Matti al-Mardini took control of it under the aegis of a special firman from the Ottoman authorities. He appointed one of the monks of Der Mār Matta as Abbot, but Der Mār Behnam was attacked again during the famine of 1814. When the Syrian Catholic Church emerged from the Syrian Orthodox Church in the ninteenth century, the churches and

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monasteries were divided between the two denominations by the wāli of Mosul. This division was confirmed by a firman from Sultan Abdul Majid in 1839 that allocated Der Mār Matta to the Syrian Orthodox and Der Mār Behnam to the Syrian Catholics. In 1900 the Syrian Catholic Patriarch visited his community in Iraq and renovated the monastery, encouraging people to become monks. Consequently, cenobitic life returned to the monastery after an absence of over a hundred years. During World War I, the monastery served as a hospital for the Ottomans and welcomed many guests. When the Dominicans closed their doors in Mosul because of the war, the students of the Syrian Catholic Church were moved to the monastery and continued their training as priests under the direction of Behnam Qalian, the Abbot of Der Mār Behnam. Between 1936-1965 the Abbot, Aphram Abdal, was active and influential in restoring the monastery and making it a spiritual centre where the priests and faithful could meet on retreat. He worked towards enlisting it as a national monument at the Iraqi Department of Antiquities and produced a brochures for tourist purposes in Arabic, English, French and German. He also wrote a book about the monastery: Al-Lulu al-Nadhir. Extensive renovations were done on the monastery during the 1980s and between 2000-2003, including the building of a big entrance.26 The current Abbot, Francis Jahūla, together with his superiors in Mosul and with official government support, organised a Jubilee year, commemorating the sixteen hundred years since the martyrdom of Mar Behnam. The celebrations lasted one year (10 December 1984-10 December 1985) with contributions from Christians and Muslim scholars as well as archaeologists and church leaders. To date, the monastery is still open and functioning.

THE LIBRARY AND MANUSCRIPTS OF DER MĀR BEHNAM The rich library reflects the monastery’s intellectual and spiritual heritage. It contains 422 manuscripts mainly written in Syriac and

26

Plate 2: Modern entrance to Mār Behnam monastery.

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Arabic, but there are some in Kurdish, Turkish and Persian.27 Most of the manuscripts are now housed at Qaraqōsh. The library began to flourish shortly after the Maphrian of the Syrian Orthodox Church moved his residence to Der Mār Behnam. Destruction occurred in 1606 and again in 1743 when the Persian Shah Tahmasp attacked the monastery. Further losses took place when the monastery was attacked during the 1820 famine. The director of the monastery, Alyas Hindi Garma Musili, moved the furniture of the monastery and the books to Mosul after which many were lost. The number of the manuscripts that he took with him is not known, but when Behnam Soni reviewed the manuscripts’ index at Qaraqōsh, he found that that many of the manuscripts had been written within the monastery itself.

LISTING OF PLATES Plate 1. detail of carved lintel, Mār Behnam monastery. Plate 2. modern entrance to Mār Behnam monastery.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Abu al-Souf, B. (1990). “The archaeology of Monastery of Mar Behnam”. In: The Monastery of the Martyr Behnam. The Book of the Sixteenth Hundred Jubilee, ed. G. Cassmousa. Baghdad: Diwan Press, 139-43 [in Arabic] 280 [English summary]. Armalah, I. (1937). Catalogue des manuscrits de Charfet: Publié à l’occasion du 150e anniversaire de l’installation du siège patriarcal à Charfet, 1786-1936. Paris. Awwad, G. (1990). ‘The Libraries of the Monasteries and of Der Mār Behnam.’ In: The Monastery of the Martyr Behnam. The Book of the Sixteenth Hundred Jubilee, ed. G. Cassmousa. Baghdad: Diwan Press, 149-54 [in Arabic] 278 [English summary]. Bedjan, P. (1890-7). Acta Martyriorum et Sanctorum (Syriac Text), 7 vols in 4. Paris and Leipzig. Cassmousa, G. (ed.) (1990). The Monastery of the Martyr Behnam. The G. Awwad, ‘The Libraries of the Monasteries and of Der Mār Behnam.’ In: Cassmousa (1990) 149-54. 27

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Book of the Sixteenth Hundred Jubilee. Diwan Press: Baghdad. Fiey, J.-M. (1965). Assyrie chrétienne. 3 vols in 2. L'Institut de Lettres orientales de Beyrouth XXIII. Beirut: Imprimerie catholique. Ḥabbī, Y. (1990). ‘Mār Behnam between the event and the story’. In: The Monastery of the Martyr Behnam. The Book of the Sixteenth Hundred Jubilee, ed. G. Cassmousa. Baghdad: Diwan Press, 111-37 [in Arabic], 282-3 [English summary]. Harrak, A. and Ruji, N. (2004). ‘The Uighur inscription in the mausoleum of Mar Behnam’, Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies 4: 66-72. Jahūla, F. (2005). The Life of the Hero Martyrs, Prince Behnam and his Sister Princess Sarah. Qaraqōsh: Mar Poulis Centre [in Arabic]. Soni, B. (1990). ‘The Library of Der Mar Behnam-The Syriac Manuscripts’. In: The Monastery of the Martyr Behnam. The Book of the Sixteenth Hundred Jubilee. ed. G. Cassmousa. Baghdad: Diwan Press, 155-166 [in Arabic] 278 [English summary]. Wright, W. (1870-2). Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum acquired since the Year 1838, 3 vols. London: Trustees of the British Museum. Wright, W. (1901). A Catalogue of the Syriac Manuscripts preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge, 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

THE SYRIAC BIBLE IN CENTRAL ASIA* MARK DICKENS

SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES BRIEF HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN CENTRAL ASIA1 We hear of Christians in Central Asia as early as Bardaisan’s Book of the Laws of Countries (ca. 196), which refers to them amongst the Beth Qashanāyē, the Kushans who ruled in Bactria (modern-day Northern Afghanistan).2 The Synodicon Orientale, the synod record of the Church of the East, mentions Bishops of Merv (modern-day Turkmenistan) and Herat (modern-day Afghanistan) in 424 and Metropolitans for both cities in 554 and 585, respectively.3 Around the same time, ca. 550, the East Syriac Biography of Mar Aba describes the appointment of a Bishop for the Hephthalite Huns in * This article is based on a talk given at the fifth Christianity in Iraq conference (April 5, 2008). I would like to acknowledge the input I received from Pier Giorgio Borbone (University of Pisa); Sam Lieu (Macquarie University, Sydney); Alexei Savchenko (East Sogdian Archaeological Expedition, Kiev); Nicholas Sims-Williams (SOAS) and Peter Zieme (Turfanforschung, Berlin) in preparing this article. 1 For a more in-depth treatment of the subject, see I. Gillman and H.-J. Klimkeit, Christians in Asia before 1500 (Ann Arbor: 1999) 205-62. Helpful summaries can be found in E. Hunter, ‘Christianity in Central Asia and the Near East.’ Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2nd ed., Vol. 2 (Oxford: 2006) 392-4 and N. Sims-Williams, ‘Christianity, iii. In Central Asia and Chinese Turkestan.’ Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. 5 (1992) 530-4. 2 H. J. W. Drijvers, ed./tr., The Book of the Laws of Countries: Dialogue on Fate of Bardaisan of Edessa. Semitic Texts with Translations 3 (Assen: 1965) 61. 3 J.-B. Chabot, ed./tr., Synodicon Orientale ou Recueil de Synodes Nestoriens. Notices et extraits des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Nationale et autres bibliothèques 27 (Paris: 1902) 285, 366-7, 423.

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Bactria.4 Shortly after, Theophylact Simocatta (ca. 630) relates how Christians (perhaps Sogdians or Hephthalites?) advised Central Asian Turks to tattoo the foreheads of their children with crosses in order to avoid the plague, a fact which was discovered when these Turks were captured by the Romans in 591.5 The most important cities in the region between the Oxus and Jaxartes rivers (the Amu Darya and Syr Darya in Persian), known as Transoxiana to the Greeks and Mawara’l-nahr to the Arabs, were Bukhara and Samarkand (both in modern-day Uzbekistan). Two so-called ‘Nestorian’6 writers, Ibn aṭ-Ṭayyib (d. 1043) and ‘Abdisho bar Berikha (1290), recount different traditions concerning the elevation of Samarkand to a Metropolitanate, which apparently occurred sometime between the 6th and 8th centuries and was certainly well established by the Patriarchate of Theodosius (853-8), who mentions the city in a list of Metropolitans of the Church of the East.7 Coins with crosses from the 7th and 8th centuries discovered around Bukhara and Tashkent indicate the presence of Christian rulers in the area at this time.8 From about the same time, we read in the East Syriac Khuzistan Chronicle (ca. 660-80) of the conversion of a Turkic minor ruler and his army ca. 644 by Eliya, Metropolitan of Merv, involving a ‘power encounter’ with 4 A. Mingana, ‘The Early Spread of Christianity in Central Asia and the Far East: A New Document.’ Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 9/2 (1925) 304-5. 5 M. Whitby and M. Whitby, tr., The History of Theophylact Simocatta (Oxford: 1986) 146-7. 6 This term is used merely to avoid the awkward adjectival use of ‘Church of the East’ and has no connotations of heresy. 7 Ibn aṭ-Ṭayyib, in W. Hoenerbach, and O. Spies, tr., Ibn aṭṬaiyib, Fiqh an-Naṣrānīya: «Das Recht der Christenheit» I [Translation]. CSCO 162, Arabic 17 (Louvain: 1956) 123, describes the creation of the Metropolitanate of Samarkand as taking place during the Patriarchate of Isho‘yahb, referring either to Isho‘yahb I (582-96), Isho‘yahb II (626-46) or Isho‘yahb III (650-58). ‘Abdisho bar Berikha, in A. Mai, ed./tr., Scriptorum veterum nova collectio e vaticanis codicibus edita ab A.M., Vol. X (Rome: 1838) 141-2, 146, dates it to the Patriarchate of Saliba-Zakha (71428), and reproduces Theodosius’ list of Metropolitanates. 8 A. Naymark, ‘Christians in Pre-Islamic Bukhara. Numismatic Evidence.’ In: Annual Central Eurasian Studies Conference. Abstracts of Papers 1994-1996, ed. J. Elverskog and A. Naymark (Bloomington: 1996) 11-13.

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shamanistic weather magic.9 Alongside these ‘Nestorians,’ the Life of the Melkite Patriarch of Antioch Christopher (d. 967) relates that Melkite (Greek Orthodox) Christians were transported to Tashkent by Caliph al-Manṣur in 762, beginning a presence there that continued on at least till the 14th century. The Armenian king and historian Het‘um II (d. 1307) mentions Sogdian Christians living in Chorasmia (Khwarezm) who conducted church services in Greek, undoubtedly referring to these Melkites.10 The famous Chinese-Syriac Xi’an Stele (dedicated in 781) describes its donation by the priest and Chorepiscopus Yazdbozid, son of Milis, a priest of Balkh in Tocharistan (modern-day Northern Afghanistan).11 This occurred around the same time that two letters of Timothy I, Patriarch of the Church of the East (780823) mention the conversion in 782/83 of an unidentified king of the Turks and his people and the subsequent appointment of a Metropolitan for the Turks in 792/93.12 It is likely that these Turks were the Qarluqs, who controlled the steppe area north of the Samanid Persian realm located in Mawara’l-nahr.13 The Muslim polymath Biruni (ca. 1000) mentions festivals of Christians (both Nestorians and Melkites) in Khwarezm, southeast of the Aral Sea (modern-day Uzbekistan)14 and the Syriac historians Bar Hebraeus (1286) and Mari Ibn Sulayman (1214) both 9 See E. Hunter, ‘The Conversion of the Kerait to Christianity in A.D. 1007.’ Zentralasiatische Studien 22 (1989-91) 159-60 and Mingana (1925) 305-6. 10 The history of these Central Asian Melkites is addressed in J. Dauvillier, ‘Byzantins d’Asie centrale et d’Extrême-Orient au moyen Age.’ Revue des Études Byzantines 11 (1953) 62-87, J. Nasrallah, ‘L’Église melchite en Iraq, en Perse et dans l’Asie centrale.’ Proche Orient Chrétien 26 (1976) 16-33, 319-53 and W. Klein, ‘Das Orthodoxe Katholikat von Romagyris in Zentralasien.’ Parole de l’Orient 24 (1999) 235-65. 11 P. Saeki, The Nestorian Documents and Relics in China, 2nd ed. (Tokyo: 1951) 68. 12 Mingana (1925) 306. He is mistaken in stating that the letter was written in 781. The dates for all of Timothy’s extant letters have been subsequently established by R. Bidawid, Les lettres du patriarche nestorien Timothée I. Studi e Testi 187 (Vatican City: 1956). 13 M. Dickens, ‘Patriarch Timothy I and the Metropolitan of the Turks.’ Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (in press). 14 E. Sachau tr., The Chronology of Ancient Nations (London: 1879) 282-313.

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describe the conversion of 200,000 Kerait Turks in 1007/08 after their king experienced a vision while lost hunting in the mountains, probably somewhere in modern-day Mongolia.15 In the following century, according to Amr ibn Mattai (ca. 1350), the Patriarch Eliya III (1176-90) consecrated two consecutive Metropolitans for Kashghar (modern-day Chinese Turkistan), Yuḥannan (John) and Sabrisho.16 Numerous sources (Syriac, Arabic, Persian, and Latin) attest to the presence of Turkic and Mongol Christians in the Mongol Empire (13th-14th centuries), including many in positions of major influence, such as Sorqaqtani, mother of Kublai Khan, and Doquz Khatun, wife of Hülegü, the Mongol conqueror of Persia.17 The Syriac History of Mar Yahballaha (ca. 1320) describes the journey of the Turkic Öngüt monks Rabban Sauma and Marqos from China to the Middle East, where Marqos later became the first and only Turkic Patriarch of the Church of the East, Yahballaha III (1281-1317).18 The last references (both Syriac and Latin) to Christianity in Central Asia are from the late 14th century, shortly after the rulers in various parts of the Mongol Empire (specifically the Il-khanate, the Golden Horde and the Chaghatay Khanate) converted to Islam and the Mongol Yuan Dynasty in China adopted Buddhism.

15 See the discussion of this conversion in Hunter (1989-91) and Mingana (1925) 308-11. 16 E. Gismondi, ed./tr., Maris Amri et Slibae. De Patriarchis Nestorianorum. Commentaria, Pars Altera (Amri et Slibae) (Rome: 1896-7) 64 (Latin tr.). 17 For an excellent overview of this era, see C. Baumer, The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity (London and New York: 2006) 195-233. 18 For translations see, J. Montgomery, The History of Yaballaha III, Nestorian Patriarch, and of his Vicar Bar Sauma (New York: 1927) and E. Budge, The Monks of Kûblâi Khân, Emperor of China (London: 1928). See also the discussion in P. Borbone, ‘Some Aspects of Turco-Mongol Christianity in the Light of Literary and Epigraphic Syriac Sources.’ Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies 19 (2005) 2, 5-20.

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LANGUAGES CHRISTIANS

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SCRIPTS

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Due to its geographical location, Central Asia has always been a linguistic, cultural and religious meeting place. Over the centuries, Iranian-speakers from the south have mixed with Turkic-speakers from the north, a fact that is reflected in the languages used by Christians in Central Asia. Although early missionaries from the Persian Church (the Church of the East) who went to Central Asia and China were undoubtedly fluent in both Middle Persian and Syriac, the faith was subsequently spread by residents of Central Asia itself, initially the Sogdians, who were inveterate traders along the Silk Road, and later the Turks, encompassing both nomadic and settled elements. Based on extant texts and inscriptions, we know that Christians in Central Asia used at least six languages, all of which employed alphabets ultimately derived from Aramaic: Syriac, Middle Persian, Sogdian, New Persian, Old Uyghur and Öngüt Turkic.19 Syriac was, of course, the liturgical language of the Church of the East, but it was probably not used widely outside of the liturgy, except in the early days by native-speakers amongst the clergy and the monks. Later on, as the native Syriac-speaking element in the Christian population declined, the communities were dominated by non-Syriac speakers, so the use of Syriac was eventually confined to liturgical usage. Extant Syriac manuscripts and inscriptions from Central Asia are written primarily in the Estrangela script, although East Syriac (Nestorian) vocalization is used in places. Middle Persian (or Pahlavi) was the language of the Persian Sassanid Empire. Thus it was the lingua franca of most of the Persian Christians, members of the Church of the East, who initially evangelized Central Asia and China. However, Middle Persian could not compete with the Sogdian language in Central Asia, so it was probably not used outside of religious contexts On the Aramaic origins of these alphabets, see O. Skjaervø, ‘Aramaic Scripts for Iranian Languages.’ In: The World’s Writing Systems, ed. P. T. Daniels and W. Bright (New York: 1996) 515-35 and G. Kara, ‘Aramaic Scripts for Altaic Languages.’ In: The World’s Writing Systems, ed. P. T. Daniels and W. Bright (New York: 1996) 537-58. 19

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(both Zoroastrian and Christian) and was eventually replaced completely by Sogdian and Uyghur Turkic. Middle Persian was written in both Book Pahlavi script and Pahlavi Psalter script; the latter was a variation of the former which the Christians used and which is known from the invaluable extant folios of a Pahlavi Psalter found in Turfan, China and discussed below.20 Sogdian was an Eastern Middle Iranian language spoken in Sogdiana (modern-day Uzbekistan). It was the lingua franca of much of the Silk Road from Persia to China, due to the crucial role that the Sogdians played in the conduct of trade along this vital commercial corridor. However, after the Arab conquest of Central Asia, particularly during the 9th century, Sogdian was gradually supplanted by New Persian amongst the Iranian-speakers of Central Asia. Sogdian was written in three scripts: the native Sogdian script; a modified Syriac script used by the Christians (with 3 extra letters for Sogdian sounds not found in Syriac) and the Manichaean script. There are Christian texts in both the Syriac script and the Sogdian script.21 New Persian is the Iranian language that evolved out of Middle Persian beginning in the 9th century. It is essentially the same as modern Persian and is written in a Persian version of the Arabic script, but Christians who used this language in Central Asia initially used a modified Syriac script, similar to that used for many Christian Sogdian texts. Old Uyghur 22 was an important dialect of Old Turkic spoken in Central Asia up until the Mongol era. It was initially written in the runic Old Turkic script, but no Christian texts or inscriptions have been found in this script, so we have no idea if Christians ever used it. It was later written in several scripts, including the Uyghur script (adapted from the Sogdian script), a modified Syriac script (again, similar to that used for many Christian Sogdian texts) and the Manichaean script. Parallel to the 20 On Middle Persian, see W. Sundermann, ‘Mittelpersisch.’ In: Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum, ed. R. Schmitt (Wiesbaden: 1989) 13864. 21 On Sogdian, see N. Sims-Williams, ‘Sogdian.’ In: Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum, ed. R. Schmitt (Wiesbaden: 1989) 173-92. 22 So named to distinguish it from the Modern Uyghur language spoken in Xinjiang, China.

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situation with Sogdian, there are Christian texts in both the Syriac script and the Uyghur script.23 Öngüt Turkic was a dialect of Old Turkic spoken in what is now Inner Mongolia. It was written in the same modified Syriac script that was used for Christian texts in Old Uyghur, reflecting the fact that for some time the Öngüt Turks were openly Christian. It is only preserved in Christian gravestone inscriptions; no Christian Öngüt manuscripts have been found to date.24 The process of linguistic change in the Christian communities in Central Asia is particularly evident from analysis of the Christian manuscripts discovered at the monastery of Bulayïq near Turfan, as summarized by Nicholas Sims-Williams (emphasis mine): “Syriac was always maintained as the primary language of the liturgy, the languages of the local people being admitted into liturgical use only for particular parts of the service such as hymns, psalms, and Bible readings… The Pahlavi Psalter found at Bulayïq may be seen as an import from the motherchurch in Iran and the use of Middle Persian for the vernacular parts of the liturgy as a feature of the earliest period in the history of the Christian community in the Turfan oasis, before Sogdian was raised to the status of a church language… The writers and readers of the Christian Sogdian manuscripts may in many cases have been Turkish speakers. During the final phase of the monastery’s existence… [Uyghur] Turkish was probably the principal language of day-to-day business, although Sogdian evidently retained a place beside Syriac as a language of literature and liturgy.”25

On Old Turkic, see M. Erdal, ‘Old Turkic.’ In: The Turkic Languages, ed. L. Johanson and É. Á. Csató (London: 1998) 138-57. 24 The gravestones have been documented most recently by T. Halbertsma, Early Christian Remains of Inner Mongolia: Discovery, Reconstruction and Appropriation. Sinica Leidensia 88 (Leiden: 2008). 25 N. Sims-Williams, ‘Sogdian and Turkish Christians in the Turfan and Tun-huang Manuscripts.’ In: Turfan and Tun-huang, the Texts: Encounter of Civilizations on the Silk Route. Orientalia Venetiana IV, ed. A. Cadonna (Firenze: 1992) 49-51, 54. 23

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ROLE OF BIBLICAL EXEGESIS IN CENTRAL ASIA The traditions of biblical interpretation and exposition were fully developed in Central Asia. There are several biblical exegetes and expositors connected with Central Asia, many of whom are referred to by the Syriac title mphašqānā, meaning “instructor, expositor, commentator, interpreter, and translator.”26 Perhaps the most famous is Isho‘dad of Merv (ca. 850), one of most important biblical exegetes in the Church of the East.27 Other important Central Asian exegetes mentioned are Theodore of Merv (ca. 540) and Eliya of Merv (ca. 660),28 as well as the author of the 10th century Gannat Bussāmē ‘Garden of Delights,’ a voluminous commentary on the lessons appointed to be read in the East Syriac liturgy. Although the work itself makes no reference to Central Asia, the East Syriac writer ‘Abdisho bar Berikha (ca. 1318) calls its author “the Interpreter of the Turks,” probably referring to an ethnic Turk living in Persia.29 In addition to these literary references, we also have epigraphic references to others in the Central Asian church who were involved in teaching and explaining the Scriptures. Thus, one of the Syriac inscriptions on the cliffs above Urgut, Uzbekistan (dating probably from the 8th or 9th century) mentions “the sinner Nawruz … the interpreter.” 30 Furthermore, gravestones with Syriac inscriptions discovered in the Chu Valley, Kyrgyzstan (dating J. Payne Smith, A Compendious Syriac Dictionary, founded upon the Thesaurus Syriacus of R. Payne Smith (Oxford: 1903) 293. 27 On whom, see W. Wright, A Short History of Syriac Literature (London: 1894) 220-1. 28 On whom, see Wright (1894) 119-20, 179-80. 29 J. S. Assemani, Bibliotheca Orientalis Clementino-Vaticana, Vol. III: 1 (Rome: 1725) 188. A less than satisfactory English translation is given by G. P. Badger, The Nestorians and Their Rituals, Vol. II (London: 1852) 374. See also the discussion of the author’s identity in G. J. Reinink, Studien zur Quellen- und Traditionsgeschichte des Evangelienkommentars der Gannat Bussame. CSCO 414, Subsidia 57 (Louvain: 1979) 4-5 and G. J. Reinink, ed., Gannat Bussame I. Die Adventssonntage [Text]. CSCO 501, Syriaca 211 (Louvain: 1988) vii-viii. 30 My reading is based on digital images supplied to me by Dr. Alexei Savchenko. M. Tardieu, ‘Un site chrétien dans la Sogdiane des Sâmânides.’ Le monde de la Bible 119 (1999) 40-2 reads the name as ItäKüröz, but the digital image does not support this reading. 26

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from the 13th and 14th centuries) make numerous references to the following ecclesiastical positions: eskulāyā (“scholar, scholasticus”); mdrašānā (“teacher, preacher”); malphānā (“teacher, master”); mphašqānā (“interpreter, exegete”).31 The gravestones also feature a Sogdian word in Syriac script: xušti/qušti, xuštanč/quštanč, “teacher (masc. and fem.).” This is a loan-word into the dialect of Turkic, the language spoken by those commemorated on the gravestones. Most fascinating is the fact that the feminine form of the word, xuštanč/quštanč, occurs far more frequently than the masculine form. For many years, scholars thought that it was a variant form of the name Constance, but it seems to be a title, perhaps referring to a position in the church, although we have no other references to verify this supposition.32

CHRISTIAN MANUSCRIPTS FROM CENTRAL ASIA Although archaeological discoveries are extremely helpful in helping us to understand Central Asian Christianity, they reveal 31 The majority of this corpus is documented in D. Chwolson, ‘Syrisch-Nestorianische Grabinschriften aus Semirjetschie.’ Mémoires de l’Académie impériale des sciences de St.-Pétersbourg, Ser. VII, vol. XXXVII (1890) and his later work Syrisch-Nestorianische Grabinschriften aus Semirjetschie. Neue Folge (St. Petersburg: 1897). See also the excellent coverage of this topic in W. Klein, Das nestorianische Christentum an den Handelswegen durch Kyrgyzstan bis zum 14. Jh. Silk Road Studies III (Turnhout: 2000). 32 F. Nau, ‘L’expansion nestorienne en Asie.’ Annales du Musée Guimet, Bibliothèque de vulgarisation 40 (1914) 336 suggested that it was the most common female name in the corpus. However, W. Sundermann, ‘Soghdisch *xwšt’nc „Lehrerin“.’ Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 48 (1995) 225-7 argues convincingly that this is a title, not a name. See also P. Zieme, ‘Die seltsamen Wanderwege des sogdischen Titels *xuštanč „Lehrerin“.’ In: Turkologie für das 21. Jahrhundert. Veröffentlichungen der Societas Uralo-Altaica 70, ed. H. Fenz and P. Kappert (Wiesbaden: 2006b) 301-7. Two letters in the feminine form deserve comment: The initial letter is one of the three extra letters in the Sogdian version of the Syriac script, pronounced /x/ in Christian Sogdian and generally /q/ in Christian Turkic. The final letter, Syriac ṣade, is pronounced /č/ in both Christian Sogdian and Christian Turkic. This use of the Aramaic letter /ṣ/ for the sound /č/ is the general practice in preIslamic Iranian languages which use scripts based on Aramaic, since the former sound does not occur in Iranian languages and there is no Aramaic letter for /č/).

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little about the role that the Bible played in these Christian communities. The rich manuscript finds from the cities of Turfan, Dunhuang and Qara-khoto in western China have given scholars much more insight into that role. These discoveries were initially the result of several European archaeological expeditions to western China (East Turkistan or Xinjiang) in the early 20th century, but Chinese archaeologists have discovered further manuscripts and artifacts in each of these places since that time.33 Turfan was located at the heart of the Uyghur Kingdom of Qocho (ca. 860-1284). Four Prussian expeditions led by Albert Grünwedel and Alexander von le Coq (in 1902-3, 1904-5, 1905-7, and 1913-4) discovered manuscripts in 15 languages and 25 scripts, all now in the Turfanforschung Collection, housed in several locations in Berlin.34 Approximately 1100 fragments of Christian texts were discovered in the ruins of Bulayïq in 1905, most dating from the 9th-10th centuries.35 Dunhuang was an important Buddhist centre to the east of Turfan, but its inhabitants also included “Turks who are Nestorian Christians,” according to Marco Polo.36 A British expedition under Marc Aurel Stein in 1907 brought back numerous manuscripts and artifacts now kept in the British Library and the British Museum. A 33 The story of these European expeditions to western China is told in P. Hopkirk, Foreign devils on the Silk Road: the search for the lost cities and treasures of Chinese Central Asia (London: 1980). 34 On the Prussian expeditions, see A. von le Coq, Auf Hellas Spuren in Ostturkistan: Berichte und Abenteuer der II. und III. Deutschen TurfanExpedition (Leipzig: 1926), A. von le Coq, Buried Treasures of Chinese Turkestan: an Account of the Activities and Adventures of the Second and Third German Turfan Expeditions, tr. A. Barwell (London: 1928) and A. von le Coq, Von Land und Leuten in Ostturkistan: Berichte und Abenteuer der 4. Deutschen Turfanexpedition (Leipzig: 1928). 35 A good overview, albeit with some errors and omissions, can be found in J. Asmussen, ‘The Sogdian and Uighur-Turkish Christian Literature in Central Asia before the Real Rise of Islam: A Survey.’ In: Indological and Buddhist Studies: Volume in Honour of Professor J. W. de Jong on his Sixtieth Birthday, ed. L. Hercus et al (Canberra: 1982) 11-29. See also W. Hage, ‘Das Christentum in der Turfan-Oase.’ In: Synkretismus in den Religionen Zentralasiens, ed. W. Heissig and H.-J. Klimkeit (Wiesbaden: 1987) 46-57 and N. Sims-Williams, ‘Christianity, iv. Christian Literature in Middle Iranian Languages.’ Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. 5 (1992) 534-5. 36 R. Latham, tr., The Travels of Marco Polo (London: 1958) 85.

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separate French expedition led by Paul Pelliot in 1906-8 brought back more manuscripts, housed in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. A few Christian texts have been uncovered at Dunhuang, including some recently discovered by the Chinese, but nowhere near the quantity found at Turfan. Qara-khoto was an important centre of the Tanguts, amongst whom there were Christians during the Mongol era. A Russian expedition under Peter Kozlov in 1908-9 brought back numerous manuscripts currently kept in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Again, amongst the manuscripts discovered were a few Christian texts. Syriac Texts As noted above, most Syriac texts from Central Asia have been discovered in Turfan. These include approximately 400 Syriac manuscript fragments in Berlin and nearly 100 in St. Petersburg.37 A few Syriac manuscript fragments have also been discovered by the Chinese in recent years in Dunhuang. Compared to the Christian texts in Iranian (Middle Persian, New Persian and Sogdian) and Turkic (Uyghur) languages, little research has been done on the Syriac texts from Turfan.38 Thus, the exact contents of the overall corpus are still unclear, but most fragments seem to be liturgical texts or biblical texts. The liturgical texts include the earliest manuscripts of the East Syriac Ḥudrā (including several chants that do not appear to be extant in any

37 The Syriac manuscripts in Berlin are summarized in M. Maróth, ‘Die syrischen Handschriften in der Turfan-Sammlung.’ Ägypten, Vorderasien, Turfan: Probleme der Edition und Bearbeitung altorientalischer Handschriften. Schriften zur Geschichte und Kultur des alten Orients 23, ed. H. Klengel and W. Sundermann (Berlin: 1991) 126-8. Those in St. Petersburg are described in E. Meshcherskaya, ‘The Syriac fragments in the N.N. Krotkov Collection.’ Turfan, Khotan und Dunhuang. Berichte und Abhandlungen, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften 1, ed. R. Emmerick et al (Berlin: 1996) 221-7. 38 The Syriac, Christian Sogdian and Christian Turkic fragments from Berlin are currently being catalogued as part of an AHRC-funded research project, led by Dr. Erica Hunter, which is based in the Department for the Study of Religions, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

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other manuscripts)39 and a portion of the Office of Martyrs for the First Sunday, part of the St. Petersburg collection.40 The biblical texts so far identified are all from the Psalter, including certain Psalm-like passages that are from other biblical books, but which are included in the East Syriac Psalter.41 Syriac texts from Dunhuang include: 1. Fragments of Gal. 3:7-10 and I Cor. 1:18-19, probably part of an East Syriac Easter liturgy, since the readings are typically used on Good Friday and Holy Saturday. The reading follows the Peshiṭta text, with minor variants and is dated to the 13th or 14th centuries, during the Mongol era.42

W. F. Macomber, ‘A List of the Known Manuscripts of the Chaldean Ḥudrā.’ Orientalia Christiana Periodica 36 (1970) 123-4. Only a few of these texts have been published: s T II B 7 No. 1a; T II B 26; T II B 55, published in E. Sachau, ‘Litteratur-Bruchstücke aus ChinesischTurkistan.’ Sitzungsberichte der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (1905) 964-78 and Saeki (1951) 337-47. As Saeki (1951) 3345 notes, the fragments published by Sachau include hymns to be sung on Christmas Day, on the Feast Day commemorating St. Mary and on the Feast of the Sanctification of the Church. The fragments published in H. Engberding, ‘Fünf Blätter eines alten ostsyrischen Bitt- und Bussgottesdienstes aus Innerasien.’ Ostkirchliche Studien 14 (1965) 121-48 have not yet been identified, since the author did not indicate their numbers. 40 N. Pigoulewsky, ‘Fragments syriaques et syro-turcs de Harahoto et de Tourfan.’ Revue de l’Orient Chrétien 30 (1935-6) 31-9. 41 See Plate 1. Syriac Psalter fragment, Turfan Collection. To date, in the process of cataloguing the Turfan Syriac fragments in Berlin, the following texts from the East Syriac Psalter have been identified: Psalm 22:8-26:3; 78:26-64; 79:9-80:12a; 84:3b-85:5; 89:46-47; 90:2; 95:910; 96:5-8; 119:32-49, 64-80; Exodus 15:15-21 (from the so-called First Song of Moses); Deuteronomy 32:31-40 (from the so-called Third Song of Moses); Isaiah 42:10-13; 45:8 (from the so-called Song of Isaiah). Thanks to Dr. David Taylor and Mr. Steven Ring for clarifying how these latter texts, sometimes called “canticles” or “odes,” fit into the Psalter in the East Syriac tradition. How many separate copies of the Psalter are amongst the Turfan fragments is unclear, but there are at least three. 42 W. Klein and J. Tubach, ‘Ein syrisch-christliches Fragment aus Dunhuang/China.’ Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 144 (1994) 1-13, 446 with subsequent commentary in H. Kaufhold, 39

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There are also two Syriac texts of uncertain provenance, either from Chinese Turkistan or China proper, which are either biblical or liturgical in nature: 1. A book of Old Testament texts written in Beijing in 1725 from a copy dating back to 752/53 (now in the John Rylands Library).46 2. Fragments of the “Book of the Before and the After,” containing morning and evening Martyrs’ Anthems for several days of the week, including frequent quotations from the Psalms. Probably dating from the 13th century, it was located somewhere in Beijing in the 1920’s but its present whereabouts are unknown.47

‘Anmerkungen zur Veröffentlichung eines syrischen Lektionarfragments.’ Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 146 (1996) 49-60. 43 B53:14 published in D. Qing, ‘Bericht über ein neuentdecktes syrisches Dokument aus Dunhuang/China.’ Oriens Christianus 85 (2001) 84-93 and A. Yakup, ‘On the Interlinear Uyghur Poetry in the Newly Unearthed Nestorian Text.’ Splitter aus der Gegend von Turfan: Festschrift für Peter Zieme anläßlich seines 60. Geburtstags, ed. M. Ölmez and S.-C. Raschmann (Istanbul-Berlin: 2002) 409-17. 44 Pigoulewsky (1935-6) 14-18. 45 Pigoulewsky (1935-6) 18-21. 46 J. F. Coakley, ‘A Catalogue of the Syriac Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library.’ Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 75 (1993) 120-3. 47 W. Taylor, ‘Syriac MSS. found in Peking, ca. 1925.’ Journal of the American Oriental Society 61 (1941) 91-7.

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Middle Persian and New Persian Texts John Chrysostom (ca. 347-ca. 407) and Theodoret (ca. 393-ca. 457) both make statements that imply that parts of the New Testament were translated into Persian at their time, in the late 4th and early 5th centuries. We know from statements in Syriac literature that hymns, discourses and liturgical texts were certainly translated from Syriac into Persian in the 5th century and were still in use in the 8th century. Unfortunately, none of these have survived, except some philosophical works and legal treatises translated from Persian back into Syriac. An important testimony to Middle Persian Christian literature is the Škand-gumānīg Wizār, a 9th century Zoroastrian polemic against Jews and Christians which cites several Old Testament and New Testament verses in Middle Persian.48 However, undoubtedly the most significant find thus far is the Middle Persian Psalter from Turfan, the only extant Christian manuscript in Middle Persian.49 It represents the language at an intermediate stage between earlier Sassanid inscriptions and later Zoroastrian literature preserved after the Arab conquest. Indeed, the script is similar to Book Pahlavi script, but is actually an earlier form. The extant fragments contain most of Psa. 94-99, 118, 121136 (thus, most of the Songs of Ascent). The manuscript is not older than the 6th century, but the original text was probably significantly older, perhaps 4th or 5th century. It is generally a literal translation of the Peshiṭta, including many Syriac loan-words, but it occasionally agrees more with the Hebrew text or the Greek Septuagint.50 48 On the Bible in Middle Persian, see K. Thomas, ‘Bible, iii. Chronology of Translations of the Bible.’ Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. 4 (1990) 203-6 and S. Shaked, ‘Bible, iv. Middle Persian Translations of the Bible.’ Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. 4 (1990) 206-7. 49 Plate 2: Pahlavi Psalter fragment, Turfan Collection. 50 On the Psalter, see F. Andreas, ‘Bruchstücke einer PehlewiÜbersetzung der Psalmen aus der Sassanidenzeit.’ Sitzungsberichte der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (1910) 869-72 and F. Andreas and K. Barr, ‘Bruchstücke einer Pehlewi-Übersetzung der Psalmen.’ Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (1933) 91-152. See also J. Asmussen, ‘The Pahlavi Psalm 122 in English.’ Dr. J. M. Unvala Memorial Volume (Bombay: 1964) 123-6 and P. Gignoux, ‘L’auteur de la version pehlevie du psautier serait-il nestorien?’ Mémorial Mgr Gabriel Khouri-Sarkis 1898-1968 (Beirut: 1964) 233-44.

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The liturgical usage of Middle Persian in Turfan is surprising, since it was not widely used beyond the boundaries of the Persian Sassanid Empire. However, the fact that it was found so far to the east indicates that the language had a certain status for Central Asian Christians, even though it was probably not spoken by any of the monks at Turfan during the heyday of the Christian community there (9th-13th centuries). The Middle Persian origins of Central Asian Christianity are also evident in the use of the Pahlavi loan word tarsāg “one who fears,” referring to Christians and used in Christian Sogdian manuscripts in the form tarsāk.51 Finally, there is an interlinear Syriac-New Persian Psalter fragment from Turfan which contains Psa. 146:5-147:7, according to the Peshiṭta numbering (equivalent to Psa. 147 in the English Bible). The Syriac lines are followed by a New Persian translation in modified Syriac script (with the extra letters used in Christian Sogdian texts).52 Sogdian Texts There are approximately 500 Christian Sogdian manuscripts from Turfan in the modified Syriac script plus another 50 in Sogdian script, along with a handful from Dunhuang. 53 However, no Christian Sogdian texts have been discovered in Sogdiana proper, 51 The Syriac letter qoph was pronounced /k/ in Sogdian. On the term itself, see S. Pines, ‘The Iranian name for Christians and the ‘God-Fearers’.’ Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities II (Jerusalem: 1968) 143-52. 52 T II B 57, T II B 64, discussed in F. W. K. Müller, ‘Ein syrisch-neupersisches Psalmenbruchstück aus Chinesisch-Turkistan.’ Festschrift Eduard Sachau, ed. G. Weil (Berlin: 1915) 215-22, E. Benveniste, ‘Sur un fragment d’un psautier syro-persan.’ Journal Asiatique 230 (1938) 458-62 and W. Sundermann, ‘Einige Bemerkungen zum SyrischNeupersischen Psalmenbruchstük aus Chinesisch-Turkistan.’ Mémorial Jean de Menasce, ed. P. Gignoux and A. Tafazzoli (Louvain: 1974) 441-52. 53 On the Christian Sogdian manuscripts from Turfan, see N. Sims-Williams, ‘Die christlich-sogdischen Handschriften von Bulayïq.’ Ägypten, Vorderasien, Turfan. Schriften zur Geschichte und Kultur des alten Orients 23, ed. H. Klengel and W. Sundermann (Berlin: 1991) 119-25. On those in Sogdian script, see C. Reck, ‘A Survey of the Christian Sogdian Fragments in Sogdian Script in the Berlin Turfan Collection.’ Controverses des chrétiens dans l’Iran sassanide. Studia Iranica - Cahier 36, ed. C. Jullien (Paris: 2008) 191-205.

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to the west of the Tien Shan Mountains which divide Chinese Central Asia from the former Soviet Central Asia. Almost all of the Christian texts can be dated to the 9th or 10th century. Many are translations of Syriac hagiographical texts or ascetical works, including some that go back to the Egyptian monastic tradition. Some, such as the Antirrheticus of Evagrius Ponticus, contain frequent biblical quotations.54 There are several Sogdian biblical texts of note from Turfan:55 1. Portions of a Gospel lectionary56 with Syriac titles in red ink (i.e. rubrics) and Sogdian text in black ink, thus indicating the use of both languages in church services. The Syriac text is generally identical with the Peshiṭta, but there are some textual variations. By contrast, the Sogdian text shows general dependence on the Peshiṭta, but there are some traces of the Diatessaron and the Old Syriac version of the New Testament. In general, the readings are very close to East Syriac lectionaries from later manuscripts.57

C2 = n 41-42, 474-475, 477. The overall manuscript C2 has been published in O. Hansen, ‘Berliner soghdische Texte II: Bruchstücke der großen Sammelhandshrift C2.’ Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur in Mainz, Jahrbuch, Abhandlungen der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Klasse 15 (1954) 821-918. A new and improved reconstruction of the manuscript has been published more recently by N. Sims-Williams, The Christian Sogdian Manuscript C2. Berliner Turfantexte XII (Berlin: 1985). 55 On the Bible in Sogdian, see N. Sims-Williams, ‘Bible, v. Sogdian Translations of the Bible.’ Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. 4 (1990) 207. 56 C5. An edition and translation of this manuscript is currently underway. See Plate 3: Fragment from Christian Sogdian C5 lectionary, Turfan Collection. 57 T II B 67 = n 151 r = Matthew 5:30-33; T II B 64 = n 212 v = Luke 1:1-4; T II B 17 = n 149 r = John 1:19-27; T II B 46 = n 201 r = Gal. 3:25ff, published in F. W. K. Müller, ‘Soghdische Texte I.’ Abhandlungen der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-Historische Klasse II (1912) 1-111 and discussed in F. C. Burkitt, The Religion of the Manichees (Cambridge: 1925) 119-25 and C. Peters, ‘Der Texte der soghdischen Evangelienbruchstücke und das Problem der Pešitta.’ Oriens Christianus 33 (1936) 153-62. 54

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2. Lectionary fragments with alternating Syriac and Sogdian sentences.58 3. Fragments of a Sogdian Psalter, clearly translated from the Peshiṭta, in which the first verse of each Psalm is in both Syriac and Sogdian. Included in this manuscript is a Sogdian version of the Nicene Creed in Sogdian script.59 4. A fragment of Psa. 33 (probably from a Psalter), with the first phrase in Greek, but continued in Sogdian. Unlike other Christian Sogdian texts, it shows the influence of the Septuagint, as well as the Peshiṭta. The translation was probably made in the Sogdian homeland, since Melkites were present there, but not in Turfan.60 However, despite these examples, it is unclear if any books of the Old or New Testament, apart from the Psalms, were ever translated into Sogdian as a whole. Uyghur Turkic Texts Approximately 50 Christian Turkic manuscripts have been discovered from Turfan and a handful from Qara-khoto, in both Uyghur script and the modified Syriac script. Several of these date from the Mongol period. Although there are no biblical texts per se, there are various texts with biblical allusions and brief quotations which indicate the biblical foundation of the extant Turkic Christian literature: 1. The story of the Three Magi, originating in the Syriac Protoevangelium Jacobi.61 T II B Y: see M. Schwartz, ‘Sogdian Fragments of the Book of Psalms.’ Altorientalische Forschungen 1 (1974) 257-61. 59 T II B 65, T III TVB, T II B 68, so15490 in Schwartz (1974). 60 T II B 66 = so12955, on which see W. Sundermann, ‘Byzanz und Bulayïq.’ Iranian and Indo-European Studies: Memorial Volume of Otakar Klíma, ed. P. Vavroušek (Praha: 1994) 257-8. 61 T II B 29, published in F. W. K. Müller, ‘Uigurica I.’ Abhandlungen der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, No. II (1908) 5-10, С. Малов, Памятники Древнетюркской Письменности. (Москва-Ленинград: 1951) 131-8 and A. van Tongerloo, ‘Ecce Magi ab Oriente Venerunt.’ Philosophie-Philosophy Tolerance. Acta Orientalia Belgica VII, ed. A. Théodoridès (Brussels: 1992) 57-74. 58

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2. Fragment of an oracle book or collection of apocryphal sayings, including a non-canonical quotation from Luke.62 3. A prayer booklet written in Syriac and Uyghur scripts (possibly used as a school exercise book), including a Syriac phrase probably taken down by dictation which may refer to Psa. 72:17.63 4. A wedding Blessing, with references to Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Joshua and Samson.64 5. A text which expands on Psa. 68:5, speaking of God as “Mother to the motherless, Father to the fatherless.”65 6. A fragmentary text from Qara-khoto on the passion of Christ, referring to Jonah in the whale’s belly and Daniel in the lions’ den, probably translated from a Syriac original, due to the use of many Syriac loan-words.66 7. A small booklet from Qara-khoto containing exhortations to alms-giving, with a Uyghur paraphrase of Prov. 22:9 and a Syriac quotation from Matthew 10:42.67

62 See Plate 4: Christian Uyghur fragment in Uyghur script with non-canonical saying from Luke [ T II B 1 = U 320] published in A. von le Coq, ‘Ein christliches und ein manichäisches Manuskriptfragment in Türkischer Sprache aus Turfan (Chinesisch-Turkistan).’ Sitzungsberichte der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (1909) 1205-8. 63 T II B 41 = U 338, in P. Zieme, ‘Notes on a bilingual prayer book from Bulayık.’ Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference ‘Research on the Church of the East in China and Central Asia,’ Salzburg 1-6 June 2006. Collectanea Serica, ed. R. Malek and P. Hofrichter (in press). 64 See Plate 5: Christian Uyghur wedding blessing in Syriac script [T III Kurutka 1857 = U 7264] published in P. Zieme, ‘Ein Hochzeitssegen Uigurischer Christen.’ Scholia: Beiträge zur Turkologie und Zentralasienkunde, ed. K. Röhrborn and H. Brands (Wiesbaden: 1981) 22132. 65 T II B 28 = U 4910, published in P. Zieme, ‘Zu den nestorianish-türkischen Turfantexten.’ Sprache, Geschichte und Kultur der altaischen Völker: Protokollband der XII Tagung der Permanent International Altaistic Conference 1969 in Berlin. Schriften zur Geschichte und Kultur des alten Orients 5, ed. G. Hazai and P. Zieme (Berlin: 1974) 663-4. 66 Pigoulewsky (1935-6) 21-31. 67 P. Zieme, ‘A Cup of Cold Water: Folios of a Nestorian-Turkic Manuscript from Kharakhoto.’ Jingjiao: The Church of the East in China and Central Asia. Collectanea Serica, ed. R. Malek and P. Hofrichter (Sankt Augustin: 2006) 341-45.

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OTHER CHRISTIAN MANUSCRIPTS ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS

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In addition to the manuscripts found in Turfan, Dunhuang and Qara-khoto, there are several other manuscript and archaeological finds from Central Asia and Mongolia that shed further light on the role of the Bible in Central Asia. An ostracon (potsherd) was excavated at Penjikent (modernday Tajikistan), dating from the late 7th or early 8th century. 68 Originally part of a very large vessel, portions of Psalm 1 and 2 in Syriac were written in black ink on it. The text is the same as the Peshiṭta, but scribal errors indicate that it was taken down by dictation and the writer was a Sogdian-speaker, not a native Syriacspeaker. It was probably an exercise for mastering the Syriac script and possibly may indicate the presence of a school attached to a Christian monastery. A funerary tile from Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, dated to 1253, has a vertical inscription painted in black ink, not engraved (like other Syriac gravestones from Central Asia and China). 69 The deceased is described as Yawnan (Jonas), head of the local government and commander of the auxiliary troops. Due to the location, Yawnan was probably an Öngüt Turk. In addition to the cross and Uyghur Turkic inscription, there is a quotation from Psa. 34:6 in Syriac: “Look unto him [and] hope in him.” Quotations from Psa. 34:6 sometimes accompany an image of the cross in Syriac manuscripts, but this is the only use of this text on a gravestone, perhaps reflecting Syriac manuscripts used in Inner Mongolia at that time. The final relevant artifact is the so-called Gospel of Princess Sara, formerly located in Diyarbekir and now in the Vatican.70 It is 68 A. V. Paykova, ‘The Syrian Ostracon from Panjikant.’ Le Muséon 92 (1979) 159-69. 69 P. Borbone, ‘Peshitta Psalm 34:6 from Syria to China.’ Text, Translation, and Tradition: Studies on the Peshitta and its Use in the Syriac Tradition. Monographs of the Peshitta Institute Leiden 14, ed. W. van Peursen and B. ter Haar Romeny (Leiden: 2006) 1-10. 70 Vat. Syr. 622, described in A. Scher, ‘Notice sur les manuscrits syriaques et arabes conservés à l’archevêché chaldéen de Diarbékir.’ Journal Asiatique, Ser. X, Tom. X (1907) 334-5 and P. Borbone, ‘Princess Sara’s Gospel Book: A Syriac Manuscript Written in Inner Mongolia?’ Jingjiao:

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a fine example of chrysography (gold ink on blue paper), dated to 1298. It is obviously a Gospel book intended for personal use; the colophon states that it was written for “Sara the believer… sister of Giwargis (George)… king of the Ongāyē (Öngüt).” Based on various factors, scholars have concluded that it was probably written in the Middle East, not Sara’s homeland of Inner Mongolia. Several factors probably influenced the commissioning of this precious book, including the fact that Mongol rule in the Middle East facilitated communication between the heartland of the Church of the East and the Öngüt homeland. Moreover, it was written during when the Öngüt Turk Yahballaha III was Patriarch of the Church of the East. The Buddhist custom of writing sutras in gold ink on blue paper may also have inspired Sara’s choice. Whether or not it ever reached the Princess in her Central Asian homeland is unknown.

CONCLUSIONS Based on the testimony of Syriac literature from outside of Central Asia and Syriac manuscripts and inscriptions from within Central Asia, it is clear that the Bible played an important role in the life of Central Asian Christians, especially those involved in the monastic lifestyle. However, apart from the Turfan and Dunhuang fragments, manuscript evidence of the use of the Bible in Central Asia is fleeting. Biblical texts are largely preserved in liturgical contexts, including lectionaries; it is unclear whether or not the whole Syriac Bible was ever translated into Sogdian and Uyghur Turkic, although portions of the former and perhaps the latter were used for readings in church services. The exception is the Psalter, one of the most important parts of the Bible for those living a monastic lifestyle, as is evident from the extant Psalter fragments in Syriac, Middle Persian, Sogdian, and New Persian. Apart from these liturgical texts, the influence of the Bible on Central Asian Christianity can also be seen in some of the other texts found in Turfan and elsewhere, whether prayers, wedding blessings or texts of unclear purpose. In each of these, we can see The Church of the East in China and Central Asia. Collectanea Serica, ed. R. Malek and P. Hofrichter (Sankt Augustin: 2006) 347-8.

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biblical allusions, paraphrases and direct quotations, including innovative texts which extend the biblical quotation or supply noncanonical quotes from biblical authors. Even non-manuscript materials, such as the ostracon and funerary tile, bear witness to the importance of the Syriac Bible in Central Asia, even for those whose mother tongue was Sogdian or one of the Turkic dialects of Central Asia. Finally, the beautiful Gospel prepared for Princess Sara in Mongolia gives us a glimpse into the role that Christianity played amongst the upper class in certain parts of Central Asia. As elsewhere in the history of the Church of the East, the Bible played a foundational role in the establishment and growth of the various Christian communities scattered across Central Asia, from modern-day Afghanistan to Mongolia. The evidence, fleeting as it is, clearly shows that Christianity in Central Asia was not merely a thin veneer over the animistic and shamanistic religious core of the Turkic peoples. There was sufficient spiritual vibrancy and knowledge within the community to support teachers and interpreters of Scripture. With the eventual demise of those communities in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, the only testimonies we have of their Christian faith are the sporadic archaeological artifacts, inscriptions and manuscripts that have survived the ravages of time and which still speak to us of the presence of a Syriac church, whose origins were in Mesopotamia, that once numbered Sogdians, Qarluqs, Uyghurs, Öngüts and Mongols amongst its members.

LISTING OF PLATES Plate 1. Syriac Psalter fragment, Turfan Collection. Plate 2. Pahlavi Psalter fragment, Turfan Collection. Plate 3. Fragment from Christian Sogdian C5 lectionary, Turfan Collection. Plate 4. Christian Uyghur fragment in Uyghur script with noncanonical saying from Luke, Turfan Collection. Plate 5. Christian Uyghur wedding blessing in Syriac script, Turfan Collection.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Andreas, F. (1910). ‘Bruchstücke einer Pehlewi-Übersetzung der Psalmen aus der Sassanidenzeit,’ Sitzungsberichte der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften: 869-72. Andreas, F. and Barr, K. (1933). ‘Bruchstücke einer PehlewiÜbersetzung der Psalmen,’ Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften: 91-152. Asmussen, J. (1982). ‘The Sogdian and Uighur-Turkish Christian Literature in Central Asia before the Real Rise of Islam: A Survey.’ In: Indological and Buddhist Studies: Volume in Honour of Professor J. W. de Jong on his Sixtieth Birthday, ed. L. Hercus et. al. Canberra: Faculty of Asian Studies: 11-29. ----(1964). ‘The Pahlavi Psalm 122 in English.’ In: Dr. J. M. Unvala Memorial Volume. Bombay: Kaikhusroo M. JamaspAsa: 123-6 Assemani, J. S. (1719-28). Bibliotheca Orientalis Clementino-Vaticana, 3 vols. in 4. Rome: Typis Sacrae Congregationis de Propaganda Fide. Badger, G. (1852). The Nestorians and Their Rituals, 2 vols. London: Joseph Masters. Baumer, C. (2006). The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity. London and New York: I.B. Tauris. Benveniste, E. (1938). ‘Sur un fragment d’un psautier syro-persan,’ Journal Asiatique 230: 458-62. Bidawid, R. (1956). Les letters du patriarche nestorien Timothée. I. Studi e Testi 187. Vatican City: Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana. Borbone, P. (2006a). ‘Peshitta Psalm 34:6 from Syria to China.’ In: Text, Translation, and Tradition: Studies on the Peshitta and its Use in the Syriac Tradition. Monographs of the Peshitta Institute Leiden 14, ed. W. van Peursen and R. ter Haar Romeny. Brill: 1-10. ----(2006b). ‘Princess Sara’s Gospel Book: A Syriac Manuscript Written in Inner Mongolia?,’ In: Jingjiao: The Church of the East in China and Central Asia. Collectanea Serica, ed. R. Malek and P. Hofrichter. Institut Monumenta Serica: 347-8. ----(2005). ‘Some Aspects of Turco-Mongol Christianity in the Light of Literary and Epigraphic Syriac Sources,’ Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies 19:2: 5-20.

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Budge, E. A. W., tr. (1928). The Monks of Kûblâi Khân, Emperor of China. London: Religious Tract Society. Burkitt, F. (1925). The Religion of the Manichees. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chabot, J.-B. (1902). Synodicon orientale, ou Recueil de synodes nestoriens (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale). Chwolson, D. (1897). Syrisch-Nestorianische Grabinschriften aus Semirjetschie. Neue Folge. St. Petersburg: Imprimerie de l’Académie Impériale des Sciences. ----(1890). ‘Syrisch-Nestorianische Grabinschriften aus Semirjetschie,’ Mémoires de l’Académie impériale des sciences de St.-Pétersbourg, VII (Ser.): XXXVII. Coakley, J. (1993). ‘A Catalogue of the Syriac Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library,’ Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 75: 105-207. von le Coq, A. (1928a). Buried Treasures of Chinese Turkestan: an Account of the Activities and Adventures of the Second and Third German Turfan Expeditions, tr. A. Barwell. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd. (repr: Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985). ----(1928b). Von Land und Leuten in Ostturkistan: Berichte und Abenteuer der 4. Deutschen Turfanexpedition. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs. ----(1926). Auf Hellas Spuren in Ostturkistan: Berichte und Abenteuer der II. und III. Deutschen Turfan-Expedition. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs. ----(1909). ‘Ein christliches und ein manichäisches Manuskriptfragment in Türkischer Sprache aus Turfan (Chinesisch-Turkistan)’ Sitzungsberichte der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften: 1202-18. Dauvillier, J. (1953). ‘Byzantins d’asie centrale et d’extrême-orient au moyen age', Revue des Études Byzantines 11:62-87. Dickens, M. (in press). ‘Patriarch Timothy I and the Metropolitan of the Turks.’ Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. Drijvers, H. J. W., ed. and tr. (1965). The Book of the Laws of Countries: Dialogue on Fate of Bardaisan of Edessa (Semitic Texts with Translations 3). Assen: Van Gorcum and Co. Engberding, H. (1965). ‘Fünf Blätter eines alten ostsyrischen Bittund Bussgottesdienstes aus Innerasien,’ Ostkirchliche Studien 14: 121-48.

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Erdal, M. (1998). ‘Old Turkic.’ In: The Turkic Languages, ed. by L. Johanson and É. Csató. London: Routledge: 138-57. Gignoux, P. (1968). ‘L’auteur de la version pehlevie du psautier serait-il nestorien?,’ Mémorial Mgr Gabriel Khouri-Sarkis 1898-1968. Imprimerie Orientaliste: 233-44. Gillman, I. and H.-J. Klimkeit. (1999). Christians in Asia before 1500. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Gismondi, E., ed. and tr. (1896-7). Maris Amri et Slibae. De Patriarchis Nestorianorum. Commentaria, Pars Altera (Amri et Slibae). Rome: C. de Luigi. Hage, W. (1987). ‘Das Christentum in der Turfan-Oase.’ In: Synkretismus in den Religionen Zentralasiens, ed. W. Heissig and H.-J. Klimkeit. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz: 46-57. Halbertsma, T. (2008). Early Christian Remains of Inner Mongolia: Discovery, Reconstruction and Appropriation (Sinica Leidensia 88). Leiden: Brill. Hansen, O. (1954). ‘Berliner soghdische Texte II: Bruchstücke der großen Sammelhandshrift C2.’ In: Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur in Mainz, Jahrbuch, Abhandlungen der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Klasse 15: 821-918. Hoenerbach, W. and Spies, O. tr. (1956). Ibn aṭ-Ṭaiyib, Fiqh anNaṣrānīya: «Das Recht der Christenheit» I [Trans.] CSCO 162, Arabic 17. Louvain: Imprimerie Orientaliste L. Durbecq. Hopkirk, P. (1980). Foreign devils on the Silk Road: the search for the lost cities and treasures of Chinese Central Asia. London: J. Murray. Hunter, E. (2006). ‘Christianity in Central Asia and the Near East’ Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2nd ed. (Elsevier: Oxford) 2: 392-4. ----(1989-91). ‘The Conversion of the Kerait to Christianity in A.D. 1007,’ Zentralasiatische Studien 22: 142-63. Kara, G. (1996). ‘Aramaic Scripts for Altaic Languages.’ In: The World’s Writing Systems, ed. by P. T. Daniels and W. Bright: 537-58. New York: Oxford University Press. Kaufhold, H. (1996). ‘Anmerkungen zur Veröffentlichung eines syrischen Lektionarfragments,’ Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 146: 49-60. Klein, W. (2000). Das nestorianische Christentum an den Handelswegen durch Kyrgyzstan bis zum 14. Jh (Silk Road Studies III). Turnhout: Brepols.

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(1999). ‘Das Orthodoxe Katholikat von Romagyris in Zentralasien,’ Parole de l’Orient 24: 235-65. Klein, W. and Tubach, J. (1994). ‘Ein syrisch-christliches Fragment aus Dunhuang/China,’ Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 144: 1-13, 446. Latham, R., tr. (1958). The Travels of Marco Polo (Penguin Classics). London: Penguin. Macomber, W. F. (1970). ‘A List of the Known Manuscripts of the Chaldean Ḥudrā,’ Orientalia Christiana Periodica 36: 120-34. Mai, A., ed. and tr. (1838). Scriptorum veterum nova collectio e vaticanis codicibus edita ab A.M., Vol. X. Rome: Typis Collegi Urbani. Maróth, M. (1991a). ‘Die syrischen Handschriften in der TurfanSammlung.’ In: Ägypten, Vorderasien, Turfan: Probleme der Edition und Bearbeitung altorientalischer Handschriften. Schriften zur Geschichte und Kultur des alten Orients 23, ed. H. Klengel and W. Sundermann. Akademie Verlag: 126-8. Meshcherskaya, E. N. (1996). ‘The Syriac fragments in the N.N. Krotkov Collection.’ In: Turfan, Khotan und Dunhuang. Berichte und Abhandlungen, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften 1, ed. R. Emmerick et. al. Akademie Verlag: 221-7. Mingana, A. (1925). ‘The Early Spread of Christianity in Central Asia and the Far East: A New Document,’ in Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, Vol. 9, No. 2: 297-371 (repr: Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1925). Montgomery, J. tr. (1927). The History of Yaballaha III, Nestorian Patriarch, and of his Vicar Bar Sauma. New York: Columbia University Press. Müller, F. W. K. (1915). ‘Ein syrisch-neupersisches Psalmenbruchstück aus Chinesisch-Turkistan.’ In: Festschrift Eduard Sachau, ed. by G. Weil. Verlag von Georg Reimer: 215-22. ----(1912). ‘Soghdische Texte I.’ In: Abhandlungen der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. PhilosophischHistorische Klasse II: 1-111. ----(1908). ‘Uigurica I.’ In: Abhandlungen der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-Historische Klasse II: 1-60. Nasrallah, J. (1976). ‘L’Église melchite en Iraq, en Perse et dans l’Asie centrale,’ Proche Orient Chrétien 26: 16-33, 319-53.

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Nau, F. (1914). ‘L’expansion nestorienne en Asie,’ Annales du Musée Guimet, Bibliothèque de vulgarisation 40: 193-388. Naymark, A. (1996). ‘Christians in Pre-Islamic Bukhara. Numismatic Evidence.’ In: Annual Central Eurasian Studies Conference. Abstracts of Papers 1994-1996, ed. J. Elverskog and A. Naymark: 11-13. Bloomington: Indiana University. Payne Smith, J. (1903). A Compendious Syriac Dictionary, founded upon the Thesaurus Syriacus of R. Payne Smith. Oxford: Clarendon Press (repr: Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 1999). Peters, C. (1936). ‘Der Texte der soghdischen Evangelienbruchstücke und das Problem der Pešitta,’ Oriens Christianus 33: 153-62. Pigoulewsky, N. (1935-6). ‘Fragments syriaques et syro-turcs de Hara-hoto et de Tourfan,’ Revue de l’Orient Chrétien 30: 3-46. Pines, S. (1968). ‘The Iranian name for Christians and the ‘GodFearers’.’ In: Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities II: 143-52 Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities (repr: Studies in the History of Religion, by Shlomo Pines, ed. G. Stroumsa. Jerusalem: Hebrew University, 1996, [11-20]). Qing, D. (2001). ‘Bericht über ein neuentdecktes syrisches Dokument aus Dunhuang/China,’ Oriens Christianus 85: 8493. Reck, C. (2008). ‘A Survey of the Christian Sogdian Fragments in Sogdian Script in the Berlin Turfan Collection.’ In: Controverses des chrétiens dans l’Iran sassanide. Studia Iranica Cahier 36, ed. C. Jullien. Association pour l’Avancement des Études Iraniennes: 191-205. Reinink, G. tr. (1988). Gannat Bussame I. Die Adventssonntage [Trans] CSCO 502, Subsidia Syriaca 212. Louvain: E. Peeters. ----(1979). Studien zur Quellen- und Traditionsgeschichte des Evangelienkommentars der Gannat Bussame. CSCO 414, Subsidia 57. Louvain: E. Peeters. Sachau, E. (1905). ‘Litteratur-Bruchstücke aus ChinesischTurkistan,’ Sitzungsberichte der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften: 964-78. ----tr. (1879). The Chronology of Ancient Nations. London: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. Saeki, P. (1951). The Nestorian Documents and Relics in China, 2nd ed. Tokyo: Maruzen Company Ltd.

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Scher, A. (1907). ‘Notice sur les manuscrits syriaques et arabes conservés à l’archevêché chaldéen de Diarbékir.’ In: Journal Asiatique X (Ser.) X: 331-61, 385-431. Schwartz, M. (1974). ‘Sogdian Fragments of the Book of Psalms,’ Altorientalische Forschungen 1: 257-61. Shaked, S. (1990). ‘Bible, iv. Middle Persian Translations of the Bible.’ In: Encyclopaedia Iranica 4: 206-7. Sims-Williams, N. (1992a). ‘Christianity, iii. In Central Asia and Chinese Turkestan,’ in Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. 5: 530-4. ----(1992b). ‘Christianity, iv. Christian Literature in Middle Iranian Languages.’ In Encyclopaedia Iranica 5: 534-5. ----(1992c). ‘Sogdian and Turkish Christians in the Turfan and Tun-huang Manuscripts.’ In: Turfan and Tun-huang, the Texts: Encounter of Civilizations on the Silk Route. Orientalia Venetiana IV, ed. A. Cadonna. Firenze: Leo S. Olschki Editore: 43-61. ----(1991). ‘Die christlich-sogdischen Handschriften von Bulayïq.’ In: Ägypten, Vorderasien, Turfan. Schriften zur Geschichte und Kultur des alten Orients 23, ed. H. Klengel and W. Sundermann. Akademie Verlag: 119-25. ----(1990). ‘Bible, v. Sogdian Translations of the Bible.’ In: Encyclopaedia Iranica 4: 207. ----(1989). ‘Sogdian.’ In: Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum, ed. by R. Schmitt. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag: 173-92. ----(1985). The Christian Sogdian Manuscript C2. Berliner Turfantexte XII. Berlin: Akademie Verlag. Skjaervø, O. (1996). ‘Aramaic Scripts for Iranian Languages.’ In: The World’s Writing Systems, ed. by P. T. Daniels and W. Bright: New York: Oxford University Press: 515-35. Sundermann, W. (1995). ‘Soghdisch *xwšt’nc „Lehrerin“,’ Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 48: 225-7. ----(1994). ‘Byzanz und Bulayïq.’ In: Iranian and Indo-European Studies: Memorial Volume of Otakar Klíma, ed. P. Vavroušek. Enigma Corporation: 255-64. ----(1989). ‘Mittelpersisch.’ In: Compendium Linguarum Iranicarum, ed. R. Schmitt. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag: 138-64. ----(1974). ‘Einige Bemerkungen zum Syrisch-Neupersischen Psalmenbruchstük aus Chinesisch-Turkistan.’ in Mémorial

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Jean de Menasce, ed. P. Gignoux and A. Tafazzoli. Imprimerie Orientaliste: 441-52. Tardieu, M. (1999). ‘Un site chrétien dans la Sogdiane des Sâmânides,’ Le monde de la Bible, 119: 40-2. Taylor, W. (1941). ‘Syriac MSS. found in Peking, ca. 1925,’ Journal of the American Oriental Society 61: 91-7. Thomas, K. (1990). ‘Bible, iii. Chronology of Translations of the Bible.’ In: Encyclopaedia Iranica 4: 203-6. van Tongerloo, A. (1992). ‘Ecce Magi ab Oriente Venerunt.’ In: Philosophie-Philosophy Tolerance. Acta Orientalia Belgica VII, ed. A. Théodoridès. Louvain la Neuve: 57-74. Whitby, M. and Whitby, M. tr. (1986). The History of Theophylact Simocatta. Oxford: Clarendon. Wright, W. (1894). A Short History of Syriac Literature. London: A. and C. Black (repr: Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2001). Yakup, A. (2002). ‘On the Interlinear Uyghur Poetry in the Newly Unearthed Nestorian Text.’ In: Splitter aus der Gegend von Turfan: Festschrift für Peter Zieme anläßlich seines 60. Geburtstags, ed. M. Ölmez and S.-C. Raschmann. Şafak Matbaacılık: 409-17. Zieme, P. (in press). ‘Notes on a bilingual prayer book from Bulayık.’ In: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference ‘Research on the Church of the East in China and Central Asia,’ Salzburg 1-6 June 2006. Collectanea Serica, ed. R. Malek and P. Hofrichter. Sankt Augustin: Institut Monumenta Serica. ----(2006a). ‘A Cup of Cold Water: Folios of a NestorianTurkic Manuscript from Kharakhoto,’ in Jingjiao: The Church of the East in China and Central Asia (Collectanea Serica), ed. by R. Malek and P. Hofrichter: 341-5. Sankt Augustin: Institut Monumenta Serica. ----(2006b). ‘Die seltsamen Wanderwege des sogdischen Titels *xuštanč „Lehrerin“,’ Turkologie für das 21. Jahrhundert. Veröffentlichungen der Societas Uralo-Altaica 70. ed. H. Fenz and P. Kappert. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag: 301-7. ----(1981). ‘Ein Hochzeitssegen Uigurischer Christen.’ In: Scholia: Beiträge zur Turkologie und Zentralasienkunde, ed. K. Röhrborn and H. Brands. Otto Harrassowitz: 221-32. ----(1974). ‘Zu den nestorianish-türkischen Turfantexten.’ In: Sprache, Geschichte und Kultur der altaischen Völker:

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Малов, С. (1951). Памятники Древнетюркской Письменности. Москва-Ленинград: Издателство Академии Наук СССР.

PRESTER JOHN’S REALM: NEW LIGHT ON CHRISTIANITY BETWEEN MERV AND TURFAN ALEXEI SAVCHENKO

SOCIETY FOR THE EXPLORATION OF CENTRAL ASIA AND

MARK DICKENS SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES

The question of the historical role of Nestorianism in Turkestan, and of the reasons for its complete disappearance belongs to the questions of main concern for that part of the local intellectuals who take interest in the country’s past … A more academic formulation would of course only become possible when all information of the Oriental authors is collected, and when those places where, according to that information, Christianity once flourished are subjected to thorough study in order to discover substantial new monuments. Wilhelm Barthold (1869–1930), ‘More on Christianity in Central Asia’1

For centuries, Europeans were captivated by the figure of Prester John, the legendary Christian priest-king who supposedly ruled over vast stretches of Asia. The West eventually realised that he never existed, but the fascination with Christianity far to the East of Europe remained and indeed was based on solid historical fact. As the quote from Barthold above points out, the task of


 V. V. Bartol’d, Raboty po otdel’nym problemam istorii Sredney Azii 2. Sochineniya (Moscow: 1964) 315. 1

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reconstructing the history of Christianity in the heart of ‘Prester John’s realm,’ namely Central Asia, remains a challenge, due to the scattered nature of literary references in a variety of languages and the general scarcity of archaeological data, relative to what we have available for understanding the history of Christianity in Europe or the Middle East. The Christians in Prester John’s realm followed the teachings of such spiritual authorities as Narsai (ca. 399–ca. 502) and Mar Babai the Great (ca. 551–628), now largely familiar only to church historians. The language of worship for this millions-strong flock, stretching from eastern Syria through the Middle East, across Central Asia and into China, was Syriac, modern varieties of which are still spoken in small enclaves in the Middle East. Often called ‘Nestorians’ by others, these Christians belonged to the Church of the East, the largest and most influential Christian community of its time outside the former Roman Empire. Before the first Christian missionaries brought the Gospel to the barbarian tribes of Europe, priests of this Church had already established strongholds in Persia, Afghanistan, India, the vast expanses of Central Asia, and China, where they competed with other religions and experienced both favour and persecution, according to the changing political climate. Following the trade routes of Late Antiquity, they mounted pan-Asian ventures, achieving a degree of geographical expansion which would not be matched by the West until after the beginnings of European colonisation in the 16th century.2 Among the 25 metropolitan provinces of the Church of the East that had been founded by the 13th century was Samarkand, the heart of the country then known as Sogd or Sogdiana.3 There is no agreement as to when the foundation of this metropolitan see took place; although it is attributed to the Catholicos Saliba-Zakha (714–728), other sources also suggest an earlier date, under either


 Unless otherwise noted, all dates are in the Common Era (CE). For a broad panorama of the missionary activities of the Church of the East, see the following excellent source: C. Baumer, The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity (London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 2006). See also E. Hunter, ‘The Church of the East in Central Asia.’ Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library 78/3 (1996): 129-42. 3 J. S. Assemani, Bibliotheca Orientalis Clementino-Vaticana, (Rome: 1719-28) III: 2, 630. 2

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Ahai (410–414) or Shila (Silas) (503–523).4 Although Asian Christianity began to decline with the spread of Islam in the 10th century, the community at Samarkand still survived. According to Bar Hebraeus, they still had a metropolitan in 1046.5 The Persian historian al-Juzjani tells of a conflict that occurred between the Christian and Muslim communities at Samarkand between 1256 and 1259, which resulted in the destruction of a Christian church.6 Marco Polo’s report on the church of St. John the Baptist in Samarkand, abundant in fantastic detail, dates to ca. 1275.7 The Syriac History of Mar Yahballaha III mentions Mar Jacob, the metropolitan of Samarkand, amongst those who participated in the consecration in Baghdad in 1281 of Rabban Marqos, a Turkic monk from China, as Yahballaha III, the first and only Turkic Patriarch of the Church of the East.8 In 1329 Pope John XXII sent his bishop to Samarkand, probably in order to try and persuade the non-Chalcedonians to recognise his authority.9 In 1404 Ruy Gonzales de Clavijo, the envoy of Henry III of Castile, reported that many Christians in Samarkand had been captured by Timur during his raids on Syria, Armenia and Persia.10 The end of their prosperity is signalled by the 15th century Armenian chronicler Thomas of Metsop, who reports in his History of Lanktamur and His Successors about persecutions of the Samarkand Christians between 1421 and 1429.11 But what more can be said about this millennial presence apart from these fleeting


 See the discussion in B. Colless, ‘The Nestorian Province of Samarqand.’ Abr-Nahrain 24 (1986) 51-7. 5 E. A. W. Budge, tr., The Chronography of Gregory Abû’l Faraj, the son of Aaron, the Hebrew Physician, commonly known as Bar Hebraeus (Oxford: 1932) I: 204-5. 6 Cited in W. Barthold, Turkestan down to the Mongol Invasion. E.J.W. Gibb Memorial Series, N.S. 5 (London: 1968) 486. 7 R. Latham, tr., The Travels of Marco Polo (London: 1958) 81-2. Scholars are generally of the opinion that Polo never in fact visited Samarkand. 8 E. A. W. Budge, tr., The Monks of Kûblâi Khân, Emperor of China (London: 1928) 155-6. 9 J. Mosheim, Historia Tartarorum Ecclesiastica (Helmstadt: 1741) 110-1, add. LXIII-LXV. 10 C. Markham, tr., Narrative of the Embassy of Ruy González de Clavijo to the Court of Timour, at Samarcand, A.D. 1403-6 (London: 1859) 171. 11 Shakhnazarian, ed., Tovma Mets’opetsi (Paris: 1860) 28-9. 4

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references in literary sources? What traces remain of the ‘realm of Prester John’?

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE Amongst the more important artefacts uncovered from former Sogdian territory, now in modern-day Uzbekistan, is a bronze censer, found in the summer of 1916 in Urgut, a small town ca. 40 km to the south-east of Samarkand.12 Its dating is disputed: 8th–9th century or late 12th–early 13th century, but it would have been used during the liturgy. 13 Other artefacts uncovered in Uzbekistan point to a significant Christian presence, albeit only partially preserved. In the 7th and 8th centuries, several Sogdian rulers identified themselves with Christianity, as can be seen from coins they minted which bear crosses.14 A number of other archaeological finds date to the same period: Christian burials at the sites of Durmon-tepa15 and DashtiUrdakon16 near Samarkand; wearable crosses;17 various ceramic


 Plate 1. Bronze censer from Urgut. Photo N. Tikhomirov. 13 V. Zalesskaya, ‘Siriyskoye bronzovoye kadilo iz Urguta.’ Sredniaya Aziya i Iran (Leningrad: 1972) 57-60. 14 Plate 2. Sogdian Christian coinage, 7th century (bronze). Top group: Bukhara oasis (Western Uzbekistan). Bottom group: Samarkand area (Central Uzbekistan and Tajikistan). Right (obverse only): Chach (Tashkent region). For information on this material see A. Musakayeva, ‘O nestorianakh v Sredney Azii.’ Iz istorii drevnikh kul'tov Sredney Azii. Khristianstvo (Tashkent: 1994) 42-55, and A. Naymark, Sogdiana, its Christians and Byzantium: A Study of Artistic and Cultural Connections in Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages [Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation] (Bloomington: 2001). 15 G. Shishkina, ‘Nestorianskoye pogrebeniye v Sogde Samarkandskom.’ Iz istorii drevnikh kul’tov Sredney Azii. Khristianstvo (Tashkent: 1994) 56-63. 16 A. Belenitskiy et al, ‘Raskopki drevnego Pendzhikenta v 1976 g.’ Arkheologicheskiye raboty v Tadzhikistane XVI (1976) 217-8. 17 See Plate 3. Cross, bronze, Quwa (Ferghana Valley, Eastern Uzbekistan). Plate 4. Cross, bronze, Qashqadarya province (Central Uzbekistan). Plate 5. Cross of thin sheet gold (sewn onto funeral clothing of the deceased), Durmon (near Samarkand). Plate 6. Cross with the ornamental design of grapes (a Eucharistic symbol), coal shale, Samarkand province. Plate 7. Pendant with Virgin and Child, glass in silver mounting, Balalyk-tepa (Surkhandarya province, southern Uzbekistan). 12

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items,18 including an ampoule (a small glass vial for holy water or oil, carried by pilgrims on the belt) of St. Menas, the Egyptian saint and martyr (ca. 285-ca. 309);19 a scene involving veneration of the cross scratched on the side of a large jar;20 and an ostracon with fragments of the first two Psalms in Syriac.21 One of the biggest challenges to reconstructing the history of Central Asian Christianity is the relative scarcity of Christian buildings which have been discovered and excavated in the region. Up until recently, remnants of churches had only been found in the following locations in the region: 1) the Kharoba-Koshuk in Merv (Turkmenistan), used between the 5th/6th and 11th/12th centuries;22 2) a church and a monastery in Aq-Beshim (Kyrgyzstan), dating from the 8th–11th centuries;23 3) a church in Qocho, near Turfan (Xinjiang, China).24


 See Plate 8. Ceramic jug, Taraz region, Kazakhstan. Photo C. Baumer. Plate 9. Ceramic bowl for ritual washing before ceremony, Andijan (Ferghana valley, Eastern Uzbekistan). Plate 10. Ceramic cast for moulding crosses, Rabinjan (Samarkand area). 19 B. Staviskiy, ‘“Ampula sviatogo Miny” iz Samarkanda.’ Kratkiye soobshcheniya Instituta istorii material’noy kul’tury AN SSSR 80 (1960): 101-2. 20 Belenitskiy (1976) 218. 21 A. Paykova, ‘The Syrian Ostracon from Panjikant.’ Le Muséon 92 (1979) 159-69. 22 G. Pugachenkova, ‘Kharoba-Koshuk.’ Izvestiya Akademii nauk Tukkmenskoy SSR 3 (1954) 15-9; G. Dresvianskaya, ‘Kharoba-Koshuk.’ Pamiatniki Turkmenistana 2 (1968) 28. See also the discussion in G. Herrmann, The Monuments of Merv: Traditional Buildings of the Karakum (London: 1999) 103-5, 180. 23 G. Clauson, ‘Ak Beshim–Suyab.’ Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1961) 1-13; L. Hambis, ‘Communication: Ak-Bešim et ses sanctuaires.’ Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres (Comptes Rendus) (1961) 124-38; W. Klein, ‘A Newly Excavated Church of Syriac Christianity along the Silk Road in Kyrghyzstan.’ Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 56 (2004) 25-47; G. Semionov, ‘Raskopki 1996-1998 gg.’ Suyab. Ak-Beshim (St. Petersburg: 2002) 44-114. 24 M. Bussagli, Central Asian Painting (London: 1978) 111-4; K. Parry, ‘Images in the Church of the East: the evidence from Central Asia and China.’ Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library 78:3 (1996) 143-62. To this list, although further away geographically, may be added the two 18

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A NEW DISCOVERY Against the aforementioned scant inventory of individual archaeological finds in the Samarkand area, some of which are simply accidental, the following testimony offers tantalizing hope of finding evidence of a more substantial Christian presence: The mountains to the south of Samarkand are [called] Shawdar… There is no other district in the vicinity of Samarkand healthier in climate, more abundant in crops or better in fruit than this. Its people excel the people of the vicinity in physique and complexion. This district stretches for more than ten farsakhs,25 and it is one of the most salubrious mountain areas with the nicest buildings, neither isolated nor inaccessible. On Shawdar there is a monastery of the Christians where they gather and have their cells. I found many Iraqi Christians there who had migrated to the place because of its suitability, solitary location and healthy climate. It [the monastery] owns real estate, and many people retreat to it.26

So wrote an Arab traveller, Abu Qasim Muhammad ibn Ḥawqal, who left Baghdad in 943 to become acquainted with other lands and peoples and to make money by commerce, in his famous geographical treatise ‘Roads and Kingdoms’ (al-Masalik wa-’lMamalik).27 The precise location of this monastery had never been established (despite a series of attempts made in 1894, 1900 and 1938), but there were hints as to its whereabouts:

churches, one ‘Nestorian’ and one ‘Latin,’ excavated in Olon Süme, Inner Mongolia, both dating from the 13th-14th centuries, on which see J. Dauvillier, ‘L’archéologie des anciennes églises de rite chaldéen.’ Parole de l’Orient 6-7 [Mélanges offerts au R. P. François Graffin] (1975-6) 383-4. 25 1 farsakh ≈ 6 km. 26 Translation by A. Savchenko. A less than accurate translation of this passage can also be found in J. Kramers and G. Wiet, tr., Ibn Hauqal: Configuration de la Terre (Kitab Surat al-Ard), 2 vols. (Paris: 1964) 478. 27 M. de Goeje, ed., Viae et regna. Descriptio ditionis moslemicae auctore Abu’l-Kasim Ibn Haukal (Lugduni Batavorum: 1873) 373.

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1) The aforementioned censer was found in Urgut in 1916 and sold to the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, where it now housed. Unlike an icon or a crucifix, a censer cannot belong to an individual and is thus evidence of an organised Christian community celebrating the liturgy; 2) In 1920, a group of university students from Tashkent discovered a rock carved with Syriac inscriptions on a cliff near Urgut, since which references to these inscriptions have become commonplace in all studies dealing with Christianity in Central Asia;28 3) In 1955, a group of local Young Pioneers (the Soviet equivalent of Boy Scouts) discovered a cave cemetery in one of the many caves found in the neighbouring hills. A number of Syriac inscriptions inscribed on the walls of the caves were reported, but these appear not to have survived.29 Realising that the only way to pin-point the location was to gather together all the available evidence, a careful examination was made of Ibn Ḥawqal’s original text, preserved in several mediaeval manuscripts kept in libraries in Oxford (Bodleian), Paris (Bibliothèque Nationale), Leiden (Leiden University), and Berlin (Gotha), as well as in the private collection of Sir William Ouseley. By studying the transmission of a Sogdian place-name down through the centuries, it was possible to correct the key passage, which probably read as follows before it was corrupted in the process of scribal copying: ‘this place towers over the major part of Sogd and is known by the name of Warkūdah’ (Urgut in present-day Uzbek pronunciation, a town ca. 40 km to the south-east of Samarkand).30 Correlating this to the rest of the geographically identifiable landmarks, this led to the southernmost edge of the


 On these inscriptions, see A. Savchenko, ‘Urgut Revisited.’ Aram 8 (1996) 333-54. 29 G. Parfyenov, ‘Qidirishga yordam bering.’ Lenin Uchquni № 33 (2749), 24 April 1955; G. Parfyenov, ‘Rahmat sizga, Urgutli dustlar.’ Lenin Uchquni № 45 (2761), 5 June 1955. 30 A. Savchenko, ‘Po povodu khristianskogo seleniya Urgut.’ Zapiski Vostochnogo otdeleniya Rossiyskogo arkheologicheskogo obshchestva II (XXVII) (2006) 551-5. 28

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habitable territory, in the foothills of the Zarafshan Mountain Range, close to the therapeutic springs of Qutir-buloq and the site of the Syriac inscriptions at Qizil-qiya. It was this small area, in the watershed of two streams coming down from the melting glaciers, where The East Sogdian Archaeological Expedition started to investigate, combing the area for any signs of an early mediaeval monastic settlement. The excavations, conducted under the aegis of The Society for the Exploration of Eurasia,31 have revealed, at 39°22′51″ N, 67°14′30″ E, a church built according to the architectural traditions of the Church of the East, as we know them from a number of similar edifices, ranging from the Persian Gulf to present-day Kyrgyzstan. The analysis of structural material, including bricks, tiles, ceramics, glasswork and coinage, indicated the main period of habitation was between the 8th and 13th centuries, while radiocarbon dating pointed to the late 7th century as the time of founding. All the elements, except the western and eastern façade walls, survived in satisfactory condition, which allows for a detailed description.

DESCRIPTION OF THE BUILDING The building can be described as a double-nave church with two isolated naves oriented east-west with a slight deviation and, as with many sanctuaries, independently furnished for celebration of the liturgy. The northern nave was probably the main chapel, given the entrance to it from outside through an arched doorway. The southern nave has no doorway in its western wall and can be entered only through a narrow corridor from the other nave. Such double (and triple) churches are well-attested in Mesopotamia, as well as elsewhere in the East since the Early Middle Ages. The naves are separated by a raised clay platform in the centre which served as a base for a church tower. In front of the main entrance to the northern nave there is a rectangular narthex paved with alternating rows of long- and cross-laid fired bricks. Along the right wall,32 there is a large stand


 For the detailed report, see A. Savchenko, ‘Urgut Unearthed.’ The Journal of Inner Asian Art and Archaeology (in press). 32 Here and below, the orientations are described as if one 31

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laid with fired bricks, with an oval niche in the centre which probably contained a baptisterium. Passing through the doorway, we find ourselves in the longitudinal northern nave, paved with ceramic tiles and with walls made from sun-dried brick faced with fired bricks. The right wall has a row of several niches, probably for lamps (a great many oillamps typical of the area were found during the excavations throughout the site). Proceeding forward, we approach the entrance to the chancel, emphasised by stone steps. Next to them, in agreement with normal ecclesiastical planning, we find a šeqaqōnā, a narrow opening through which only clergymen no lower in rank than deacon could pass. Finally, there is the cross-shaped chancel itself, with a cubical altar made of fired brick adjunct to the centre of the rear wall. In front of it, the seat of the priest is marked by ceramic tiles inserted into the flooring edgewise (in the tradition of the Church of the East, the priest celebrates the liturgy facing the altar, with his back to the congregation). The floor here is paved with ceramic tiles plastered with fine gypsum which is still intact over most of the church interior.33 Immediately before the šeqaqōnā, there is a step to the right, leading to what probably was the bēth diaqōn, the chamber where the prothesis (the preparation of the bread and wine) was performed. The edges of this room are not well-preserved. The other, southern, nave is longer and wider. Again, the adobe walls are faced with and the floor paved with fired brick. At the eastern end, we find the same layout: steps (this time made of fired brick) leading to the chancel, with the same cubical altar.34 This southern chancel connects to a paved gallery circumventing the church from the east. It is important to mention that paintings were used in the decoration of both chancels, providing us with samples of emeraldgreen, carmine, ochre, white and cobalt stucco.35 These traces are entered the church from the west. 33 Plate 11. Northern nave with chancel in the background. 34 Plate 12. Southern nave with chancel in the background. 35 This calls to mind the wall paintings, including one of a priest with Syriac or Persian features and several Central Asian congregants, probably Uyghurs, that was discovered in a Christian church uncovered in Qocho, the former capital of the Uyghur Kingdom, dating from the 9th-

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so slight that cannot be determined whether they are the remains of a single overall colouring or more complex decoration. From the north, the church is flanked by another rectangular room of about the same size as the naves but void of the specific liturgical aspects of planning evident in the naves, namely the nave-chancel division, and without a paved floor. It is to be identified as a refectory, which was considered to be a sacred place in some Eastern monasteries and even in some cases was constructed as a full church with an altar, where certain services were performed. It was adjoining the kitchen, which was found in the form of several ovens extended in a row towards the north, with an accompanying cesspit. All food served in the refectory had to be blessed, and for that purpose, holy water was kept in the large jar found in one corner of the room. A coenobitic community living continually in one place for about 500 years is bound to leave traces of its activities beyond the walls of the church yard. In addition to the previously discovered cliff inscriptions, several caves were discovered higher up the spur of the adjacent Olloyaron Mountain with a number of Syriac inscriptions and drawings carved on the cave walls.36 Most of the inscriptions are still under study, but some have already provided valuable information about their creators, including one written ‘in the year 1064 [AG]’ = 752–753, the earliest dated evidence for the monastery found so far. 37 Speaking of dates, the terminus post quem, marking the lifespan of this major Christian stronghold in Central Asia, can be inferred from several datable contexts testifying to abrupt termination circa 1220, i.e. the Mongol conquest of Samarkand. The erstwhile Christian presence in the region is also manifested at several other nearby sites:

10th centuries, on which see n. 22 above. 36 Plate 13. Ascetic caves with Syriac inscriptions near the monastery site. 37 Plate 14. Syriac inscription in one of the caves, with the personal name ‘Abdisho (‘servant of Jesus’). These inscriptions are being studied by Dr M. Dickens.

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At Kosh-tepa, several miles north-east, a rim of a jar was discovered in 1973, with three offprints of a seal featuring a scene of baptism.38 Quq-tepa, in the nearby settlement of Gus, has yielded a pot for hallowed substances.39 The ostracon found in Panjikant is considered to be a byproduct of the monastic school,40 and the two gravestones kept at the Ashkhabad Museum (Turkmenistan) are also thought to come from Urgut.41 Finally, a local tradition, recorded as late as the end of the 19th century, holds that Christians once lived all along the Samarkand-Urgut road.42

LISTING OF PLATES

43

Plate 1. Bronze censer from Urgut. Photo N. Tikhomirov. Plate 2. Sogdian Christian coinage, 7th century (bronze). Top group: Bukhara oasis (Western Uzbekistan). Bottom group: Samarkand area (Central Uzbekistan and Tajikistan). Right (obverse only): Chach (Tashkent region). Plate 3. Cross, bronze, Quwa (Ferghana Valley, Eastern Uzbekistan). Plate 4. Cross, bronze, Qashqadarya province (Central Uzbekistan). Plate 5. Cross of thin sheet gold (sewn onto funeral clothing of the deceased), Durmon (near Samarkand).


 M. Iskhakov, Sh. Tashkhodzhayev, T. Khodzhayov, ‘Raskopki Koshtepa.’ Istoriya material’noy kul’tury Uzbekistana 13 (1977) 93-4. 39 Ceramic pot with imitation Syriac writing, Gus. 40 See footnote 18 above. 41 M. Masson, ‘Proiskhozhdeniye dvukh nestorianskikh namogil’nykh galek Sredney Azii.’ Obshchestvenniye nauki v Uzbekistane 10 (1978) 50-5. 42 See Alexei Savchenko, ‘Urgut.’ Encyclopaedia Iranica, available at www.iranica.com. 43 Unless otherwise indicated, all photos are by Alexei Savchenko. All drawings are by Olga Zhuravlëva. 38

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Plate 6. Cross with the ornamental design of grapes (a Eucharistic symbol), coal shale, Samarkand province. Plate 7. Pendant with Virgin and Child, glass in silver mounting, Balalyk-tepa (Surkhandarya province, southern Uzbekistan). Plate 8. Ceramic jug, Taraz region, Kazakhstan. Photo C. Baumer. Plate 9. Ceramic bowl for ritual washing before ceremony, Andijan (Ferghana valley, Eastern Uzbekistan). Plate 10. Ceramic cast for moulding crosses, Rabinjan (Samarkand area). Plate 11. Northern nave with chancel in the background. Plate 12. Southern nave with chancel in the background. Plate 13. Ascetic caves with Syriac inscriptions near the monastery site. Plate 14. Syriac inscription in one of the caves, with the personal name ‘Abdisho‘ (‘servant of Jesus’). Plate 15. Ceramic pot with imitation Syriac writing, Gus, near Urgut.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Assemani, J. S. (1719-28). Bibliotheca Orientalis Clementino-Vaticana, Tom. III, 2. Rome: Typis Sacrae Congregationis de Propaganda Fide. Bartol’d, V. V. (1964). Raboty po otdel’nym problemam istorii Sredney Azii 2. Sochineniya. Moscow: Nauka. Barthold, W. (1968). Turkestan down to the Mongol Invasion. E.J.W. Gibb Memorial Series, N.S. 5. London: Luzac & Co. Baumer, C. (2006). The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity. London and New York: I.B. Tauris.

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Belenitskiy A. M. et al. (1976). ‘Raskopki drevnego Pendzhikenta v 1976 g.,’ Arkheologicheskiye raboty v Tadzhikistane XVI: 217– 18. Budge, E. A. W., tr. (1932). The Chronography of Gregory Abû’l Faraj, the son of Aaron, the Hebrew Physician, commonly known as Bar Hebraeus, Vol. I. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ----(1928). The Monks of Kûblâi Khân, Emperor of China London: Religious Tract Society. Bussagli, M. (1978). Central Asian Painting. London: Macmillan. Clauson, G. (1961). ‘Ak Beshim–Suyab,’ Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society: 1–13. Colless, B. (1986). ‘The Nestorian Province of Samarqand,’ AbrNahrain 24: 51–7. Dauvillier, J. (1975–6). ‘L’archéologie des anciennes églises de rite chaldéen,’ Parole de l’Orient 6/7 (Mélanges offerts au R. P. François Graffin): 357–86. Dresvianskaya, G. (1968). ‘Kharoba-Koshuk,’ Pamiatniki Turkmenistana 2: 28. de Goeje, M. J., ed. (1873). Viae et regna. Descriptio ditionis moslemicae auctore Abu’l-Kasim Ibn Haukal. Lugduni Batavorum: E.J. Brill. Hambis, L. (1961). ‘Communication: Ak-Bešim et ses sanctuaires,’ Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres (Comptes Rendus): 124– 38. Herrmann, G. (1999). The Monuments of Merv: Traditional Buildings of the Karakum. London: Society of Antiquaries. Hunter, E. (1996). ‘The Church of the East in Central Asia,’ Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library 78/3: 129–42. Iskhakov, M. M., Sh. S. Tashkhodzhayev and T. K. Khodzhayov. (1977). ‘Raskopki Koshtepa,’ Istoriya material’noy kul’tury Uzbekistana 13: 93–94. Klein, W. (2004). ‘A Newly Excavated Church of Syriac Christianity along the Silk Road in Kyrghyzstan,’ Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 56 (Symposium Syriacum VII): 25– 47. Kramers, J. H. & G. Wiet, tr., (1964). Ibn Hauqal: Configuration de la Terre (Kitab Surat al-Ard) (2 vols). Paris: G.-P. Maisonneuve. Latham, R., tr. (1958). The Travels of Marco Polo. London: Penguin.

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Markham, C. R., tr. (1859). Narrative of the Embassy of Ruy González de Clavijo to the Court of Timour, at Samarcand, A.D. 1403–6. London: Hakluyt Society. Masson, M. E. (1978). ‘Proiskhozhdeniye dvukh nestorianskikh namogil’nykh galek Sredney Azii,’ Obshchestvenniye nauki v Uzbekistane 10: 50–5. Mosheim, J. L. (1741). Historia Tartarorum Ecclesiastica. Helmstadt. Musakayeva, A. (1994). ‘O nestorianakh v Sredney Azii,’ Iz istorii drevnikh kul'tov Sredney Azii. Khristianstvo. Tashkent: Glavnaya redaktsiya entsyklopediy. Naymark, A. (2001). Sogdiana, its Christians and Byzantium: A Study of Artistic and Cultural Connections in Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages [Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation] Bloomington: Indiana University. Parfyenov, G. V. (1955a). ‘Qidirishga yordam bering,’ Lenin Uchquni № 33 (2749), 24 April 1955. ----(1955b). ‘Rahmat sizga, Urgutli dustlar,’ Lenin Uchquni № 45 (2761), 5 June 1955. Parry, K. (1996). ‘Images in the Church of the East: the evidence from Central Asia and China,’ Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library 78/3: 143–62. Paykova, A. V. (1979). ‘The Syrian Ostracon from Panjikant,’ Le Muséon 92: 159–69. Pugachenkova, G. A. (1954). ‘Kharoba-Koshuk,’ Izvestiya Akademii nauk Tukkmenskoy SSR 3: 15–19. Savchenko, A. (in press). ‘Urgut Unearthed,’ The Journal of Inner Asian Art and Archaeology. ----(2008). ‘Urgut,’ Encyclopaedia Iranica Online, available at www.iranica.com. ----(2006). ‘Po povodu khristianskogo seleniya Urgut,’ Zapiski Vostochnogo otdeleniya Rossiyskogo arkheologicheskogo obshchestva II (XXVII): 551–5. (1996). ‘Urgut Revisited,’ Aram 8: 333–54. ----Semionov, G. (2002). ‘Raskopki 1996–1998 gg.,’ Suyab. Ak-Beshim. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage: 44–114. Shakhnazarian, ed. (1860). Tovma Mets’opetsi. Paris. Shishkina, G. (1994). ‘Nestorianskoye pogrebeniye v Sogde Samarkandskom,’ Iz istorii drevnikh kul’tov Sredney Azii. Khristianstvo. Tashkent: Glavnaya redaktsiya entsiklopediy: 56–63.

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Staviskiy, B. (1960). ‘“Ampula sviatogo Miny” iz Samarkanda,’ Kratkiye soobshcheniya Instituta istorii material’noy kul’tury AN SSSR 80: 101–2. Zalesskaya, V. N. (1972). ‘Siriyskoye bronzovoye kadilo iz Urguta,’ Sredniaya Aziya i Iran. Leningrad: Nauka: 57–60.

SYRIAC INSCRIPTIONS FROM TOKMAK AND BIŠKEK, KIRGHIZSTAN WASSILIOS KLEIN

UNIVERSITY OF BONN Syrian and Persian merchants initially propagated the eastern spread of Christianity. The road network of the Silk Road gave access to all the important regions of Central Asia, not only for the exchange of goods, but also for the propagation of the religions and cultures. In this multilingual environment, the Christians established their faith, starting in the cities where Christian merchants founded bases. They were followed by priests and monks who formed small core parishes, which attracted followers among the local population. The trading metropolis of Merv had a parish since the fourth century and was soon promoted to metropolitan see; so there was an outpost for Syriac missions far to the east of Mesopotamia at a very early date. At the bishopric of Herat, the conversion of some sections of the Hephthalites or ‘White Huns’ took place at the end of the fifth century already. Further eastwards, the mission advanced via Bukhara and Samarkand to Lake Issyk-Kul. In the eighth century there was a Christian ruler in Kashgar and Christians in Khotan, in Bai in the north and in Tibet, as shown by inscriptions found near Drangtse. In the same period, Choresme and Sogdia were also reached, which had been strongholds of Zoroastrianism until then. The converted Sogdians assisted in the propagation of the new faith as merchants in Merv, western and eastern Turkestan, Mongolia and China. Patriarch Timothy I (780-823) played a major role in the further propagation of Syriac Christianity by his systematic organisation and his provision for the theological and language education of missionaries. He also consecrated bishops for the eastern areas, including Tibet. A metropolitan see was established in the east of

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the Tarim basin, in the region of the Uighur. At the beginning of the eleventh century, Kerait-Turks were reportedly baptised together with their Khan. They contributed substantially to the promotion of the mission by preaching the Gospel themselves and were particularly successful among their neighbouring tribes such as the Naiman. The Mongol capital of Qaracorum was located in the area of the converted tribes. Further bishoprics were established. Thus the Khalaj tribe, based at the upper course of the river Oxus, obtained their own metropolitan see. The cities of Merv, Bukhara, Samarkand and Tashkent that had been completely destroyed by Chingis Khan recovered and even in Manchuria there were parishes along the coast in the 13th and 14th centuries. The Tanguts and the Öngüt, who were related to the Mongol ruling house by marriages from the time of Chingis Khan, now obtained their own metropolitans. The circumstances were so favourable that two monks from the region of Khanbaliq went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The older, Rabban Sauma, was sent to Constantinople, Rome and Paris where he met the king of England in 1287 as emissary of Ilkhan Arghun to campaign for a joint crusade against the Mamelukes. The younger, Markos, who came from the Öngüt tribe, was elected as the Catholicos-Patriarch Yahballaha III (1281-1317) despite his poor knowledge of the Syriac language, showing the importance the missionary areas had gained for the Mesopotamian heartland under the Mongol rule. Apparently at the time of its maximum expansion the Church of the East had some 27 metropolitan sees that also included South India. This ascendancy ended with the conversion of Ilkhan Ghazan (1295-1304) to Islam; under his rule the Mongols in Persia were Islamized. Furthermore, with the crumbling of the Mongol Empire contacts between the parishes became impossible. The consequences of the Black Death and the destruction wrought by Timur Lang (d. 1405) sealed the rapid decline of this minority religion in Central Asia at the end of the 14th century. The so-called Nestorians were forced to withdraw into the mountains of northern Mesopotamia where they still struggle for their survival today-if they do not prefer to emigrate.

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ORGANISATION OF THE MISSIONS Enculturation within Central Asia was not made easier by the considerable differences of culture, religion and mentality that existed between Syrians, Iranians, Turks, Mongols and Chinese. Missions usually encountered peoples of different nations, cultures and religions, and the parishes were scattered over huge areas. The organisation of missionary work had to take this into account. In this context it was a very beneficial provision that the priests had to be married. This regulation allowed the appointment of many missionaries who earned their own living and travelled large areas as merchants. They had pastoral charge over these areas. Monks, however, had also an important function as they followed the merchants and founded monasteries, their faith attracting many people. The numerous monasteries functioned as schools for the education of locals who became clerics. In addition to hermits, such as the above-mentioned Rabban Sauma and the monks living in monastic communities, itinerant monks were also important for the mission. The rivalry they encountered in the face of the ascetic Manichaean Electi and particularly Buddhist monks may have bolstered their activities. In order to promote their missions further, the metropolitans of the "Outer Sees" obtained, in the sixth century, the privilege to establish or abolish bishoprics at their own discretion. Therefore, even in times when contact with the Patriarch was interrupted, they could act in an appropriate, independent manner. To cope with the expediency of his distant realms, Patriarch Timothy I eased the requirements for the consecration of bishops. The candidate was not required to be consecrated by the Patriarch any more, instead the presence of two instead of three bishops was sufficient. The journey to SeleuciaCtesiphon, the seat of the patriarchate of the Church of the East, for confirmation could be omitted. The bishops of the eastern areas were not obliged to attend the synods held in Mesopotamia; it was sufficient to report by letter every six years. On the other hand, these bishops had restricted rights concerning the election of the Patriarch. Taking into account that many of the tribes were nomadic, metropolitans were assigned to the people and not to a fixed location. This versatile and flexible organisation thus allowed the Gospel to become familiar in villages and cities, among the nomadic and resident population. Whilst the tendency was for the

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lower orders of clergy to be recruited from the local inhabitants, Khans and many officials did hold the highest public offices. Furthermore Christian women played a significant role at the courts of the Mongol Khans.

WRITTEN EVIDENCE OF THE MISSIONS The Christian communities in Central Asia wrote texts in a wide range of languages: Syriac, Sogdian, Uighur-Turkish, Chinese, Middle Persian and New Persian. These come from a variety of sites, including Turfan and Dun-huang, now in Sinkiang Uighur Autonomous Province, western China. The texts many of the genres known in the history of Christian literature, including bilingual writings; these texts interestingly reveal the relationships with Christianity in Byzantium and Egypt. However the relations between languages are particularly fascinating, and especially pertinent to appreciating missionary enterprise. The Syriac language remained the official language of the Church and was used-at leastfor important parts of the liturgy. This had the advantage that contacts and the feeling of solidarity between the scattered parishes as well as towards the mother church were retained. Travellers thus found a familiar environment in foreign-language parishes. The disadvantage was that Syriac was a foreign language in Central Asia, used in formal locations, such as lectionary readings and the liturgy. At the same time, local languages were used, and some of them were made into literary languages only by the Syriac Christians, thus satisfying the claim of universality and the needs of the local parishes likewise.1

1 This part is an abridged English version of W. Klein, ‘Zentralasien.’ In: Einleitung in die Missionsgeschichte, Tradition, Situation und Dynamik des Christentums. Theologische Wissenschaft 18. ed. K. Müller and W. Ustorf (Stuttgart: 1995) 121-30.

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GRAVESTONE KIRGHIZSTAN2

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Kirghizstan is a small independent state within Central Asia. In the medieval period, the northern part of its territory, which interests us today because of the evidence of Christian culture found there, lay beyond the best-known travel routes and trade centres on the Silk Road. The main route led via oases such as Bukhara, Samarkand and Kashgar into the Tarim Basin, where it divided into southern and northern routes that continued to China. But this route was not always free of armed conflict, so travellers were often forced to make a detour. An alternative route developed from the 5th century onwards north of the Tien Shan mountain range as a result of Sogdian settlements in the valley of the River Chu. These towns flourished until well into the 11th century and were able to preserve cultural and political independence from China on one side and the Arab-held territory of Transoxiania on the other. Together with the eastern Iranian Sogdian people and their merchants, the major religions entered the region: Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, Buddhism and Syriac Christianity, and later also Islam. The Sogdians were the predominant element during this initial period of Christianity on the territory that is now Kirghizstan. Most of our information about Christianity during this period comes from archaeological finds, which include two church buildings in the capital of the time, Suyab, present-day Ak-Beshim, numerous smaller finds and a few literary sources. The churches date from the time of Sogdian domination. However, the Sogdian culture and cities disappeared around the turn of the millennium as a result of their assimilation into the dominant Turkic element of the population which became largely Islamicised. Thus, for almost 200 years there is practically no evidence of Christianity in Kirghizstan and we cannot be sure whether the faith was kept going continuously by a small number of inhabitants of the country, or whether it was re-introduced from elsewhere. See W. Klein, ‘Syriac Writings and Turkic Language according to Central Asian Tombstone Inscriptions.’ In: Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 5/2 (2002), http://syrcom.cua.edu/ Hugoye/Vol.5, No.2/HV5N2Klein.html. [Paper read at the conference of the American Oriental Society, March 30 - April 1, 2001, University of Toronto, Canada]. 2

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Over 100 years ago around 600 tombstones were found near the Kirghiz capital Bishkek and Burana.3 These tombstones, inscribed with Syriac inscriptions, date from circa 1250 to around 350 give an unparalleled insight into the presence of Syriac Christianity in the medieval period which literary sources barely mention. No churches have survived from this period. The bearers of Christianity were now Turks, who found themselves in a country that no longer had an urban culture but was based on a rural economy. Only two larger settlements remained: Balasagun, modern-day Burana, which was a mainly Muslim ‘capital’, and Tarsakent, the Christian town situated near what is now known as Bishkek. This was a small town based on a system of division of labor that was apparently inhabited and governed more or less exclusively by Christians. The tombstones were supplemented by further finds in the former Mongolian administrative town of Almalyk in the Kazakh-Chinese border area and from the Kirghiz Issyk-Kul, but these were individual items. Recent finds of around 40 tombstones on Kirghiz territory show clearly that the actual Christian centre, with a large cemetery, was at Bishkek, whereas the second cemetery of Burana, near Tokmak, yielded relatively modest finds.4 The tombstones show many links with the Mesopotamian heartland of Syriac Christianity. Major characteristics include: 3

See Plate 1: Grave-marker with Nestorian cross and 12 line Syriac inscription. Published by W. Klein and P. Rott, ‘Einige problematische Funde von der Seidenstrasse: Novopokrovka IV u. V, Issyk-Kuľ-Gebiet, Chotan.’ In: Jingjiao: The Church of the East in China and Central Asia. Collectanea Serica, ed. R. Malek and P. Hofrichter (Sankt Augustin: 2006) 403-24. 4 For further information see W. Klein, Das nestorianische Christentum an den Handelswegen durch Kyrgyzstan bis zum 14. Jahrhundert. Silk Road Studies 3. (Turnhout: 2000) and W. Klein, ‘Christliche Reliefgrabsteine des 14. Jahrhunderts von der Seidenstrasse, Ergänzungen zu einer alttürkischen und zwei syrischen Inschriften sowie eine bildliche Darstellung’ in Orientalia Christiana Analecta 247 (1994) 419-42 [Paper read at Symposium Syriacum VI, 1992, 30 August-2 September 1992, University of Cambridge, England]; W. Klein, ‘Nestorianische Inschriften in Kirgizistan: Ein Situationsbericht’, Orientalia Christiana Analecta 256 (1998) 661-9 [Paper read at Symposium Syriacum VII, 11-14 August 1996, University of Uppsala, Sweden].

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Syriac names (brought from Mesopotamia to Kirghizstan), as well as Turkic proper names Titles of clergy and laymen East Syrian iconography, especially representations of the cross, that are drawn in a wide variety of forms. These were sometimes combined with regional symbols such as a Zoroastrian altar or, further towards the Chinese east, the lotus flower The dating of the tombstone inscriptions uses both the Turkic twelve-year animal cycle and the Seleucid system as used by the Syrian Christians. The latter makes it possible to establish precise dates for the tombstones and thereby the history of the communities. It is striking that only the Turkic-language tombstones add the information that it is the era of Alexander, and that inscriptions on Chinese territory generally do not include this dating nor the association with Syria

The aforementioned characteristics of the tombstones indicate that Syriac must have played a substantial role, especially as a liturgical language. And indeed, the Franciscan traveller William of Rubruck testifies to this being the case in the 13th century. However, a large number of peculiarities in the grammar of the Syriac inscriptions show that neither the stonemasons nor the people who commissioned the inscriptions were native speakers of Syriac. The language of the inscriptions is decidedly clumsy and, even in the most frequently recurring formulae, does not correspond to the Syriac feeling for language. There are a large number of irregularities and inconsistencies, leading to the impression that adaptation of the Syriac script to the requirements of the Turkic language by the Christians of Central Asia should not be rated highly, and that they were not particularly fluent in Syriac. Details relating to occupations that are found on the tombstone inscriptions indicate that there were schools both for elementary education and for ecclesiastical training. Hence it can be assumed that Syriac was taught as the ecclesiastical language, but that the teachers were not native speakers. They were able to teach their pupils to read liturgical texts, and to understand a certain amount of the content, an ability that must have been more developed among liturgists than among most laypeople. The many

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additions and changes made to the inscriptions indicate that the knowledge of Syriac was not restricted to passing on stereotypical formulae. Because Syriac accounts for some 90% of the inscriptions on the tombstones in Kirghizstan, people must also have understood it, even if not so easily as their native Turkic, in which longer and more freely formulated inscriptions were occasionally chiselled in stone. The indicated competence in Syriac on the tombstones reminds one of the knowledge of foreign languages learnt at school, but without ever having sufficient practice in the country in which the language is spoken. In the light of this comparison, the two small Christian communities in the Chu Valley do not come off badly. The inscriptions are almost, without exception, very short and stereotypical, usually saying ‘who died in which year’. Sometimes more information is given. These sparse individual details are sufficient to create a picture of a small Christian town on the outskirts of Biškek. Unlike their Öngüt Turkic fellow-believers on the Huanghe, the Turkic-speaking Christians of Kirghizstan inscribed the majority of their tombstones in Syriac. They also spoke a different dialect to the Öngüt. There are some indications that in addition to smaller communities (Burana, Saruu) they also inhabited an exclusively Christian town, Tarsakent near Biškek. The latter appears to have been under the political administration of a beg, in line with local customs. The ecclesiastical organization followed traditional Mesopotamian practice, but there were adjustments to the local circumstances. Thus the parishes did not have a bishop at their disposal, but instead an archdeacon was in charge, as in Košang and even in Qaraqorum. So their town must have had a particular significance within the Nestorian ecclesiastical organization. This Christian town was apparently located so far away from a bishop that whenever a bishop did travel there, a substantial proportion of the male population was ordained into the priesthood before reaching adulthood. On the other hand, they had no deacons. Despite the lack of a nearby bishop; the education system was well equipped both for elementary education and theological training. We have no knowledge of such things in respect of the Mongol residence town Almalyg, or the Christian Öngüt tribe, although tombstones were also found there. This suggests that Tarsakent may have had a positive special role, albeit on a fairly

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subdued level, as the literary sources take practically no notice of it. The decline of Tarsakent in the Chu Valley, apart from Burana, formerly Balasagun, was probably not at the hands of Islam or the Mongols. In Kirghizstan the decline was due to the plague that raged in 1338, 1339 and again in 1342. The few survivors probably succumbed to pressure from nomads and abandoned the towns. We can also see from the chronology of outbreaks of the plague that this disease did not originate in China, spreading westwards across Asia to Europe; its origins were in Central Asia, somewhere in or near Kirghizstan. In a circuitous way, the plague has became a link between Christianity in Kirghizstan and Europe, proving that history, especially the religious history of Central Asia (and even of this small region in northern Kirghizstan), is a good example of globalisation already in the Middle Ages. With the breakdown and disappearance of urban culture, coupled with the insecurity that followed, that made long-distance trade difficult, the organisation of the Syriac-speaking churches collapsed.5 Christianity did not reach Kirghizstan again until after 1850, when the Russian Orthodox Church arrived in the wake of Russia's occupation of that country.6

LISTING OF PLATES Plate 1. Grave-marker with Nestorian cross and Syriac inscription.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Klein, W. (2002). ‘Syriac Writings and Turkic Language according to Central Asian Tombstone Inscriptions’, Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 5: 2, http://syrcom.cua.edu/ Hugoye/Vol.5, No.2/ HV5N2Klein.html. ----(2000). Das nestorianische Christentum an den Handelswegen durch Kyrgyzstan bis zum 14. Jahrhundert. Silk Road Studies 3. Turnhout: Brepols.

Klein (2000). К истории христианства в Средней Азии (XIX-XX вв.), Ташкент 1998. 5

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(1998). ‘Nestorianische Inschriften in Kirgizistan: Ein Situationsbericht.’ In: Symposium Syriacum VII: Uppsala University, Department of Asian and African Languages, 11-14 August 1996. Orientalia Christiana Analecta 256, ed. R. Lavenant. Rome: Pontificio Istituto Orientale: 661-9. ----(1995). ‘Zentralasien.’ In: Einleitung in die Missionsgeschichte, Tradition, Situation und Dynamik des Christentums. Theologische Wissenschaft 18, ed. K. Müller and W. Ustorf. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer: 121-130. ----(1994). ‘Christliche Reliefgrabsteine des 14. Jahrhunderts von der Seidenstraße, Ergänzungen zu einer alttürkischen und zwei syrischen Inschriften sowie eine bildliche Darstellung.’ In: VI Symposium Syriacum, 1992 : University of Cambridge, Faculty of Divinity, 30 August-2 September 1992. Orientalia Christiana Analecta 247, ed. R. Lavenant. Rome: Pontificio Istituto Orientale: 419-42. Klein, W. and Rott, P. (2006). ‚Einige problematische Funde von der Seidenstrasse: Novopokrovka IV u. V, Issyk-KuľGebiet, Chotan.’ In: Jingjiao, The Church of the East in China and Central Asia. Collectanea Serica, ed. R. Malek and P. Hofrichter. Sankt Augustin. Institut Monumenta Serica, 403-24. К истории христианства в Средней Азии (XIX-XX вв.), Ташкент 1998.

CHALDÆANS AND ASSYRIANS: THE CHURCH OF THE EAST IN THE OTTOMAN PERIOD HELEEN MURRE-VAN DEN BERG UNIVERSITY OF LEIDEN

In Iraq today, the Chaldæan Church, originating from that part of the Church of the East that in the sixteenth century united with Rome, constitutes the largest and most important Christian community together with what is now called the Assyrian Church of the East. The fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime has made the cooperation of these two Christian groups, together with a number of smaller communities, such as the Syrian Orthodox, Syrian Catholics, Armenian and various Protestant denominations, a matter of the utmost urgency. The difficulties surrounding such cooperation, however, are not easily overcome, being rooted in earlier periods in which denominational and cultural differences divided these communities. This article attempts to provide an overview of the history and cultural life of the Church of the East during the period in which many of today’s divisions and difficulties find their origin. In the early sixteenth century, most of present-day Iraq was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. Although the military campaigns that accompanied the introduction of Ottoman rule were not kind on the local population, over the centuries the Ottoman administration was to prove relatively benign for its Christians and Jewish minorities. Christians in northern Mesopotamia suffered more from local disturbances (from the Kurds), or from the ongoing military campaigns directed at the neighboring Persians, than from discriminatory measures as such. Although the Ottomans in the period predating the nineteenth

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century did not change the traditional secondary status of Christians and Jews in a Muslim country in what is commonly called the millet-system, both communities in general benefited from Ottoman stability.1 For most of the Ottoman period, northern Iraq’s minorities constituted a considerable part of the local population. Current estimates are that about one third consisted of Christians of the Church of the East and the Syrian Orthodox Church, Jews, as well as groups of Armenians and Yezidis.2 As indicated above, I will concentrate in this paper on the Church of the East, known in the West by its now firmly rejected name of ‘Nestorian Church’, which was the largest Christian community in the Mosul province of the Ottoman Empire. In a long process, part of this church united with the Roman Catholic Church and became known as the Chaldæan Church, which is the largest church in present-day Iraq. First, the geographical and sociological lay-out of this church at the beginning of this period will be discussed; secondly, the cultural life of this Christian community, thirdly, the emergence of the Chaldæan Church during the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries, and fourthly, the birth of Assyrian nationalism in the late nineteenth century. I will conclude with a few remarks on the relevance of these last two developments to present-day Iraq.

THE CHURCH OF THE EAST AROUND 1500 The Church of the East, which was the church of Persia probably from the late second century onwards, became separated from Western churches by political and dogmatic developments, being located in the Sassanid rather than the Roman Empire, and following Nestorius rather than Cyril in the discussions on the nature of Christ. After the fifth century it developed largely in isolation, and reached its high point during the reign of the On the millet system in the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire, see B. Masters, Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Arab World. The Roots of Sectarianism (Cambridge: 2001). 2 Compare D. Khoury, State and Provincial Society in the Ottoman Empire: Mosul, 1540-1834. Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization. (Cambridge: 1997) 29. 1

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Abbasids in Baghdad in the eighth and ninth centuries, when dioceses of the Church of the East were established in Syria, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Persia, Central Asia, India and China. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries a similar expansion was reached, and we hear again of an archdiocese of China. This development was made possible by the reign of the Mongols, which provided for some stability and, at first, a reputedly favorable treatment of the Christians. At this time, as in the Abbasid period, the Church of the East was a decidedly multi-ethnic church, in which many different peoples found their spiritual home.3 However, Mongol rule, culminating in the wide-scale military campaigns of Timur Leng in the late fourteenth century, also signaled the end of the Asia-wide expansion of the Church of the East. After Timur’s campaigns, dioceses remained only in what is now eastern Turkey, northern Iraq, and northwest Iran, whereas the Indian church was the only outer province to survive. Despite these enormous territorial losses, the Church of the East had not lost its will to survive, and after a period in which few texts were produced, scribes of the second half of the fifteenth century started to inform us about the developments in this church. One of the things to be noted is the fact that not only the link with the Indian dioceses was reestablished around the beginning of the sixteenth century, but also that travel to the West, especially to Jerusalem, the most important place of pilgrimage, began to increase during the sixteenth century.4 3 On the earlier history of the Church of the East, see W. Baum and D. Winkler, Die Apostolische Kirche des Ostens: Geschichte der sogenannten Nestorianer (Klagenfurt: 2000) and the English translation: The Church of the East: A Concise History (London: 2003). Also R. Le Coz, Histoire de l’Église d’Orient. Chrétiens d’Irak, d’Iran et de Turquie (Paris: 1995) and, considerably older but still very useful, E. Tisserant, ‘L'Église nestorienne’, Dictionnaire de Théologie Catholique XI:1 (1931) 158-323. All three include many references to specialist literature. 4 On one such pilgrimage see J.-M. Vosté, ‘Mar Iohannan Soulaqa. Premier patriarche des chaldéens, martyr de l'union avec Rome [+ 1555]’, Angelicum 8 (1931) 187-234. On this period see also H. Murrevan den Berg, ‘The Church of the East in the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century: World Church or Ethnic Community?’ In: Redefining Christian Identity. Cultural Interaction in the Middle East since the Rise of Islam. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 134, ed. J van Ginkel et. al. (Louvain: 2005) 301-20.

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Because of the loss of the outer provinces (apart from India), the Church of the East in northern Mesopotamia took on many characteristics of what today is called an ethnic community:5 a community that, although it shared many features (food, dress, dance, music, family structures) with its Muslim (often Kurdish) neighbours, distinguished itself from these neighbors not only by religion (which also implied a wealth of characteristic customs and subtle variations in things such as food, dress and music) and historical identification, but also by language: the majority of these Christians spoke (Modern) Aramaic, whereas Classical Syriac (a closely related Aramaic language) was used in church. The Church of the East shared most these characteristics with the Syrian Orthodox, who were different mainly as regards denominational affiliation. In addition to the majority of these two Aramaicspeaking groups, a minority of these communities, consisting mainly of those living in Mosul and Diyarbakir or in villages close by, spoke Arabic. The Aramaic-speaking group in the Church of the East could be further divided into those who were living in tribal structures in the Hakkari Mountains (firmly in Kurdish territory) with a relative independence (Jilu, Upper and Lower Tiari, Berwari, Thuma, Baz, Diz), and those that lived in villages on the lower mountain ranges and the plains towards Persia and Northern Mesopotamia, who were subject to local Kurdish, Ottoman or Persian rulers. Important villages and towns were Alqosh, Mosul, Gazarta, Mardin and Diyarbakir. Sometime in the fifteenth century, the mainly tribally oriented and isolated locality of the Church of the East probably caused the patriarchate, the highest office in the Church with both clerical and political powers, to become hereditary within one family, the Abuna family.6 A son of the patriarch’s sister in his early years was consecrated metropolitan and designated as the patriarch’s successor, the nāṭar kursyā, a custom that ensured succession also in times when the church was short of Compare John Hutchinson’s introduction in: J. Hutchinson and A. D. Smith, Ethnicity (Oxford: 1996) 3-14. 6 The earliest source for this date seems to be a polemical letter presented in Rome in the sixteenth century, by Yuhannan Sulaqa’s supporters, cf. J. Assemani, Bibliotheca Orientalis Clementino-Vaticana 3 vols. in 4 (Rome: 1719-1728) I: 526. 5

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metropolitans with canonical rights to elect a patriarch. A similar hereditary system probably applied to episcopal succession, although in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when there were very few bishops, many bishops came from the patriarchal family itself. Spiritual life was sustained by married local village priests with the office often passing from father to son. In addition, considerable numbers of monks and nuns lived in monasteries, although others preferred largely solitary lifestyles.

CULTURAL LIFE BETWEEN 1500 AND 1800 In all likelihood, it was the monks who, in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, initiated the enormous manuscript production that was to characterize the Ottoman period of the Church of the East. So far, more than 2000 manuscripts of this period have been identified and described–no other period seems to have been so fruitful as regards manuscript production–and much of our knowledge of the earlier literary history of the Church of the East (and sometimes also of the Syrian Orthodox Church) depends on the works of the scribes of this period.7 In particular, the monks of the larger monasteries, Mar Augin near Nusaybin (Nisibis), Mar Yacqow Hwisha near Seert, and Rabban Hormizd near Alqosh in northern Iraq played a vital role in this movement. For hitherto unknown reasons, the numbers of monks and nuns of the Church of the East sharply declined in the eighteenth century, and by the beginning of the nineteenth century most of the monasteries were practically empty. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the center of manuscript production was found in monasteries in the western regions, in Diyarbakir, Nusaybin and Seert, whereas in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries the scribes of the Alqosh region were most productive. In this second period more and more village priests, especially those of the large villages of Alqosh and Telkepe, began to occupy themselves with copying manuscripts, and gradually took over this activity from the monks. On this period and its manuscripts, see D. Wilmshurst, The Ecclesiastical Organisation of the Church of the East, 1318-1913. CSCO 582, Subsidia 104. (Louvain: 2000). 7

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The job of a scribe, like that of priest, ran in families, and two Alqosh families were active in this field from about the middle of the seventeenth century to the late nineteenth century.8 Although less well documented (because so far little architectural research has been published), there are several indications that the increasing copying work was accompanied by building and restoration activities.9 From the contents of these manuscripts10 it becomes clear that the majority are of a liturgical nature and belonged to the essentials of every village church: the lectionaries (the Psalter, Gospel lectionary, Epistle lectionary, Old Testament readings), the liturgies of Addai and Mari, Theodore and Nestorius (ṭaksā dkāhnē or the ṭaksē d-quddāshā), the other office books (variable parts for Sunday liturgy: ktābā d-hudrā and ktābā d-gazzā, later additions to the hudrā and the kaškol, extract from the hudrā), and the liturgies for funerals and the Rogation of the Ninevites. In addition, hymnbooks (ktābā d-cunyātā) are well represented in the collections, with hymns from famous thirteenth-century authors such as Khamees and Warda as well as recent compositions by authors of the Ottoman period. As is indicated in the colophons, Wilmshurst (2000) 241-58. Compare, e.g., the inscriptions gathered by R. Duval, ‘Inscriptions syriaques de Salamas en Perse’, Journal Asiatique 8:5 (1885) 39-62. 10 The large majority of these manuscripts have not been studied in detail yet and many of the texts included in them have not been published. For information on the contents, the catalogues of Syriac and Arabic manuscripts are invaluable. For a detailed overview of the catalogues, see Wilmshurst (2000) 752-57. Two catalogues that are particularly helpful because of their large quantities of East Syriac manuscripts and relatively detailed descriptions of their contents are those of W. Wright, A Catalogue of the Syriac Manuscripts preserved the Library of the University of Cambridge, 2 vols. (Cambridge: 1901) and E. Sachau, Verzeichniss der Syrischen Handschriften der Königlichen Bibliothek zu Berlin. Die Handschriften-Verzeichnisse der Königlichen Bibliothek zu Berlin, 2 vols. (Berlin: 1899). Still the best source on the literature of the Church of the East is A. Baumstark, Geschichte der syrischen Literatur (Bonn: 1922). For a recent overview including sample texts and references to specialist literature, see S. Brock, A Brief Outline of Syriac Literature [Mōrān ‘Eth’ō 9] (Kottayam: 1997). 8 9

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these liturgical manuscripts were usually commissioned with a particular church in mind and as such were probably intended to renew or supplement the basic manuscript collection needed for regular worship. Assuming that considerable amounts of manuscripts were destroyed during the raids of Timur Leng, one is inclined to see this period of manuscript production first and foremost as a conscious effort to restore local church life to its former status. In addition to the liturgical manuscripts, the larger literary tradition of the Church of the East was not neglected. Works of important authors of the earlier periods, from the late sixth century onwards, were copied and read, such as the works of Yohannan bar Penkaye, Timothy I, Ishoc bar Nun, Ishaq of Nineve, Thomas of Marga, and Ishocdad of Merw. The authors of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, however, seem to have been the most popular and best available to the scribes of the Ottoman period:11 the poets Giwargis Warda and Khames bar Qardahe, Yohannan of Mosul, Yohannan bar Zo‘bi and Audisho‘ bar Brikha of Nisibis. Interestingly, the famous bishop and mafriono Giwargis Bar ‘Ebroyo (Barhebreaus), although of the Syrian Orthodox Church, was very popular among the scribes of the Ottoman period. It seems likely that primarily most of these texts were studied by the monks and perhaps some of the village priests. However, through them, the rich heritage of the Church of the East must also have reached lay people in eastern Turkey and northern Iraq. A category of texts that played a vital role in this transmission to the common people was that of the saints’ lives, of which a number of collections have been preserved in numerous 11 It is difficult to say what was the most important element in the selection procedure: the ‘chance’ factor of what was and what was not destroyed in the fourteenth century or the conscious choice to copy one manuscript and put aside another. It is unlikely, however, that all of the selection took place by chance, considering also the fact that for instance more Gospel lectionaries have survived this period than other types of manuscripts, which in my opinion indicates a conscious effort to save certain manuscripts that were considered valuable. Although so far no concrete indications have been encountered, it is also possible that certain texts, such as well-known collections of hymns, were transmitted orally over time.

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copies. Through the stories of early and more recent martyrs and saints, the ideal Christian lifestyle as well as a sense of the history of the Church was transmitted, perhaps embellished in an oral tradition and often connected with local shrines. A very interesting category of traditional texts are the books of charms (ktābā dhermē w-herzē, ktābā d-nuṭṭārā or similar titles): quite a few of these have been preserved and testify to yet another aspect of the religiosity of the Church of the East, in which old Mesopotamian incantations blended easily with Christian imagery of illness and well-being.12 The last category of texts is that of the new works emanating from the Ottoman period itself. Although we probably have to say that this period did not yield such significant authors as some of the earlier periods, a number do deserve to be mentioned. Most important were those who contributed to the hymnal tradition of the Church of the East, such as Aṭṭaya bar Atli, Audisho‘ of Gazarta, Shim‘un of Amida and Israel of Alqosh. Other authors, such as the Chaldæan patriarch Yosep II, not only wrote hymns, but also translated Catholic literature into Syriac and wrote several other treatises in connection with the Catholic movement.13 In addition to these relatively well-known names, the many scribes of the colophons deserve to be mentioned: the often elaborate and stylish colophons constitute the largest body of prose text in Classical Syriac of the period. This corpus deserves further study, not only from a historical but also from a literary perspective. Also in this period the first writings in Modern Aramaic are attested, the language that was spoken by the majority of those belonging to this community. Some of the authors mentioned above, Yosep II and Israel of Alqosh, used Modern Aramaic for 12 More research needs to be done in this respect, but see E. Hunter, ‘Another Scroll Amulet from Kurdistan’, in G. Reinink and A. Klugkist (eds.), After Bardaisan. Studies on Continuity and Change in Syriac Christianity in Honour of Professor Han J.W. Drijvers. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 89. (Leuven: 1999) 161-72 (including further references). 13 H. Teule, ‘Joseph II, Patriarch of the Chaldeans (16961713/4), and the Book of the Magnet. First Soundings’ in R. Ebied and H. Teule (eds.), Studies on the Christian Arabic Heritage Vol. V. Eastern Christian Studies. (Leuven: 2004) 221-42.

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some of their compositions; another important author was Yosep of Telkepe.14 Some of their hymns are free translations of Classical Syriac hymns and reflect an oral hymnal tradition that probably predates the seventeenth century, when they were first written down. In addition, Modern Aramaic was used in grammatical treatises to explain difficult Classical Syriac phrases, while a few translations of parts of the Gospel also have survived–again perhaps reflecting the oral tradition of translating the Gospel into the spoken language of the people in church during the service.15 In addition to Classical Syriac and Modern Aramaic, Arabic was used for writing, especially among the communities in the western regions. The already mentioned patriarch Yosep II was particularly active in this field. To conclude this section on the literary heritage of the Church of the East, I should add a word about the financial aspect of the production of manuscripts. In many colophons, mention is made of commissioners, i.e., single persons or groups of persons who paid the priest for writing the manuscript. These consisted of lay people, often leaders (malik-s or ra’is-s) of the community, as well as priests or deacons. A significant number of them (about 18% of the instances when a donor is mentioned) were women, suggesting that they often had access to independent resources.16 Although it is difficult to link the prices of the manuscripts (which are not mentioned very often) with prices of other goods, it seems reasonable to assume that manuscript commissioning was quite 14 A. Mengozzi, Israel of Alqosh and Joseph of Telkepe. A Story in a Truthful Language, Religious Poems in Vernacular Syriac (North Iraq, 17th century), 2 vols. CSCO 589, 590, Scriptores Syri 230, 231. (Louvain: 2002) and H. Murre-van den Berg, ‘A Syrian Awakening. Alqosh and Urmia as Centres of Neo-Syriac Writing’, Symposium Syriacum VII: Uppsala University, Department of Asian and African Languages, 11-14 August 1996. Orientalia Christiana Analecta 256, ed. R. Lavenant (Rome: 1998) 499-515. 15 For an early Neo-Aramaic translation of a gospel lectionary, see MS Syriac Houghton Cambridge 147 see M. Goshen-Gottstein, Syriac Manuscripts in the Harvard College Library, A Catalogue, Missoula, Mont.: 1979. For a grammatical treatise with Neo-Aramaic notes see Cambridge Add. 2015 described by Wright (1901) II: 546-8. 16 H. Murre-van den Berg, ‘Generous Devotion: Women in the Church of the East between 1550 and 1850’, Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 7:1 (2004) http://syrcom.cua.edu/Hugoye/index.html.

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expensive, and that the rise in manuscript production therefore suggests that part of the Christians were wealthy enough to donate a manuscript to the community at least once in their lifetime. Such a gift was seen as a spiritual achievement that would hopefully benefit the giver not only in this world, but also in the after-world. Seen from the perspective of the scribes, manuscript copying must have become quite profitable and a source of income for a number of priestly families in the Alqosh region, especially towards the end of the seventeenth century.

ORIGINS OF THE CHALDAEAN CHURCH (15001830) The most important development of the early Ottoman period is the emergence of the Chaldæan Church, which over time has become as large or perhaps slightly larger than that part of the Church of the East which did not unite with Rome. The complicated history of this development is briefly surveyed.17 In the early decades of the sixteenth century that the Church of the East, perhaps stimulated by its renewed contacts with the Indian Church that was under influence of Portuguese clergy and missionaries, again realized the importance of connections with the Roman Catholic Church. In addition to a distinct dissatisfaction with the patriarch of the time, Shimun bar Mama (1539-1558), and the choice of a rather young nephew as his designated successor, these contacts probably influenced the decision of some bishops, clergy and lay people of the western and southern regions to elect a counter patriarch in 1552. Sulaqa, the abbot of the monastery of Rabban Hormizd, accepted his election and traveled to Rome (by way of Jerusalem) to obtain papal 17 For more detail, further references and some maps, see H. Murre-van den Berg, ‘The Patriarchs of the Church of the East from the Fifteenth to Eighteenth Centuries’, Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 2:2 (1999b) http://syrcom.cua.edu/Hugoye/index.html and Wilmshurst (2000). On the election and consecration of Yuhannan Sulaqa, see in particular Y. Ḥabbi, ‘Signification de l’union chaldéenne de Mar Sulaqa avec Rome en 1553’, L'Orient Syrien 11 (1966) 99-132, 199-230; on the union of Yosep I, see A. Lampart, Ein Märtyrer der Union mit Rom. Joseph I., 1681-1696, Patriarch der Chaldäer (Einsiedeln: 1966).

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consecration and confirmation, thereby also indicating his willingness to submit to the Pope. Besides internal disagreements and the apparent attraction of the Roman Church, a certain tension between the Aramaic-speaking mountain regions and the Arabic and Turkish-speaking western and southern districts, in particular the diocese of Diyarbakir (Amid), might be considered as playing a role in the emergence of the first Chaldæan movement. Although Shimun, Sulaqa’s first successor, the already mentioned Audisho of Gazarta, was also confirmed by the Pope, later successors did not manage to keep in touch with the Roman Catholic Church. In the seventeenth century, the patriarchs of this line, again taking the name Shimun, moved their see, first to the Persian region (near Khosrowa), and finally ended up in Qodshanis, in the middle of the Hakkari Mountains. The line of Shimun bar Mama, whose see in this period was in Rabban Hormizd monastery near Alqosh, later took the name Eliya. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the bulk of manuscript production took place under the Eliya patriarchs in Rabban Hormizd monastery. Over the centuries this line had contacts with Rome, either through missionaries in northern Iraq or through messengers they themselves sent to Rome, but no definitive union was established before the late eighteenth century. In the last decades of the seventeenth century, the archbishop of Diyarbakir converted to Roman Catholicism, under influence of the Capuchin mission in this town. In 1681, he was confirmed by the Pope as the new Chaldæan patriarch, bearing the name Yosep. He and his later successors, all taking the name Yosep, succeeded in building up a vital Catholic community in the western regions under difficult circumstances.18 In the second half of the eighteenth century, after a Dominican mission had been established in Mosul, Catholicism began to make significant numbers of converts in Mosul and the villages north of it. It might have been this movement that forced the patriarchs of Rabban Hormizd monastery to orientate themselves again on the Catholic connection. This led to a prolonged struggle between the Catholic patriarchs of the Yosepline in Diyarbakir and those of the Eliya-line in Alqosh, a struggle 18

Cf. Lampart (2001) and Teule, (2004).

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that was resolved only when Yohannan Hormizd of the Eliya line received papal confirmation after Yosep V Augustin Hindi of Diyarbakir had died in 1828. It is in this combined line that the present Chaldæan patriarch, Mar Emmanuel III Delly, stands. With the help of the Dominican missionaries in Mosul and, from the 1840s onwards, the Lazarist mission in Persia, the Chaldæan Church further established itself in the nineteenth century.19 As indicated above, the Catholic movement within the Church of the East appears to have been motivated by a variety of factors; among which are an emerging Western orientation, knowledge of the Roman Catholic Church via the Indian connection, dissatisfaction with the rule of the Bar Mama family, and tensions between Aramaic and Arabic-speaking parts of the Church of the East. Despite this linguistic division, however, there is little evidence that those who established the Chaldæan Church considered themselves ethnically different from the rest of the Church of the East: the boundaries between both groups were fluid, Aramaic and Arabic-speakers were found on both sides, the same texts were read by both groups, and no modern ethnic consciousness had yet developed either in any part of this Church, or in the region.

THE BIRTH OF ASSYRIAN NATIONALISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY It is only towards the end of the nineteenth century that a distinct ethnic consciousness emerged within the Church of the East. Although this development was part of a worldwide nationalist tendency, one can distinguish a number of factors that were of particular importance for the birth of nationalism in the Church of the East. The first of these was the increasing presence of westerners in northern Iraq and northwestern Iran during the nineteenth century, consisting mainly of Roman Catholic and 19 The advance of the Catholic movement in the nineteenth century needs further study; overviews are found in: Wilmshurst (2001), S. Bello, La congregation de S. Hormisdas et l’église chaldéenne dans la première moitié du XIXe siècle. Orientalia Christiana Analecta 122. (Rome: 1939) and G. Badger, The Nestorians and their Rituals, 2 vols, (London: 1852).

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Protestant missionaries. The latter, who established themselves in Urmia in Iran, were primarily responsible for introducing a Western-style modernity in all its forms to the Christians of this region. They introduced the printing press and stimulated the largescale use of the vernacular Modern Aramaic for writing, and through the opening of schools stimulated full literacy among all classes of the Christian community. Even more important in connection with the development of an ethnic consciousness and nationalism was the fact that by their translations of Western literature, as well as by news reports covering events from all over the world in their paper Zahrire d-Bahra (‘Rays of Light’), missionaries introduced the people to new developments in other regions.20 In addition, the search for independence amongst other Christian subjects of the Ottomans (the Greeks, later also the Armenians) strengthened the Christians of Iran and northern Mesopotamia in their search for a nationalist and ethnically-based identity, distinguishing themselves from their Turkish, Arabic and Kurdish neighbors. At the same time, missionary activities became the cause of further divisions of the group as a whole: the Church of the East having been divided into a Catholic and a non-Catholic part, now also Protestants separated themselves from it. Later Russian Orthodoxy gained adherents, as did Lutheranism. All these divisions made the unity of the group that formerly made up the Church of the East into a pressing issue. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, therefore, leaders of the group (no longer exclusively drawn from the Church hierarchies, but now also including well-educated young men in secular professions) more and more began to define themselves in terms of a shared ethnic identity that transcended the denominational boundaries.21 On the developments of the nineteenth century, see J. Joseph, The Modern Assyrians of the Middle East. Encounters with Western Christian Missions, Archaeologists, & Colonial Powers. Studies in Christian Mission. (Leiden: 2000) and H. Murre-van den Berg, From a Spoken to a Written Language. The Introduction and Development of Literary Urmia Aramaic in the Nineteenth Century. Publication of the “De Goeje Fund” XXVIII (Leiden: 1999). 21 A full study describing the rise of national consciousness among the Assyrians in the second half of the nineteenth century is still waiting to be written. For a general outline see Joseph (2000). On signs of 20

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It is in this period that the name ‘Assyrian’ began to gain increasing popularity. Not that it was a new term: it had been in use over the centuries, foremost to denote the inhabitants of the Mosul region, the city that in Aramaic sources often was called Athur.22 The name ‘Assyrian’ had also been used in the early contacts with the Roman Catholic Church, when Roman clergy looked for an alternative for ‘Nestorian’. This epithet, referring to an arch-heretic in Catholic eyes, could no longer be used for a Christian church in communion with Rome. Rome finally decided on the term ‘Chaldæan’, which was used as a term parallel to ‘Assyrian’, apparently seen mainly as a geographical designation.23 In addition to Roman Catholic usage, it is also becoming clear that in earlier (12-13th c.) Syriac sources these terms were also connected with the history of the Aramaic-speaking Christians of Northern Iraq.24 Thus, although the designation ‘Assyrian’ was not in common use before the middle of the nineteenth century, it was available, and was immediately used when in the 1840s Henry Layard unearthed the spectacular remains of the Assyrian city of Nineveh, close to rising nationalism in Assyrian publications, compare R. Macuch, Geschichte der spät- und neusyrischen Literatur (Berlin: 1976) and G. Yonan, Journalismus bei den Assyrern. Ein Überblick von seinen Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart (Berlin: 1985). 22 An interesting example of the identification of Athur with Mosul is found in H. Murre-van den Berg, ‘A Neo-Aramaic Genesis Translation by Ruel of Minyanish. Ms. Syr 13, Houghton Library, Harvard University’. In: “Sprich doch mit deinen Knechten aramïsch, wir verstehen es!”. 60 Beiträge zur Semitistik. Festschrift für Otto Jastrow zum 60. Geburtstag, ed. W. Arnold and H. Bobzin (Wiesbaden: 2002) 457-78 (especially 472). On earlier usages of the term Athur or Ashur within the Church of the East, compare S. Brock, ‘Christians in the Sasanian Empire: a Case of Divided Loyalties.’ In: Religion and National Identity. Studies in Church History 18, ed. S. Mews (Oxford: 1982) 1-19. For an overview of the use of different terms and further references, see Murre-van den Berg (1999a) 35-8. 23 See S. Giamil, Genuinae Relationes Inter Sedem Apostolicam et Assyriorium Orientalium seu Chaldaeorum Ecclesiam (Rome: 1902). 24 On an interesting passage in Michael the Syrian’s Chronography (Appendix 2, IV 748-751, III 442-447), see J. van Ginkel, ‘Syrisch-Orthodoxe Identität in der Chronografie Michaels des Großen’. In: Syriaca III. Beiträge zum 4. deutschen Syrologen-Symposium in Trier 2004, ed. M. Tamcke (Münster: 2006).

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Mosul, and in his book made the connection between the builders of the ancient palaces and temples and the present-day Christians of the region. It seems likely that this identification of the ancient and modern Assyrians was suggested to him by Assyrians who assisted him in the excavations. Of these, Hormuzd Rassam, from the famous Chaldæan Rassam family of Mosul, was the most prominent.25 The First World War finally settled the name issue among the Church of the East: after the gruesome massacres of sizeable numbers of their people between 1915 and 1918, nationalist consciousness reached a high point in the 1920s and 30s, when the Assyrians campaigned for an independent region in northern Iraq. From then on, there was little discussion among the Protestants and the traditional Church of the East over the fact that they constituted a single Assyrian community, linked by bonds of language, descent and history–what today is called an ‘ethnic community’. Both churches included the name ‘Assyrian’ in their official names.26 This paper cannot discuss the even more complicated history of the twentieth century, when the term ‘Assyrian’ was also adopted in Syrian Orthodox circles, although after an initial acceptance it was rejected by the Church hierarchy. The label, in some regions, began to include the Chaldæans, leading to the designation ‘Catholic Assyrians’. Among the Chaldæans, however, the term does not seem to have won the approval of the majority. In the Iraq of Saddam Hussein, both terms became increasingly politicized, and the two groups were deliberately driven apart from each other. In recent days, the term ‘Chaldo-Assyrian’ has become popular, due to the wish to present this group, with its different

H. Layard, Nineveh and its Remains, 5th edition (London: 1850) I: 258. The earliest modern use of the term ‘Assyrian’ for the Christians of Northern Mesopotamia was perhaps by C. Rich, Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan (London: 1831) II: 120. 26 Assyrian Evangelical Church and Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East. 25

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ecclesiastical affiliations, as one ethnic group that especially in present-day Iraq can speak with one voice.27

CONCLUSION During Ottoman rule, the Church of the East displayed a remarkable vitality, despite the wholesale destruction of the early fifteenth century and the fact that this period, although relatively peaceful, was not an easy time in which to live. Over and above these difficulties, much of the cultural heritage of earlier times was preserved and expanded, new texts were composed and innovations such as the writing of the vernacular language were introduced. These centuries were also the period in which the West, and especially the Western churches, began to influence the Church of the East. Differences within the community itself, between Arabic- and Aramaic-speakers, between the inhabitants of the mountains and the plains and cities, became linked to differences in ecclesial affiliation, and the Church of the East became divided into Catholic, Protestant and ‘traditional’ parts. The designations ‘Chaldæan’ and ‘Assyrian’ were popularized in this period, and in the late nineteenth century became the carriers of an ethnic identity that strove to restore the original unity of the people. It did not quite work that way, and it remains to be seen whether present political and ecclesiastical developments will eventually consolidate these differences, or bring new definitions and perceptions of unity.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Assemani, J. S. (1719-1728). Bibliotheca Orientalis Clementino-Vaticana, 3 vols. in 4. Rome: Typis Sacrae Congregationis de Propaganda Fide. Badger, G. (1852). The Nestorians and Their Rituals, 2 vols. London: Joseph Masters. 27 Compare the on-going discussions on the name issue in Iraq, Nineveh e.g., in Zindamagazine (www.Zindamagazine.com), (www.Nineveh.com), Chaldeans Online (www.chaldeansonline.net) and other Assyrian internet resources.

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Baum W. and Winkler, D. (2000). Die Apostolische Kirche des Ostens: Geschichte der sogenannten Nestorianer. Klagenfurt: Verlag Kitab, 2000. English translation: The Church of the East: A Concise History. London: Routledge Curzon 2003. Baumstark, A. (1922). Geschichte der syrischen Literatur. Bonn: A. Marcus und E. Webers Verlag. Bello, S. (1939). La congregation de S. Hormisdas et l’église chaldéenne dans la première moitié du XIXe siècle [Orientalia Christiana Analecta 122] (Rome: Pontificium institutum orientalium studiorum). Brock, S. (1997). A Brief Outline of Syriac Literature. Mōrān ‘Eth‘ō 9. Kottayam: St. Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute. ----(1982). ‘Christians in the Sasanian Empire: a Case of Divided Loyalties’. In: Religion and National Identity. Studies in Church History 18. ed. S. Mews. Oxford: Blackwell, 119. Le Coz, R. (1995). Histoire de l’Église d’Orient. Chrétiens d’Irak, d’Iran et de Turquie. Paris: Les Éditions du CERF. Duval, R. (1885). ‘Inscriptions syriaques de Salamas en Perse’, Journal Asiatique 8:5, 39-62. Giamil, S. (1902). Genuinae Relationes Inter Sedem Apostolicam et Assyriorium Orientalium seu Chaldaeorum Ecclesiam. Rome: Ermanno Loescher. van Ginkel, J. (2006). ‘Syrisch-Orthodoxe Identität in der Chronografie Michaels des Grossen’. In: Syriaca III. Beiträge zum 4. deutschen Syrologen-Symposium in Trier 2004. ed. M. Tamcke. Münster. Goshen-Gottstein, M. (1979). Syriac Manuscripts in the Harvard College Library, A Catalogue, Missoula, Mont.: Scholars Press. Ḥabbi, Y. (1966). ‘Signification de l’union chaldéenne de Mar Sulaqa avec Rome en 1553’, L'Orient Syrien 11 (1966) 99132, 199-230. Hunter, E. (1999). ‘Another Scroll Amulet from Kurdistan’. In: After Bardaisan. Studies on Continuity and Change in Syriac Christianity in Honour of Professor Han J.W. Drijvers. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 89. ed. G. Reinink and A. Klugkist. Leuven: Peeters, 161-72. Hutchinson, J. and Smith, A. (1996). Ethnicity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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Joseph, J. (2000). The Modern Assyrians of the Middle East. Encounters with Western Christian Missions, Archaeologists, & Colonial Powers. Studies in Christian Mission. Leiden: Brill. Khoury, D. (1997). State and Provincial Society in the Ottoman Empire: Mosul, 1540-1834. Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lampart, A. (2001). Ein Märtyrer der Union mit Rom. Joseph I., 16811696, Patriarch der Chaldäer. Einsiedeln: Benziger Verlag. Layard, H. (1850). Nineveh and its Remains, 5th edition. London: Murray. Macuch, R. (1976). Geschichte der spät- und neusyrischen Literatur. Berlin: De Gruyter. Masters, B. (2001). Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Arab World. The Roots of Sectarianism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Mengozzi, A. (2002). Israel of Alqosh and Joseph of Telkepe. A Story in a Truthful Language, Religious Poems in Vernacular Syriac (North Iraq, 17th century), 2 vols. CSCO 589, 590, Scriptores Syri 230-1. Louvain: Peeters. Murre-van den Berg, M. (2005). ‘The Church of the East in the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century: World Church or Ethnic Community?’ In: Redefining Christian Identity. Cultural Interaction in the Middle East since the Rise of Islam. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 134, ed. J van Ginkel et. al. Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters en Departement Oosterse Studies, 30120. ----(2004) ‘Generous Devotion: Women in the Church of the East between 1550 and 1850’, Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 7:1 http://syrcom.cua.edu/Hugoye/index.html. ----(2002). ‘A Neo-Aramaic Genesis Translation by Ruel of Minyanish. Ms.Syr 13, Houghton Library, Harvard University’. In: “Sprich doch mit deinen Knechten aramïsch, wir verstehen es!”. 60 Beiträge zur Semitistik. Festschrift für Otto Jastrow zum 60. Geburtstag, ed. W. Arnold and H. Bobzin. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 457-78. (1999a) From a Spoken to a Written Language. The Introduction ----and Development of Literary Urmia Aramaic in the Nineteenth Century. Publication of the “De Goeje Fund” no. XXVIII. Leiden: Nederlands Instituut for het Nabije Oosten.

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(1999b). ‘The Patriarchs of the Church of the East from the Fifteenth to Eighteenth Centuries’, Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 2:2 http://syrcom.cua.edu/Hugoye/index.html ----(1998). ‘A Syrian Awakening. Alqosh and Urmia as Centres of Neo-Syriac Writing’. In: Symposium Syriacum VII, Uppsala University, Department of Asian and African Languages, 11-14 August 1996. Orientalia Christiana Periodica 256, ed. R. Lavenant. Rome: Pontificio Istituto Orientale, 499-515. Rich, C. (1831). Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan, 2 vols. London: Duncan. Sachau, E. (1899). Verzeichniss der Syrischen Handschriften der Königlichen Bibliothek zu Berlin. Die Handschriften-Verzeichnisse der Königlichen Bibliothek zu Berlin, 2 vols. Berlin: A. Asher and Co. Teule, H. (2004). ‘Joseph II, Patriarch of the Chaldeans (16961713/4), and the Book of the Magnet. First Soundings’. In: Studies on the Christian Arabic Heritage Vol. V. Eastern Christian Studies, ed. R. Ebied and H. Teule. Leuven: Peeters, 221-42. Tisserant, E. (1931). ‘L'Église nestorienne’, Dictionnaire de Théologie Catholique XI:1 158-323. Vosté, J.-M. (1931). ‘Mar Iohannan Soulaqa. Premier patriarche des chaldéens, martyr de l'union avec Rome [+ 1555]’, Angelicum 8, 187-234. Wilmshurst, D. (2000). The Ecclesiastical Organisation of the Church of the East, 1318-1913. CSCO 582, Subsidia 104. Louvain: Peeters. Wright, W. (1901). A Catalogue of the Syriac Manuscripts preserved the Library of the University of Cambridge, 2 vols. Cambridge: University Press. Yonan, G. (1985). Journalismus bei den Assyrern. Ein Überblick von seinen Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart. Berlin: Zentralverband der Assyrischen Vereinigungen in Deutschland und Mitteleuropa.

COMMEMORATING CHURCH HISTORY IN THE OTTOMAN ERA: MONUMENTAL ARCHITECTURE AND ART AMIR HARRAK

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO During the middle of the 18th century and at the height of the Ottoman rule over Mesopotamia, Syriac Christianity opened a new and bright page in its long history. The fall of the Abbasid rule in 1258 resulted the progressive retreat of Christian communities from southern and central Mesopotamia. The escape of the Christians from their last stronghold, Takrit, at the end of the 14th century, gave the impression that Christianity was destined to disappear in the very land where it first saw light as early as the end of the 1st century C.E. The Christians sought refuge in the heartland of Assyria extending from the two Zāb Rivers to the east, the mountains of Tiārī and Hakkārī to the north and Ṭūr-‘Abdīn and the rest of the Jazīrah to the west, where the various Syriac communities became confined until the end of the Ottoman rule. Despite geographical downsizing and the loss of major cultural and ecclesiastical centres in Mesopotamia, Syriac Christianity never lost vigour and in fact it asserted itself not only locally but also at the national and international levels. This happened when the Christians began to regroup and rebuild after the invasion of the Assyrian heartland in 1743 by Persian armies that destroyed many Christian centres. The art, architecture and inscriptions left by these Christians to this day tell much about their achievements during those turbulent times.

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THE INVASION OF NADIR-SHAH KING OF PERSIA In 1743 the Persian Shah Tahmasp called also Nadir-Shah invaded northern Mesopotamia as a consequence of tense relations between Persia and the Ottomans. These relations worsened when the Safavid state of Persia collapsed in 1722 at the hands of the Afghans, and when the Ottomans exploited the turmoil to expand geographically as far as Persia. The Persian Nadir-Shah managed to expel the Afghan invaders and began to claim his hegemony over Persian territories seized by the Ottomans. Tensions, warfare, defeats, and treaties followed each other between 1730 and 1743, during which time the Ottoman wilāia (administrative province) of Mosul was twice besieged by the Persians. The invasion of Mosul in 17431 had affected the Christians so deeply that they left several vivid descriptions of it in prose and poetry, independently or as colophons in manuscripts. One such colophon written by the Priest Ḥabash son of Jum‘a of Qaraqōsh shortly after the invasion is a major local source about the events in question.2 He related that in the Seleucid year 2054 (1743 CE) king Tahmasp of Persia came with his countless soldiers to the region of Mosul shortly after Easter, killing, pillaging, and destroying people and buildings, including churches along with their centuries-old manuscripts. Priest Jum‛a wrote the colophon after he repaired a manuscript to compensate for the loss of a whole collection of codices housed in his own church. In 1732 the Persian armies had already attacked and besieged the cities of Kirkuk and Baghdad, causing all kinds of atrocities. However they were defeated at the hands of the arriving Turkish armies. This particular event was recorded by an eyewitness in Kirkuk in a Syriac colophon.3 Nonetheless, when Nadir-Shah came back against Kirkuk in 1743, the inhabitants 1 A comprehensive study of this event can be found in S. alJamīl, The Siege of Mosul by Nadir Shah 1743 (Mosul: 1990; in Arabic). 2 Bihnām Sōnī, Baghdad in Syriac, Karshuni and Arabic texts from the 7th Century to the End of the 19th Century (Rome: 1998) 200-4 [in Arabic]. 3 P. Haddad, The Expedition of Nādir-Shāh against Iraq in the Year 1145 Hegira in a Syriac Document” Bayn al-Nahrayn 33 (1981) 91-9 [in Arabic].

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could not sustain the military onslaught, and even after surrendering themselves to the invaders some were killed and others deported. Taken by surprise, the people of Erbil endured the same horrors. The strategist Pasha of Mosul Husayn Beg alJalīli (called by Priest Jum‛a malkō “king”), ordered all the Christian villages in the region of Mosul to bring their grains and provisions and seek refuge in this city. On the day of the Assumption, the Persian armies reached the region of Mosul, capturing the whole land up to the mountains, pillaging and plundering villages, including Qaraqōsh, Karamlaiss, Barṭelli, Talkepa and Alqōsh. Non-Christian villages were also targeted, including Sheikh ‛Adī, a Yezidi holy town. Husayn Beg proved to be a leader by instinct. He called upon his tribe, local nobility, and the people of Mosul, Muslims, Christians and Jews, to unite and fight the invaders, shutting first the city gates. Then Tahmasp and his armies, likened to “swarms of crickets and locusts,” came to pitch camp near its wall. After he set up his numerous catapults and cannons against its city, he opened fire on the feast-day of the Cross, September 14. For nine consecutive days no less than forty thousand cannon balls fell upon Mosul, destroying houses, churches and mosques, not to mention sectors in the city walls. The enemy army shifted the river bed and dug trenches, filling these with explosives in an attempt to breach the walls and invade the city, but these tactics turned against the enemy. The hordes gathered in Mosul fiercely resisted Tahmasp, causing such panic among his numbers that he negotiated ceasefire with Husayn Beg. All local accounts of these events agree that Nadir-Shah ended his campaign under the counterattacks of the people of Mosul. Nonetheless, troubles and even insurrection in Persia may have compelled Nadir-Shah to give up his campaign in upper Mesopotamia and return to his land to deal with them. The victorious Husayn Pasha sent his son to the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud I (1730-1754) announcing to him the shameful defeat of Tahmasp at his hands. The Sultan showered gifts upon the envoy, both for himself and for his father. He also provided him with a firman (edict) that all the churches in the whole wilāia of Mosul should be rebuilt. Husayn Pasha in turn authorized the Christians to rebuild old churches as well as those damaged in the war. Eight churches were reportedly rebuilt in Mosul alone. In the case of Qaraqōsh, Priest Jum‛a tells us that the church of Saints

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Sergius and Bacchus and that of the Virgin Mary were also renovated at the hands of the indefatigable Bishop Karas, Abbot of the nearby Monastery of Mār Behnam. The term “rebuilding” (Syriac ethḥaddat, Arabic tajaddada) encountered in inscriptions commemorating such activity should not be understood literally. Since in Islamic lands building new churches was legally prohibited, the term “rebuilding” often means “building anew.” Monumental churches rose up as soon as the invasion ended, notwithstanding the physical and mental exhaustion of the embattled people, their losses in fortunes, coupled with a distressing drought that immediately followed the invasion. In the year in which his manuscript was repaired (1846), Priest Jum‛a wrote that “grain did not grow—out of fifteen Kayla-measures of seeds not even one Kayla entered our granaries in the entire wilāia of Mosul.”

REBUILDING AFTER DESTRUCTION There must be reasons behind the Ottoman firman decree to rebuild the Christian churches in the Assyrian heartland, and a cause for the victorious Husayn Pasha of Mosul to endorse enthusiastically this imperial decree. Otherwise, why would the two highest authorities over the wilāia of Mosul, who were Muslim and Sunnis, care about rebuilding Christian churches? Nothing is stated in the extant sources about these events, though one Syriac inscription in Qaraqōsh went out of its way to praise the “goodwill” of the Muslim leaders, especially Husayn Beg. Another reason may be the quick but successful repairs executed on the city walls under attack for nine consecutive days. Given the fact that builders, masons, stone-cutters and architects were until recently mostly Christian in that region, these must have contributed to the defence of the city alongside their Muslim cocitizens, including Arabs, Kurds, and Turkomans. Surely the Christians felt that Mosul was their city worthy of defence; one Karshuni inscription in Mosul, commemorating these events, asserts that “evil cannot overcome our city”. Moreover, the grains brought by the Christian villagers in great quantities must have contributed to feed the city under siege for two months. The villagers worked essentially in agriculture, supplying the wilāia of Mosul with part of the grain in time of war as well as in time of peace. In addition, thousands upon thousands of Christian, Jewish

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and Muslim men came to the rescue of the Pasha’s domain, as mentioned by Priest Jum‛a, in an amazing interfaith undertaking of military nature. Would not the countless thousands of Christians coming from every corner of their wilāia prompt the gratitude of the Pasha to allow them repair their shrines destroyed by the enemy? Interestingly, the local Christians give an extraordinary reason for the victory over the enemy and the rebuilding activity that is also detected in inscriptional and manuscript materials. This reason is also adopted by the local Muslim community. Without any hesitation the Christians attributed the victory over the enemy to none other than the appearance of the Virgin Mary over the city wall, sending the cannon balls back upon their shooters, killing thousands. A brief note in Karshuni dated to 1744 CE (time of the invasion) acknowledges the divine intervention as well as other factors: The sale of this book took place in the year 2056, in which time Tahmasp Qizilbāshī4 marched with a great army to capture the town of Mosul, pillaging the villages around it. The villagers dispersed and those who entered Mosul were delivered from the evil of the oppressive Tahmasp. As for the inhabitants of Mosul, through divine providence, the intercession of the Virgin, the prayers of the holy ones and the endeavour of the honourable Hussein Pasha, governor of Mosul, they inflicted upon him (i.e. Tahmasp) a heavy and indescribable defeat. They massacred thousands upon thousands among his army, causing him to flee in defeat to the bottom of hell.5

The “intercession of the Virgin” is reflected in several Syriac poems, one monumental icon in Mosul, and ceremonial buildings in this city and its surrounds, all made in her thanksgiving. Since 4 From Turkish Qizilbāsh, lit. “red-head,” an appellation given to various tribes, including the Afshar, that supported the Safavid cause. The final –ī in the quoted text is the Arabic nisbah. 5 See P. Haddad and J. Isaac, Syriac and Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of the Chaldean Monastry [sic] Baghdad, Part I: Syriac Manuscripts (Baghdad: 1988), p. 376, no. 877. Editor’s note: this is in a ‘Book of the Lexicon’ of Bar Ball, copied in 1717 CE.

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the local Muslims also particularly venerated Mariamāna (Turkish Mariam ana for “Mother Mary”), these came to believe that indeed Mary saved the city. 6 All the afore-mentioned reasons combined must have contributed to the determination of the people and their leaders to rebuild after destruction, and for the former to turn what was rebuilt into artistic and architectural marvels. In the following pages, we will survey a few monuments and inscriptions located in Mosul and in nearby Qaraqōsh which shed light on the role of the Syriac Christians in the rebuilding task brought about by the siege of Mosul. The Syrian Catholic church of the Virgin Mary (al-Ṭāhira) in Mosul We begin our survey with the church of the Virgin Mary owned by the Syriac Catholic community. The church is located in old Mosul in the quarter called Qal‛a “castle”, reminiscent of the Syriac name hesnā ‘ebrāiā “Castle-Across-(the river)” where a monastery was built by a 6th century monk who was a native of Nineveh, in the time before Mosul was known.7 The fact that the church is now 3 m below the street level indicates that it is indeed old. Its plan consists of three naves, a standing wall separating the sanctuary from the rest of the church, a huge wooden door (not merely a curtain) at the Royal Gate, and two small doors on both sides of this Gate. These are all traditional features of West Syriac church architecture. The exact date of its foundation is unknown, but the present building dates to the Jalīli era (in relation to Husayn Pasha al-Jalīli). There are, however, a few displaced stones in the building of the church that belong to the early phases of its construction. Among these are two inscriptions in Arabic, one dedicated to Mary, which says: “[…the] life, may her prayer protect us, amen, amen, amen, O eternal Lord”. The other inscription has an Islamic resonance: “[In the name of Al]lah the merciful and the compassionate and in whom we have recourse.” Christians used the Islamic basmala in The veneration of Mary by the Muslims is well known; she is the only woman whose name is given to a sūra in the Qur‘an, sūrat mariam [19]. 7 J. S. Assemani, Bibliotheca Orientalis Clementino-Vaticanus, 3 vols. in 4 (Rome : 1719-1728) III.i : 207, 485. 6

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manuscripts and there is no need to believe that this Arabic inscription derived from an Islamic building such as a mosque. From an older layer too bone relics of St Jacob the Dismembered, a 5th century martyr, were uncovered and reburied in a niche. The discovery is commemorated by a Karshuni inscription dated one year after the Persian siege of Mosul. All these items are dated probably to the 12th or the 13th century, near the end of the Abbasid period. The church must have been damaged by the war of NadirShah. Whereas the gate to the left side of the Royal Gate dates to 1795 (Seleucid 2107), the Royal Gate dates just one year after the siege of Mosul by the Persian aggressor, viz: In the year one thousand seven hundred and forty-four of Christ, the church of the blessed Lady Mary was renovated through the care of Khawaja ‛Īsa, the priests, deacons and the public. May the Lord give them a precious reward in the heavenly kingdom. The Karshuni sentence “the church of the blessed Lady Mary was renovated” (tajaddadat bī‘at mārty mariam al-ṭūbāniyya) must not be taken literally, since the church was almost entirely rebuilt. The new structure as a whole is in fact a small museum of art and culture, with numerous inscriptions, stylized human and floral designs, and abstract décor. We will concentrate on an iconostasis showing an unusual depiction of the Virgin Mary holding the Infant Jesus especially erected in acknowledgement of her role in winning the victory over the Persians for the people of Mosul according to the local Christians. This is in fact the only official icon found in Syriac churches, which otherwise are decorated uniquely with abstract art of geographical and floral motifs and with ornamental calligraphy. The iconostasis consists of a blocked arcade, the façade of which is made of two levels, separated by a two-line Syriac and Karshuni inscription.8 The upper part shows three ornamental windows, the central one being the largest. The central window is blocked with a stone screen perforated with geometrical designs filling the empty space and a floral motif runs along its three sides. Both the window and the floral motif are reminiscent of a similar architectural combination found in the Chaldean church of alṬahra (the Virgin) that was restored in the same year (see below). 8

Plate 1. Syriac Catholic Tāhira: Iconostasis.

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The two lateral windows are blocked with stones decorated with stylised flowers while the upper rounded parts are sculptured to imitate popular niches. The surface of the rounded upper section of the façade is entirely covered with floral designs, creating with light and shade an impressive view. Sculptured blocks dated to earlier centuries on the basis of iconography are reused in this façade. The bottom part contains in its centre a whitish stone sculpture in low relief depicting the Virgin and Child.9 Two ornamental niches bearing a stylized cross each flank this icon. They are highly decorative and draw their ornamental motifs from Syriac architectural art, as is the case of the rounded top. The central sculpture now protected with a glass inside a wooden frame, is surrounded with a frame made of superimposed crosses within two interlaced lines. On both sides of the upper arm of the frame, two six-pointed stars are depicted filled with crosses. The depiction of Mary and the Child is unrefined if not gross, sculptured by an unskilled artist perhaps on the basis of a Syriac miniature, though the exact prototype cannot be identified. The Virgin and Child are shown seated on a throne against a background filled with floral motifs. Mary is clad with a coat covering her right shoulder and partially her right arm, whereas her left shoulder and legs are left uncovered. Whether or not the depiction of Mary and Child is primitive, the icon was not meant to be shown in this simplistic fashion. Until the 1970s the Virgin and Child were clothed with expensive cloth adorned with gold jewels, votive gifts of the faithful. Nails to which the material was attached could be seen until recently, and the holes are still there. One would only expect that muslin was the material used to clothe the figure during the 18th century; it was in high demand not only in Mosul but also in Europe. This fine plain-weave cotton fabric was first produced in Mosul, and hence the English term muslin, from French mousseline “of Mosul”. The icon bears above it an inscription which is mostly in Syriac but with the last four words in Karshuni:

9

Plate 2. Syriac Catholic Tāhira: Relief.

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Despite our wretched nature, we salute Mary the Virgin, the Apostle Peter—the architect and foundation of the Church— St. George, Anthony, Jacob the Dismembered, along with Lucia, gathered in this church. May their prayer protect the congregation of the faithful from afflictions and all difficulties, amen. It (i.e. the church) was renovated in the year 2056 of the Greeks (i.e 1745 CE).

All of the holy people mentioned above are known in Syriac literature, except for the unexpected Lucia, a non-Oriental Saint. Is her inclusion here due to Roman Catholic missions that exercised quite a strong influence at that time? The rebuilding of the church and the execution of the iconostasis were completed just two years after the invasion of Nadir-Shah, thanks to the royal edict and the support of the governor of Mosul. It is also a testimony to the strong faith of the Christians of this city in divine intervention, faith detected in yet another church also dedicated to Mary that is located in the same city and dated to the same period. The church of the Virgin Mary (al-Ṭahrā) in Mosul This Church, or better the shrine that preceded it, seems to have suffered the most from the consequences of the siege of NadirShah, on account of its location near Bāsh-Ṭābiā, the military headquarters of the wālī of Mosul.10 Everything in the actual church tells us, though indirectly and in a subtle manner, about the Persian invasion of the Assyrian heartland. Firstly, this shrine dedicated to Mary is rebuilt into a monumental edifice with art and sculptures that make it an architectural marvel in its own right. The shrine was originally probably the remains of the church of the famous “monastery of Mār Gabriel” or the “monastery of Mār Gabriel and Mār Abraham”. The monastery once included the school called “The Mother of Virtues” that established the canonical liturgy of the Church of the East still in use today. Several liturgical manuscripts mention at the beginning and in their colophons that they were copied “according to the copies of Mār Gabriel and Mār Abraham”. The monastery was destroyed during the 13th century During the renovations of the late 1960s cannon balls were uncovered in the foundation of the church. 10

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and only its church survived, to be entirely replaced by the 18th century structure. Here the term “rebuilt” must surely not be taken literally. Secondly, the echo of the siege of Mosul is detected in the Karshuni inscription of the men’s gate11, which says: “May the prayer of the Virgin Mary mother of Christ be our wall and may she protect us from evil—this church was renovated in the year 2055 of the Greeks.” Mary is compared to a wall, and in the mind of the writer it was presumably the wall of Mosul that protected its inhabitants from annihilation. The late Father Jean-Maurice Fiey misread the date as S. 2015 corresponding 1705 CE.12 In 1969 the late Fr Yūsif Ḥabbi followed suite,13 wondering why the inscription of the men’s gate did not include the names of its builders, whereas the women’s gate not only identified the former but also named the ruling patriarch and bishop. Both eminent scholars confused the clearly shaped nūn “50” with the letter yōdh“10”, and this is epigraphically understandable given their physical resemblance. Thus the correct date corresponds to 1744 CE, merely one year after the siege of Mosul that must have so damaged the church that it had to be built anew. Below the dated inscription, a Karshuni inscription in elongated letters echoes the historical conditions especially the lack of peace at the time of building the church: “Lord bless, Lord protect this pure altar and place in it security and peace forever.” Below it a liturgical inscription is associated with the décor of the lower lintel. The women’s gate also bears a prayer for peace as the large Syriac inscription shows: “O Christ King set your peace upon this house. Protect its inhabitants from the treacherous acts of the Slanderer, who hates our nature.” The Slanderer in Syriac sources is Satan “who hates the human nature,” in reference to any threat to Christianity. The long Karshuni inscription above it, using the Gregorian calendar, commemorates the rebuilding: “In the year one thousand seven hundred and forty-four of Christ, the church of the blessed Lady Virgin Mary was renovated with the help of Plate 3. Chaldean Ṭahra: Men’s Gate. J.-M. Fiey, Mosul Chrétienne, essai sur l’histoire, l’archéologie et l’état actuel des monuments chrétiens de la ville de Mossoul (Beyrouth: 1959) 132-33. 13 Y. Ḥabbī, The Upper Monastery and the Church of the Virgin (Mosul: 1969) 33 [in Arabic]. 11 12

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God and the care of the Father of Fathers, the builder of churches, Mār Elijah, and of Mār Išo‘yahb, bishop of the eastern and reputable region…”. As Mosul was still so-called “Nestorian” in the middle of the 18th century, the afore-mentioned Mār Elijah was in fact Elijah XI Denḥā whose seat was in Rabban Hormizd. 14 Also noteworthy is the ‘theological’ title of Mary “Mother of Christ” versus “Mother of God”, the former being the traditional epithet used in the Church of the East. Remarkable on both doors is the calligraphy of the two large inscriptions reminiscent of calligraphic trends normally found in manuscripts dated to this period found mainly in titles. Inside the church, the wall separating the sanctuary from the rest of the building is so magnificent that one would not hesitate to count it among the most beautiful in the Middle East. It is dated to the 18th century.15 The wall is impressive in that it is made of two blind arcades magnificently decorated with arabesques, floral motifs and geometrical designs mingling with Syriac and Karshuni inscriptions to form a remarkably balanced façade. The inscription along the three arms of the lower arcade (A1-3; see accompanying plan) spells out the belief that Mary was the guardian of the city: A1

C2

A3

B

C1

A2

D

Al-Ṭahrā: The Lower Arcade 14 For this identification see H. Murre-van den Berg, “The Patriarchs of the Church of the East from the Fifteenth to Eighteenth Centuries,” in Hugoye 2/2 (1999) section [18]. 15 Plate 4. Chaldean Ṭahra: Façade.

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(A1) Go to the house of the Lord everyday and prostrate before the sublime altar. (A2) Kiss the living Cross and pray the Lord's Prayer. Through the prayer of the Virgin Mary the Immaculate, no evil will be able to rise against our city. She will intercede (A3) to the greatest Lord so that the progeny of Adam may be saved. (B) The Holy Spirit which you, our Lord, caused to

descend from your heaven, in the Upper Room of Zion, upon the disciples, the associates of your mysteries, will settle in this house of your holy of holies, upon the present ones, who seek your mercy, while being saved. (C1) O God (C2) O Holy One The Guardian of the City is also praise-worthy, and this is expressed in the inscription below this arcade and above the Royal Gate that leads to the Sanctuary (section D in the plan). The wording of the inscription is drawn from the liturgy of the Eucharist. The Estrangela calligraphy is superb, reminiscent of that found in manuscripts:16 (D) “On the Holy Altar, let there be remembrance of praise and praise of the Virgin Mary, Mother of Christ”. Equally interesting are the two marble screens placed on both sides of the platform before the Royal Gate.17 These are double-sided and highly decorated with floral and geometrical motifs in relief. The façade of each screen is decorated with staror cross-like designs perforated to form a longitudinal window, whereas the lateral sides are modestly decorated and have wide openings. The artistic programme in both screens is inspired from 16 17

Plate 5. Chaldean Ṭahra: Inscription above Royal Gate. Plate 6. Chaldean Ṭahra: Screen.

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the Islamic artistic repertoire (namely the pointed arches so typical in Islamic architecture). Irrespective of whether the art is Islamic or Syriac, the stone-cutters were Christians. Syriac inscriptions top the perforated windows: “Lord, we worship your undividable divinity and humanity” and “I prostrate myself in the sanctuary of your holiness and confess your name”. These inscriptions, like all others inside Syriac churches, are liturgical in content. The first derives from a long hymn by Mār Babai (7th century) chanted on the first Sunday of the Annunciation, starting with the words “blessed is the compassionate One”; the second one is Psalm 137:2. Another aspect of this artistic wealth is a tripartite arcade found inside the sanctuary dominating the first step leading to the altar.18 Its liturgical role is described by the Syriac inscription that runs along its borders; it describes the altar as fully engulfed in the sacrificial fire, a theme that fits the sanctuary in which the divine sacrifice is offered: “The altar is fire and the Holy of Holies is fire—fire inside fire and fire surrounds it. O priests, beware the burning fire lest you fall in it forever and ever!” The ornamental arcade is also honorific, reminding one of symbolic arches of branches and flowers, welcoming kings and dignitaries before these take their seats or thrones inside them. The Syriac inscription along the upper side of the arcade endorses such an interpretation: “O our Saviour, bless your church through your mercy, and set your grace upon the sanctuary that is dedicated to your glory. Lay inside it your noble altar, upon which your body and blood will be consecrated, O Lord.” Both this arcade and the two previously mentioned screens are not part of the presently known ecclesiastical architecture in Syriac Christianity, though their inscriptions are familiar. The art, architecture, calligraphy, and monumental size of the church of the Virgin Mary built only one year after the Persian invasion of Mosul explain why the people of Mosul, to this day, believe that Mary saved Mosul from an assault that could have turned the city into a heap of ruins. This shrine is held in high esteem by Christians and Muslims alike. When the bishop’s house built in front of the church was blown up by fanatics on December

18

Plate 7. Chaldean Ṭahra: Tripartite Arcade.

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2004, the local people believed that the old church escaped destruction by yet another miracle! The church of saints Sergius and Bacchus in Qaraqōsh Qaraqōsh (Turkish for ‘the black bird’), Bēth-Khudēdā, Bukhdēdā or Baghdēdā (among other conflicting spellings) in Syriac, and alḤamdāniyyah are names of a small town located to the east of Mosul that is inhabited uniquely by an Aramaic-speaking population. Here, several eye-witnss accounts of the invasion of Nadir-Shah were written in Syriac. The local people commemorated their history in their own no less monumental way despite the real hardship that they experienced. In the main church dedicated to the Mother of God, a two-line inscription in relief along the top part of the entrance into the sanctuary relates briefly the conditions of the day19: Hear peoples and pay ear nations to what had taken place in our own time! During the whole year a king came and oppressed us. But we people of Khudēdā stood up with the help of God for the rebuilding of the church of Mary Mother of God. In this year we sowed much but we got nothing in return. Out of 10 cor (of grain) only one came, and what came was eaten by the quail. Despite all of this, we did not neglect the rebuilding of the holy church.

This church is a museum of funerary inscriptions that also includes a baptismal octagonal font made of stone and entirely inscribed in Syriac. The inscription of this early 15th century font is essentially liturgical, drawn from the baptismal service of the West Syriac church. There are only a few such fonts in Iraq but not all of them bear inscriptions. It is the church dedicated to Saints Sergius and Bacchus that best relates the 18th century events in poetry inscribed inside it. Since the 6th century Syriac Orthodox Christianity had particularly venerated the two Saints of the Roman period. Our small church can be dated any time after that century, though its earliest mention occurs in a manuscript dated to 1582. The church building was badly damaged at the hands of the invading armies as was the 19

Plate 8. Qaraqōsh: Gate, Church of the Mother of God.

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church of the Virgin Mary mentioned earlier. As soon as the war ended, the people of Qaraqōsh cleared the ruins and on the existing foundations a new church was built with inscriptions going along the entire wall of the sanctuary. These are true annals in stone, very much reminiscent of the neo-Assyrian annals inscribed on the same local marble at least two thousand years earlier. They talk in great details about the Persian invasion and its destructive consequences, the energy of the Christians in rebuilding their shrines, and the role of one man who played a pivotal role in rebuilding this region of the Assyrian heartland. He is Bishop Karas, the Abbot of the monastery of Mār Behnam, known almost through every ecclesiastical building in Qaraqōsh. Thanks to him, the middle of the 18th century became the age of Christian rebirth in literary, architectural and epigraphic senses as will be shown. The gate of men leading inside the church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus bears a liturgical inscription which also mentions the men who rebuilt the church. The women’s gate makes a specific reference to the invasion, though its inscription is incomplete. During recent renovations the gate was unfortunately dismantled and some fragments disappeared. The other fragments are still available and when they are assembled, much like a puzzle, they offer the following account with unavoidable gaps: (Metre of) Mār Balai (7+7 syllables). With the might of the Single One and in the name of the Trinity, the assembly of Khudēdā built the lofty church (lit. house). In this year, the accursed Persians came, burning down (everything), seizing villagers, wheat and barley. […] then there was the ‘alūbfamine [… people] dug and made a furnace […] the whole loss. The leader of the diocese gave food and drink for there was no […] the pestilence disease. When they began [to build, the pestilence was withheld].

The Royal Gate is in many ways unique especially with regard to Qaraqōsh. It is monumental built with the local type of marble, translucent and greyish in colour used extensively in this region since neo-Assyrian times. Its lintel is entirely decorated with ornamental crosses, eight-point stars and rosaces that were in vogue since the Atabeg period (13th century) and that formed a favourite motif in ancient neo-Assyrian art. Another ornamental

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lintel sits on the lower one, and above the former a series of niches decorate the top part of the gate. These are connected with the rest of the gate through parallel braided lines along both sides of the gate. The upper lintel and the two jambs of the gate are inscribed, and the Syriac inscription, a sūghīthō “dialogue”, commemorates the rebuilding of the church one year after the invasion of Nadir-Shah. The dialogue between the people of Qaraqōsh and Bishop Karas is poetical according the metre of St Ephrem (7+7 syllables), and is made of 24 verses following the letters of the alphabet. This is how it starts: “(…) In the year two thousand and fifty-five (1743/4), during divine Lent, our father (i.e. bishop Karas) stood up without delay; Our father with his zeal stimulated the faithful people of Khudēdā to take care of the building of the blessed Sergius and Bacchus.” After this introduction, the long dialogue begins, its theme being the rebuilding of the badly damaged church. This is described as the ark of Noah, the Tabernacle, the “dwelling of the Lord’s name”, and the Temple of Solomon, whereas the bishop is compared to Noah, Baslalel, Melchizedek, and Solomon— essentially biblical themes and characters. The final two statements say much about the destruction of churches during the invasion of 1743:20 (Community:) Because you started with this project (of rebuilding churches), may God answer you in case of difficulty, and may he assist you in building as the Psalmist said. (Bishop:) “The One who gave courage and reason to Noah to ride the ark will grant you, villagers, to build this church.

In the last statement as elsewhere in the poem the difficult circumstances of the siege and destruction echo the deluge that faced Noah and his family. The bishop wished that the newly built church would play the role of a wall, like the one that defended Mosul. The inscription of the Royal Gate unusually continues to the gate on the right side, though six centuries earlier the same arrangement was applied on the Royal Gate inside the church of the monastery of Mār Behnam nearby Qaraqōsh. The inscription on this secondary gate inside the church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus is mostly historical. Most surprising is the mention of the 20

Plate 9. Qaraqōsh, church of saints Sergius and Bacchus.

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Muslim governor of Mosul in this sanctuary inscription, which ought to contain a praise of the Trinity according to the liturgical tradition. More importantly, for the present article, is the information on the extensive destruction that befell Qaraqōsh; the destruction was so immense that at least three ancient churches, presumably with all their contents, were entirely wiped out. The poetical inscription starts with the letter qōf: The leader of the diocese rose up to build this church, and he finished it, as was (the case of the churches of) Mār Ya‛qūb and Mār Zēnā. Bishop Ewannis, along with the believers mounted the gates and the buildings with diligence and expenses in bad and difficult times. These people of Khudēdā completed (the building) after the Persians had sacked the Christian villages and besieged the people of Mosul for months. After this devastation, the Muslim governor (of Mosul) sent ordering that they build the churches of Mosul and the regions. Brother, this devastation took place during the time of Mār Ewannis, pastor of the sublime monastery of Mār Behnam, that is, Karas of Khudēdā. This one advised the people of Khudēdā not to flee to any place whatsoever, so that Persians may not reach us and the Kurds may not pillage us …

As is clear, the sūghīthō is in praise of Bishop Karas and for good reasons. Other Syriac accounts from Qaraqōsh dealing with the Persian invasion mention that this bishop opened the treasury of his monastery to pay for the high expenses of rebuilding in a year marked not only by warfare but also by famine. The mentioned monastery was (and still is) wealthy in arable lands and though the drought following the Persian invasion must have affected its income, Bishop Karas did not hesitate to open its granaries. The inscription under discussion ends with the name Yalda. He must have been the author of the inscribed poem since stone-cutters very rarely added their names in inscriptions. The fact that the name has no title such as deacon or priest, its bearer must have been a layman who was versed in Syriac. In fact his poem is similar in style and content to two others found in two manuscripts, one of which is dated six years after the Persian invasion, and Yalda may well have been the author of all three

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poems. There is no reason to deny a layman the ability to write in classical Syriac, since until recently some local men in Qaraqōsh were masters in this language and more poets than writers of prose. In addition to the literary creativity brought about, quite ironically, by the invasion as evidenced in inscriptions and manuscripts during the 18th century, this period was rich in calligraphic trends. These were probably initiated by Bishop Karas himself or through his inspiration. A decade before, the intensive building activities that immediately followed the invasion of the wilāia of Mosul, this bishop left us a poetical inscription commemorating the digging of a well in the church of St George in Qaraqōsh, which he himself probably composed. The poem begins with the name of the Trinity: “Metre of Mār Ephrem. We began with the name of the Father, reached half way in the name of the Son, and we began and ended with the name of the Holy Spirit. In the name of the living God, Trinity and One, we dug this well of water named after Mār Behnam the sublime in the year two thousand and fifty according to the computation of the Greeks.” Then the author gives us an idea about the wealth of his monastery that surely played a key role in the rebuilding activities: “I am holding the shepherding staff of the village of Khudēdā and of the Assyrian monastery of Mār Behnam the exalted among the elected ones. For he provided the expenses and all these things: Iron, blocks of stones—hewn and polished—burnt bricks, I mean stones, and the wages of workers, masons, and diggers; he (Mār Behnam) has granted (these) from his own monastery.” The poem ends with a repetitive formula that is found usually at the end of manuscripts: “The sailor would not rejoice should he bring his ship into the harbour more than I rejoiced with the last stone (I built) in this well.” The script in this poem is typical of 18th century inscriptions in the north of Mesopotamia, most of which are funerary. The stone-cutter used the drill to shape some of the letters, such as the mīm and the ṭeth, a fact which suggests that large numbers of inscriptions were produced. A number of such inscriptions from Qaraqōsh have reached us and their script does not lack beauty.

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CONCLUSION The siege of Mosul by Nadir-Shah in 1743 and the ensuing rebuilding activities, that were conducted on a massive scale, shed much light on the life of Syriac Christianity at that time. Whether in war or in peace, the Christians proved to be very active in at least three domains: economy, art and architecture, and literature. Economically, the Christian villages, along with the rest of the rural regions in the north of Iraq were (and still are) the breadbasket of the entire country. That the Christians contributed in rescuing the besieged people of Mosul thanks to their grain is confirmed by all local reports of the siege. Agriculture was of such vital importance for the former that anything that affected it, whether locusts, droughts, flooding, or extreme cold, was reported in the colophons of manuscripts and in inscriptions.21 In case of such natural disasters, the wealthy monasteries contributed in alleviating the want of people and fulfilled the task of reconstruction. A case in point is the monastery of Mār Behnam vis-à-vis Qaraqōsh, in that the former bore the financial burden of rebuilding the latter’s shattered life. It was not Karas, the bishop of the mentioned monastery, who donated money, food, and instruments to this large village; it was Mār Behnam himself who “has granted (these) from his own monastery” as stated in the well inscription. This was indeed one vital aspect of Syriac monasticism: to attend people in need. Rebuilding activities involved the churches discussed above, in addition to two other Syriac Orthodox churches in Mosul, al-Ṭahra and St Thomas, and two more in Qaraqōsh. The swift undertaking of these projects called for by the highest authorities in this Islamic land suggests that the Christians played a considerable role in the defence of the city under siege. The art and architecture of the churches are especially skilful as well as monumental. Since distant past and until recently in Iraq, Christians were master builders of civil, ecclesiastical, and Islamic building projects and the same is true with regard to stones cutters. This explains why Christian, Muslim, and civil buildings share the same artistic repertoire (arabesque, stuccoes, and calligraphy), 21 See A. Harrak, ‘Northern Mesopotamia in a 19th Century Annalistic Source’, Le Muséon (2006) 293-305.

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whether during the Jalīli period or at the time of the Atabeg (13th century).22 The late Fr. Fiey already compared the sculptures of the Chaldean Church of al-Ṭahra with those of two mosques in Mosul, Qad(īb al-Bān and Nabī Jarjīs (Prophet George), highlighting their common artistic features.23 The magnificent façade of the church in the monastery of Mār Behnam dated to the late Abbasid period is so strikingly similar to the contemporaneous mihrāb of Panjah ‛Alī24 that only the cross in the first case makes the apparent difference between the two religious buildings. As for Syriac and Arabic Islamic calligraphies, they both play similar liturgical and decorative roles in Christian and Islamic architectures on account of their abstract natures. There is therefore no reason to talk about Islamic or Christian art and architecture but only about the art and architecture of historical periods. In terms of language and literature, the siege of Mosul shows that Aramaic was still the literary and daily language of the Christians. Most of the old inscriptions written in Syriac were destroyed with the churches, but the new inscriptions—some quite lengthy—are all literary in nature. The long poem inscribed on the wall of the church of Sts Sergius and Bacchus in Qaraqōsh preserves a very ancient literary genre, the dialogue poem sūghīthō.25 Poetry, a favourite literary genre among priests and lay people alike is inscribed on stone and published in manuscripts dated to the time of the siege. This is also the time when Karshuni (Arabic written in Syriac scripts) first appeared in inscriptions. The Arabic language is heavily influenced by literary Syriac, and the former language never really replaced the latter before the first decades of the 20th century. Noteworthy also is the Syriac script exhibiting a variety of calligraphic trends. In the inscriptions of the Chaldean church of al-Ṭahra in Mosul, the script with its elongated letters 22 Excavations at Takrit uncovered carved wood and stuccoes in churches that reflect the artistic repertoire of nearby Samarra. 23 Fiey (1959) 132. 24 J.M. Fiey, Assyrie chrétienne, 3 vols in 2, Recherches publiées sous la direction de l'Institut de Lettres orientales de Beyrouth, t. XXIII (Beyrouth: Imprimerie catholique, 1965), vol. II, 595; see the mihrab in F. Basmajī, Treasures of the Iraqi Museum (Baghdad: 1972) pl. 283 [in Arabic]. 25 About this genre see S. Brock, ‘The Dispute Poem: From Sumer to Syriac,’ Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies 1 (2001) 310.

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reflects the calligraphy of manuscripts. In Qaraqōsh and around the time of the siege, a new calligraphic script, round and shaped with the help of the drill, made its first appearance. Funerary and commemorative inscriptions all exhibit this calligraphic fashion developed probably under the supervision of the energetic bishop of the monastery of Mār Behnam, Karas. There is reason therefore to believe that following the siege of Mosul the Syriac Christians opened a new and bright page of their long history, writing it down for future generations in inscriptions, art and architecture. Taking these achievements together helps us understand an important episode within the 18th century.

LISTING OF PLATES Plate 1: Syriac Catholic Church al-Ṭahira: Iconostasis Plate 2: Syriac Catholic Church al-Ṭahira: Relief Plate 3: Chaldaean Ṭahra: men’s gate. Plate 4: Chaldaean Ṭahra: Façade. Plate 5: Chaldaean Ṭahra: Inscription above Royal Gate. Plate 6: Chaldaean Ṭahra: Screen. Plate 7: Chaldaean Ṭahra: Tripartite Arcade. Plate 8: Qaraqōsh: Gate, Church of the Mother of God. Plate 9. Qaraqōsh, church of saints Sergius and Bacchus.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Assemani, J. S. (1719-28). Bibliotheca Orientalis Clementino-Vaticana, 3 vols. in 4. Rome: Typis Sacrae Congregationis de Propaganda Fide.

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Basmajī, F. (1972). Treasures of the Iraqi Museum [Kunūze al-matḥaf al-‘irāqī] (Baghdad). Brock, S. (2001). “The Dispute Poem: From Sumer to Syriac,” Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies 1, 3-10. Fiey, J.-M. (1965). Assyrie chrétienne, 3 vols in 2, Recherches publiées sous la direction de l'Institut de Lettres orientales de Beyrouth, t. XXIII (Beyrouth: Imprimerie catholique). ----(1959). Mosul Chrétienne, essai sur l’histoire, l’archéologie et l’état actuel des monuments chrétiens de la ville de Mossoul Recherches publiées sous la direction de l'Institut de Lettres orientales de Beyrouth, t. XII (Beirut: Imprimerie catholique). Ḥabbī, Y. (1969). The Upper Monastery and the Church of the Virgin [Al-Dayr al-A‘lā wa-Kanīsat al Ṭahrā] (Mosul). Haddad, P. (1981). ‘The Expedition of Nādir-Shāh against Iraq in the Year 1145 Hegira in a Syriac Document’ [Ḥamlat Nādir-Shāh ‘ala al- ‘Irāq sanat 1145H fī wathīqa siriāniyya’] Bayn al-Nahrayn 33, 91-9. Haddad, P. and Isaac, J. (1988). Syriac and Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of the Chaldean Monastry [sic] Baghdad, Part I: Syriac Manuscripts (Baghdad: Iraqi Academy Press.) Harrak, A. (2006) “Northern Mesopotamia in a 19th Century Annalistic Source”, Le Muséon, 119, 293-305 al-Jamīl, S. (1990). The Siege of Mosul by Nadir Shah 1743 (Mosul). Murre-van den Berg, H. (1999). “The Patriarchs of the Church of the East from the Fifteenth to Eighteenth Centuries,” in Hugoye 2/2, section [18]. Sōnī, B. (1998). Baghdad in Syriac, Karshuni and Arabic texts from the 7th Century to the End of the 19th Century [Baġdēdā fī nus‘ūs suriāniyya wa-garšūniyya wa-‛arabiyya min bidāyat al-qarn al-sābi‘ ilā nihāyat al-qarn al-tāsi‘ ‘ašar] (Rome).

MAGIC AND MEDICINE AMONGST THE CHRISTIANS OF KURDISTAN ERICA HUNTER

SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES The triangular area roughly covering the area of the Hakkari mountains south of lake Van in Turkey, the Azerbaijani plains in Iran and the foothills north of Mosul in Iraq was the traditional home of the Christians until the terrible and tragic events that took place in the opening decades of the twentieth-century which destroyed most of their villages and displaced much of the population. Amulets or kharashuta were part of the daily life and aside from their medical application, were used in a wide range of situations, not only for illness, but also for the blessing of crops, for travel and assistance in political feuds; in short for every conceivable situation in society.1 The amulets were written in classical Syriac, but their texts also included many loanwords from Arabic and Persian that had been absorbed into everyday speech. An interesting example is AEeDI ‘revolver’ which occurs in several amulets and is of Persian origin meaning ‘ten sounds’.2 Such 1

See E. Hunter, ‘Amulets and the Assyrians of Kurdistan’, Journal of the Assyrian Academic Society IX: 2 (1995) 25-9. 2 In the Arabic Mosul dialect, the word ‘Dabang’ is used to mean ‘stupid or slow’, for a man who needs a tenfold repetition of an explanation before he grasps it. As Davandji or Dabanga, sometimes Tabanga, the word in Syrian, Lebanese and Egyptian colloquial Arabic means an ‘old pistol’. I am indebted to the late J.-M. Fiey for this information. Personal correspondence 25th October 1992. For the occurrence of this word see, E. Hunter, An amulet for the binding of guns, spears, swords, daggers and all implements of war. Edited and translated from a Syriac manuscript in the John Rylands Library (Jericho Press: 1992).

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loanwords show the cross-cultural influences to which the Christians were exposed and the infiltration of new ideas and products within the communities. Yet the amulets also maintain a conservative thread that links them with the repertoire of ‘magical’ practices of Mesopotamia, principally acknowledged through the concept of demoniac possession as the source of illness. This paper focuses on the amulets as vernacular religious practices of the Christians. ‘Anecdotal comments’ made by European travellers and missionaries during the nineteenth century provide glimpses into the traditional usage of amulets. ‘Applying protection’ analyzes the prime function of amulets and their continuity of a Mesopotamian (Sassanid) legacy, now accommodated within a Christian culturo-religious context. Translated texts (two amulets and a numerological method to calculate disease) from Rylands syr ms 52 are referenced within the section entitled, ‘Providing the remedy’ to demonstrate how the cures of various diseases were effected as well as the integral association of both clergy and monasteries. In this way, it is hoped to highlight the contribution made by amulets in maintaining the physical and mental welfare of the communities that formerly dwelt in Kurdistan.

ANECDOTAL REFERENCES The Rev. George Percy Badger, the official representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s mission to the Eastern Churches who arrived in the Hakkari region in 1842 dismissively opined, “the Nestorians entertain many superstitions respecting the powers of evil, and the value of certain talismans to allay or counteract them”. 3 A different, sympathetic attitude was shown by The Rev. William Shedd who served after his father, the Rev. John Haskell Shedd, at the American Presbyterian Mission at Urmia. He proclaimed, “superstitions, old customs and traditions … are elements in the life of the people which we need to understand”.4

3

I: 238.

4

P. Badger, The Nestorians and their Rituals, 2 vols. (London: 1852)

J. Joseph, The Nestorians and their Muslim Neighbours (Princeton: 1961) 89, n. 49.

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The clergy wrote and sold amulets, this practice possibly supplementing their stipends. The American missionary, Justin Perkins described the circumstances whereby a commission was made.5 He was dining with a priest when a Moslem villager came asking for an amulet to cure his cow. The priest took a spoonful of salt, recited prayer over it and gave it to his client. On other occasions he might also have consulted small handbooks, which were essentially collections of miscellaneous amulets that were useful for all sorts of occasions. Had he written an amulet presumably it would have been on small piece of paper. A few such items, in scroll form and carried by the individual, have survived in libraries around the world.6 They show that the contents were individually tailored to include the person’s name instead of ‘bearer of these letters’ that occurs in the codex counterparts.7 The personal amulets only supply scant details re copyists, place and date of copying, viz: ‘Joseph, the dull-witted’ being one such scrap of information.8 By contrast, the handbooks of amulets from which the personal amulets were drawn are more informative since many still have their colophons. Surviving examples appear to have been basically written between the late eighteenth and early decades of the nineteenth century. Colophon details indicate that the codex handbooks were written in various villages throughout Kurdistan, with many coming from the Urmia region. However, this distribution may be due to the serendipity of collection and may not represent the actual distribution pattern of the handbooks. 5

J. Perkins, A residence of Eight Years in Persia among the Nestorian Christians; with Notices of the Muhammedans (Andover: 1843) 456. 6 The first publication of a scroll amulet was by W. Hazard, ‘A Syriac Amulet’, Journal of the American Oriental Society XV (1893) 284-96. Shedd bequeathed scrolls to the Semitic Museum, Harvard. This collection was transferred to the Houghton Library, Harvard in 1959. Houghton Library ms 158, has been published by E. Hunter, ‘Another Scroll Amulet from Kurdistan.’ In: After Bardaisan. Studies on Continuity and Change in Syriac Christianity in Honour of Professor Han J.W. Drijvers. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 89. ed. G. Reinink and A. Klugkist (Leuven: 1999) 161-72. 7 In addition to Houghton Library ms. 158, see Bodleian Library Oxford, ms. syr. g 3 (R) published by E. Hunter, ‘A Scroll Amulet from Kurdistan’, ARAM Periodical 5 (1993) 243-54. 8 Hunter (1993) 253.

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These handbooks can be considered to be the heirs of a tradition harking back over many centuries, as acknowledged by Surma d’Bait Mar Shimun.9 Their pocketsize indicates that they were readily transportable and were consulted as ‘practical manuals’. With this frequent, everyday usage the lifespan of the codex handbooks would have been relatively short, and one may assume that the rate of replacement copying was relatively frequent.

APPLYING PROTECTION The handbooks are titled ‘The Book of Protection’.10 Offset by attractively decorated front-pieces, they commence with a set order of prayers that include the Gloria in Excelsis, the Lord’s Prayer, Prayer of our father Adam and Prayer of the Angels, as well as the opening verses of John 1. These prayers form a type of introduction before the collection of miscellaneous amulets that comprise the bulk of the remaining contents. The need for protection is reiterated constantly throughout, viz: the Prayer of Adam: “Our Lord, have mercy upon … , protect … from all harm by your grace.” The same plea is reiterated at the conclusion of the Prayer of the Holy Angels. The New Testament provided many precedents for cure, viz: Matthew 10:1 “He summoned his twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits with power to cast them out to cure all kinds of diseases and sickness”, but the amulets are also heirs to the Mesopotamian notions of demoniac possession. Incantation texts on pottery bowls, from the Late Sassanid and Early Islamic eras, tackled matters of health by “banishing evil spirits of various kinds … supposed to be connected to physical ailments of the patients”.11 However, it is also clear that a whole range of mental conditions also were considered to be the result of demoniac possession. 9

Surma d’Bait Mar Shimun, Assyrian Church Customs and the Murder of Mar Shimun (London: 1920) 38. 10 For the publication of three such codices see, H. Gollancz, The Book of Protection, being a Collection of Syriac Charms (London: 1920, rpt. Amsterdam 1976). 11 J. Naveh and S. Shaked, Magic Spells and Formulae. Aramaic Incantations of Late Antiquity (Jerusalem: 1993) 34.

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The amulets make frequent reference to evil spirits, often just used generically. Most notable of all was the Evil Eye.12 Always feminine in gender, the Evil Eye is frequently associated in incantation bowls with “evil sorceries” and “powerful or evil magic practices”.13 The Evil Eye could be associated with the heavenly bodies and astrological phenomena; in this context the reference made by the numerological text to incubating the parcels of holy dust under the stars is interesting. Other references are made to Teb‘ia, a synonym epithet for Lilith, the malevolent diva responsible for the deaths of children who was feared alike by the Christian, Jewish and Mandaean communities down the ages.14 Her amulet was housed in the monastery of Mar ‘Abdisho’ who also gave his name to an anathema. The Evil Spirit was also associated with ‘spirit of the moon’ i.e. lunacy for which the Anathema of Mar Shallita was the traditional remedy. On two occasions, the ailment was diagnosed as being caused by ‘the air of devils’, a phrase also found in incantation bowls. Demoniac possession was a deeply held belief amongst the Christians. The amulets staved off malevolent forces by calling on divine names and other ‘agents’: the names of God, Jesus Christ, also the archangels Gabriel and Michael. Saints and holy men were cited with great frequency, largely replacing the usage of angels’ names that are an especial feature in incantation texts. Some of the holy men were internationally renowned figures such as Mar John, the Golden, ie. John Chrysostom, but others, such as Mar John of Jilu (a town in the Hakkari) and Mar John of Urmia must have been local characters. On occasion, over and above specific citations, a ‘blanket coverage’ is adopted: amulets simply cite ‘all 12

H. Leclerq, ‘Amulettes’, Dictionnaire d’Archaeologie Chrétienne et de Liturgie I:2 col 1843-7 for Evil Eye amulets in general. For a discussion of the Evil Eye in Mandaic incantations see M. Tarelko and E. Hunter, The Scroll for the Purging of the Eyes (Turnhout) [in press]. 13 J. Segal, with a contribution by E. Hunter, Catalogue of Aramaic and Mandaic Incantation Bowls in the British Museum (London: 2000) 59 referring to BM 91730 l. 4 (“evil sorceries and powerful magic acts and the evil eye”) and 123 specifically BM 91781 l. 36 (“evil sorceries and evil magic practices and the envious and dim eye”). 14 Ms. Mingana 316 fol. 12a has a drawing depicting the female demon Teb‘ia who is also cited in the ‘Anathema of Mār ‘Abdisho’. See Hazard (1893) 289.

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those prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors and anchorite fathers’. Many of the amulets close with references to both Mary and John the Baptist. The names of the ‘agents’, drawn from the Judæo-Christian repertoire of the Christians, relate directly to the culturo-religious profile of the user and the society in the amulet was deployed. Indeed this was vital in order to ensure its efficacy. By contrast the ‘actions’ viz: ‘may they be bound, anathematized and expelled’ that were taken to vanquish the demonic entities are always verbal and form the conservative kernel of the amulet. They hark back to the repertoire of incantation texts where the negative hosts were thwarted by the use of strings of 3 masculine plural passive participles. In contrast to the names, the ‘actions’ are neutral in role and their transmission is not coloured by the societal environment in which the amulets were deployed.

PRESCRIBING THE REMEDY Typical of handbooks of amulets that were used amongst the Christians in the nineteenth century is Rylands syr ms 52. It was acquired for £25 in December 1916 by the John Rylands Library, Manchester in a lot of nine Syriac manuscripts from the library of James Rendel Harris.15 Rylands syr ms 52 is actually three fragmentary and dis-associated fragments that appear to have been bound together prior to its purchase.16 Part A, forty-four paper leaves (11.5 x 8 cm) written in a vocalised East Syrian hand but lacking a colophon, is a miscellany of twenty-nine amulets that address a wide variety of troubles (over and above disease) including dealing with authorities, mercantile activities and travel.17 Part B, five folios that have been written in a different hand, has been described by James Coakley as “a method of reckoning illness

15

J. Coakley, ‘A Catalogue of the Syriac Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library’, Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, 75 (1993) 108. 16 See Coakley (1993) 177-9 for a full description. 17 Coakley (1993) 177 notes that part A originally has 6 or more signed quires of 10 pages each, but only 4 and 5 are wholly preserved. He suggests an 18th century dating.

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by numerology”.18 Part 3 is a similar numerological tract. The relationship between healing and monastic institutions is articulated in Part B (fol. 45a-49a) which diagnoses diseases in association with designated days of the week. Particular texts were recommended to effect the cures, these being associated with various monasteries, viz: the script ‘of the evil eye’ was at the monastery of Mār John, the ‘anathema of Mār George’ was to be found in the eponymous monastery. It is not clear whether the monastery was the repository of the original text, but it is important to note that some of the titles of the amulets cited in the numerological tract also occur in the codex handbooks. Thus the ‘anathema of Mar George’ occurs, almost without exception, as the opening amulet in many handbooks. In some cases, the titles have been truncated. The script ‘the daughter of lunacy’ occurs commonly in the codices under the expanded lemma, ‘The Anathema of Mar Shallita useful for the daughter of lunacy’. However, it is important, at this stage, to point out that the contents were not copied verbatim and precise textual relationships need to be determined. The diagnosis was accompanied by various instructions for the cure. A script could be written specifically for the ailment; in one case (in response to a condition caused by overeating) this was to be done ‘with the blood of a black hen’. Physical remedies such as bathing with water and massage with olive oil were also advised. The reading of ‘holy books’ could be stipulated; Genesis and the Gospel were to be read at dawn over parcels of dust that had been incubated in starlight. Other instructions exhorted to bring parcels of dust from various sanctified locations viz: ‘dust from seven sepulchres … dust from three churches, water from three springs’. The locations are not specified, however the Englishman James Fletcher recounted, during his visit to the monastery of Mār Behnam, near Nimrud in the mid-nineteenth century, that pilgrims took away from the martyrs’ graves parcels of dust that were reputedly efficacious in curing all sorts of diseases.19

18

1794/5.

19

Coakley (1993) 179. This part is dated to 2106 (Seleucid)

J. Fletcher, Notes from Nineveh and Travels in Mesopotamia, Assyria and Syria, 2 vols (London: 1850) I: 79.

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CONCLUDING COMMENTS Amulets were a valuable part of the daily life of the Christians. They were administered by the priests and also appear to have been integrally connected with the monasteries. Comparison of the contents of identically named amulets shows much spontaneity on the part of the copyists, a characteristic that is typical of ‘applied’ material which was used in everyday contexts and which was flexible in its responses to changing circumstances. In this way, amulets contrast with liturgical formulae and biblical texts that are hallmarked by ‘fixed form demarcating function’ in prescribed circumstances. The vernacular religious traditions of the Christians were accommodated within the culturo-religious matrix of the communities in Kurdistan, yet were also heirs to the tradition of incantations in Mesopotamia. Apart from the formulaic continuity that has been outlined above, this is recalled in historic circumstances, epitomized by the reference in the anathema of Mar George to the infants and babes killed by Shapur. In a seeming substitution for Herod, the persecutions under the Sassanid king are recalled. When Surma d’bait Mar Shimun lamented the usage amongst her people of a wide variety of ‘magical practices’, her attitudes reflected the impact Western travellers and missionaries who upheld clinical distinctions between magic, religion and medicine.20 It is regrettable that much information re the usage of amulets amongst the erstwhile communities is now largely lost, hence the contribution of vernacular religious practices is largely unaccounted. However one can only surmise that, over the centuries, the Christians gained much cure and comfort from these portable and personal tokens of faith.

20

d’Bait Mar Shimun (1920) 38.

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Rylands ms. syr. 52 (fol. 45a-49a)21

AeDnLP AeDpV DLp KZ nIF cLbI AKRmVI AbnL Kbn DLnP dReC liCL . KbCI AnRi AIP cC ⁜ Q ⁜ Q ⁜ ADnDIP aLRD TZ RDmhxbD . KeKmLV Zie dwbL KnRm db . Anbn dwbL KipV dbL . KmLk . JLpRA qnRD AeRh : LC : dePLR Rmb AmbLh ⁜ qnRD AeRhI qDRpV . TZ dnxRi dRpxmp cC KbLR ADnDeRmp aLR dwbL JLpRA . AmKf IV dwbL KDZ dwbL . KfmV AKZC dwbL . KmEi KZV AmbLh . KeKmLV JLpRA LC : fLZLiL fLmQi qDRpV dnxRi pZp cC : feE ZVI aLRD KeKmLV Zie TZ JLpRA . ADnDpZp AnRDRL AbRbP Kgmb

21

underlined.

Again, I write the reckoning of the diseased from what source it happens to him Calculate his name and the name of his mother. And subtract (from) them 9 . 9. And if one remains to you, his disease took hold on Sunday, at sunset. From his head and from his neck and from his shoulder. And it is from the Evil Eye. The monastery of Mār John: the script ‘of the Evil Eye’. And if two remains to you. Monday, the day when (there is) a moon. And it is from his stomach and from his heart and from his whole body. His disease is From God. The monastery of Paul and Peter: the script ‘of all kinds’. And if three remains to you his disease took hold on Tuesday. It is the hot and dry illness.

Rubric Syriac text is indicted by English text which is

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JLZh Zie AxLRII mBCL AxRbD KZ APfAL KRPLnbL qROI APnbD KmEi dVL . ADnDpZpI ARZZD AExmn pZp KZ IDh JLxeAb db qZxRpiL . JxLZEm pRPp aRf AIP ⁜ KeRbR pRPp AIPL AmbLh : TbIe dRxbLR ⁜ KR dwb iC . hLnRIDh Rmb KZ DLpV : JLpRA AhDp RxeRh aRmC : qDRpV : AmLQZ TZ dnxRi hDmC cC mDh ADnDhDmC aLR Kbn Aml AZL . ARxbD Zpe . ARP AKZCI iCL . AeVfbZ qlIO JLpRA qnRD APLm db : TbIe dRxbLR ⁜ OR ⁜ AmbLh qDRpV LC : AQRZn Rmb ⁜ qnxRD AxxPLmI TZ dnxRi nbP cCL ADnDnbP aLRD dwb Zie KeKmLV KDZL . qAxREf qZxVAb

22

Psalm ccxi.1

And the devils’ air fell upon him. Bathe him with water and smear his body with olive oil on the night of the Tuesday. And make thus for him 3 lamps and coils from his garments. Place one under his feet and One under his right side. 15 days it will repose. The monastery of Mār ‘Abdisho. It also is from Teb‘ia. Write for him the script: ‘I shall lift up my eyes to the mountain’.22 And if four remains for you. [On] Wednesday he crossed over water and did not invoke the name of the Living God. He shall give alms to the poor. And it is also from the Evil Spirit. 17 days it will repose. The monastery of Mār Shalita. The script: ‘of evil spirits’ And if five remains for you. On Thursday the illness took hold from many foods. And his heart

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AxLRII mCCL KZ Aen KZ DLpV . JLZh Zie qZLEempI AbID qDRpV AIAn iCL . qbVLC dRxbLR ⁜ LR ⁜ KD pRC Rmb AmbLh : TbIe fLVD RmbL fREmf KD pRCI dbZ qDRpV LC TZ dnxRi pn cCL : ALRI LC qDLmh aLR . ADnDhDmC : APm pLZ dwbL KeKmLV dbL KDZ dwbL KnRm dwb TiK dVL . KRIP dRxbLR ⁜ DR ⁜ KZ pRpmL Rpmb AmbLh : TbIe pmDI qDRpV LC . aRmb TZ dnxRi hDn cCL : AxmKf qDn LC qDLmh aLR qnRD qhnD AxRb qn qZPI JLZh pZie KDZ db KeKmLV qhLOL KkP dwbL KnRm dwbL AhDn db Amih qRC db AmihL . AxmLDl pRD AmihL . pPxmLC hDmC db AxRbL . qxIh pZp cLKeL qxeRh pZp : AiRQP ARZZD cLKZ aRf pRPp

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departed from him and the devils’ air fell upon him. Write for him a script with the blood of a black hen. And also the demon is in him. 16 days it will repose. The monastery of Mār Sergius and Mar Bacchus. The script ‘for whoever has a devil in him’. And if six remains for you. Friday or Wednesday is his illness and from near a smell. From his head and from his heart and from his breast. And thus he turns and is faint-hearted. 12 days it will repose. The monastery of Mart Miriam. The script ‘the daughter of lunacy’. And if seven remains for you Friday or Saturday he drank water at an evil moment. Fear and shaking came upon him. His illness is from his heart and from his head and from his loin. Bring dust from 7 sepulchres and dust from 4 ways and dust [from] 3 churches. And water from 3 springs. And they will be seized. Place them at night under

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Rep AmikD . ADVxLVD pRnmD cLKRZh cLRZEeLCL AKRmV cLKD APfeL AmbLh : DLpV LC : fREmLRE Rmb Aebp cCL : KZRI AbmP ARZZD Dml TZ dnxRi ALOP AOP . ADnDhDmC AKRmV KmEi KZV . AnRD KpLPb dwbL JLpRA TbIe dRxbLR ⁜ T ⁜ AeQfI fLlRmLl Rmb AmbLh : ⁜ AOmP KZ DLpV LC TZ dnxRi hnp cCL : qDn LC ADnDIP aLR qnRD CPLm Zie KeKmLV AeRQI AhZLl Zh DpR Kbn RpRC AZL AhDp dwb iAL : ARP AKZAI Rmb AmbLh : JLpRA DpR Rml LC : aKmDC : LbZn : AbRmbI KmpfD

the stars. At dawn repeat 23 over them Genesis and the Gospel and the illness will be purified by them. The monastery of Mār George. Write his own anathema. And if eight remains for you. It approached on the night of Wednesday. He saw the evil apparition. His whole body is diseased and (it is) from the affliction of Satan. 20 days it will repose. The monastery of Mār Cyriacus Write for him an amulet. And if nine remains for you Sunday or Sabbath his illness fell upon him. [It is] the Evil Spirit. He sat on a lump of clay and did not cite the name of the Living God. And it is also from Teb‘ia. The monastery of Mār Abraham. Oh recite, sit in the upper ruin. The end.

Rylands ms. syr. 52 (fol. 10a-11b, fol. 32a)24

RmbI AbmP fREmLRE ARPke AIKf PnP 23

The anathema of Mār George the victorious martyr useful

i.e. Genesis I.1 Coakley (1993) 179 notes an illustration of a mounted Mār George slaying a dragon on fol. 21b. 24

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qZPIZ qhLOL KpLhDL KpLZk KpeePpL KpinVpL AIKf fREmLRE RmbI AhDL RZkI hnZVD. inVpC cIhZVDL AeinVpbL Teb AhD AnemD ZVI TpLDRQZ LC ARkZLCD ALKI qRpmD dx R eLRfe db IPD LC mVIpbI . dx R KmLVL RbnL AnRIl Tbn fREmLRE TIDh RZRI AZppeL DLpVeL JLZh AiRf KZ Dmlpe AZ Anx e ReD AZL AepLbI Ax O LODL Aix L QPL Anx R D JReLVe AZL Jx L eQRZn AZiC . AeK AbZhI ALKp AQx R Z Ax I Cn pLVO . cLKZ Zh AZL KpRD Zh aIbZV KZ ALKIL KZ pRCI AIK qDRpV dRhQ fREmLRE RmbI KbmPD ARmb : ARPke AIKf mIn AepZRP AKZC AVAZb Keb iLImeL qLZ R QDI x J LbIK dwbL KmEi dwbL ZV : dRZK AIx L R dRhQI

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for fear and trembling. The prayer, request petition and supplication of Mār George, the martyr who prayed, petitioned and supplicated in all moments and times. He sought from you and petitioned your grace that every man who was in distress or in fear or any trial and illness. That commemorated is your holy name and my own name, your servant George. And it shall be written and hung upon him so that the sword of pestilence shall not draw near to him nor men [who] are evil, rapacious and destroyers. Nor shall the authorities of this world condemn him. Nor even shall be for them the victory of the accursed demons over his house. Nor over everything that he has and which belongs to the bearer of this script. By the anathema of Mār George the victorious martyr. The Lord God Almighty sent the guardian angel and it will banish from him and from his body and members that bear these letters all

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cx L ImbZVL cLx P b APbeL qLbID Jx L DDIZhDZ cLKx R Pi ZhI AmLeI cLLKeL dRbmPbL dRmRfC Keb dRlRPIL dRIRmQL AIK qDRpV dRhQI AmRmn AKZC IPI AbnD RDx m IL ADLx m VI AmbL Ax R ZQI qLZx k D Ax V AZb AmLeI AeLpAD LRbmCI AKZA ARmb . qIRlR cLmpne AepZRP cLIDAeL cx L KRPi cLmIDpeL Anx e ReDI cLKx R eLRfeL Anx R D AQx R Z Ax I An Ahx R nmL Ax e RhQbL AIx L R dRhQ TIDhI Keb ARDxeI qLZxkD dRZK ARx m PC Ax P RZnL ARx b Il AIx L ZRL Amx D nI qLZxkD mLDn dwb LZZVpCI cLeK Rmb KZDK AhRnm AVZb hROppe AZI ARIP ADZ dRbCL dRC

afflictions and rebellions. And he will smite his enemies by the image of the fire which was over their snares. And may they be bound and anathematized and expelled and removed from him who is bearing this script. In the name of the one true God and the lord of the cherubs and of archangels. By the prayers of the youths who were cast into the furnace of flaming fire. Lord God Almighty may they be loosened and destroyed and be scattered: the snares and temptations of wicked and impious men, accursed and seducing demons from him, your servant, the bearer of these letters. By the prayers of the ancient prophets and the later apostles. By the prayers of those infants and and babes who were crowned by Shapur the impious king. Give him, Lord, a glad heart lest he be disturbed. Yea and Amen.

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Rylands ms. syr. 52 (fol. 37a-b)

CnRmI CxnLle AmfA APLmI AmDL ADC anD AnILlI AneV KZVZL AxIBnI AILxE qnRD APLxmL AIxLmbI qxPZkL AnxRmI CxnLle AxRZP CxnLleL feE ZVL AnRDR CnLle . AmRxmbL dRmpL dRhDn ADRQmL AmRmxbL ARZxxP CxnLle qPZkL qbVLC qPZkL qlmLR AxfeE dRKZVL . qmLPL dRbmPbL dRmRmfC qxPZkI dbL KnRm db dRIRIQ KpiLml dbL JLexRDE dRhQI JLexRZZV pRD dbL cmbI KbnD : dRZK AILxR ZRmDE anDL APRnbeLnR cLKZVIL ZRAZZbL ZRAVRbL AIKxfL APxRZnL ARDxe AQRxmVLe qKxDCL AeRILxbL

The binding of headaches. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Bands of demons and every gathering of rebellious ones and evil spirits, headaches and cleavings. And every sort: sweet aches and bitter (aches) and dry ache And moist (ache) and 72 sweet and bitter aches. The green cleaving and the black And white (cleaving) and all kinds of cleaving are bound and anathematised and expelled from the head and from eyebrows and from the skull And from within the crowns of the bearer of these letters. In the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ and in the name of Gabriel and Michael and Mallaliel and all those prophets, apostles, martyrs and witnesses and anchoritic fathers.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Badger, P. (1852). The Nestorians and their Rituals, 2 vols. London. d’Bait Mar Shimun, S. (1920) Assyrian Church Customs and the Murder of Mar Shimun. London. Coakley, J. (1993). “A Catalogue of the Syriac Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library”, Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester 75: 105-207. Fletcher, J. (1850). Notes from Nineveh and travels in Mesopotamia, Assyria and Syria, 2 vols. London: H. Colburn. Gollancz, H. (1920). The Book of Protection, being a Collection of Syriac Charms. London: H. Frowde. Hazard, W. (1893). “A Syriac Amulet”, Journal of the American Oriental Society XV: 284-96. Hunter, E. (1999). ‘Another scroll amulet from Kurdistan’. In: After Bardaisan. Studies on Continuity and Change in Syriac Christianity in Honour of Professor Han J.W. Drijvers. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 89. ed. G. Reinink and A. Klugkist. Leuven: Peeters, 161-72. ----(1995). ‘Amulets and the Assyrians of Kurdistan’, Journal of the Assyrian Academic Society IX:2, 25-9. ----(1993). ‘A Scroll Amulet from Kurdistan’, ARAM Periodical 5: 243-54. ----(1992). An amulet for the binding of guns, spears, swords, daggers and all implements of war. Edited and translated from a Syriac manuscript in the John Rylands Library. Oxford: Jericho Press. Joseph, J. (1961) The Nestorians and their Muslim Neighbours. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Leclerq, H. (1904) ‘Amulettes’, Dictionnaire d’Archaeologie Chrétienne et de Liturgie I:2 col 1843-7. Naveh, J. and Shaked, S. (1993) Magic Spells and Formulae. Aramaic Incantations of Late Antiquity. Magnes: Jerusalem. Perkins, J. (1843) A residence of Eight Years in Persia among the Nestorian Christians; with notices of the Muhammedans. Andover: Allen, Morill and Wardell. Segal, J. with a contribution by Hunter, E. (2000) Catalogue of Aramaic and Mandaic Incantation Bowls in the British Museum. British Museum Press: London. Tarelko, M. and Hunter, E. (in press) The Scroll for the Purging of the Eyes. Turnhout: Brepols.

WORLD WAR I AND THE ASSYRIANS MARTIN TAMCKE

UNIVERSITY OF GÖTTINGEN I would like to stress that the approach regarding the Syrians is made from the perspective of the people who once lived in the present south-eastern Turkey, north-western Iran, Syria and north Iraq, rather than from that of the large context of the Ottoman Empire’s cruelty, or that of the Young Turks’ accession to power, or that of the general state of affairs during the World War I. Today we have at our disposal a number of Ottoman archival items that confirm that the elite forces of the Young Turks in Istanbul declaredly intended to exterminate the Syrians. These standpoints are compromised by the fact that the Young Turks’ concern and intention to annihilate applied, to a far greater extent, to the Armenians who, unlike the Syrians, were more effectively organized in political parties and had already been exposed to violent persecutions and even had mounted armed resistance. Moreover, it was important to consider Russian Armenia and its significance for the bordering Ottoman Armenia. The Armenians had so dynamically participated to the reorganization of the Ottoman Empire after the Young Turks’ revolution, just as they cherished their wish for reforms in alliance with the European powers; and furthermore, though a minority in the Ottoman Empire, they carried too much economic weight. Everything was different in the Syrians’ case. They did not influence the major politics of the Empire; they did not represent an equal financial power in the Empire, and they were hardly recognizable in the political activity they undertook for their national identity. But things were different for the East Syrians who had always been a significant political element in the Kurdish tribal system. Therefore comparison with the Armenians or even with

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the Greeks in the Ottoman Empire does not reach the appropriate target re the Syrian perspective and constantly risks resuming historically forced marginalization in the present research state. We may perceive the events experienced by the Syrians more acutely if we consistently regard them from the perspective of the area in which they were settled, and without any focus on the Armenians who were partially settled there as well, although such a perspective should finally aim at the panorama of destructions committed by the disintegrating Ottoman Empire. For this period of time, I will concentrate upon the East Syrians, mindful (together with the perspective I mentioned) of what the Syrian Patriarch explicitly declared after the World War I. Ephrem Barsaum was bothered that the Syrians and their fate were completely disregarded in the peace negotiations. He stated: We regret bitterly that this ancient and glorious race which has rendered so many valuable services to civilization should be so neglected and even ignored by the European press and diplomatic correspondence, in which all Turkish massacres are called “Armenian Massacres” while the right name should have been “The Christian Massacres” since all the Christians have suffered in the same degree.1

RECOGNISING INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCE An eyewitness account: On May 24th, 1916 a young man who had just arrived in the Swedish capital Stockholm wrote to his former German superior from the neutral foreign country. He committed to the sheet of paper taken from the Hotel Tremont only what was most necessary and urgent for him to communicate. He wrote under the impression of the events he had to experience and which he had just survived. Nonetheless he had lost his wife and daughter. 1 M. Tamcke, ‘Das Schicksal des syrisch-aramäischen Volkes unter türkischer Herrschaft’ (Part I), Mardutho d-Suryoye 47 (2004) 19-21, 20. Cf. S. de Courtois, The Forgotten Genocide: Eastern Christians, The Last Arameans (Piscataway: 2004) 237-8.

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“Highly honoured parson!” begins Lazarus Jaure, our correspondent, in his account.2 “Due to my father’s imperative demand and to my own sense of duty I was induced to abandon my work in Russia and to come hither.”3 The horror he had lived through never left him in peace. We know that because he tried later, firstly in America and then in Germany, to publish in a volume his experience during the war as eyewitness of his people’s fate.4 The parson to whom he addressed his letter was the superior of the Lutheran Mission Society in Persia, Karl Röbbelen, who had made himself useful to the East Syrian Christians for decades, and who had instructed Jaure during the first stage of his theology study in Germany.5 Jaure’s father, Abraham Jaure, had made close contact with this mission for years. Therefore it is no wonder that his son wanted to convey mail from him to the German partners. He wrote, “I would have gladly submitted to you my father’s own letter, but unfortunately I couldn’t bring it over the borders, so I have to make do with communicating its contents to you.”6 Jaure briefly notifies of the Syrian Christians’ fate in his hometown:

2 M. Tamcke, ‘Eingeborener Helfer oder Missionar? Wege und Nöte des Lazarus Jaure im Dienste der Mission’. In: Syrisches Christentum weltweit. Festschrift Wolfgang Hage. Studien zur Orientalischen Kirchengeschichte 1, ed. M. Tamcke et. al. Münster: 1995. 355-85, also M. Tamcke, ‘Ein Brief des Lazarus Jaure aus dem Frühjahr 1916 zu den Geschehnissen in Urmia’. In: Die Suryoye und ihre Umwelt. Festgabe Wolfgang Hage zum 70. Geburtstag. 4. deutsches Syrologen-Symposium, Trier 2004. ed. M. Tamcke and A. Heinz. Münster: 2005, 59-72. 3 “Durch die zwingende Forderung meines Vaters und eigenes Pflichtbewusstsein bin ich veranlasst worden, meine Arbeit in Russland aufzugeben und hierher zu reisen.”, Tamcke (2005a) 59-60. 4 Tamcke (2005a) 60, Tamcke (1995) 380 n. 89, G. Yonan, Ein vergessener Holocaust, Die Vernichtung der christlichen Assyrer in der Türkei (Göttingen and Vienna: 1989) 202. 5 M. Tamcke, ‘Karl Röbbelen’, Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon 8 (Herzberg: 1994) 503-504. 6 “Ich hätte Ihnen gerne meines Vaters eigenen Brief vorgelegt, aber leider konnte ich den Brief nicht über die Grenze bringen und muss mich damit begnügen, ihn Ihnen inhaltlich mitzuteilen.”, Tamcke, (2005a) 61.

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TAMCKE My father had the burnt church in Gogtapa built again and hopes for the welfare of the community, because it is protected by our young Patriarch who firmly holds on to his former position and enjoys the highest esteem from all sides. He cherishes the hope that the work he has achieved his entire life and which he will carry on with his whole strength could develop all the more so blessed and powerful after the storm. So he goes on working undismayed and confident under all difficulties. He pleads, only if possible, for his belated payment or at least for a part of it (,) may it be brought by a Swiss or by a Sweden Mission, so that he could care also for the community’s supplies at this critical time.7

Already since the beginning of the war the transfer of money from Germany to Persia met with difficulties and after the events in the year 1915 it was no longer possible. In July 1915 Karl Röbbelen informed his correspondents that the German preacher attached to the embassy in Constantinople had written to him on May 26th, 1915 in order to notify him that Prince Reuss, the German emissary in Teheran, had entrusted 1500 imperial marks to the American ambassador for the payment of the Syrian collaborators of the Hermannsburg Mission.8 That was the only way. And soon it was blocked, too. But what was with the burnt 7 “Mein Vater hat die in Gogtapa niedergebrannte Kirche wieder ganz herstellen lassen und verspricht sich das beste für den Fortgang der Gemeinde, da sie von unserem jungen Patriarchen, der auf seinem früheren Standpunkte entschlossen festhaltend, das grösste Ansehen allseitig geniesst, beschützt wird. Er hat die sichere Hoffnung, dass die Arbeit, für die er sein ganzes Leben gearbeitet hat und auch weiterhin alles daransetzen wird, nach dem Sturme um so gesegneter und wirkungsreicher sich entfalten kann. Und so arbeitet er jetzt noch unter allen Schwierigkeiten unverzagt und getrost daran weiter. Er bittet Sie, wenn irgend möglich, ihm wenigstens sein zurückstehendes Gehalt oder auch nur einen Teil dessen (,) sei es durch eine schweizerische oder eine schwedische Mission, zukommen zu lassen, damit er im jetzigen kritischen Augenblick auch materiell für den Bestand der Kirche und Gemeinde sorgen könne.”, Tamcke (2005a) 61. 8 [Karl Röbbelen], ‘Die Mitgliederversammlung’, Nachrichten aus der lutherisch. Mission in Persien 2/3, (Hermannsburg) July 1915, 9-12, esp. 11.

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church? On July 3rd, 1915 the Syrian Luther Pera reported to Germany.9 The Russians had withdrawn from Urmia in the middle of December. Many Syrian Christians are said to have joined them away from that region. On January 2nd all the Russians were gone. On January 3rd, which was on a Sunday: “all Christians were defencelessly abandoned to the fanatic rage of the Muhammadan population … All the Christian villages and houses in Dilguscha and around Urmia were plundered, all men, women and children were robbed of their clothes and money. All men and young people from the villages farther from the town were shot by the Muhammadans. As soon as the Kurds learned from the Muhammadan urban population that the Russians were gone, they flooded the town. Gogtapa, where people from 20 Christian villages had sought protection, was rescued from complete massacre by the courage of the American missionary physician Dr. Packard and of two Syrian young people, Joseph Khan and Dr. David Khan. On Monday [December 23rd (January 5th, according to the German calendar)] he rode together with his companions to the Kurdish chiefs who besieged Gogtapa with thousands of warriors. After hours of negotiations Dr. Packard only managed to obtain from the Kurds the following: the inhabitants from Gogtapa had to surrender, and their souls, that is their bare lives, were to be offered to Dr. Packard as a gift, whereas their goods were to come into the Kurds’ possession … As a result many thousands were rescued and brought to the American Mission.”10

9 [Karl Röbbelen], ‘Ein Bericht aus Persien über das erste Kriegsjahr’, Nachrichten aus der lutherisch. Mission in Persien 2/4, (Hermannsburg) 1 September 1915, 13-16, For the report of Luther Pera see M. Tamcke, ‘Urmia und Hermannsburg, Luther Pera im Dienst der Hermannsburger Mission in Urmia 1910-1915’, Oriens Christianus 80 (1996) 43-65. 10 “Alle christlichen Dörfer und Häuser in Dilguscha und um Urmia herum wurden ausgeplündert, alle Männer, Frauen und Kinder ihrer Kleider und ihres baren Geldes beraubt. Alle Männer und jungen

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Gogtapa had materially fallen into the besiegers’ hands, but its people were saved. In other places it did not work so well. For instance, Pera writing about forty-six people who were taken prisoners from the French Mission states: “bound arm in arm and shot at the Turks’ order. In Gulfaschan more than 80 people were killed. Women and maidens fell prey to the filthy lusts of this wild horde … The Turkish consul and the Kurdish sheik had promised before that absolute security to the village Gulfaschan. In many villages like Ada and Supurgan atrocities which defy all description occurred. Many died as martyrs for their belief. A lot of women and maidens were kidnapped by Kurds and Muhammadans.”11

Leute aus den Dörfern, welche etwas weiter von der Stadt entfernt waren, wurden von Mohammedanern niedergeschossen. Sobald die Kurden von der mohammedanischen Stadtbevölkerung sichere Nachricht erhalten hatten, dass die Russen fort seien, überschwemmten sie das Land. Gogtapa, wo Leute aus 20 christlichen Dörfern Schutz gesucht hatten, wurde durch den Heldenmut des amerikanischen Missionsarztes Dr. Packard und zweier syrischen Jünglinge, des Joseph Khan und des Dr. David Khan, von der gänzlichen Niedermetzelung gerettet. Er ritt mit seinen Begleitern am Montag, den [23. Dezember‘ (5. Januar [nach dem deutschen Kalender)], zu den kurdischen Häuptlingen, welche Gogtapa mit mehreren Tausenden von Kriegern belagerten. In einer Verhandlung von mehreren Stunden konnte Dr. Packard von den Kurden nur das erreichen, dass die Bewohner von Gogtapa sich ergeben und ihre Seelen, d.h. nur das nackte Leben, dem Dr. Packard zum Geschenk gegeben werden, aber alle ihre Habe den Kurden gehören solle … So wurden viele Tausende gerettet und zum amerikanischen Missionshaus gebracht.” [Röbbelen] (1915b) 14. 11 “Arm an Arm gebunden und auf Befehl der Türken erschossen. In Gulfaschan wurden über 80 Personen getötet. Frauen und Mädchen waren den unreinen Lüsten dieser wilden Rotte preisgegeben … Dabei hatten der türkische Konsul und der kurdische Scheich dem Dorfe Gulfaschan volle Sicherheit versprochen. In vielen Dörfern, wie Ada und Supurgan, sind unbeschreibliche Greuel geschehen. Viele starben als Märtyrer um ihres Glaubens willen. Sehr viele Frauen und Mädchen

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What is remarkable in Pera’s account is that he has no doubt that these atrocities were caused by Turks and Kurds together and that, in his opinion, the order to shoot in Urmia the prisoners taken from the French Mission goes definitely back to the Turks. Pera assessed the number of the killed people at 8000. And then there comes the detail that exemplifies the information in Jaure’s letter: “All churches, including ours in Wasirabad and Gogtapa, were burnt.”12 Under these circumstances the people in Gogtapa did fairly well not only due to the support on the part of the American missionary physician, but also because the material damages were not extremely bad. At least there still was something on which they could build anew. “In Gogtapa houses, doors and windows were left behind, because there were too many other things to rob in this village. The br[other] Jaure’s house and the school were saved as well.”13 And on January 1st, 1916 Röbbelen could inform his readers that Jaure Abraham was in Gogtapa, where he and his family were living again. However, the Germans went on cherishing illusions about the course of events. Röbbelen was writing in his magazine, “Violence seems to have ceased in Urmia. There is also hope that in future the riots against the Syrian Christians will be prevented. The imperial ambassador in Constantinople criticized the Turkish government and the latter promised to release instructions to the responsible military forces for the protection of our Syrian brothers.”14 It was sure enough a dangerous illusion to believe that wurden von Kurden und Mohammedanern entführt.” [Röbbelen] (1915b) 15. 12 “Alle Kirchen, auch unsere in Wasirabad und Gogtapa, wurden abgebrannt.” [Röbbelen] (1915b) 15. 13 “In Gogtapa sind Häuser, Türen und Fenster gelassen worden, weil zuviel in diesem Dorfe zu rauben war. Auch das Haus des Br[uder]. Jaure und die Schule sind heil geblieben” [Röbbelen] (1915b) 16. 14 “Überfälle scheinen sich auf der Urmiaebene nicht mehr ereignet zu haben. Es ist auch Hoffnung vorhanden, dass Ausschreitungen gegen die syrischen Christen in Zukunft verhindert werden. Der Kaiserliche Botschafter in Konstantinopel hat Vorstellungen bei der türkischen Regierung erhoben, und diese hat versprochen, dass Weisungen zum Schutz unserer syrischen Brüder an die zuständigen militärischen Stellen erlassen werden sollten.” [Karl Röbbelen],

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the Turkish position was sincerely interested in restraining these events. Röbbelen appealed for donations for the oppressed people and, to mention one typical gesture of the German attitude during the war, a generous family donated its only six silver spoons, so that the Syrians could be helped. Lazarus Jaure’s additional information that his father built the church anew was immediately made known to the large German public on June 21st, 1916. Furthermore, on October 1st it was reported that the Swedish Mission had undertaken the money transfer.15 During the winter of 1915-1916 Jaure could not stay any longer in Russia after learning about the Syrians’ deep distress. He stated: “But what had particularly urged me to come hither was the upsetting information received from my father about the terrible hardships and the infinite distress which our poor Syrian people now endure, almost threatened to be exterminated also by the horrible epidemics. On the other hand he resolutely reminded me of my inevitable responsibility. And, highly honoured parson, for a long while it weighted upon me like a heavy burden, until it finally took me hither. Before this terrible divine judgement which we witnessed and which oppresses our people with all its weight, I was innerly constrained to put my own reason and wishes aside and to humbly follow the voice of my heart and my father’s request.

‘Nachrichten aus Urmia’, Nachrichten aus der lutherisch. Mission in Persien 3/1, (Hermannsburg) 1 January 1916, 2-4, esp. 3. 15 [Karl Röbbelen], ‘Die Mitgliederversammlung am 21. Juni 1916 in Hermannsburg’, Nachrichten aus der lutherisch. Mission in Persien 3/4, (Hermannsburg) 1 October 1916, 2-4, esp. 3, 2. “Die Geldsendungen nach Persien hatten wir eine Zeitlang aufgegeben, weil bei der Entwertung des deutschen Geldes 30% verloren gingen, wenn wir Geld nach Schweden oder Amerika zur Weiterbeförderung schickten. Nun hat aber die Direktion des ‘Schwedischen Missionsbundes’ in freundlichster Weise sich erboten, leihweise für uns Geldbeträge nach Persien und Russland zu übermitteln, die wir nach dem Kriege, wenn die Geldverhältnisse wieder normal geworden sind, zurückerstatten sollen. Schon sind zwei Sendungen aus Schweden abgegangen.”

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Oh, I do not know whether you have heard what sort of brutality our people had to endure during this war!”16

Jaure’s devoutness might seem rather strange nowadays and some might wonder whether he selflessly left the danger behind, in order to organize an aid operation for the persecuted Syrians, or whether he rather used the opportunity to save his own life; yet what is really essential is the fact that he got involved and informed about the events. Already in this letter Jaure expresses his intention to organize the urgently necessary aid operation: “Now I only want to ask for your help. And perhaps you will honour me and let me cooperate to this helping action for the poor, the starving and the dying people among my compatriots, for the sake of whom I actually came hither. Now I can see what made Paul wish that Christ would curse him instead of his people. Yet I would rather let my own thoughts aside and wait here for your instructions and advice, without which I wouldn’t dare to think of such an attempt. Now I would like to mention that something could move only through the mediation of the Swedish Mission, which hopefully would assist in this action.”17

16 “Was mich aber besonders veranlasst hat, hierher zu kommen, war der herzdringende Hinweis meines Vaters auf die entsetzliche Not und das grenzenlose Elend, worunter jetzt unser armes syrisches Volk leidet, das noch zu alledem durch schreckliche Epidemien fast ausgerottet zu werden droht. Und demgegenüber erinnerte er mich entschieden an meine unausweichliche Pflicht. Und, geehrter Herr Pastor, dies hat mich lange als eine schwere Last gedrückt, bis es mich schliesslich hierher geführt hat. Diesem furchtbaren Gottesgerichte gegenüber, das wir gesehen und erlebt haben und das noch in seiner ganzen Strenge auf unser Volk drückt, war ich innerlich gezwungen, alles eigene Denken und Wünschen beiseite zu lassen und der inneren Stimme und des Vaters Aufforderung demütig nachzukommen. Ach, ich weiss nicht, ob Sie erfahren haben, was unser Volk in dieser Kriegszeit alles erduldet hat, bis zur Unmenschlichkeit!”, Tamcke (2005a) 67. 17 “Jetzt will ich Sie nur bitten, zu helfen. Und vielleicht würdigen Sie mich auch, an dieser Hilfsarbeit an den Armen, Hungrigen und Sterbenden meiner Landsleute, weshalb ich ausschließlich hergekommen bin, mitzuwirken. Jetzt verstehe ich, was Paulus veranlassen konnte zu

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That is how things actually happened afterwards and the Germans sent their help with Jaure through the Swedish Mission. The construction of the church in Gogtapa during the World War was only an episode. The Patriarch, whom Jaure praised and twenty-five of his companions were shot by the Kurds during an ambush. The English did not hurry to reinforce the Russians in the north, as it would have been necessary. Now Abraham Jaure had to flee as well. He describes this unusual mass departure of his people, which reminds of the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt. It becomes then obvious how the distress of the hungry and sickened people accomplished what the torturers and the murderers had begun: “On July 18th, 1918 we lost Urmia and fled southwards, to Hamadan. This flight lasted twenty-two days. All the people took the road with wagons, horses and goods. On our way, we were eight times surrounded by enemies; a few thousands were killed or made prisoners and taken away. On the fourth day of our flight we left behind our wagons to which four oxen were harnessed, our best items, books and other things. My wife rode a horse that we still had; the rest of us walked. On the first day we covered 70 km on foot without shoes and stockings, in the heat burning over the sandy roads of Persia. Of course, thousands of people were in the same situation like me. The fleeing people comprised about 90,000 souls. Nursing women left their babies lying on the road and fled away. On all our way we found children abandoned by their parents. They were running towards the fugitives, crying to the strangers: ‘Dad, Mum, take me with you!’ But nobody could help. The newborns were left lying. The parents who were too weak were also deserted. Others died on the way and were left unburied. We starved, because we had left all our supplies behind, and we survived three days without bread and water. For thousands of people and cattle had drunk all the water. Almost everybody wünschen, lieber selber an Stelle seines Volkes von Christus verdammt zu sein. – Doch ich will lieber alle eigenen Gedanken zurückstellen und warte hier auf Ihre Anweisungen und Ratschläge, ausserhalb deren selbstverständlich mir jeder Gedanke an eine solche Betätigung absolut fernliegt. Nur möchte ich bemerken, dass nur durch Vermittlung der schwedischen Mission, die eventuell, wie ich hoffe, selber gerne mit Hand anlegen würde, etwas geschehen kann.”, Tamcke (2005a) 68.

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came down with dysentery; quite many were wiped out by cholera. When we approached Hamadan my wife sickened. We had respected relatives in Hamadan. They took us as guests in their homes. My wife lay sick for a week. On August 10th the Lord took her to Him. On the 11th she was buried in the presence of the decent people in Hamadan and the Syrian fugitives. I fell in deep sorrow. We stayed in Hamadan four months. Then, when winter came, we started our journey to Tabrīz, which lasted one month. When we arrived there I was ill and weak. I lay two weeks, suffering pains in my chest and knees because of the frost. After I had recovered, my son sickened for typhus. Now he is in good health as well. But it has been very difficult for us to live under these circumstances without money in a new town.”18

18 “Am 18. Juli 1918 verliessen wir Urmia und flohen nach Süden, nach Hamadan. Diese Flucht dauerte 22 Tage. Das ganze Volk war unterwegs mit Wagen, Pferden und Habe. Auf dem Wege wurden wir achtmal vom Feinde umzingelt; einige Tausend wurden getötet oder gefangen weggeführt. Am vierten Tage unserer Flucht ließen wir unsern Wagen, vor den vier Ochsen gespannt waren, alle unsere besten Sachen, die Bücher usw. zurück. Meine Frau ritt auf einem Pferd, das wir noch hatten; wir andern flohen zu Fuss. Den ersten Tag machten wir ungefähr 70 km zu Fuß ohne Schuhe und Strümpfe in der Sommerhitze auf den sandigen Wegen Persiens. Selbstverständlich waren Tausende von Menschen in derselben Lage wie ich. Das fliehende Volk bestand annähernd aus 90.000 Seelen. Säugende Frauen liessen ihre kleinen Kinder am Wege liegen und flohen. Auf dem ganzen Wege begegneten wir Kindern, die von ihren Eltern verlassen waren. Sie liefen den Flüchtlingen entgegen und riefen den Fremden weinend zu: ‘Papa, Mama, nimm mich mit!’ Aber niemand konnte helfen. Neugeborene Kinder liess man liegen. Väter und Mütter, die schwach waren, wurden im Stich gelassen. Andere starben unterwegs und blieben unbeerdigt liegen. Wir mussten hungern, denn alle Vorräte liessen wir unterwegs, drei Tage waren wir ohne Brot und ohne Wasser. Denn die Tausende von Menschen mit ihrem Vieh tranken alles Wasser weg. Beinahe das ganze Volk wurde an Dysenterie krank; auch Cholera raffte viele Menschen weg. Als wir uns Hamadan näherten, wurde meine Frau krank. Wir hatten in Hamadan angesehene Verwandte. Sie nahmen uns als Gäste in ihre Häuser auf. Meine Frau lag eine Woche krank. Am 10. August nahm sie der Herr zu sich. Am 11. wurde sie bestattet unter grosser Teilnahme der angesehenen Männer zu Hamadan und der syrischen Flüchtlinge. Ich fiel in tiefe Betrübnis. Wir blieben vier Monate in Hamadan. Dann begaben wir uns im Winter auf

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For a while the Armenian church in town was evacuated so that Jaure could officiate there his church service. But in the end, because of new considerable difficulties, he had to emigrate via Bombay to America, and only as an aged man of 76 could he return in 1930 to his homeland.19 As a clergyman in Philadelphia he cared for the reconstruction of his native village and of his church among his compatriots. It is almost a miracle that this old man could be buried in 1938 in the native ground as priest of his ancestral community. Unlike him, his son Lazarus could never return home.

AN OVERVIEW OF THE EVENTS The exterminating action against the East Syrians was brought to the attention of the public opinion quite early.20 Information streamed in the West through the American, the English, the German, the French, the Swiss and the Russian missionary societies.21 The diplomatic reports joined them with their die Reise nach Täbris, die einen Monat währte. Ich kam krank und schwach dorthin. Hier lag ich zwei Wochen krank, an Brust und Knien leidend infolge der Kälte. Als ich gesund ward, erkrankte mein Sohn am Typhus. Auch er ist jetzt gesund. Aber es ist uns sehr schwer geworden, in einer fremden Stadt ohne Geld unter diesen Umständen zu leben.”, Tamcke (2005a) 69-70, [Karl Röbbelen], ‘Ein Brief aus Persien’, Nachrichten aus der lutherisch. Mission in Persien 6/2, (Hermannsburg) 10 November 1919, 1-4, esp. 3-4. 19 [Karl Röbbelen], ‘Neue Schritte auf alten Bahnen’, in Nachrichten aus der lutherisch. Mission in Persien 17/2, (Hermannsburg) 6. May 1930, 2-4. 20 R. Strothmann, ‘Heutiges Orientchristentum und Schicksal der Assyrer’, Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 55 (1936) 17-82. 21 H. Goltz und A. Meissner, Deutschland, Armenien und die Türkei 1895-1925, Dokumente und Zeitschriften aus dem Dr. Johannes-Lepsius-Archiv an der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg [Part 1, Catalogue (Munich: 1998), Part 2, Microfiche-Edition (Part 1, Journals und Documentation; Part 2, Documents), also the accompanying volume to Part 2, MicroficheEdition] (Munich: 1999). Also U. Feigel, Das evangelische Deutschland und Armenien, Die Armenierhilfe deutscher und evangelischer Christen seit dem Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts im Kontext der deutsch-türkischen Beziehungen (Göttingen: 1989), R. Schäfer, Geschichte der Deutschen Orient-Mission (Potsdam: 1932), M. Tamcke, ‘Die Arbeit im Vorderen Orient’ in E.-A. Luedemann,

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statements. In the German-speaking world these events were recorded mainly in missionary magazines. 22 At the beginning of the World War I it was already obvious that the Turkish and the German armies focused increased attention on the region where the Syrian Christians were settled. At first the focus was oriented particularly to the area around Mardin because, according to the German vice-consul Anders, who was reporting on July 25th, 1914 from the Turkish tent camp at Lake Van, the way there seemed open for the Russian troops, should they advance in that very direction. He reported about imprisonment en masse which the Turks carried out in this region. The diplomat explicitly shared his Turkish mates’ opinion that mutiny throughout Kurdistan and a Russian march might have occurred if the Turkish troops hadn’t crushed the rebellion. In short: the armies regarded the region as march-in route for the potential conquerors. After having defeated the Turks at the beginning, the Russians troop-contingents moved indeed towards the area of the nowadays eastern Turkey, whereas the English were fiercely fighting at the same time in south Iraq against the Ottoman army serving under the supreme command of the German general,

Vision: Gemeinde weltweit, 150 Jahre Hermannsburger Mission und Evangelischen Lutheranisches Missionswerk in Niedersachsen (Hermannsburg: 2000) 511-47. 22 For further details see M. Tamcke, ‘Die Vernichtung der Ostsyrischen Christen im Osmanischen Reich und den osmanisch besetzten Gebieten des Iran’, in Der Völkermord an den Armeniern und syrischen Christen (Frankfurt: 2005) 38-48, also Tamcke, (2004) 19-21, and M. Tamcke, ‘Das Schicksal des syrisch-aramäischen Volkes unter türkischer Herrschaft’ (Part II), Mardutho d-Suryoye 48 (2005) 19-22, M. Tamcke, ‘Der Genozid an den Assyrern/Nestorianern (Ostsyrische Christen)’. In: Verfolgung, Vertreibung und Vernichtung der Christen im Osmanischen Reich 1912-1922. Mit einem Geleitwort von Bischof Dr. Wolfgang Huber. ed. T. Hofmann (Münster: 2004) 95-110, M. Tamcke, ‘“Warum ist es so gekommen?” (Karl Röbbelen) Die Hermannsburger Erfahrung des Nestorianer-Genozids’. In: Verstehen und Übersetzen, Beiträge vom Missionstheologischen Symposium Hermannsburg, 10.-12.10.1999. ed. W. Günther (Hermannsburg: 2000) 87-108, M. Tamcke, ‘Karl Röbbelen: Zivilcourage für den fernen Nächsten. Von einer frühen Beziehung des Missionsseminars zu den gefährdeten Völkern des Ostens’, Jahrbuch des Evangelischen Lutheranisches Missionswerks in Niedersachsen 1994, 93-97.

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Field Marshal von der Goltz. The Syrian settled area was therefore lying precisely between the battle fields. On May 18th the German consul from Mosul telegraphed the embassy in Constantinople. He regarded the situation in a categorically different way. The Patriarch of the Church of the East and the Patriarch of the Chaldæans had informed him about the current persecutions. Already on June 13th, 1915 he spoke of the districts of Mardin and Amadia where the situation grew “to a true persecution of the Christians”. The massacres from vilayet Diyarbakir became “more and more notorious” in Mosul. They generated an “increasing uneasiness among people”. Meanwhile the Germans understood that the Turks were taking action towards the annihilation of the Christians who were endangering their sense of safety. The inhuman measures taken by the Vali of Diyarbakir were not without effect. The affected people broke out in revolt. “The rebellion of the Christian (both Chaldean and Syrian) people between Mardin and Midyat goes on”, accounted the German diplomat in his report. There was no doubt regarding the cause of this mutiny. “This rebellion is definitely provoked by the extreme action taken by the Vali of Diyarbakir against the Christians in general. They are fighting for their lives.” Three days later, on July 31st, 1915, the ambassador clearly reported the events to the German Chancellor of the Reich. “Since the beginning of the month the Vali of Diyarbakir, Reschid Bey, started a systematic extermination of the Christian people from his administrative district, irrespective of their race and confession. Among those affected were the Catholic Armenians from Mardin and Tell Ermen, the Chaldean Christians and the non-united Syrians from the districts of Midyat, Djeziret ibn Oman and Nisibin. On December 1st, 1915 the Under-Secretary Zimmermann from the Foreign Affairs Office in Berlin referred to the Christians of Syrian confession from Mardin and Midyat, identifying them with the Nestorians, that is with the East Syrians. These were said to have retreated now in the mountains because of the Kurds’ violence, and that they did not want to revolt against the Turkish authorities. This view of things must be due to the fact that the German Missions working among the Nestorians had insistently appealed to the Foreign Affairs Office seeking protection for the Nestorian Christians who were in connection with them.

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Zimmermann ordered that the ambassador of the German Reich should properly take action in order “to eliminate the difficulties arisen” in Mardin and Midyat – that is how he called the cruel events–“in an amiable manner”. Herewith the ambassador was compelled to reporting. But he carried out his obligation only on February 14th, 1916. “The difficulties arisen between the Syrian Christians in Mardin and Midyat and the Turkish authorities were cleared in the meantime.” Meanwhile the waves of annihilation over-ran the East Syrians: on August 3rd the Vali of Van requested the Patriarch’s statement of loyalty to the Ottoman Empire and to its army. In October the first East Syrians were massacred. During the general people’s assembly in April the East Syrians decided to declare war on the Ottoman Empire. In a letter addressed to the Vali of Van they complained about the massacres and explained that their separation from the government was therefore necessary. On May 1st, 1915 the declaration of war was formally carried out. Under the command of the Vali of Mosul the Turks’ attack began upon the east-Syrian Tiari, at the same time as the Kurds’ attack. The negotiations with the Russians did not bring forth any effective help. In October 1915 the people surrounded from all sides fled to Persia. The marching-off of the Russian troops from north Persia in January 1915 was followed by a five-month occupation of the region by Turks and Kurds together, who chased the Syrian Christians away. William Shedd, the director of the American Mission, proved, with precise examples, that regular Turkish troops were involved in the massacres. Lots of men were taken prisoners from the French Mission and shot in the Turkish headquarters. The American missionaries openly incriminated the Turkish commander-in-chief of the active complicity. Djevdjet Bey was charged with the assassination of the Syrian Christians from Salamas during the marching-off before the Russians. In short: the Syrians were settled in a potential target area for a feared Russian attack. Like the Capuchins in Aleppo, the East Syrians did not agree with a declaration of loyalty-unlike the westSyrians and the Syrian Catholics about whom the French consul testified. Even in their statements about the Syrians the Germans proved to have any concrete knowledge, but at the same time they provided evidence that the governmental authorities of the

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Ottoman Empire proceeded systematically against the Syrians. Perhaps the world will hear today what it once refused to hear, if we do what Ephrem Barsaum once did: “laying before the conference the sufferings and the wishes of our ancient Assyrian nation who reside mostly in the upper valleys of Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia”.

BIBLIOGRAPHY de Courtois, S. (2004). The Forgotten Genocide: Eastern Christians, The Last Arameans. Piscataway, N.J.: Gorgias Press. Feigel, U. (1989). Das evangelische Deutschland und Armenien, Die Armenierhilfe deutscher und evangelischer Christen seit dem Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts im Kontext der deutsch-türkischen Beziehungen. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht. Goltz H. and Meissner, A. (1999). Deutschland, Armenien und die Türkei 1895-1925, Dokumente und Zeitschriften aus dem Dr. Johannes-Lepsius-Archiv an der Martin-Luther-Universität HalleWittenberg [Part 1, Catalogue (Munich: 1998), Part 2, Microfiche-Edition (Part 1, Journals und Documentation; Part 2, Documents), also the accompanying volume to Part 2, Microfiche-Edition] Munich: 1999). Munich: Saur. Röbbelen, K.] (1930). ‘Neue Schritte auf alten Bahnen’, Nachrichten aus der lutherisch. Mission in Persien 17/2, (Hermannsburg) 6 May 1930, 2-4. ----(1919). ‘Ein Brief aus Persien’, Nachrichten aus der lutherisch. Mission in Persien 6/2, (Hermannsburg) 10 November 1919, 1-4. ----(1916a). ‘Nachrichten aus Urmia’, Nachrichten aus der lutherisch. Mission in Persien 3/1, (Hermannsburg) 1 January 1916, 2-4. ----(1916b). ‘Die Mitgliederversammlung am 21. Juni 1916 in Hermannsburg’, Nachrichten aus der lutherisch. Mission in Persien 3/4, (Hermannsburg) 1 October 1916, 2-4. ----(1915a). ‘Die Mitgliederversammlung’. Nachrichten aus der lutherisch. Mission in Persien 2/3, (Hermannsburg) July 1915, 9-12.

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(1915b). ‘Ein Bericht aus Persien über das erste Kriegsjahr’, Nachrichten aus der lutherisch. Mission in Persien 2/4, (Hermannsburg) 1 September 1915, 13-6. Schäfer, R. (1932). Geschichte der Deutschen Orient-Mission. Potsdam: Lepsius, Fleischmann & Grauer. Strothmann, R. (1936). ‘Heutiges Orientchristentum und Schicksal der Assyrer’, Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 55 (3 Series: VI) 17-82. Tamcke, M. (2005a) ‘Ein Brief des Lazarus Jaure aus dem Frühjahr 1916 zu den Geschehnissen in Urmia.’ In: Die Suryoye und ihre Umwelt. 4. deutsches Syrologen-Symposium, Trier 2004. Festgabe Wolfgang Hage zum 70. Geburtstag, ed. M. Tamcke and A. Heinz. Münster: Lit, 59-72. ----(2005b). ‘Die Vernichtung der Ostsyrischen Christen im Osmanischen Reich und den osmanisch besetzten Gebieten des Iran’, in Der Völkermord an den Armeniern und syrischen Christen. Frankfurt: epd Dokumentation. 38-48. ----(2005c). ‘Das Schicksal des syrisch-aramäischen Volkes unter türkischer Herrschaft’ (Part II), Mardutho d-Suryoye 48: 19-22. ----(2004a). ‘Das Schicksal des syrisch-aramäischen Volkes unter türkischer Herrschaft’ (Part I), Mardutho d-Suryoye 47: 19-21. ----(2004b). ‘Der Genozid an den Assyrern/Nestorianern (Ostsyrische Christen).’ In: Verfolgung, Vertreibung und Vernichtung der Christen im Osmanischen Reich 1912-1922. Mit einem Geleitwort von Bischof Dr. Wolfgang Huber. ed. T. Hofmann. Münster: Lit, 95-110. ----(2000a) ‘Die Arbeit im Vorderen Orient.’ In: Vision: Gemeinde weltweit, 150 Jahre Hermannsburger Mission und Evangelischen Lutheranisches Missionswerk in Niedersachsen. ed. E.-A. Luedemann. Hermannsburg: Verlag der Missionshandlung Hermannsburg, 511-47. ----(2000b). ‘“Warum ist es so gekommen?” (Karl Röbbelen) Die Hermannsburger Erfahrung des NestorianerGenozids.’ In: Verstehen und Übersetzen, Beiträge vom Missionstheologischen Symposium Hermannsburg, 10.-12.10.1999. ed. W. Günther. Hermannsburg: Verlag der Missionshandlung Hermannsburg, 87-108.

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(1996). ‘Urmia und Hermannsburg, Luther Pera im Dienst der Hermannsburger Mission in Urmia 1910-1915’, Oriens Christianus 80: 43-65. ----(1995). ‘Eingeborener Helfer oder Missionar? Wege und Nöte des Lazarus Jaure im Dienste der Mission.’ In: Syrisches Christentum weltweit. Festschrift Wolfgang Hage. ed. M. Tamcke et. al. Münster: Lit, 355-85. ----(1994a). ‘Karl Röbbelen’, Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon 8. Herzberg: Bautz, 503-4. ----(1994b). ‘Karl Röbbelen: Zivilcourage für den fernen Nächsten. Von einer frühen Beziehung des Missionsseminars zu den gefährdeten Völkern des Ostens’, Jahrbuch des Evangelischen Lutheranisches Missionswerkes in Niedersachsen 1994, 93-7. Yonan, G. (1989). Ein vergessener Holocaust, Die Vernichtung der christlichen Assyrer in der Türkei. Göttingen and Vienna: Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker.

THE SYRIAC BIBLE IN PRIVATE ASSYRIAN SCHOOLS IN IRAQ ROBIN BETH SHMUEL DOHUK, IRAQ Before the emergence of the private Assyrian schools, the Syriac Bible was the unique book available for instruction in the Christian catechism and the Syriac language (both modern and classical). It is for this reason that many Iraqi Christians learned their national language in Church. In most cases the teacher was either a priest or a deacon. In the 1920s, five mixed private Assyrian schools were established in the Republic of Iraq.1 These were: 1. The Assyrian School of Mosul (1921-1933) 2. The Assyrian Evangelical School in Baghdad (1921-1974) 3. The Assyrian and Armenian Union School that was first established in Baghdad and later in Habbaniya (1924-1944) 4. The Assyrian School of Kirkuk (1928-1974) 5. The Assyrian School of Sarsink (1929-1952).2

1 This contribution focuses on the schools that had the explicit name of ‘Assyrian’ in the official sign that was often hung on the front of the school. Therefore, it excludes religious or Christian institutions that did not bear the name ‘Assyrian’ even though the Syriac Bible was main part of their curriculum. 2 After the events of the massacre of Semel (August 1933) the name ‘Assyrian’ was changed, and Arabic names were selected by the governmental authorities: The Assyrian School of Mosul was renamed alFalah School, The Assyrian Evangelical School in Baghdad became alTaqaddum, The Assyrian School of Sarsink was called Prince Abdul’ilah and The Assyrian School of Kirkuk was called Anastas Carmel.

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Four of the founders of the schools were clergymen. This means that linguistic knowledge and religious liturgical reading were confined mainly to the clergy. However, the task of these schools was no longer limited to the training of deacons and priests.3 In 1974, the Iraqi government nationalized the Assyrian schools, along with all private schools in Iraq, irrespective of religious denomination. The Syriac Bible was a main component of the curriculum of the Assyrian schools. The availability of Syriac Bible and liturgical books facilitated the teaching process at the Assyrian schools. Undoubtedly, the existence of two private Assyrian printing presses meant the general availability of religious books.4 In addition, the Syriac Bible and other religious books were also available due to the activities of Western missionaries, who had been in the Assyrian regions since the middle of the 19th century. So it was easier to establish the Assyrian curriculum, because of the existence of Bible translations. This was contrary, for example, to Kurdish schools that were handicapped by the lack of a real literary Kurdish language and the lack of textbooks.5 A good example of textbooks from the early period is the book The Second Reading, with Basic Grammatical Principles, edited and that was used by the priest Qellaita. The main themes of most of the subjects were taken from the New Testament, mostly in Modern Syriac (Sureth), only occasionally in Classical Syriac. We shall take the Assyrian School of Mosul, founded by the priest Qellaita as an example to indicate the importance of the Syriac Bible for educational purposes. The classes in this school began the daily routine with prayer. On Sundays, the students were obliged first to attend the morning mass and then, at 10:30, there 3 Nevertheless, these schools educated important generations of Assyrian clergy, including Patriarch (Mār Toma Darmo), bishop (Mār Esho Sargis, Mār Narsai) and priest (Kako Lazar, Athanaces Yousip, and Zaya Dobato) and many deacons as well. 4 The two printing presses were: The Assyrian Printing Press of Mosul established by Qellaita in 1921, and the Nineveh Printing Press established by deacon Dawid d’Beth Benjamin in Kirkuk in 1951. These two printing presses made important contributions to the general availability of religious books. 5 Henry Foster, The Making of Modern Iraq (London: Williams and Norgate Ltd, 1936), 258.

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was a special sermon by Qellaita on ethics and general cultural education.6 Terms and words, taken from the Syriac Bible, were hung on the walls of the classrooms and school aisles. From the certificate entitled, “Diploma of the Assyrian School, Mosul” and dated July 21, 1927, it is possible to get an idea about the role of the Syriac Bible as well as the other subjects taught at this school, namely: “Holy Scriptures, Church Doctrine, Arithmetic, Geography, Map Drawing, English, Elementary Arabic and Syriac.” The sub-title of the certificate: “For the Revival of the Ancient Church of the East” is a further indication of the religious trend of Assyrian School of Mosul. The symbol “Ya Alaha” on top of the certificate also confirms this religious trend. From these signs one may conclude that the major aim of the Assyrian School of Mosul was Christian morality. However, this religious trend was not unanimously accepted. A disagreement arose between Arsanis, an important teacher of the school who was educated in Russia, and Qellaita with regard to the curriculum design. Arsanis wanted to stress the teaching of history and science, in particular Assyrian history. Generally he proposed a more secular curriculum. Qellaita, on the other hand, was more conservative, calling for a more religious curriculum depending on Syriac Bible. Most of the plays that were performed at the Assyrian schools contained religious themes. These plays, along with other social-activities were further meant to teach the Syriac Bible. For example, the plays written by Pastor Khando Younan, the founder and principal of the ‘Assyrian Evangelical School’ were: • • • • •

‘The birth of Lord Christ’ ‘The life of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus’ ‘Joseph and his brothers’ ‘Lazar and his sisters’ ‘The Crucifixion of Christ and his Resurrection’

6 Interview with the late Barnouw Qellaita, the youngest son of Yousip Qellaita, in Baghdad in 2004.

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Fig.1.

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Diploma of the Assyrian School, Mosul.

CONCLUSION The Bible in both Classical and Modern Syriac (Sureth) was the main book that was used in the Assyrian schools in Iraq during the 20th century. The curriculum of these schools focused on the Syriac

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Bible as the main source for education. This was due to its availability as a result of the existence of two private Assyrian printing presses as well as the work left by western missionaries. The Assyrian School of Mosul led by the priest Qellaita was outstanding, amongst the Assyrian schools. Many students who were educated at this school assumed prominent positions in the Church as well as becoming leaders of other Assyrian activities. The Syriac Bible, together with some other religious materials, was an important element at the Assyrian schools in Iraq in preserving both the Christian religion and the mother language that made the Assyrians distinct from other Iraqi ethnicities.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Foster, H. (1936). The Making of Modern Iraq. London: Williams and Norgate.

THE NEO-ARAMAIC DIALECTS OF IRAQ GEOFFREY KHAN UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE For several centuries preceding the Islamic conquests, Aramaic was the main vernacular language of the population of Iraq. Vestiges of Aramaic vernacular dialects have survived down to modern times in the north of the country. A spoken form of Mandaic survived in southern Iraq down to at least the 19th century, but by the 20th century it had virtually fallen from use. It has remained alive, nevertheless, in the Mandaean community in South West Iran. In what follows we shall restrict ourselves to a consideration of the dialects in Northern Iraq. Since there have been major changes in the linguistic situation over the last few decades, we shall first look at the situation that existed in the middle of the 20th century. At that period, Aramaic was spoken by Christian and Jewish communities in an area that can be defined roughly as the region lying north of a line drawn diagonally across a map connecting Mosul and Kirkuk. The southern boundary of the Aramaic-speaking area, therefore, was far further down on the east side than on the west side. Indeed Aramaic was spoken by Jews as far south as Khānaqīn. By contrast, Muslims living in the area never spoke Aramaic as a vernacular language, instead they speak Kurdish, Arabic or Turkman. Within this area also some Jewish and Christian communties were primarily Arabic speaking, especially in the larger towns. One should take into account, furthermore, that the Aramaic-speaking Jews and Christians were at least bilingual in Aramaic and Kurdish or Aramaic and Arabic and frequently multilingual. Some of the Muslim Kurdish speakers were able to communicate with Christians and Jews in Aramaic. Numerous Aramaic-speaking Christians and Jews have converted to Islam in this area over the

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centuries and inter-married with Kurdish families. This probably explains why today several Aramaic loanwords can be identified in Kurdish. The vernacular Aramaic dialect area of northern Iraq continued into north western Iran and, at least at the beginning of the twentieth century, into south eastern Turkey. This dialect group, which is nowadays referred to as North Eastern NeoAramaic (NENA), exhibits a very great diversity. Differences were found in the dialects from village to village. Of particular interest is the fact that dialectal cleavage occurred not only according to geographical area but also according to religious community. The Jewish dialects were considerably different from the Christian dialects even when the two communities were in close geographical contact. In several cases Jewish and Christian communities inhabited the same town but spoke totally different Aramaic dialects. This applied, for example, to the communities of northern Iraqi towns such as Zakho, Koy Sanjaq and Sulemaniyya. The following examples are taken from the dialects of Sulemaniyya: Jewish Sulemaniyya

Christian Sulemaniyya

bela ʾila

besa ʾida

‘house’ ‘hand’

ʾat ʾat

ʾayit ʾayat

‘you (ms.)’ ‘you (fs.)’

qiṭlale

tam-qaṭilla ‘He killed her’

-ye -ya -yen

-ile -ila -ilu

ke

k-ase ‘He comes’

3ms copula [he is] 3fs copula [she is] 3pl. copula [they are]

As can be seen, there are substantial differences between these two dialects in phonology and morphology. There are also important syntactic differences. The Jewish dialect of Sulemaniyya was, in fact, much more closely related in structure to other Jewish dialects spoken in towns situated at considerable geographical distances

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from Sulemaniyya, such as Erbil [Arbil] to the West and Urmia in Iran, than to the Christian dialect spoken in the same town. This communal dialectal cleavage has apparently been brought about by different migration histories of the two religious communities and also by the fact that social proximity has been a more powerful force in the formation of the dialects than geographical proximity. The Jewish dialects can be divided into two main subgroups, which, in broad terms, are divided by the Great Zab river. Dialects that were spoken to the south and east of the Great Zab river, which may be termed the ‘south-eastern dialects’, exhibit a variety of shared innovative features that are not found in the dialects spoken to the north of the river, which may be termed the ‘north-western dialects’. The main Aramaic-speaking Jewish communities in Iraq, belonging to the south-eastern group, were found in Sulemaniyya, Ḥalabja, Rustaqa, Qaladeze, Koy Sanjaq, Ruwanduz and villages on the Arbel plain (though not in the town of Arbel, where the Jews were Arabic speaking). The main Jewish communities speaking Aramaic dialects in the north-western group were found in Zakho, Amedia and Dohok. One of the most conspicuous features of the south-eastern group of Jewish dialects that distinguishes it from the north-western group, and indeed from all of the Christian dialects, is the shift of interdental consonants to the lateral consonant /l/1 e.g. Jewish Dohok beθa

Jewish Sulemaniyya bela

‘house’

Such a clear-cut sub-grouping cannot be identified in the Christian dialects of Iraq, though in general the dialects spoken in the villages on the plain of Mosul tend to be more archaic in structure than the other dialects. The dialect of the village of Qaraqōsh on the Mosul plain at the southern periphery of the Aramaic-speaking area is one of the most archaizing of the spoken Aramaic dialects in Iraq. The Christian dialects are spoken in a greater number of settlements than the Jewish dialects. Whereas the Jews tended to be urban residents and worked as craftsmen or merchants, a large proportion of the Christians were agriculturalists residing in scores of small 1 For further distinctive features see H. Mutzafi, The Jewish NeoAramaic Dialect of Koy Sanjaq (Iraqi Kurdistan) (Wiesbaden: 2004) 9-10.

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villages across the Aramaic-speaking region. As already remarked, however, some Christians resided in towns side-by-side with Jewish communities. Neither the Jewish nor the Christian spoken dialects appear to be direct descendants of the earlier literary forms of Aramaic that were used in Iraq such as Babylonian Talmudic Aramaic and Syriac. When these types of written Aramaic took shape in the first millennium CE, there is likely to have been a wide diversity of spoken Aramaic dialects across Iraq, of which we have no historical records. It is, indeed, not clear whether the literary languages were exact reflections of any vernacular language. In some cases they seem to have undergone standardizations in their structures or to have inherited features from earlier forms of literary Aramaic. At first sight the Jewish Aramaic of the Bablyonian Talmud sight appears to be much closer to vernacular Aramaic than is the case with Syriac. The language exhibits a high degree of diversity in its phonology and morphology, which is a phenomenon that one often meets in a spoken vernacular but which is generally avoided in a standardized literary language. This is one of the reasons why classical Syriac is easier to learn and describe than Babylonian Talmudic Aramaic. Syriac is a literary language with standardized rules, whereas Babylonian Talmudic Aramaic is more of a transcription of oral traditions of debates between scholars that were conducted in a language closer to the vernacular. Various features of the language anticipate developments that are found in the modern Aramaic vernaculars of Iraq but are absent in classical Syriac. One case in point is the particle qa-, which in Babylonian Talmudic Aramaic is prefixed to active participles that are used as present tense verbs. This is the forerunner of the preverbal particle k- of the modern dialects. Such a particle is not used in Syriac, but it is interesting to note that the Syriac scholar Bar Hebraeus, writing in the 13th century, reports the occurrence of this particle (with the form ka-) in the Aramaic speech of Eastern Christians.2 A. Moberg, Le Livre des Splendeurs. La Grande Grammaire de Grégoire Barhebraeus, (Lund: 1922) 205, A. Moberg, Buch der Strahlen. Die grössere Grammatik des Barhebräus Pt. I (Leipzig: 1913) 205, Pt. II (Leipzig: 1907) 30, W. Heinrichs, ‘Peculiarities of the verbal system of Senāya within the framework of North Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA)’, “Sprich 2

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The historical phonology of the modern Jewish dialects spoken in the North of Iraq is different from that of Babylonian Talmudic Aramaic. To give one example, in Babylonian Talmudic Aramaic, and also in closely related Mandaic, the unvoiced pharyngal ḥ was weakened to a laryngal h whereas in the modern Jewish spoken dialects a historical *ḥ has generally shifted to a velar fricative x or has been retained. The weakening of this pharyngal does not occur in the eastern reading tradition of Syriac. In this respect, therefore, the reading tradition appears to be closer to that of the modern dialects, which suggests that it originated in the north in the region where the North Eastern Neo-Aramaic dialects were spoken in modern times. The eastern reading tradition of Syriac conforms to the historical phonology of the modern dialects in another respect, namely the pronunciation of the fricative alternant of b as a bilabial w (cf. Bar Hebraeus, in Moberg 1922: 205; 1907: 30). It is interesting to note that some of the Syriac incantation bowls, dated between the fifth and seventh centuries, exhibit a weakening of the unvoiced pharyngal h% -as in Babylonian Jewish Aramaic and Mandaic-which may reflect the southern provenance of such bowls.3 In other respects, nonetheless, modern dialects differ from Syriac. What is particularly significant is that some of the modern Christian dialects exhibit features that are typologically more archaic than the corresponding features in classical Syriac. In the dialect of Qaraqōsh, for example, the infinitive of all verbal stems does not have an initial m-, by contrast with Syriac infinitives, which have acquired this prefix by analogy with the participles. The lexicon of the modern dialects, moreover, has preserved some words from antiquity that are not found in the earlier literary languages. These include several words from Akkadian. They are usually connected with agriculture. Several such cases can be found in the dialect of Qaraqōsh. In that dialect, for example, the word baxšimә denotes a storeroom (for grain) in the roof of a house. It is reasonably certain that this is a descendant of

doch mit deinen Knechten aramäisch, wir verstehen es!” 60 Beiträge zur Semitistik. Festschrift für Otto Jastrow zum 60. Geburtsag, (Wiesbaden: 2002) 249. 3 H. Juusola, Linguistic Peculiarities in the Aramaic Magic Bowl Texts, (Helsinki: 1999) 40.

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the Akkkadian term bīt hašīmi ‘barn, storehouse’.4 Another possible example in the dialect is raxiṣa ‘pile of straw (usually barley)’, which could well be related to Akkadian raḥīṣu ‘pile of harvest produce (especially straw).’5 Despite such archaisms, however, the dialects in general exhibit radical linguistic innovations compared to the earlier literary dialects. One of the components of the grammar that has undergone particularly conspicuous development is the verbal system. The two finite verb forms of earlier Aramaic, known as the suffix conjugation (qṭal) and the prefix conjugation (yiqṭol, liqṭol, niqṭol) have been completely replaced by participles, which have acquired verbal properties and verbal inflection. Broadly speaking, the erstwhile active participle serves as the base for verbal forms expressing present and future tenses or the past tense with an imperfective aspect whereas the erstwhile past participle serves as the base of past tenses with a perfective aspect. The structural changes have, in some cases, evolved by internal development and in other cases under the influence from non-Semitic substrate languages. It is clear that the Iranian languages of the region, especially Kurdish, have extensively influenced the Aramaic dialects. This is evident in the high proportion of lexical borrowing from Kurdish. In some of the Jewish dialects up to 65% of the nouns are loanwords from Kurdish. Contact with Kurdish has induced the development of an ergative inflection of the past tense in the Aramaic dialects, i.e. past actions that are expressed by a passive construction with the patient being presented as the grammatical subject rather than an active construction with the agent as the grammatical subject. Kurdish dialects have similar ergative constructions, which are a heritage from earlier Iranian dialects, e.g:

4 J. Brinkman et.al. (eds.), The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (Chicago: 1956-) 6: 141. W. Von Soden, Akkadisches Handwörterbuch (Wiesbaden: 1959) 1: 334. 5 A. Salonen, Agricultura Mesopotamica nach Sumerisch-Akkadischen Quellen. Eine Lexicalische und Kulturgeschichtliche Untersuchung. Annales Academiae Sientariarum Fennicae B/149 (Helsinki: 1968) 274, Von Soden (1959) 2: 943.

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Jewish Sulemaniyya Aramaic gorake kalbake qṭil-l-e MAN: THE DOG: THE KILLED(past:3masc.sing.)-BY HIM ‘The man killed the dog’ Sulemaniyya (Sorani) Kurdish pyāwaka sagaka-y kušt MAN: THE DOG: THE-HIM(oblique) KILL(past) ‘The man killed the dog’ We are not, however, dealing here with a straightforward transfer of linguistic structure from modern Kurdish into modern Aramaic. Most spoken Aramaic dialects in Iraq exhibit an analogical extension of the ergative inflection in the preterite form from transitive verbs to intransitive verbs. This has not happened in Kurdish. It seems, rather, to be a development internal to Aramaic that must have a considerable time depth. In fact, traces of ergative inflection of past tense verbs are found in Aramaic as early as the 5th century BCE and also in the main literary languages, Syriac, Babylonian Talmudic Aramaic and Mandaic, in the first millennium CE. This must have arisen by contact with earlier forms of Iranian, such as Old Persian and Middle Persian, where ergative constructions are found. What is particularly interesting is the fact that in classical Syriac texts a number of cases are found where the ergative inflection is used with intransitive verbs, e.g qīm l-eh.6 This is presumably the result of interference from the vernacular and shows that the analogical extension of the ergative inflection to preterite intransitives had taken place many centuries ago in the vernacular. Another general observation that can be made about contact-induced changes in the modern Aramaic dialects is that such contact can bring about phonetic resemblance or indeed even phonetic identity between morphological forms in the two languages, but they nevertheless still have separate, native 6

Th. Nöldeke, Kurzgefasste syrische Grammatik, 2nd edition (Leipzig: 1868) §279.

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etymologies. In the Jewish Aramaic of Sulemaniyya, for example, the verb ‘to come’ (< *ʾty) undergoes irregular phonetic contraction and loses its originally middle radical *t completely. Hence, the base of the present conjugation of the verb resembles phonetically the corresponding Kurdish form: Aramaic k-e (3 ms. indicative) k-en (3 plural indicative)

he (3 ms. subjunctive) hen (3 plural subjunctive)

Kurdish e (3 sing. indicative) en (3 plural indicative)

b-e (3 sing. subjunctive) b-en (3 plural subjunctive)

A particularly striking case of phonetic convergence is found in the forms of the demonstrative pronouns in some Aramaic dialects in Iraq. In the Christian dialects of the Barwar region, for example, demonstrative pronouns with three degrees of deixis are found that are virtually identical phonetically to equivalent pronouns in Kurdish in northern Iraqi Kurdistan,7 though the former have a Semitic etymology and the latter an Iranian one: Aramaic (Christian Barwar)

ʾawwa ʾawaha ‘that over there’ ʾaw ‘that (absent)’

Kurdish awa awēhē

‘this’

aw

The Aramaic dialects often exhibit contact-induced features that do not correspond to what is found in the Kurdish dialect with which it has been in contact in modern times but can, nevertheless, be identified with features in Kurdish dialects, or indeed in other languages, in a more remote location. This presumably indicates 7

174.

D. MacKenzie, Kurdish Dialect Studies, vol. 1 (London: 1961) 82,

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that the ancestors of the Aramaic speakers of such a dialect must have migrated from other regions at some historical period. It appears from the investigation the background of such contact induced features, for example, that many of the ancestors of the Jewish dialects in the south-eastern Iraqi group migrated from North West Iran and Azerbaijan. In sum, the spoken Aramaic dialects offer a fascinating field of linguistic research. They exhibit a remarkable diversity, which includes some features that are more archaic than what is found in the earlier literary languages and some features that are more typologically advanced. They also show how the social boundaries of religious communities can be important linguistic boundaries. The dialects are unlikely to be direct descendants of the literary languages, but rather existed side-by-side with them at an earlier period. Some of the innovations seen in the modern dialects appear to have emerged at a much earlier period and these occasionally surface through the cracks in the literary languages. What I have been describing above with regard to the location of the various Neo-Aramaic dialects of Iraq constitutes the linguistic situation up to the middle of last century. Since that date much of this situation has changed. In the early 1950s all the Jewish communities left Iraq and settled, for the most part, in Israel. Now, good speakers of these dialects are becoming increasingly difficult to find and they are all of an advanced age. Over the last few decades many of the Christian Aramaic dialects in Iraq have become endangered. One way this has come about is through the enforced Arabicization of the Aramaic-speaking communities by the former Ba’athist régime. Another cause is the displacement of the communities due to the destruction of their villages. The most horrific incident in the 20th century was the destruction of the Nestorian Christian villages in south-eastern Turkey during the First World War. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, hundreds of Kurdish and Christian villages were destroyed along the border with Turkey. This included the Aramaic-speaking villages of the Barwar valley. The inhabitants of these villages fled to the big towns or, like many thousands of Iraqi Christians to a new life outside Iraq. For these reasons the spoken Aramaic dialects of Iraq and the surrounding region, which are the last vestiges of a language with a history of almost 3,000 years, are now in serious danger of

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extinction. Many of them still have never been described. With the exodus of many Neo-Aramaic speakers exacerbated after the events of 2003, the description of these dialects is one of the most important and urgent tasks awaiting Semitic philology, in order to preserve the unique linguistic heritage of the Christians of northern Iraq.

BIBLIOGRAPHY The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. (1956-). ed. J. Brinkman, et.al. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Heinrichs, W. (2002). ‘Peculiarities of the verbal system of Senāya within the framework of North Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA)’, “Sprich doch mit deinen Knechten aramäisch, wir verstehen es!” 60 Beiträge zur Semitistik. Festschrift für Otto Jastrow zum 60. Geburtsag, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 238-68. Juusola, H. (1999). Linguistic Peculiarities in the Aramaic Magic Bowl Texts, Helsinki: Finnish Oriental Society. Khan, G. (2002a). The Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Qaraqosh, Leiden: Brill. ----- (2002b). ‘The Neo-Aramaic dialect of the Jews of Rustaqa’, in W. Arnold and H. Bobzin (eds.), “Sprich doch mit deinen Knechten aramäisch, wir verstehen es!” 60 Beiträge zur Semitistik. Festschrift für Otto Jastrow zum 60. Geburtsag, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 395-409. ----- (1999). A Grammar of Neo-Aramaic. The Dialect of the Jews of Arbel, Leiden: Brill. MacKenzie, D.N. (1961). Kurdish Dialect Studies, vol. 1, London. Moberg, A. (1922). Le Livre des Splendeurs. La Grande Grammaire de Grégoire Barhebraeus, Lund: Gleerup. ----- (1913), (1907). Buch der Strahlen. Die grössere Grammatik des Barhebräus. Erster Teil, 1913, Leipzig: Harrasowitz; Zweiter Teil, 1907, Leipzig: Harrossowitz. Mutzafi, H. (2004). The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Koy Sanjaq (Iraqi Kurdistan), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. Nöldeke, Th. (1898). Kurzgefasste syrische Grammatik, 2nd edition, Leipzig: Harrassowitz. Salonen, A. (1968) Agricultura Mesopotamica nach SumerischAkkadischen Quellen. Eine Lexicalische und Kulturgeschichtliche

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Untersuchung, Annales Academiae Sientariarum Fennicae B/149, Helsinki: Suomalaisen Tiedeakatemian Toimituksia. Soden von, W. (1959) Akkadisches Handwörterbuch (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz).

CHRISTIANITY IN IRAQ: MODERN HISTORY, THEOLOGY, DIALOGUE AND POLITICS (UNTIL 2003) ANTHONY O’MAHONY

HEYTHROP COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON CHRISTIANITY AND IRAQ1 Christianity in modern Iraq presents two visages to the world, a thriving faith, despite war, emigration and sanctions, and interreligious conflict but also a maimed and wounded exterior.2 Christians as with the rest of Iraq’s population have lived through nearly four decades of internal conflict and external war that has traumatized and profoundly altered political society and religious culture. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Christians had been forced into emigration, mainly from their northern heartlands to the big cities such as Baghdad and Mosul. Thousands of Christians also 1 See also A. O’Mahony, ‘Eastern Christianity in Modern Iraq.’ In: Eastern Christianity: Studies in Modern History, Religion and Politics, ed. A. O’Mahony (London: 2004) 11-43, A. O’Mahony, ‘Christianity in Modern Iraq’, International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church, vol. 4: 2. (2004) 121-42, A. O’Mahony, ‘The Chaldaean Catholic Church: The Politics of Church-State Relations in Modern Iraq’, The Heythrop Journal: A Quarterly Review of Philosophy and Theology, XLV (2004) 435-50, A. O’Mahony, ‘Life and Death of a Patriarch: Mar Rouphael I Bidwid, Patriarch of Babylon, and the Chaldaean Church in Iraq’, Sobornost/Eastern Churches Review, 27:1 (2005) 26-46. 2 R. Laffitte, ‘Chrétiens d’Irak: Rien n’est jamais acquis…’, Les Cahiers de l’Orient no. 48 ((Paris: 1997) 73-82, [Hana Jaber and Khalil Kamouk] ‘De l’embargo à l’exil, le calvaire des chrétiens d’Irak’, Le monde diplomatique, Janvier, 2000, 18-19, A. O’Mahony, ‘Iraq’s Christians on edge’, The Tablet, 15 March 2003, 6-7.

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died in Iraq’s long war with Iran that nearly lasted for the entire decade during the 1980s and in the internal conflicts, which occurred throughout Iraq’s recent history. However despite this recent history Christianity and the Christian communities continue to make a distinctive contribution of depth and creative power to Iraqi politics, society and culture.3 The Church of Iraq remains of great significance for global Christianity due its ancient theological and ecclesiological position which remain important markers in the development of Christian doctrine and dogma It is from within this milieu that a great ecumenical stride was taken on 11 November 1994 when the Patriarch of the Church of the East published with John Paul II a joint declaration on the doctrine of Christ.4 The Church of the East5 is the sister Church of the Chaldæan Catholics,6 the dominant inheritors of Iraq’s Christian tradition.7 This was followed by agreement, which allows for mutual admission to the Eucharist between the two churches. In October 2001, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity published two texts: 1. Guidelines for 3 For an account of modern history of Christianity in Iraq see JP. Valognes, Vie et mort des chrétiens d’Orient (Paris: 1994) 735-66. 4 G. O’Collins and D. Kendall, ‘Overcoming Christological Differences’, The Heythrop Journal: A Quarterly Review of Philosophy and Theology 37 (1996) 382-90; S. Brock, ‘The importance of the Syriac traditions in ecumenical dialogue on christology’, Christian Orient 20 (1999) 189-97. 5 R. Le Coz, Histoire de l’Église d’Orient. Chrétiens d’Irak, d’Iran et de Turquie (Paris: 1995), W. Baum and D. Winkler, The Church of the East: A Concise History (London: 2003); Herman Teule, Les Assyro-Chaldéens: Chrétiens d’Irak, d’Iran et de Turquie, Turnhout, Brepols, 2008. 6 ‘Les chaldéens’ in Valognes (1994) 406-49 and the work of H. Cheikho, Kalda al-qarn ul-isrin (Detroit: 1992) which covers the main areas of modern Chaldaean culture including traditional dress, the problem of emigration, arts, the theatre, contemporary literature, monasteries and convents in Iraq, liturgy, oriental studies, saint Ephrem, Narsai, Patriarch Timothy I, Hunain ibn Ishaq. See also the older studies by W. de Vries, ‘Chaldaische Kirche’, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche 2: 1004-1105, W. de Vries, ‘Nel quarto centenario della Chiesa cattolica caldea’, La Cattolica Civiltá, 2445 (1952) 236-52. 7 R. Aubert, ‘Iraq’, Dictionnaire d’Histoire et de Géographie Ecclésiastique 25 (1995) 1432-40; H. Suermann, ‘Irak’, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, 2nd ed., 5 (1996) 578-80.

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Admission to the Eucharist between the Chaldaean Church and the Assyrian Church in the East; and 2. Admission to the Eucharist in Situations of Pastoral Necessity, the second being intended to clarify the meaning and application of the first. The mutual admission to the Eucharist are based on the official recognition, by `The Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith’ on behalf of the Catholic Church, of the validity of an anaphora of Addai and Mari, traditionally used by the Church of the East, although it does not contain an explicit institutional narrative.8 This recognition is expected to have far-reaching pastoral and theological implications. The statement from the Vatican added that publishing guidelines for eucharistic sharing between the members of the Church of the East and Chaldæan Catholics was particularly important because so many faithful from both Churches had emigrated from Iraq and the surrounding area.9 Emigration continues to be a destructive reality that has affected all the Christian communities in the Middle East;10 however it also

F. Bouwen, ‘Assyriens et Chaldéens: admission mutuelle à l’euchariste’, Proche-Orient Chrétien (Jerusalem), 51 (2001) 333-47. See also S. Brock, ‘The Syriac Churches in Ecumenical Dialogue on Christology.’ In: Eastern Christianity: Studies in Modern History, Religion and Politics, ed. A. O’Mahony (London: 2004) 44-65, S. Brock, ‘The Syriac Churches and Dialogue with the Catholic Church’, The Heythrop Journal: A Quarterly Review of Philosophy and Theology, 45 (2004) 466-76. 9 The Tablet, 3 November 2001, 1580-1. However, whilst ecumenism has taken hold in this important way, disputes still wound the mutual harmony between the Eastern Churches themselves, for example the difficult encounter between the Coptic Church and the Church of the East, see O. Meinardus, ‘About heresies and the Syllabus Errorum of Pope Shenuda III’, Coptic Church Review, 22:4 (2001) 98-105 and the response by S. Brock, ‘‘‘About heresies and the Syllabus Errorum of Pope Shenuda III”: Some Comments on the Recent Article by Professor Meinardus’, Coptic Church Review, 23:4 (2002) 98-102. 10 For the question of emigration of the Christians of the Middle East see: E. Austen, ‘L’émigration massive des chrétiens d’Orient’, Études 373:1-2 (1990) 101-6, B. Sabella, ‘The Emigration of Christian Arabs: Dimensions and Causes of the Phenomenon.’ In: Christian Communities in the Arab Middle East: the Challenge of the Future. ed. A. Pacini. (Oxford: 1998) 127-54. See also two recent studies by H. Teule, ‘Middle Eastern Christians and Migration: Some Reflections’, The Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 54 (2002) 1-23 and H. Murre-van den Berg, ‘Migration of Middle Eastern Christians to Western Countries and Protestant Missionary 8

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creates an important, vital and growing expression of Oriental Christianity, which is pushing forward the legitimate boundaries of the catholicity of world Christianity. Jean-Pierre Valognes in his book, Vie et mort des chrétiens d’Orient, observes the consequences of this emigration of Christians from the region: “Will there still be any Christians in the East in the third millennium? Although they are unlikely to disappear altogether (some remain out of conviction, despite being sure that their lives would be better in the West), one can still reasonably believe that they will be reduced to a few individuals anonymously dispersed and no longer able to maintain the communal life which is vital for preserving a specific identity. Once their numbers become too scarce for them to make any impact, the only option left to them will be that of modeling themselves on the prevailing values. They will then no longer recognize themselves as Christians. This means that what constituted their richness will be lost. The Middle East will benefit in terms of religious homogeneity, according to its theological vision. The reasoning behind the regime of the dhimma is that the ‘religions of the Book’ should eventually be completely absorbed. Nonetheless it will lose the advantages of pluralism in the process, although Muslims attach no importance to it whatsoever.”11

Activities in the Middle East: A Preliminary Investigation’, The Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 54 (2002) 39-49. 11 Valognes (1994) 18, quoted in Y. Ḥabbi, ‘Les chrétiens en Irak’, Proche-Orient Chrétien 47 (1997) 323-333. For astute comments on the situation of Christianity in the Middle East see the work of the late Chaldaean priest-scholar Y. Ḥabbi, ‘Minoritiés chrétiennes dans les pays arabes musulmans’, Kanon 10 (1991) 187-93, Y. Ḥabbi, ‘De toekomst van de christenen in Irak en in het Midden-Oosten’, Het Christelijk Oosten 48: 3-4 (1996) 257-67. Today many Christians in the Middle East emigrate to North America, Australia and New Zealand, there are long established communities in Europe, particularly in France with its historic special relationship with the Christian Orient. See J.-M. Billioud, Les Chrétiens d’orient en France (Paris: 1997).

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In Iraq Oriental Christianity encountered and held in conversation the two principal schools of Islam: Sunni and Shi’a.12 This historic encounter is full of fecundity for the contemporary global engagement of Christianity and Islam.13 We think of here for example the Christian theologian and Arabic philosopher Yahya b. ‘Adi who was born in the Syriac Christian town of Takrit in 893 and who died in 974.14 ‘Ammar al-Basri,15 Bishop Elie/Elijah of Nisibis16 in the 11th century had a celebrated series of debates

at Nisibis with the Muslim vizir al-Maghribi in which the bishop asserted the superiority of the Syriac language over Arabic is demonstrated by the fact that the Arabs learnt

12 B. Landron, Chrétiens et Musulmans en Irak: attitudes Nestoriennes vis-à-vis l’Islam (Paris: 1994); S. Griffith, The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque: Christians and Muslims in the World of Islam, (Princeton: 2008). 13 See the reflections in various articles by S. K. Samir, ‘Il dialogo tra cristiani e musulmani nell’oriente arabo’, La civiltá cattolica 3517 (1997) 41-7, ‘Al-Turath al-‘arbi al-masihi al-qadim wa-tafa’uhuh ma’a al-fikr al-‘arabi al-islami’ Islamocristiana 8 (1982) 1-35, ‘Une Théologie arabé pour l’Islam’, Annales de l’institut occumeniqie de Tantour (1979-1980) 53-84, ‘Liberté religieuse et propagation de la foi chex les théologiens arabes chrétiens du IXe siècle et en Islam’, Annales de l’institut occumeniqie de Tantour (1980-1981) 93-164, ‘Pour en théologie arabe contemporaine: Actualité du patrimoine arabo-chrétien’, Proche-Orient Chrétien 38 (1988) 64-98. 14 E. Platti, Yahya ibn ‘Adi,, théologien chrétien et philosophie arabe: sa théologie de l’incarnation. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 14 (Leuven: 1983) also other works including ‘Yahya B. ‘Adi, philosophie et theologien’, Mélamges de l’Institut dominicain d’études orientales du Caire 14 (1980) 167-184; ‘La doctrine des chrétiens d’après abu Isa al-Warraq dans son traité sur la Trinité’, Mélamges de l’Institut dominicain d’études orientales du Caire 20 (1991) 730, ‘Yahya b.‘‘Adi and His Refutation of Al-Warraq’s Treatises on the Trinity in Relation to His Other Works’ in S.K. Samir and J. Nielson (eds.), Christian Arabic Apologetics during the Abbasid Period (750-1258), (Leiden: 1994) 172-91. See also A. Makhlouf, The Doctrine of the Trinity in certain early Arabic Christian writers, with special reference to the Islamic Environment [unpublished Ph.D. dissertation University of Edinburgh: 1965] and A. Makhlouf, ‘The Trinitarian Doctrine of Yahya Ibn ‘Adi’, Parole de l’Orient 10 (1981/82) 37-50. 15 M. Hayek, ‘Ammar al-Basri: le premiére somme de théologie chrétienne en langue arabé ou deux apologies du christianisme, Islamocristiana 2 (1976) 69-113. 16 S. K. Samir, Foi et culture en Irak au Xie siècle: Elie de Nisibe et l’Islam (London: 1990).

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much about the sciences through Syriac sources while the opposite was not true.17 Frère Ricoldo de Montecroce (12431320),18 Louis Massignon (1883-1962),19 the French Dominican scholar of Iraq’s religious and particularly Kurdish (Muslim, Christian and Yezidi) culture, Thomas Bois (1900-1975),20 and the Dominicans over the centuries of presence and engagement with Iraq.21 An example from the encounter between Christianity and Islam in Iraq is the life, work and witness of the Chaldean Jesuit scholar of Islam from Iraq, Paul Nwyia (1925-1980).22 Reflecting on his lived childhood experience whilst growing up in a mixed Christian-Muslim village in northern Iraq Nwyia observed: “Searching far back in my memory. I rediscovered my first impression of my contacts with Muslims. Those contacts were frequent, for many Muslim religious leaders used to visit my family. But despite the real friendship on which these relations were based, I had a strong feeling that, in the eyes of these Muslim friends, we were and remained strangers: people who because of their religion were fundamentally different. What 17 H. Teule, ‘La renaissance syriaque (1026-1318)’, Irénikon 75 (2002) 174-94. 18 J.-M. Mèrigoux, ‘Un précurseur du dialogue islamo-chrétien Frère Ricoldo (1243-1320), Revue thomiste 4 (1973) 609-21 and other articles including ‘L’Ouvrage d’un frère Prêcheur florentin en Orient à la fin du XIIIe siècle: le Contra legum Sarracenorum de Ricoldo da Monte di Croce’, Mémoire domenicane (nouvelle série) 17 (1986) 1-144 and ‘Ricoldo da Monte di Croce, frére prêcheur, +1320’, Dictionaire de Spiritualité, 1988, col. 554-556. His doctoral dissertation is Les grands religions de l’Orient à la fin du XIIIe siécle vues par Ricoldo da Monte de Croce, dans le monde de l’Islam [Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Toulouse: 1987]. 19 D. Massignon, ‘Le voyage en mésoptamie et la conversion de Louis Massignon en 1908’, Islamochristiana 14 (1988) 127-99 and reprinted by Éditions du Cerf (Paris: 2001), J.-M. Mèrigoux, ‘La Reconnaissance de Massignon envers l’Irak’, La Vie spirituelle 620 (1977) 434-43. 20 T. Bois, ‘Les Dominicains à l’avant-garde de la Kurdologie au XVIIIe siècle’, Archivum Fratrum praedicatorum 35 (1965) 265-92, T. Bois and J. Blau, ‘Vie et œuvre de Thomas Bois (1900-75)’, Journal of Kurdish Studies 1 (1995) 85-96. 21 J-M. Mèrigoux, Va à Ninive! Un dialogue avec l’Irak (Paris: 2000). 22 ‘Le Père Paul Nwyia SJ, (1925-1980)’, Mélamges de l’Institut dominicain d’études orientales du Caire 15 (1982) 314-5, ‘Bibliographie de Paul Nwyia’, Mélanges de l’université Saint-Joseph 50 (1984) 61-6.

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awakened this feeling in me was the superior attitude, which these friends adopted, an attitude that only their religion could justify. They regarded themselves as followers of the true religion and manifested this conviction with such selfsatisfaction and such contempt for others that they were the living image of those whom the Gospel describes as men with pharisaical traits. Many of them were very brave and their attitude towards us was often unconsciously superior, but we always remained strangers in relation to them. This fact did not bother them; on the contrary, it made them feel that they were all the more faithful to their religion” “One could easily have been tempted to react like them, to regard them as ‘strangers’ to transform the difference into indifference, or to meet their contempt with even deeper scorn. But this is precisely what my faith forbade me to do. To react thus would have meant doing away with the difference and, by that very fact, disowning my Christian identity. Hence I came to ask myself: ‘How can I turn these strangers into the neighbours of which the Gospel speaks? How can I resist the temptation to react as they do, so that my way of seeing them may be different from the way they look upon me?’ I understood that to achieve this I would have to discover, beyond the image they projected of themselves, certain things in them or in their religion which could help me regard them as neighbours whom one must love.”23

For the love of neighbour and in quest to understand Nwyia studied and reflected upon Islam as a religious tradition up until his tragic death in 1980. Trained in France by Louis Massignon, Catholic priest, political-mystic and great Islamicist, Nywia would become a widely renown and celebrated scholar in the field of Islamic mysticism. His contribution ranged from the Letters of Direction by Ibn ‘Abbad of Ronda the key figure in propounding an understanding of Sufism as virtually synonymous with a vibrant spiritual life, available to all who put their trust in God; the relationship between Christianity and Islamic mysticism including 23 P. Nwyia, ‘Pour mieux connaitre l'Islam’, Lumen Vitae, XXX (1975) 159-71.

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the spiritual exercises of Ignatius of Loyola; and the monastic character of early Muslim spiritual life.24 Nwyia would also return to the Muslim characterization of the religious other, as the crucible upon which that tradition would understand its religious identity in the modern world. He stated that Islam’s relations are dominated by two antagonistic principles-mutability and immutability, between the diverse, changing forms in which religious commitment is lived on the one hand, and on the other the unchanging being of God. These frameworks have been at work since the beginning of Islam as a result of Muhammad’s attitude towards the religious other, polytheists, Jews and Christians, which translates into crucial dilemma of Islam of “finding the synthesis between historical and spiritual truth”.25 Tradition attributes the evangelization of Mesopotamia to Saint Thomas and to an apostle called Addai as early as the first century CE. Christianity spread early in Iraq from the major centre of Edessa (today Urfa in south-east Turkey) in its Syriac linguistic and cultural form. The new church was established in the royal city of Seleucia-Ctesiphon (south of Baghdad on the Tigris River) under the Parthian Empire in the second century.26 Because of its fifteen hundred year old history, Eastern Christianity is closely tied to the original apostolic tradition, which reflects the originality of the message of the Gospels. Its tradition participates totally with 24 P. Nwyia, Ibn ‘Abbad de Ronda (1333-1390). Lettres de direction spirituelle (ar-Rasa‘il as-sugra). (Beirut: 1957). See also Un mystique prédicatueur à la Qarawiyin de Fès: Ibn-'Abbad de Ronda (1332-1390) (Beirut: 1961), Exégèse coranique et langage mystique. Nouvel essai sur le lexique technique des mystiques musulmans (Beirut: 1970), Ibn ‘Abbad de Ronda (m. 792/1390). Lettres de direction spirituelle (ar-Rasa‘il as-sugrä). Nouvelle édition augmentée de sept lettres extraites des Rasa‘il al-kubrä et (de) deux nouveaux appendices (Beirut: 1974) and Ibn ‘Abbad de Ronda et Jean de la Croix. A propos d’une hypothèse d’Asin Palacios, Al-Andalus, XXII (1957) 113-30. 25 P. Nywia, ‘Mutabilités et immutabilité en Islam,’ Recherches de Sciences Religieuses LXIII (1975) 197-213. 26 W. Macomber, ‘The Vicissitudes of the Patriarchate of Seleucia-Ctesiphon from the beginning to the Present day’, Diakonia 9 (1974) 35-55; ‘The Authority of the Catholicos Patriarch of SeleuciaCtesiphon’, I Patriarcati orientali nel primo millennio, Orientalia Christiana Analecta 181 (1968) 179-200 and Y. Habbi, ‘La Chiesa d’Oriente’, Mesopotamia 27 (1992) 207-224.

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the Holy Scriptures; the theology of the Fathers of the Church; with a liturgy and theology deeply impregnated Judeo-Christian tradition.27 With great missionary and apostolic zeal, the Christians of Mesopotamia journeyed eastwards to spread the Gospel, cultivating a very strong ascetic and monastic spirit everywhere they went. They promoted culture and learning, to which the monks and monasteries made a vital contribution.28 According to the late Yusuf (Joseph) Habbi, the Iraqi Christianity represents a line of continuity with the history of the land:29 “Les chrétiens irakiens font partie intégrante des populations actuelles mésopotamiennes qui descendent elles-mêmes des anciens Sumériens, Babyloniens, Chaldéens et Assyriens. Les chrétiens, en majorité, parlent encore le suret, langue proche de l’akkadien et de l’araméen. S’étant transformée en syriaque littéraire au lendemain de la canonization de l’Église d’Orient, cette langue demeure semblable à celle queparlaient Jésus et ses 30 apôtres”.

27 See R. Murray, Symbols of Church and Kingdom: A Study in Early Syriac Tradition (Cambridge: 1975) and his article ‘The Characteristics of the Earliest Syriac Christianity.’ In: East of Byzantium: Syria and Armenia in the Formative Period. ed. N. Garsoïan et. al. (Washington: 1982) 3-16. 28 See the publications by S. Brock, The Syriac Fathers on Prayer and the Spiritual Life (Kalamazoo: 1987) and Studies in Syriac Christianity: history, literature, theology (London: 1992). 29 Cf. A. Baram, Culture, History and Ideology in the Formation of Ba’thist Iraq, 1968-89 (London: 1990) 98-9 “[n]ot surprisingly, it is the Christian Chaldaean intellectual magazine Bayn al-Nahrayn, that exhibits the deepest sense of unity-cultural, spiritual and even ethnic-between modern Iraqis and Mesopotamians, considered by the editor to be the same people [sha’b]. Furthermore, this magazine regards the Arabs with a measure of estrangement; in relation to the Iraqi people, they are perceived almost as a different nation, like Turks, Persians and even Mongols”. Bayn al-Nahrayn is one of the principal Christian reviews in Iraq, founded in 1972 and edited by the Chaldæan priest-scholar Yusuf (Joseph) Ḥabbi. 30 Ḥabbi (1997) 324. He was tragically killed in a car accident on the Baghdad-Amman highway in Jordan on Sunday 15 October 2000. His untimely death was a deep blow as he was widely considered to be one of the formidable Chaldæan scholars of our times. His scholarly work in the field of Syriac studies was widely recognized and respected by the

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According to historical record, the eastern regions of Mesopotamia began to be evangelized from the first century onwards despite the hostility of the Persian Empire, whose state religion was Mazdeism.31 Christianity spread gradually, though never becoming the majority religion. Christians suffered many persecutions, the worst of which, under Shahpur II lasted from 339 to the death of the Emperor himself in 379.32 Until the 14th century, the Eastern Church stretched over a vast area, from the regions of the Eastern bank of the Euphrates to South-East Asia,33 traces of their church can also be found in Tibet were some scholars consider it influenced Buddhism in that land.34 It is said to academic community. He was instrumental in the establishment in 1991 of the Babel College for philosophy and theology and was Dean at the time of his death. He was also president of the Syriac Language Committee of the Iraqi Academy, and had been Editor-in-Chief of Bayn alNahrayn (Mesopotamia) review since its inception in 1972. He was also a member of the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome. His doctoral work was on one of the great figures in Chaldæn church history: Mar Joseph Audo et le pouvoir patriarchal: Étude historico-juridique [unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Faculté de Law, Pontificial University, 1966]. See P. Yousif, ‘Remembering Fr. Joseph Habbi (1938-2000): A Bio-bibliographical Report’, Orientalia Christiana Periodica 69 (2003) 7-28. 31 S. Brock, ‘Christians in the Sassanid Empire: a case of divided loyalties’, Studies in Church History 18 (1982) 1-19 and ‘L’Église de l’Orient dans l’Empire sassanide jusqu’ au Vie siècle et son absence aux concilies de l’Empire romain’, Istina 40 (1995) 25-43. 32 A. Williams, ‘Zoroastrians and Christians in Sasanian Iran’, Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester 78 (1996) 37-54. 33 B. Colless, ‘The Traders of the Pearl: the Mercantile and Missionary activities of Persian and Armenian Christians in South-East Asia’, Abr-Nahrain 9 (1969-70) 17-38, Abr-Nahrain 10 (1970-1) 102-121, Abr-Nahrain 11 (1971) 1-21, Abr-Nahrain 13 (1972-3) 115-135, AbrNahrain 14 (1973-4) 1-16, Abr-Nahrain 15 (1974-5) 6-17. See also E. Hunter, ‘The Church of the East in Central Asia’, Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester 78 (1996) 129-42 and J.-M. Fiey, ‘L’expansion de l’Église de Perse’, Istina 40 (1995) 149-56. 34 See the articles by J. Dauvillier, ‘Témoignages nouveaux sur le christianisme nestorien chez les Tibétains’, ‘L’evangélisation du Tibet au Moyen Age par l’Eglise chaldéenne et le problème des rapports du bouddhisme et du christianisme’, ‘L’expansion au Tibet de l’Eglise chaléenne au Moyen Age et le problème des rapports du bouddhisme et du christianisme’ that have all been published in Histoire et institutions des Eglises orientales au Moyen Age (London: 1983).

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have had a total of some 250 dioceses and a thousand monasteries, distributed between Mesopotamia, Persia, Turkestan, the Gulf, India, China and Mongolia. However, by the end of the 14th century the Mongol invasion severely damaged the Eastern Church, reducing its dioceses to the original boundaries of Mesopotamia and the Turko-Iranian area.35

THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES OF IRAQ In the absence of official statistics since the coming to power of the Ba’ath party in 1960, reliable figures regarding the number of Christians in Iraq are hard to find.36 However, best estimates placed the number of Christians in Iraq at between 750,000 and 1 million, representing 3-5 percent of the Iraqi population up until the full of the Ba’athist régime in April 2003. The greatest concentrations are in the cities: 50% of all Christians live in Baghdad and the surrounding area, 30% in Mosul and the surrounding area.37 See J.-M. Fiey, Chrétiens syriaques sous les Mongols: Il Khanat de Perse, XIIIe–XIVe siècle. CSCO 362/44. (Louvain: 1975). For a broad appreciation of Fiey’s work and his contribution to the study of this period see: J.-M. Mèrigoux, ‘In Memoriam: frère Jean Maurice Fiey, o.p., 1914-1995’, Studia Iranica 26 (1997) 127-131, ‘In memoriam, professeur Jean Maurice Fiey, o.p., 1914-1995’, Annales du department des letters arabes (Institut des letters orientales) VI-B (1991-2) especially ‘Bio-bibliographie de J. M. Fiey, o.p.’ (pages 5-15) and his autobiography ‘Une petite vie tranquille’ (pages 17-74). 36 W. de Vries, ‘Zur neuesten Entwicklung der Ostkirchen’, Ostkirchliche Studien 2 (1953) 234-5 stated that in 1951 Iraq had a general population of 4,794,449 of which 268,000 were Christians made up of approximately 200,000 Chaldaean and Syrian Catholics, the rest belonging to the various other Eastern Churches. The Chaldaean Church had six dioceses, 95 priests and 108 chapels and churches. The Church of the East had approximately 25,000 members with two bishops, 33 priests and 42 chapels and churches. See also de Vries’ earlier account of ChristianMuslim relations in Iraq, ‘Islamismo e Cristianesimo nell’Iraq di oggi’, La Cattolica Civiltá 2231 (1943) 274-84. 37 For a reliable account of Christianity in Iraq up until 2000 see B. Dümler, ‘Zur aktuellen situation der Christen im Irak’, Ostkirchliche Studien 48: 2-3 (1999) 107-43. Regarding the numbers of Christians in Iraq, Proche-Orient Chrétien 43 (1993) reported the following statistics: 750,000 in a total population of 17 million. Chaldaean Catholics: 500,000; Assyrians: 100,000; Syrian Catholics: 60,000; Syrian Orthodox: 60,000; Armenian 35

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According to some accounts, Christians numbered 250,000 in 1965 (3.1 per cent) and 156,000 in 1947 (3.2 per cent).38 Iraq’s Christians are composed of twelve communities that can be divided into four main groups: the Catholics who are the majority (around 5-600,000 upwards) made of Chldeans, Syrians, Latins, Greeks and Armenians; the Church of the East sometimes called Assyrians; the Oriental Orthodox churches; and the Protestants and Anglicans. In practice, one church is by far the most influential: the Chaldæan Catholics who are the inheritors of the local historical religious tradition. Other tiny churches include Armenian Orthodox (25,000), Armenian Catholic (5,500), Latin (6,000),39 Copt (3,000), Greek Orthodox (800), and Greek Catholic (700).40 The remaining Protestants and Anglicans (5,800) are the vestiges of nineteenth century missions that existed until the end of the British mandate in the 1930s. The so-called East-Syrians historically called by a wounding misnomer ‘Nestorians’,41 since the 19th century also known as the Assyrians, called their church the ‘Apostolic and Catholic Church Catholics and Orthodox: 10,000; and Greek Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Latin Catholics: 20,000. In Northern Iraq the there were in 1993 the following Chaldaean villages: Alqosh 9,000; Aïn-Kawa: 12,000; Batnaï: 5,000; Dohuk: 3,000 (600 families); Erbil: 650 (160 families); Karemlès: 3,000 (460 families); Kirkuk: 4,000; Komané: 200; Manguesh: 800; Tellescof: 9,000; Tellkef: 4,000 (700 families). The Chaldaean population in Mosul is approximately 13,000. The diocese of Mosul, which also includes the villages of Tellkef and Karemlès, numbers 20,000. The Chaldaean diaspora numbers United States: 60–70,000; Canada: 150 families; Australia: 500 families; New Zealand: 150 families. 38 Valognes (1994) 735. 39 There has been a long tradition of Latin Catholic presence in Iraq see W. Al-Khazraji, ‘L’oeuvre missionaire en Irak: Un apercu historique’, L’Afrique et l’Asie 157 (1988) 103-116 and the series of articles by E. de la Nativite, ‘Deux siècles de vie chrétienne à Baghdad (17211921)’, Revue d’Histoire des Missions 13 (1936) 357-70; 14 (1937) 230-45; 16 (1939) 349-80. 40 The Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholic communities arrived in Iraq during the 19th century from Lebanon, Palestine and Syria and are under the jurisdiction of the Antiochene Patriarchate. 41 S. Brock, ‘The Nestorian’ Church: a lamentable misnomer’, Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester 78 (1996) 23-36.

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of the East’.42 Due in part to their tragic history the members of the oldest Church in the region are scattered worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 200, 000 plus in the diaspora.43 The estimates for the number of members of the Church in Iraq vary according to the literature, between 100,000 to 150 000.44 The Church of the East or the Assyrian church, which was the main church of the country for centuries, has been weakened by several persecutions in the twentieth century due in part to its independent spirit and to its constant aspiration for an autonomous region or independence.45 It is regarded with great suspicion even today in Iraq and in Syria. In August 1933, following the departure of the British troops from Iraq, the Iraqi army assisted by Kurdish elements in the province of Mosul massacred Assyrians (with numerous villages being destroyed in the areas of Dohuk and Sheikhan). Since these massacres, resulting in over 3,000 dead, the Assyrians have been emigrating to exile and the communities they have created.46 Following the massacres, their religious leader, the B. Dupuy, ‘Essai d’histoire de l’Église “assyrienne”’, Istina 34 (1990) 159-76. 43 J. Yacoub, ‘La diaspora assyro-chaldéenne’, Istina 40 (1995) 191-202. 44 For the modern history of the Church of the East see the classic work of J. Joseph, The Nestorians and their Muslim Neighbours (Princeton: 1961). A revised edition has been published as The Modern Assyrians of the Middle East: Encounters with Western Christian missions, archaeologist and colonial powers (Leiden: 2000). 45 J. Alichoran, ‘Du genocide à la diaspora. Les Assyro-chaldéens au xxe siècle’, Istina 39 (1994) 363-98. Large numbers of Assyrians joined the British military and became a formidable fighting force. See D. Omissi, ‘Britain, Assyrians and the Iraq Levies, 1919-32’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 27 (1989) 301-22. 46 The account of K. Husry, ‘The Assyrian Affair of 1933’, International Journal of Middle East Studies 5 (1974) 161-76 and 344-60 has been challenged as a partial reading of the situation see: J. Joseph, ‘The Assyrian Affair: A Historical Perspective.’ International Journal of Middle East Studies 6 (1975) 115-7, also ‘The Turko-Iraqi Frontier and the Assyrians.’ In: The World of Islam: Studies on honour of Philip K. Hitti. ed. J. Kritzeck and R. Bayly Winder (London: 1959) 255-70. S. al-Khalil, Republic of Fear: Saddam’s Iraq (London: 1990) 166-75. For the position of Christian refugees in the Middle East during the inner-war period see, L. Holborn, ‘The Legal Status of Political Refugees, 1920-1938’, The American Journal of International Law, 32:4 (1938) 680-703. For the re-settlement of Assyrian 42

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Catholicos, settled in Chicago. The other Christian communities of Iraq, especially the rural population, were traumatized by the events of 1933, but they adopted a different stand from the Assyrians in order to survive: they attempted to integrate completely into Iraqi society and to co-exist with the political regime. This is particularly the case for the Chaldæans. Since 1972 the Church of the East has been split into two patriarchates. That of the Holy Apostolic and Catholic Church of the East, the majority faction, under the Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV in Tehran (until 1988) and from then on in Morton Grove III (USA) is sub-divided into 4 metropolianates, namely Baghdad, Malabar, Trichur (Kerala), and Beirut, and numerous dioceses namely USA West, San Jose: California, Canada, Australia, and Europe, in Tehran and Hassake (Syria), Lebanon and India with approximately 400,000 members world wide. The Church of the East under Mar Dinkha IV has been recognised as a ‘sister-church’ by, amongst others, the Vatican, World Council of Churches and the Anglican communion. The group calling itself the Old Apostolic and Catholic Church of the East, under Mar Addai II has its patriarchate in Baghdad, an episcopal sea in each Kirkuk, Mossul, and Trichur (Kerala), as well as a bishopric in Hassake (Syria), one in Modesta, California (USA), Ausralian/New Zealand and Europe. This group has been recognized as a Church by the Iraqi State since 1972.47 The Chaldæan Catholic Church is, with over 70 per cent of all Christians, the largest Church in Iraq. The origins of the Chaldæan Church go back many centuries.48 In the 13th century, Christians in Syria, see B. Dodge, ‘The Settlement of the Assyrians on the Khabur’, Royal Central Asian Society Journal (1940) 301-20. 47 J. Coakley, ‘The Church of the East since 1914’, Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester 78 (1996) 179-98 and ‘The Patriarchal List of the Church of the East.’, After Bardaisan: Studies on Continuity and Change in Syriac Christianity in Honour of Professor Han J.W.Drijvers. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 89. ed. G. Reinink and A. Klusgkist (Louvain: 1999) 65-83. 48 See A. O’Mahony, ‘Patriarchs and Politics: The Chaldean Catholic Church in modern Iraq’, Christianity in the Middle East: Studies in Modern History, Theology and Politics, (London: 2008) 105-42. For the debate around the question of the ecclesial identity of the Chaldaeans see: J. Vosté, ‘Catholiques ou Nestorians?’, Angelicum 7 (1930) 515-23.

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Catholic missionaries-primarily Dominicans and Franciscans-had been active among the faithful of the Church of the East. This resulted in a series of individual conversions of bishops and brief unions, but no permanent community was formed. The first union of the Church of East with Rome was concluded at the Council of Florence. The Mediterranean island of Cyprus was home to a group of East Syriac Christians. On August 7, 1445, following the acceptance of the creed before Archbishop Chrysoberges of Rhodes by Archbishop Timotheos of Tarsus (Archiepiscopus Chalaeorum, qui in Cypro sunt), union was established between the Church of the East and Rome. Timotheos petitioned the Lateran to allow him to take part in the Council of Florence; his request was granted by a bull. Since then the term ‘Chaldæan’ used by the Pope,49 has referred to those East Syrians in union with Rome, though unfortunately the unwelcome efforts at Latinization and the problem of two hierarchies finally led to a collapse of this union in Cyprus.50 In the mid-15th century a tradition of hereditary patriarchal succession (passing from uncle to nephew) took effect in the Church of the East. As a result, one family dominated the church, and untrained minors were being elected to the patriarchal throne. When such a patriarch was elected in 1552, a group of bishops from the Church of the East refused to accept him and decided to seek union with Rome. They elected the reluctant abbot of a monastery, Sulaqa, as their own patriarch and sent him to Rome to arrange a union with the Catholic Church. In early 1553 Pope Julius III proclaimed him Patriarch Simon VIII ‘of the With regard to the appellation Chaldæans, the late Jean-Marie Fiey suggests that, in 1445, the name ‘Chaldæan’ appears in the brief of Pope Eugenius IV as the name of the body, formerly Nestorian, which sought union with Rome. Before that date, however, the use of the term to refer to Christians is hardly attested. Among Western writers, before 1445, there are only three citations of the name ‘Chaldæan’ for eastern Christians. These show that the name meant ‘Syriac speaker’ and ‘Chaldæan’ was also a usual term in early scholarship to denote Syriac. Fiey suggests that the name ‘Chaldæan’ originated in the West and derived from the name of the language of the ‘Nestorian’ Christian. See J.-M. Fiey, ‘Comment l’occident en vint à parler de ‘Chaldéens’?’, Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester 78 (1996) 163-70. 50 Baum and Winkler (2003) 112. 49

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Chaldæans’ and ordained him a bishop in St. Peter’s Basilica on April 9, 1553. The new Patriarch returned to his homeland in late 1553 and began to initiate a series of reforms. But opposition, led by the rival Patriarch of the Church of the East, was strong. Simon who was quickly captured by the pasha of Amadia, tortured and executed in January 1555.51 Eventually Sulaqa’s group returned to the Church of the East, but for over 200 years, there was much turmoil and changing of sides as the pro- and anti-Catholic parties struggled with one another. The situation finally stabilized only on July 5, 1830, when Pope Pius VIII confirmed Metropolitan John Hormizdas as head of all Chaldæan Catholics, with the title of Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldæans, with his see in Mosul.52 The Chaldæan Catholics suffered heavily from massacres during World War I (1918) when four bishops, many priests, and approximately 70,000 faithful died across the region. Also during this period the Dominican Printing press renowned in the Orientalist world at large since 1860 which had published some of the best known editions of the liturgical books of both the Chaldæan and Syrian Catholic churches, thus adding immensely to the until then much restricted knowledge of these rituals, disappeared or was destroyed between 1914-1918.53 The location of the Patriarchate shifted back and forth among several places over the centuries, but gained a measure of stability after it was set up at Mosul in 1830. In 1950 it moved to its present location in Baghdad after substantial migration of Chaldæan Catholics from northern Iraq to the capital city. The ‘Patriarch of Babylon’-this being the official name-has his seat in Baghdad. In the modern era two Chaldæan Patriarchs 51 Y. Ḥabbi, ‘Signification de l’Union chaldéené de Mar Sulaqa avec Rome en 1553’, L’Orient Syrien 9 (1966) 99-132 and 199-230, J. Vosté, ‘Mar Johanan Soulaqa: premier patriarchie des Chaldéens’, Angelicum 8 (1931) 187-234. 52 Y. Ḥabbi, ‘L’Unification de la hiérarchie chaldéené dans la première moitié du XIX siècle’, Parole de l’Orient 2 (1971) 121-43 and 30527. Also J. Vosté, Actes du synode Chaldéen célére au couvent de Rabban Hormizad pres d’alquche du 7 au 21 Juin 1853, Fonti Serie II, Fascicolo XVII (Rome: 1942). 53 M. Albin, ‘Preliminary Bibliography of Arabic Books Printed by the Dominican Fathers in Mosul’, Mélanges Institut Dominicain d’Études Orientales au Caire 16 (1983) 247-60.

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have navigated the community through difficult and challenging seas within which the Christians of the Middle East now chart, between minority and majority, between Christianity and Islam and in times of conflict and change. The first Patriarch Paul Cheikho who was elected at the time of the political upheavals of 1958 in Iraq. Born in 1906 in Alquoch in the North of Iraq, ordained in 1930 and became a bishop in Aqra in Iraqi Kurdistan in 1947, transferred to Aleppo in 1957, Patriarch Paul Cheikho had to care for his community through some very difficult times in the modern Iraqi history. In 1972 he had to deal with the question of seminary reform and the question of military service for priests and religious. In 1975 the Churches in Iraq had to deal with the nationalization of the school system that had a direct and profound impact upon the Catholic school system. In 1984 during the Iraq-Iran war he led an ecumenical and interfaith delegation to the Vatican to witness to the suffering of the Christian communities and Iraqi people and society. During his period of office he had to deal with the difficult and at times traumatic displacement of the Christians in the north of Iraq and their movement south into the large cities of Iraq. He constructed some 25 churches in Baghdad to service the needs of his Chaldæan Catholic community.54 In 1989 Raphael I of Bidawid became Patriarch of Babylon for the Chaldæan Catholics he died on 7th July in Beirut. He was born on 17th April, 1922 at Mosul Iraq. In his early years he attended the school established by the well-known Dominican mission and fathers at Mosul; his secondary studies were at the patriarchal seminary for the Chaldæans also in Mosul. He spent most of the war years (1936-1947) studying in Rome at the Pontifical Urbaniana College, ‘De Propaganda Fide’. In December 1944 he was ordained a priest, in the same year he took a doctorate in philosophy on the topic of the religious philosophy of Muslim thinker Al-Ghazali; and further studied for a doctorate in theology in Rome on the subject of the great Patriarch Timothy I of the Church of the East and hence a church-father for the Chaldeans ;55 also a Diploma in Canon Law and Civil Law at the Latran University. In the years 1948-1956 he was Professor of Philosophy ‘Iraq’, Proche Orient Chétien 39 (1989) 346. R Bidawid, Les Lettres du patriarche nestorien Timothée 1er. Studi e Testi 187 (Vatican City: 1956). 54 55

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and Theology in the patriarchal Chaldæan College at Mosul and Professor of Religion at the government secondary school, Mosul. Between 1950-1956 he was Priest chaplain responsible for the Christians of the Iraq Petroleum Company from Kirkuk to Tripoli (Lebanon). In 1956 he was appointed Patriarchal vicar of the Chaldæan diocese of Kirkuk, Erbil, and Sulaimaniya. When, in 1957, he was elected bishop of the Chaldæan Dioceses of Amadiyah in Kurdistan (Iraq) at the age of 35, he became one of the world’s youngest bishops at that time. In the years 1962-1965 Bidawid was transferred to the Chaldæan diocese of Beirut (Lebanon) until his election as Patriarch of the Chaldæan in 1989 during the Holy Synod held in Baghdad (15-21 May 1989). He spent 23 years at the head of the Chaldæan Catholic Church in Lebanon; he was one of the founders of the Council of Catholic Patriarch and Bishops in Lebanon he participated in several committees which included: the Executive Committee, the Catholic Schools’ Committee, the Committee of Communication Means of which he was the first secretary and the Ecumenical Committee. He represented the Catholic Church in the fourth General Assembly of the Middle East Council of Churches in Cyprus. He was an advocate of the Catholic Church becoming a member of the Middle East Council of Churches.. During his period in Lebanon he always tried to represent the best interest of the Chaldæan Church; thus he was successful in fulfilling his dream of constructing a Cathedral for the Chaldæans in Babda. It was also during this period that he was often caught up often against his will in the attempt by Iraq to court the Maronite community. Both the Maronites and Iraqi Ba’athist régime looked closely at the potential and possibilities of exploiting the presence of a senior Iraqi bishop in Lebanon. The Chaldæan Synod elected Bidawid Patriarch on 21 May 1989 to succeed Patriarch Paul Cheikho, and he received the pallium from Pope Paul II on 9 November 1989. He was enthroned as bishop at the Patriarchal seminary at Dora, Baghdad, at which some 20–25,000 people attended56. Bidawid was elected as the leader of the largest Christian community in Iraq after an eightyears of war between Iraq and Iran, it was he who had to lead his community during some of the most difficult moments in recent Iraqi history, including the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the defeat of 56

See Plate I: Consecration of Raphael Bidawid, Baghdad 1989.

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Iraq by the coalition forces, the grueling period of sanctions and the attendant economic destruction of Iraq with consequences upon society, a growth in Christian-Muslim tension, the Second Gulf War in 2003 and the removal of the Ba’ath party from power. Apart from Tariq ‘Aziz, Bidawid was one of the few Christian personalities who had any real profile during this period. Like all the Christian patriarchs of the region, he often had to chart a course between the realities of political power, the growing and hostile presence of Islamic radicalism and seeking to defend and promote the best interests of Christianity and the Chaldæan Catholic Church in Iraq. Due to emigration from the North there has been a changing geographical configuration of the community with a consequent growth in the Chaldæan population in the main cities.57 In Baghdad alone, there had been 30 parishes with a total of between 200,000-250,000 believers. There are 9 further Iraqi dioceses: Kirkuk, Erbil, Basra, and Mosul, Alquoch, Amadiyah, Aqra, Sulaimaniya, and Zakho. There are 7 bishops, one further emeritus, as well as 2 patriarchal administrators for the dioceses Sulaimaniya and Zakho. The total number of faithful has greatly reduced in the last few years. In total, the Chaldæans had in 1996 71 parishes in Iraq with 178 secular priests, and a number of permanent deacons. Over and above that there were 46 seminarians, 5 priests and 12 further male and 154 female religious personnel. The Chaldæan Church supported two educational institutions; namely Babel College that offers Philosophy and Theology studies and thirteen charity institutions including, since the end of the Gulf War in 1991, the Confrèrie de la Charité which until 2003 was one of the few indigenous Iraqi charities to be able to work across the country. There had been minor and a senior seminary in Baghdad, open also to the Latin rite and a bi-rite one (Chaldæan-Syrian Catholic) in Mosul. In total 3 Christian journals; Al-Fikar al Masihi (Christian Thought), which since 1964 (founded 57 For a description of the Christian village live in northern Iraq see H. Ishow, ‘Arcadien, ou “le jardin du paradis”. La terre des homes dans un village chaldéen du nord de l’Irak’, Études rurales 76 (1979) 97-112 and ‘Témoignage: Un village irakien, Arcadien en 1961’, Cahiers de l’Orient contemporain 62 (1966) 609-22. Also the study and memoir by É.-I. Yousif, Parfums d’enfance à Sanate. Un village chrétien au Kurdistan iraqien (Paris: 1993).

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by a group of Syrian Catholic priests but now under the auspices of the Iraqi Dominicans) has turned itself to all Christians and alldenominations; Bayn al Nahrayn (Mesopotamia), a cultural and historical journal; and Nagm al-Masriq (Star of the Orient) published by the Patriarchate. The journals were particularly important for theological formation, as the importing of literature from abroad has been difficult for some time. In 1971 the Al-Rabita al-Kahnutiya al-Kaldaniya (Chaldaean Sacerdotal Alliance) was formed, whose aim is the renewal of Apostolates in the Spirit of Vatican II.58 The other major body of Christians in the Syriac tradition is the Syrian Orthodox and Syrian Catholics.59 The estimated number of members of the West Syrian, or the Syrian Orthodox Church (sometimes described wrongly as ‘Jacobites’) in Iraq is estimated between 30,000 and 40,000. There are 3 dioceses in Iraq, namely the one of Baghdad, Basra, and Mossul; with a seminary at Mosul. The Iraqi West Syrians come under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch Antioch whose seat is in Damascus.60 The Syrian Catholics (approximately 60,000) traditionally lived in a few villages in the area of Mosul and 15,000 in Mosul itself, a city of 1 million inhabitants. Until recently the majority of the Syrian Orthodox and Catholics were in Baghdad. The Syrian Catholics have 2 dioceses (Mar Matta, near Mosul, and Baghdad); the seat of their patriarch, the Patriarch of Antioch, is in Lebanon. Just before the First World War Syrian Catholics had grown to number one hundred thousand: Patriarch Ephrem had ten metropolitans and bishops in his jurisdiction in various major cities of the Near East. But the war was to devastate the church and cut its numbers by half. Thousands died of starvation, including six bishops and the entire congregation of Brothers of Mar Ephrem. The patriarch himself moved from Mardin to the relative safety of Beirut and the residence of the Syrian Catholic patriarch has been located there ever since. Statistics for 1996 the Syrian Catholics established the following 1028 baptisms, 29 secular priests, 1 new priest, 3 Dümler (1999) 115. C. Sélis, Les Syriens orthodoxes et catholiques (Turnhout: 1988). 60 B. Dupuy, ‘L’Église syrienne d’Antioche des origins à aujour’hui’, Istina 24 (1990) 171-88; C. Sélis, ‘L’Église syrienne orthodoxe’, Contacts 187 (1999) 214-24; S. Brock, ‘The Syrian Orthodox Church in modern history’. In: Christianity in the Middle East: Studies in Modern History, Theology and Politics, ed. A. O’Mahony (London: 2008) 17-38. 58 59

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permanent deacons, 11 seminarians, 21 religious sisters and 4 charitable institutes.61 There is also small but important Armenian Christian community, both Gregorian Orthodox and Catholic, in Iraq. There had been approximately 20, 000 Armenian Orthodox in Iraq, in the cities of Baghdad, Mosul, Kirkuk, Zakho and Basra. They have an Archbishop, 6 priests, of which 2 are in Baghdad; there were altogether 9 churches. In terms of jurisdiction, the Armenian Orthodox Church in Iraq is under the Catholicos in Etchmiadzin, Armenia. There are various Armenian Cultural Organisations and clubs in Baghdad and in other cities, as well as Sunday schools in Baghdad and in other centres. Iraqi Armenians belong to all social classes, explicitly as physicists, doctors, university lecturers, teachers, dentists, pharmacists, government employees and private employees, merchants, artists, goldsmiths, tailors and workers. The Armenian-Catholic Church in Iraq had a diocese in Baghdad with one parish and 2 churches. In 1996 it had 2200 believers; in the same year there were 11 baptisms and 3 charitable institutions were supported. Jurisdictionally these dioceses belong to the Armenian Catholic Patriarchate of Cilicia with its seat in Beirut. The Armenian-Catholic Archbishop of Baghdad reported that, with financial help from abroad, he was able to build a cathedral for 600 people and a multi-purpose hall for 400. On land with an area of 6000m2 were built besides that the bishops’ administration building, a school and a clinic in which needy Christians and Muslims can be treated for free. A particular success was the opening of a school for 60 children. Besides this, at the convent of 134 Armenian Dominican nuns, a donation from the Catholic charity Missio enabled 20 novices and 16 postulants to be trained.62 As mentioned earlier there is also a small Melkite Catholic community, which however is without its own diocese in Iraq, 61 Dümler, (1999) 115. See also John Flannery, ‘The Syrian Catholic Church: martyrdom, mission, identity and ecumenism in modern history’. In: Christianity in the Middle East: Studies in Modern History, Theology and Politics, ed. A. O’Mahony (London: 2008) 143-67; A. O’Mahony, The Syrian Catholic Church: a study in history and ecclesiology, Sobornost/Eastern Churches Review 28: 2, (2006) 29-50. 62 Dümler, (1999) 116. See also J. Whooley, ‘The Armenian Catholic Church: a study in modern history and ecclesiology’, The Heythrop Journal: A Quarterly Review of Philosophy and Theology, XLV (2004) 435-50.

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rather merely a Patriarchal exarch in Baghdad and only one community with one priest. Jurisdictionally it belongs to the Patriarchate of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem with its seat in Damascus. The total number of believers in Iraq is generally given as approximately 500. The number of believers of the Greek Orthodox Church is given as between 1000 and 3000, depending on the source. They come under the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch with a seat its seat Damascus. There are 3 church communities in Baghdad. The Latin or Roman Catholic Church in Iraq mainly consisted (until 2003) of foreigners: immigrant workers, and members of Western religious communities. There was a diocese in Baghdad with 3 parishes; before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the subsequence Gulf war there were more than 10,000 Latin-rite Catholics in Iraq, in 1996 there remained only 3000, a number, which has continued to shrink. There were also some 20 religious or priests, and 168 sisters. The Latin ecclesial presence is the historic see of the Diocese of Baghdad (Bagdathensis Latinorum) created in 1632 and elevated to an Archdiocese in 1848. According to most estimates the Protestants and Anglican Church members number less than 1% of all Christians in Iraq. The Anglican Church in particular has developed a very strong historical relationship with the Church of the East.63 The estimates of believers swing between 2000 and 10,000, depending on which communities are taken into account. They belong to various families, Presbyterians, Baptists, Adventists and Lutherans. To name but a few of the churches, there is a National Protestant Church in Iraq, an autonomous Arab-evangelical Church, an J. Coakley, The Church of the East and the Church of England (Oxford: 1992). Also J. Coakley, ‘The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Assyrian Mission Press: a bibliography’, Journal of Semitic Studies 30 (1985) 35-73, ‘The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Assyrian Mission and the consecration of Mar Abimalek Timotheus of Malabar.’ In: III Symposium Syriacum, 1980: les contacts du monde syriaque avec les autres cultures. Goslar 7-11 September 1980. Orientalia Christiana Analecta 221, ed. R. Lavenant (Rome: 1983) 203-12, ‘The Church of England and the Question of a Nestorian Bishop of Malabar, 1894-7’, Ostkirchliche Studien 30 (1981) 2832 and Y. Habbi, ‘Missione anglicane e Chiesa Siro-Orientale.’ In: L’anglicanesimo. Dalla Chiesa d’Inghilterra alla communione Anglicana. ed. C. Alzati (Genoa: 1992) 297-327. 63

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autonomous Church, as Episcopal Church; further small groups are Lutherans, the Assemblies of God (Pentecostals), the Basra Assembly, the Evangelical Alliance Mission and the 7th Day Adventists. In Baghdad there was also a Coptic community with approximately 3000 believers who are leftover from the once large immigrant workforce from Egypt and other Arab countries.

CHRISTIANS, POLITICS AND RELIGION With the establishment of the first Ba‘athist government in 1963 and the second in 1968 (the latter including Saddam Hussein), many Christians hoped that the secular and pan-Arab ideology of the new party would give them more rights than was the case under more traditional Muslim rule. Ba‘athist Iraq was theoretically a secular republic where nominally citizenship prevailed over religious and communitarian allegiances. The 1970 constitution recognized “the legitimate rights of all minorities in the frame of the Iraqi unity”; this was followed by the recognition of the legal existence of the five main Christian communities with due legal rights. They were not granted any special political rights, but as long as they cooperated with the government, Christians benefitted somewhat from the regime. They had no difficulty repairing or even building churches. Religious ceremonies were performed without excessive discretion. There were seminaries for the training of the clergy. This type of religious freedom extended to the Christians in Iraq was not to be found everywhere in the Middle East and the churches took note. However, at all levels of political life, the participation of Christians has been very limited; hence the important rôle that the respective patriarchs and leaders of the different Christian communities have in public encounter between political and religious society. The case of Tariq ‘Aziz, the longserving senior spokesman for the former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, was an exception. The National Assembly of 1984 included just four Christians among 250 members of parliament; a proportionate number would have been eight. Symbolically this means a lot for the Christians. In the administration, one did not find Christians as governors, directors in the ministries, or ambassadors, but there were some Christians in posts as an assistant, where their education and knowledge of the outside

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world are valued. In the army, until the war with Iran in 1980-88, Christians were denied access to superior military training and were confined to secondary posts. During that war, the religious appeal of Iran to the Shi‘a of Iraq prompted the Ba‘ath regime to incorporate more Shi‘a into the leadership structure. In the same vein, there was an effort to give to different Iraqi ethnic and religious groups a sense of belonging to one united entity, defining a new ‘Iraqi man’. It is worth noting that Christians had a high death toll proportionate to their numbers in the Iran-Iraq war maybe up to 60,000 causalities in total. The political marginalization of the Christians in Iraq had a number of causes. In spite of its secular ideology, the Iraqi Ba‘ath party recognized Islam as an essential component of the Arabic culture;64 it did not grant the same favor to Christianity. The distribution of power was based on family ties where Sunni Muslims have a predominant role. Christians were also ambivalent regarding a greater political role and tended to choose a marginal role in that domain; they know they could not express any opposition toward the regime, and they strongly fear the prospect of a successful Shi‘i opposition that might attempt to install an Islamic government.65 Economically, the Christian community was generally prosperous before the economic difficulties precipitated by the international embargo implemented by the United Nations after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. The Christians suffered as a result of the nationalization of the industrial sector in the first years of the Ba‘athist regime during the 1960s, but later on the remarkable economic development of their country allowed them to prosper once again. Favoured by their knowledge of the West, they were the natural intermediaries for a number of foreign companies established in Iraq before the Kuwait war. They were well represented in the tourist sector in hotels and restaurants, and in the liberal professions. A substantial percentage of the teachers at schools and universities were Christian. The Christians were also A. Dawisha, ‘Invoking the Spirit of Arabism: Islam in the Foreign Policy of Saddam’s Iraq.’ In: Islam in Foreign Policy, ed. A. Dawisha (Cambridge: 1983) 112-28. 65 A. O’Mahony, ‘Iraq in the melting pot’, The Tablet, 17 May. 2003, 4-5. 64

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represented in specialized technical jobs and as artisans and traders. One should make a distinction, however, between the different communities, since the Assyrians were, on the whole, poor. By recognizing the cultural rights of the Christian minorities, the constitution of 1970 appeared to be tolerant and did in fact constitute a step forward compared to the preceding governments. A decree, signed on April 16, 1972, granted the three Syriac-speaking churches of Iraq—the Assyrian, the Chaldaean, and the Syrian—the right to teach their own language at school provided that 25 percent of the children in a class are Christian. This sounded good but was rarely the case. Still the Syriac dialect of Iraq, the Sureth, is transmitted within the family, in catechism classes on Fridays, and at the university level. As already mentioned, good publications about Syriac Aramaic culture and history were published in Iraq during this period in spite of censorship: Al-Fikr al-Masihi (Christian Thought) and Bayn Nahrayn (Mesopotamia). The aspiration for non-discrimination is tempered by the social weight of Islam, the religion of 95% of Iraqis. In spite of the fact that it is a secular republic, Ba’athst Iraq recognized Islam as the religion of the state in its constitution. On the practical level, Islamic law had a determining influence in the country and created a situation of discrimination: a Christian woman could marry a Muslim in which case the children would be Muslims, but the reverse was not possible. The validity of an Islamic marriage was automatically recognized by the state, while a Christian marriage had to be reported to the administration. A Muslim may inherit from a Christian but the opposite was not permitted, a problem frequently encountered in mixed marriages. Thus, despite the ostensible secularism of the Ba’ath regime, Iraq's laws remained influenced by Islamic law.66 Ultimately, the Christians of Iraq suffered in much the same way as did their Muslim co-nationals, under an extremely oppressive, totalitarian regime, one that did not tolerate any form of collective institution not under its direct control. In spite of the fact that religious freedom was enshrined in the constitution, religions are closely watched. All social and pastoral activities of the 66 I. Younan, ‘Les chrétiens sous le poids de l’Islam dominant: Entre peur et compromis’, Actulaité religieuse dans le monde, 15.5.1991, 19.

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church required a previous authorization; religious publications are subject to censorship; and the importation and dissemination of foreign books was strictly under control. All the dignitaries of the church, bishops, or heads of churches had to obtain a formal agreement from the authorities before starting their new function. In 1976, the government in effect nationalized Shi‘i organizations by suppressing their capacity to manage their religious properties and by transforming imams into state employees who receive a salary from the state and were controlled by it. In 1981, the régime wanted to adopt similar measures toward the Christian churches, nationalizing their properties and turning their priests into state employees, thereby controlling through the ministry of the waqfs (religious property) all of the churches' functions. The government eventually backed down when faced with strong opposition from the bishops, especially from the Chaldean Patriarch Cheikho, but the threat was always present that these measures could be implemented. In 1974, the Ba‘ath regime decided to nationalize all schools in Iraq, including the Qur‘anic and Catholic schools, a major blow to the churches. Education was an essential part of their mission. Some of the former educators, priests, and nuns tried to pursue their task in the framework of the new nationalized system, but many of them were dissuaded by the oath of allegiance they had to swear to the régime. The war between Iraq and Iran, followed by the Kuwait war and the difficult living conditions after 1990, contributed directly to the acceleration of Iraqi Christian emigration. Apart from the obviously desperate economic situation in Iraq, Christians left for other reasons mainly linked to deteriorating conditions in the country. As a minority, they feared the growing insecurity and lawlessness in the country without the traditional protection of the state. Christians feared particularly for their women and girls (this had been particularly the case, and invoked such a memory, during the Ottoman massacres and the later Kurdish-Baghdad conflict) who they felt were most threatened by the climate of prevailing insecurity. In addition, due to the weakening of the state, the Christians were worried by what they perceive to be concessions made by the régime to the Islamists; for instance the prohibition of alcohol in public places and the extensive use of the statecontrolled media for their religious propaganda. While the aborted

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visit of the Pope to Iraq was not due to Islamist pressure, it may have resulted in part from the Iraqi government's unease about a papal visit to a predominantly Muslim country. Iraqi Christians were immensely disappointed. Other factors also play a role in encouraging Christians in Iraq to emigrate. For instance, there was the uncertainty over the future if the Ba’athist régime would be overthrown. It had been widely reported in the Christian community at the time that the first move of the rebellion in Basra in 1991 was to attack the Christian quarters. There was a more general pessimism regarding the future of Christians in the Middle East as a whole, as even the Christians of Lebanon, who were regarded as a model and a refuge, were perceived as having been defeated at the end of the Lebanese war. In the last forty years the Chaldaeans have seen more than 150,000 (Annuario Pontificio 2008) of their population immigrate to the United States, a significant acceleration occurred after 1990. Again according to Annuario Pontificio for 2008 30,000 Chaldeans now live in Australia. The Assyrians now count more than 60% of their community in Europe, Australia, and the United States, with an important community in Chicago. The percentage of Christians leaving Iraq during the late sanctions period constituted some 30% of all Iraqis leaving the country, while they form only 3-5 % of the total population. The Iraqi government tried to prevent Christians and indeed the rest of its citizens from leaving by imposing a tax on every Iraqi citizen who wishes to travel outside Iraq and by obliging every traveling woman who is less than forty-three years old to be accompanied by a male in her immediate family. Still the will to emigrate was stronger, and emigration was frequent, usually through Iran and Turkey. Since the end of the Gulf war of 1991, northern Iraq remained beyond Ba’ath party control. Its population was overwhelmingly Kurdish with a minority of 70,000 Christians, made up mainly of Assyrians and Chaldaeans. They had been relatively well treated, as symbolized by having five members in the 1992 parliament of 105 deputies located in the city of Erbil; the governor of Erbil is a Christian, as were two ministers. Assyrians in particular, for the first time in their modern history, have the right to develop their cultural and linguistic life fully. Their schools in the enclave provide all instruction, including mathematics and

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history, in the Syriac language. They also had television and radio programs in Syriac (the Kurds having done the same with the Kurdish language and culture). Arabic language and culture was becoming less present with some consequence for Arabic-speaking Christians who had been dislocated into the northern region. However even during period before 2003 the Christians aspired to leave Kurdistan, just like their coreligionists who remain under Baghdad's control. They had several reasons for wanting out: a feeling that the default the tribal structure of the Kurdish society would always work to their disadvantage; a fear of growing Islamism in Kurdish society; and an uncertainty about the future of the northern enclave. The re-Islamisation which has been felt in Iraq had until later period of Ba’athist rule been barely comparable to that in other Middle Eastern States. Even when the régime tried to draw towards Islam, it did not give up its own brand of ‘secular’ politics; the Christians enjoyed grosso modo a certain degree of protection. This led to some Christians seeing, to a certain extent, in Saddam Hussein a guarantor for a relatively free religious life. For this reason alone, they were frequently reproached by the West that they let themselves be instrumentalized and misused by the regime. One internal Christian critical voice from within the wider Christian community Iraq had been the Dominican priest Kahil Kochassarly. He had been born in La Paz in Bolivia (as part of the several million strong middle eastern Christian diaspora in south America), one of four children from a Syrian Orthodox family from the small village of Qosh Hissa, but who had lived in Iraq for 40 years before moving to Belgium to set up a centre for Syriac Christians in Europe. He reproached a section of the Iraqi Christians for allowing themselves be integrated into the Ba’ath Party with the advantages which went along with such an affiliation. However others consider Kochassarly words as an unconsidered reproach, that party membership alone could be an indication of a possibly secularised Christianity, limited to the mere membership of a Church. Kochassarly said furthermore that the Churches should have made no compromises with the régime, as this would be more treacherous than a persecution. He considered that the bishops of Iraq obeyed the government far too much rather than holding true to their values, especially the defence of human rights. Whilst this reproach may have been also true for

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much of Iraqi society, it appears nevertheless to leave out, widereaching consequences for all Christians, namely presumably the loss of freedom of religious practice, if they attempted to politically confront the Ba’athist ruling class. 67 Additionally, the involvement of the Iraqi Churches against the trade embargo against Iraq with the indication that it would only harm the population brought the Churches close to State propaganda. They could not always openly speak the second half of the truth, namely that the responsibility for the embargo had been with the government, whose members did not themselves suffer any material consequences from sanctions. Such a statement, which one could have heard from Church representatives behind closed doors, would instantly be subject to a death sentence in public and would have caused considerable disadvantages for all Christians in the country. From the mouth of an anonymous Iraqi bishop, came this sentence: “Up until the Gulf Wars, Saddam Hussein was good to the Christians, now he’s not bad.” What was not often expressed was the question that caused more anxiety: “what will the situation of the Christians in Iraq when Saddam Hussein is no longer here?” As absurd as that sounds for Christians in Iraq the régime of terror was still the lesser evil. They had nothing good to await from either the collapse of the country or from an Islamic revolution.68 Whilst many Christians considered that the Iraqi government widely gave a certain protection, a form of `religious freedom’ in a totalitarian system (all sources to be taken seriously agree these opinions), one could not hide the fact that there was an increase in recent years, for a stronger assertion of Islam into society. Economic and social pressure lead at times to confrontations between Muslims and Christians. In the south of Iraq, incursions on Christians from the Shi’ite side, these conflicts happened with the increasing numbers of Christians in the population of the south especially in Basra, due to internal emigration from the north. The background to this hostility from For the live and work of this Dominican see M. Goffoel, ‘Elrend homage au Père Khalil Kochassarly, op’, Proche-Orient Chrétien 43 (1993) 147-149 and J. Mérigoux, `Le père Khalil, prieur des dominicains’, Va a Nivive! Un dialogue avec l’Irak, (Paris: 2000) 82-3. 68 Dümler (1999) 120-1. 67

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some of the Shi’a was a belief that the Christians, were the originators of Ba’ath secularism.69 In the big cities of Iraq, in which Christians no longer live as a closed homogenous group, there is a more subtle form of pestering. One must not forget that Islam, despite ‘secular’ politics of the former régime, is the national religion of Iraq, which amongst other things means that despite a modern legal system, Islamic law runs deep into civil law and creating an inequality between Muslims and non-Muslims. It is permitted for a Christian to give a gift to a Muslim, but not vice versa. A Muslim marriage has civil legal status; a Christian marriage requires an additional civil ceremony. Christians can in general only marry Muslims if they convert. If only one partner in a Christian marriage converts, the children of this union become Muslim automatically. Conversion to Christianity is forbidden, but in reverse, moral pressure is brought to bear on Christians with the goal of conversion to Islam. The main motive for such conversions is to unite in marriage with a Muslim partner, or also–and this motivation is gaining ground– the exertion of material support of Muslim organizations in the context of the economic plight due to the embargo (it was reported that after 2003 especially in Basra this pressure intensified).

CHRISTIANS, CONFLICT AND SOCIETY After Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 and the noncompliance with the United Nations demand of an immediate and unconditional withdrawal as stated in Resolution 660 from 2.8.1990, the United Nations imposed with Resolution 661 from 6.8.1990 with regard to an economic blockade against Iraq. This continued until very recently excluding a small amount of illegal oil exports. To relax the embargo the United Nations demanded first the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait, and later in Resolution 687 from 3.4.1991 they demanded a controlled disarmament and payment of repairs. The embargo and the need of wide spread repair of war damage brought the Iraqi economy virtually to a standstill. The whole population, including the Christians, carried 69 A. Baram, ‘Two Roads to Revolutionary Shi’ite Fundamentalism in Iraq’. In: Accounting for Fundamentalisms: The Dynamic Character of Movements. ed. M. Marty and R. Appleby (Chicago: 1994) 566.

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the consequences. More than half of the inhabitants of Iraq became unemployed and in the cities numerous refugees, above all from the north, were homeless. During the first years reserves could be fallen back upon. The Christians of the middle classes especially had higher reserves at their disposal, but the consequences of the embargo became more drastic with time. Food rations were not enough to provide even half of the daily calorie requirements, and neither fish, nor eggs, nor meat were contained in the allocation, causing a shortage of calories and protein. Prices on the black market became exorbitant for the average earner. Most families have therefore sold off their furniture and jewellery to fight their poverty. And as the numerous armed employees of the State security services often could not live from their salaries, street crime and corruption increased dramatically. In December 1996 in accordance with the United Nations Resolution 986 from 14.4.1995, the United Nations programme, ‘Oil for food’ began. Every 6 months $2 billion oil was able to be exported; the first foodstuffs deliveries came in March 1997, from May 1997 also drugs. The Iraqi side is not satisfied with the handling of the programmes through United Nations control. In response to the break down of society one important Christian endeavour had been the ‘Confrerie de la Charite’ which was founded in 1992 at the instigation of the Chaldæan Patriarch Bidawid. It has been a full member of the `Caritas International’ since 1995. Its main headquarter is in Baghdad; and it is supported by all four Catholic Churches. According to several reports, it is the only one of the church and private aid organizations that can afford humanitarian help in all areas of the country. Up until 1997 it had helped around 200,000 people. The Churches also found themselves supporting groups such as the Coptic Christian community in Baghdad who did not receive food rations from the State since they were foreign workers. They were therefore entirely dependent on help from elsewhere. Over and above concrete aid measures, the Iraqi Churches pointed out that the United Nations embargo only harmed the general population. They appealed to Christians worldwide not only for financial support, but also to show the worldwide public, at every opportunity, the inhumane nature of the embargo. One

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dedicated opponent of the embargo, as well as of military measures, was Pope John Paul II. His opinion was that the weak pay for mistakes for which they are not responsible. From the beginning, he condemned the military intervention of the West in Iraq. Alongside legal aspects with regard to the embargo, ethical aspects needed to be taken into account. Pope John Paul II used all available diplomatic contacts with the United Nations, USA, Europe and with Saddam Hussein. The Christians in Iraq supported his endeavours on their behalf. In the year 2000 he had wanted to personally visit Iraq as an act of witness and solidarity.

SURVIVAL, REVIVAL, CALVARY: WHAT FUTURE FOR CHRISTIANITY IN IRAQ? The losses that Mesopotamian Christendom from all denominations suffered over four decades have been enormous. A host of mainly young men fell in the long year of the first Gulf War or Iran-Iraq War. A large number of Christians lost their lives also during the subsequent conflict that have befallen Iraq. These losses are evident in the current ratio of Christian men to women which lead to a serious gender imbalance. Many young Christian women are therefore marrying Muslim men, which results in further reductions in the number of Christians. An even greater factor eroding the position of Christians in Iraq was emigration. A large segment of the Christian communities have always belonged to a social class that can best afford to emigrate. A real exodus began in 1980 with the war between Iraq and Iran. The tendency towards emigration has increased many times over since 1990. It is estimated that between 1990-2003 a total of 2 million Iraqis, many of them skilled workers and executives, have left the country, and of that number at least 250 000 are Christian. The Patriarchs and bishops are advised not to support those who want to leave the country and to promote the idea of remaining in Iraq. Therefore, most flee illegally over the borders, and refugees have lost their lives doing this. In addition to emigration, there is also a wave of internal migration, i.e. within the country, from the north to central and southern Iraq, for example to Baghdad (and to a much lesser extent before 2003 to Basra). The first wave of migration was linked to the Kurdish revolt in the north of Iraq. The second wave began

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with the first Gulf war and continued on the same trajectory until 2003. The number of Christians in northern Iraq has dwindled to around 150,000 between 1961 and 1995 (it is thought that over one 1 million Christians left the north during a four decade period). In central and southern Iraq, efforts are observed among the Christians who moved from the north some time ago, to return to their homeland in the north. Many say that they are as foreign in Baghdad as in any big European or North America city. Most who have moved in recent years to the cities of the south no longer live in middle class suburbs, but in poor districts. The exodus in the cities has led to a break up of traditional family and wider clan structures and also to a weakening of the cohesion of the community and the influence of the Church in the life of believers. State sponsored secularism and modernism, which were encouraged by the régime, have also come into conflict with Christianity. However, that said, it is suggested that 80% of Christians are active in the Church and that misfortune has once more tightened their connection to the Church and to their Faith. On the other hand the breakdown of security across many parts of the country has also had an impact upon certain types of religious practice especially at times of feasts and pilgrimage. There are also pastoral problems. A gulf has appeared between an ageing conservative clergy in some communities and the laity that had been ‘pressed into modernity’. There has also been a shortage of priests in some communities and of theological education. However, over the last decade or so things have been changing the head of the principal Chaldæan seminary in Baghdad, Louis Sako (now the senior Chaldean Archbishop of Kirkuk and an important scholar of the East Syriac Christian tradition) reported in 1998 to the Syriac Commission for Ecuemenical theological Dialogue, Pro Oriente (Vienna), that due to the current numbers of seminarians more space needed to be provided. Since 1990, Babel College has undertook the theological and philosophical formation of hundreds of students of all denominations, including Chaldæans, Syrian Orthodox and Catholic, Armenians of both churches, members of the Church of the East an ecumenical form of the formation which has no parallels anywhere in the world (after 2003 the seminary and college relocated to Erbil in the north of Iraq). In pastoral support there is no uniform strategy, whilst theologically there is scarcely any tension between the different denominations.

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In the political context, several clear currents existed in all denominations; one was to join the opposition, including support for an Assyrian Nationalist political programme that might include regional autonomy; and another that was prepared to make compromises with the previous Ba’athist regime. A third current which sought to articulated itself in the later-years of Ba’athist rule a collective Christian voice to defend wider Christian interests. Since the removal of the Ba’ath Party from power, numerous new political parties have emerged in Iraq, including numerous Christian parties, ranging from Christian Democrats to ethnicnationalist parties, along with Christian newspapers and television. However, there has been a general deterioration of the position of the Christian community, with a growth of Muslim-Christian and Sunni-Shi’a tension. With the death of Bidawid in Beirut in July 2003, the Christian communities, especially as the largest group, the Chaldæans, had no clear spokesman for their interests in a rapidly changing political situation, especially as the bishops did not succeed in electing a new patriarch soon after the death of Bidawid. The Chaldæan bishops made representations to Paul Bremer, the US civil administrator of Iraq; in a ‘Declaration of the Chaldaean Bishops on the Role of the Chaldæans in the New Iraq’ (3 September 2003) they requested that new government should have a Chaldæan representative who would speak for the interests of the community. The reasons they cited were that the Chaldæans are the third largest grouping in Iraqi society after the Arabs and Kurds, that Chaldæans are heavily represented in professional and administrative sphere of Iraqi society especially in the north and in Baghdad, that their presence in the cultural life of the country was much greater then their numbers would suggest, that at one time the Chaldæan patriarch had represented the community in the Iraqi senate prior to the formation of the Ba’athist republic of Iraq. The statement followed an earlier one issued in the name of the patriarchs and bishops in Iraq on 29 April 2003, requesting the guaranteeing of civil, religious and political rights to Christians. The election of new patriarch to the Chaldæan church proved to be a difficult affair. From 19 August 2003 onwards, the synod of the Chaldæan church met in Baghdad to elect a new patriarch. As with most eastern Catholic churches, the head of the Chaldæan church is elected by the bishops, and then ‘recognised’

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by the holy see with the issuing of a pallium; however John Paul II in his later years changed this practice for a con-celebrated liturgy at St Peter’s in Rome—an expression of eucharistic ecclesiology. For nearly two weeks the bishops were cloistered in the Chaldæan seminary of St Peter in the Doura quarter in Baghdad, but could not agree on a candidate. The debates, which took place at the synod, were difficult; however, very quickly the Chaldæan bishop of Aleppo, Syria, Antoine Audo SJ was confirmed as one of the more serious contenders. Set against him were the two Chaldæan bishops serving the important diasporas in America, bishops Ibrahim Ibrahim and Sarhad Yawsip Jammo. However these two candidates according to La Croix encountered political difficulties as many bishops in synod had opposing views on the US-led invasion of Iraq. Accordingly, bishop Audo received twelve votes and bishop Jammo eight. Jammo is an important scholar of the Chladean liturgical tradition and has been in the involved in the ecumenical dialogue with the Church of the East. A minimum of fourteen votes was needed to secure the position of the next Chaldaean patriarch under the code of canon law for the eastern churches.70 Who would lead the Chaldæan church in a new Iraq was a key question, because it was in fact a question about the character of the church’s future identity and mission. Hence the choice of Audo was interesting. Audo had many attributes in his favour: he was relatively young (57),71 a brilliant biblical exegete with a specialist knowledge of the Qur’an,72 a doctorate from the Sorbonne in contemporary Muslim political thought, specifically

70 ‘Les chaldéens n’ont toujours pas de patriarche’, La Croix, 5 September 2003. 71 Born in Aleppo in 1946, Audo entered the Jesuits in 1969 and was ordained a priest 1979. He commenced his academic studies with a ‘licence de letters arabes’, University of Damascus, 1972; a doctoral thesis at the Sorbonne, 1979. He completed his philosophical and theological formation with biblical studies at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome. He was for a time professor in biblical exegesis at Université Saint-Joseph and Université Saint-Esprit (Kaslik), The Lebanon. 72 A. Audo, ‘Approches théologiques du récit de Joseph dans Gn 37-50 et Coran sourate 12’, Proche Orient Chrétien 37 (1987) 268-81.

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the Syrian Alawite and political thinker, Zakî al-Arsouzî73 and a supporter of a constructive dialogue with Islam. At the Asian synod, which discussed the important relations between Christians and Muslims, Audo set out his vision, ‘To survive and develop as living churches in the Arab and Muslim world of the Middle East, Christian Arabs or Asians need a spiritual vision of their relation with Islam, seeing themselves as sent by Christ to be witnesses of love’, and that evangelisation in those lands requires Christians to live ‘within Islam, that is, to form an integral part of society, of the Arab and Muslim culture without complexes, but at the same time to be witnesses of the evangelical liberty in ways that go beyond this culture, seeking to read the language of the Qu’ran as a language of human relations’.74 However, he had disadvantages: he was born in Syria, he was a Jesuit and hence too ‘Latin’ in his formation, and he lacked knowledge of Surath, the Syriac dialect spoken by the Iraqi Chaldæans. He was also Chaldæan bishop in Aleppo, where Cheikho had been before his election as patriarch in 1958. After much discussion, the Chaldæan bishops decided that the new patriarch should be elected from one of the bishops who had responsibly for an Iraqi diocese. In December 2003, a retired bishop was elected to head the Chaldæan church after the Vatican intervened to break the deadlock. Pope John Paul II called the Chaldæan bishops to Rome to continue their deliberations, from which Archbishop Emmanuel-Karim Delly, a 76-year-old, was elected patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldæans on 3 December 2003, taking the name Emmanuel III.75

THE ELECTION OF EMMANUEL III DELLY On 3 December, the same day the newly elected patriarch and bishops were received by the Pope, during the audience the elected patriarch asked the Pope for ‘Ecclesiastica communio’ whilst the Pope encouraged the bishops to safeguard unity. 73 A. Audo, Zakî al-Arsouzî un arabe face a la modernité. Université Saint-Joseph, Faculté des lettres et des sciences humaines, Collection Hommes et Sociétés du Proche-Orient. (Beirut: 1988). 74 Declaration at the Asian Synod, February 2003. 75 ‘Mgr Delly, patriarche de transition’, La Croix, 5 September 2003.

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Respected brothers, always be developing unanimous harmony which has been shown in this synod. Unity of purpose allows for full development of ecclesial life. Harmony is even more necessary when we think about your country, which today more the ever needs to be recalled to peace and calm order. Work to unite the strength of all believers in a respectful dialogue which at all levels will encourage the building of a stable and free society.

On 5 December, cardinal Ignace Moussa I Daoud (Syrian Patriarch emeritus and Head of the Congregation for Oriental Churches in Rome) and patriarch Emmanuel III Delly concelebrated the divine liturgy using the Chaldaean rite in the Basilica of St Peter, and members of the synod were present. During this celebration the Cardinal prefect confirmed the Ecclesiastica communio.76 Patriarch Emmanuel III, who had the baptismal name of Karim Geries Mourad Delly, was born on 6 October 1927 at Telkaïf, in the region of Mosul. He entered the seminary in 1940, was sent to Rome in 1945 and continued his studies. Ordained on 21 December 1952, he attained a degree in Philosophy and a doctorate in Theology and Canon Law; his thesis was translated into Arabic and published in 1992. On his return to Iraq in 1960, he became Secretary-General to the Patriarchate under Patriarch Cheikho. He was promoted to patriarchal vicar and bishop in 1962 and participated in the Second Vatican Council. As well as his responsibilities at the patriarchate, he taught canon law at the seminary and Babel College. On 19 October 2002, having attained 75, he presented his resignation to the patriarchal vicar, but on 10 December 2002, patriarch Bidwid named him Patriarchal Chancellor and made him responsible for church waqfs (religious endowments). The new patriarch began his ministry on 21 December at the church of St Joseph in Baghdad in the presence of some 300 people including officials, representatives of other churches, and Muslim dignitaries both Sunni and Shi’ite. He took the opportunity to appeal for the unity of all Christians in Iraq at a moment of such decisive importance for Iraqi society. His election was welcomed with mixed feelings in the Chaldaean community. Everyone 76

L’Osservatore Romano, 16 December 2003.

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understood that it was a temporary solution given the age of the new patriarch, to re-unite the two opposing currents that emerged at the time of the election. On the other hand people recognised his courage, together with the fact that he had remained close to the people during the most difficult moments of the war; also he gave a certain continuity as he had often appeared at the head of the church during the last few years because of the numerous absences of patriarch Bidawid. It was also Delly who had gone to Iran on a number of occasions to comfort and pray with the Iraqi Christian prisoners of war, who might be considered some of the most forgotten of all, that were still held in Iran since the end of the Gulf war. Pope John Paul II had often intervened personally on their behalf with the Iranian government and it was his blessings that Delly also delivered.

AFTERTHOUGHTS Despite the ability to survive in such a hostile environment conflict from without and within continues to endanger Mesopotamian Christianity. The late Father Yusuf Habbi, the Patriarchal-Vicar of the Chaldaean Church, head of the theological faculty and academy in Baghdad, editor-in-chief of the review Bayn-al-Nahrayn and Professor at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome said with optimistic vision that a recalling of the unique identity and ecumenical vocation of oriental Christianity would create the spirit for renewal and revival for Christianity not only in Iraq but in the whole of the Near East.77 It is vital that the Christians of the Middle East revitalize their own cultural rôle and offer the societies in which they live the cultural openness and knowledge of the outside world that has characterized their modern history. It is no exaggeration to say that Christians of the Middle East are indispensable to a democratic and pluralistic Arab world and Middle East. Thus, their presence is as important to the outside world as to their own countrymen. The problems of the Christians are part of the general problem of lack of respect for religious freedom and human rights in this part of the world. If the general population benefits from changes resulting from the ruling elites’ realization that political reform is 77

Dümler (1999) 143.

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unavoidable, Christians stand to benefit as well. The question of religious freedom, the allowing of the spiritual energy from within Eastern Christianity to participate fully in animating society, culture, and politics of the public sphere is crucial. The economic factors are also key; it explains the emigration of Arab Christians, and it will be key to stemming the exodus. One should also pay more attention to the educational institutions, humanitarian as well as social, run by the churches in the Middle East. These institutions often offer their services to Muslims as well as Christians and provide the opportunity for a real dialogue and religious exchange between the two communities. While radical Islamism may have exacerbated the travails of Christians; Christians in Iraq do not aspire to be singled out as persecuted minority groups. Instead, they prefer to be viewed as an integral part of society who seek to flourish with their Muslim compatriots. The presence of Christianity in Iraq is a witness to the creative and spiritual power of Eastern Christianity in the Middle East and an important source for the religious and political renewal of the region.

LISTING OF PLATES Plate 1. Consecration of Raphael Bidawid, Baghdad 1989.

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PLATES

Harrak Plate 2. Syriac Catholic Church al-Ṭahira. Relief.

286

BLACK AND WHITE PLATES 


Harrak Plate 3. Chaldaean Ṭahra. Men’s Gate.

Harrak Plate 4. Chaldaean Ṭahra. Façade.

BLACK AND WHITE PLATES 


Harrak Plate 5. Chaldaean Ṭahra. Inscription above Royal Gate.

Harrak Plate 6. Chaldaean Ṭahra. Screen.

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BLACK AND WHITE PLATES 











Harrak Plate 7. Chaldaean Ṭahra. Tripartite Arcade. 
 
 
 
 



 Harrak Plate 8. Qaraqōsh. Gate, Church of the Mother of God. 





COLOUR PLATES

Brock Plate 1. Front view of the monastery of Mār Mattai. [Photo © Erica C. D. Hunter]

Brock Plate 2. Approach to Rabban Hormizd monastery. [Photo © Erica C. D. Hunter]

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COLOUR PLATES

Brock Plate 3. Inner courtyard of ‘Our Lady of the Sown’. [Photo © Erica C. D. Hunter]

Brock Plate 4. Doorway, Mār Behnam monastery. [Photo © Erica C. D. Hunter]

COLOUR PLATES

Rassam Plate 1. Detail of carved lintel, Mār Behnam monastery. [Photo © Erica C. D. Hunter]

Rassam Plate 2. Modern entrance to Mār Behnam monastery. [Photo © Erica C. D. Hunter]

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COLOUR PLATES

Dickens Plate 1. Syriac Psalter fragment, Turfan Collection. [Depositum der Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften in der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz Orientabteilung. SyrHT 62]

COLOUR PLATES

293

Dickens Plate 2. Pahlavi Psalter fragment, Turfan Collection. [Depositum Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Staatsbibliothek Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz Orientabteilung Ps 06, Recto]

Dickens Plate 3. Christian Sogdian C5 lectionary fragment, Turfan Collection. [Depositum Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Staatsbibliothek Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz Orientabteilung TIIB 176 N149]

294

COLOUR PLATES

Dickens Plate 4. Christian Uyghur fragment, Uyghur script, non-canonical saying from Luke, Turfan Collection. [Depositum Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Staatsbibliothek Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz Orientabteilung T II B 1 U320]

Dickens Plate 5. Christian Uyghur wedding blessing, Syriac script, Turfan Collection. [Depositum Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Staatsbibliothek Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz Orientabteilung TIII Kurutka 1857 U7264]

COLOUR PLATES

Savchenko and Dickens Plate 1. Bronze censer from Urgut. [Photo N. Tikhomirov]

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COLOUR PLATES

Savchenko and Dickens Plate 2. Sogdian Christian coinage, 7th century (bronze) Top group: Bukhara oasis (Western Uzbekistan). Bottom group: Samarkand area (Central Uzbekistan and Tajikistan). Right (obverse only): Chach (Tashkent region).

COLOUR PLATES

297

Savchenko and Dickens Plate 3. Cross, bronze, Quwa (Ferghana Valley, Eastern Uzbekistan). Savchenko and Dickens Plate 4. Cross, bronze, Qashqadarya Province (Central Uzbekistan). Savchenko and Dickens Plate 5. Cross of thin sheet gold (sewn onto funeral clothing of the deceased) Durmon (near Samarkand). Savchenko and Dickens Plate 6. Cross with the ornamental design of grapes (a Eucharistic symbol), coal shale (Samarkand province). Savchenko and Dickens Plate 7. Pendant with Virgin and Child, glass in silver mounting, Balalyk-tepa (Surkhandarya province, southern Uzbekistan).

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COLOUR PLATES

Savchenko and Dickens Plate 8. Ceramic jug, Taraz region (Kazakhstan). [Photo C. Baumer]

Savchenko and Dickens Plate 9. Ceramic bowl for ritual washing before ceremony, Andijan (Ferghana valley, Eastern Uzbekistan).

COLOUR PLATES

299

Savchenko and Dickens Plate 10. Ceramic cast for moulding crosses, Rabinjan (Samarkand area).

300

COLOUR PLATES

Savchenko and Dickens Plate 11. Northern nave with chancel in the background.

COLOUR PLATES

301

Savchenko and Dickens Plate 12. Southern nave with chancel in the background.

Savchenko and Dickens Plate 13. Ascetic caves with Syriac inscription near the monastery site.

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COLOUR PLATES

Savchenko and Dickens Plate 14. Syriac inscription in one of the caves, with personal name ‘Abdisho‘ (‘servant of Jesus’).

Savchenko and Dickens Plate 15. Ceramic pot with imitation Syriac writing, Gus, near Urgut.

COLOUR PLATES

303

Klein Plate 1. Grave-marker with Nestorian cross and Syriac inscription.

O’Mahony Plate 1. Consecration of Raphael Bidawid, Baghdad 1989. [Photo Copyright Erica C. D. Hunter]

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COLOUR PLATES

Harrak Plate 1. Syriac Catholic Church al-Ṭahira: Iconostasis.

Harrak Plate 9. Qaraqōsh, church of saints Sergius and Bacchus.