Patristics

Jacob of Sarug is one of the most celebrated poets of Eastern Christianity and the Syriac tradition. The Gorgias Press edition, edited by Sebastian P. Brock, contains over 100,000 lines of poetry based on Bedjan’s 1905 edition.

Jacob of Sarug is one of the most celebrated poets of Eastern Christianity and the Syriac tradition. The Gorgias Press edition, edited by Sebastian P. Brock, contains over 100,000 lines of poetry based on Bedjan’s 1905 edition.

Jacob of Sarug is one of the most celebrated poets of Eastern Christianity and the Syriac tradition. The Gorgias Press edition, edited by Sebastian P. Brock, contains over 100,000 lines of poetry based on Bedjan’s 1905 edition.

Jacob of Sarug is one of the most celebrated poets of Eastern Christianity and the Syriac tradition. The Gorgias Press edition, edited by Sebastian P. Brock, contains over 100,000 lines of poetry based on Bedjan’s 1905 edition.

This volume collects together for the first time the most influential papers of the late scholar of Georgian and New Testament textual critic, J. Neville Birdsall. Professor Birdsall wrote on Greek witnesses to the New Testament text, the Georgian version of the New Testament, palaeography, patristics, and the theory of textual criticism. The collection fully demonstrates the author’s standing as one of the most learned and wide-ranging New Testament textual scholars of modern times.

From one of the most thought-provoking writers in the monastic tradition, this volume contains 153 short, contemplative sayings of St. Isaac of Nineveh (fl. 661-681 CE) in their original Syriac with facing English translation. St. Isaac was ordained bishop of Nineveh but resigned his post only five months later and became a monastic hermit in the mountains of southeastern Iraq. This work speaks to believing Christians today as well as scholars wishing to learn more about the Eastern monastic tradition.

This title is a study of the work and career of theologian and diplomat George Scholarios who became the first Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox Church during the period of Ottoman Rule. Scholarios advocated the union of the Greek and Latin Churches, but he later became the leader of the anti-Unionist faction in the final years of the Byzantine Empire. Scholarios played an important role in East-West dialogues, including the Council of Ferrara-Florence in 1438-39. This book provides a fresh look at some of the cultural misunderstandings that took place at the Council and related dialogues.

John of Dalyatha (690-780 CE) was a monk from a monastery near the Turkey-Iraq border. After living in the monastery for only seven years, he received permission to live a solitary life in the over 9,000 ft high mountains of Dalyatha where he spent most of his life. When he became too old to live on his own, he came down from the mountains, formed a community around himself and wrote these works. In them, John outlines the life itinerary of those who are baptized, the "Way of Wonder" - leading to the vision of God.

Western sources have long referred to Theodora as an infamous and salacious courtesan who became Justinian’s empress. Syriac sources portray her as a woman of sublime character and decorum, the daughter of a Syriac priest. This historical play outlines her character according to the Syriac tradition. In writing the play, Bishop Gregorius Boulos Behnam portrayed Theodora as a virtuous lady who won the heart of Justinian, who made her his Augusta and co-regent of his empire. Behnam reveals her extraordinary devotion to her faith and piety as she strives to protect the Fathers of the Syriac Church who stood against the declarations of the Council of Chalcedon and were persecuted for it. Now available for the first time in English, this edition translated by Matti Moosa stands counter to the view of Theodora as portrayed by Procopius in his version of the story, as it is popularly known in Western Christendom.

St. Isaac of Nineveh, or, as he is sometimes known, St. Isaac the Syrian, was born in the region of modern Qatar and lived during the seventh century. Ordained as the bishop of Nineveh sometime between 661 and 681 CE, Isaac withdrew from his ecclesiastical office after only five months, retiring to live as a monastic hermit in the mountains of southeastern Iraq. Translated from their original Syriac into a number of other languages, St. Isaac’s spiritual writings have been read by Christian monastics for centuries. The present volume gives the original Syriac text edited by Paul Bedjan.

Nestorius, deposed by the Council of Ephesus, spent his final years composing an apologia defending his theological beliefs, which became known as the ‘Book (or ‘Bazaar’) of Heraclides’. The Greek original is lost, but this Syriac translation survived in a single manuscript in the library of the Catholicos of the East, in his mountain retreat of Qodshanes. Bedjan gives an edition of this vital Syriac text.

An anthology of Syriac texts from the Syriac fathers. Each author is first introduced in Syriac, and then excerpts from his writings are given. The texts begin with the Abgar Legend (the Acts of Addai) and end with the writings of the sixteenth century author Abdisho of Jazirah.

Ephrem the Syrian is known as one of the greatest Christian poets and as a unique author whose mode of thought is usually described as “symbolic.” In this work, Kees den Biesen explores the literary, intellectual, and theological mechanisms at work in Ephrem’s writings with the specific aim of identifying the exact nature of his “symbolic thought” and evaluating its contemporary relevance. Den Biesen elaborates a comprehensive approach that integrates a variety of methods into a genuinely theological methodology. He then proposes his own comprehensive understanding of the nature and merits of Ephrem’s symbolic thought.

Joseph Ma'aruf (1693-1713) produced (via an Arabic translation of the Latin) this Syriac compendium of eleven key ecumenical councils acknowledged by the Catholic Church. It is still read today, by Syriac-speaking Christians who wish to have a concise introduction to the theological decrees and canons of these great church councils which defined Catholic faith.

This books gives the Syriac text of the account of Yaballaha III, Church of the East Patriarch, and his vicar Bar Sauma, the Mongol Ambassador to the Frankish courts at the end of the thirteenth century.

Dialogue poetry is a genre that began in ancient Sumer and continues in rich fashion in the Syriac tradition. Sebastian Brock has selected an edition of twenty six dialogue poems: between the Church and Zion; Abraham and Isaac; Joseph and Benjamin; the body and the soul; Joseph and Mary; the thief and the cherub; Mary and the Magi; the church and the believers; the angel and Mary; among the months of the year; between the angel and Zachariah; death and Satan; Jesus and the faithful; the two thieves; Jesus and John; the sinful woman and Satan; Abel and Cain; and wheat and gold.

Jacob of Sarug (451–521) was a prolific writer of the Syriac Church and was known as “the flute of the Holy Spirit and the harp of the believing church”. Sebastian Brock gives the Syriac edition of six homilies written by Jacob: on the birth of our Lord; on the baptism of our Lord; on the Great Lent; on Palm Sunday; on Good Friday; on Easter Sunday. The text is based on an ancient manuscripts preserved in London and dated 609.

Paul Bedjan produced this catechism to advance the knowledge of Catholicism among Aramaic-speaking Christians of the Middle East. The book is written in Modern Aramaic, in the dialect of Urmia. The book is of interest not only for pedagogical purposes among the Aramaic speakers, but also will give the Neo-Aramaic scholar a literary text from the late nineteenth century.

Bar Hebraeus, a celebrated Syriac writer of the thirteenth century, wrote on nearly every subject imaginable. The Book of Ethics is a manual of discipline and etiquette covering secular life as well as spiritual life.

This translation makes readily available the basic hagiography of St. Nino. Apart from her personal significance, St. Nino represents the important place that women held in the introduction of Christianity to Georgia. Text critical material is offered, and chapters 8 through 11 of the Armenian version are presented.

A rare glimpse into the wealth of manuscripts held by the community of Mount Athos, this volume includes material from codices psi and Evang. 1071, and chapters from Acta Pilati, and a fragment of Acta Thomae. A catalogue and description of the manuscripts Lake viewed on his 1899 visit to Mount Athos and substantial introductions to each piece round out this useful study.

Rogers examines what archaeology reveals for the early centuries of the church. From the period of persecution to that of the northern invasions, iconographic evidence for the performance of baptism is presented. Eastern and Western Church fonts are compared and evidence for baptism without a font is assessed. The question of immersion is considered.

A critical edition of the Syriac Testament of St. Ephrem, along with a French translation and notes, secure Duval’s study a place in the literature concerning this document. This historic study provides a translation in accessible French along with the necessary critical apparatus for scholars.

This essay grapples with the question of theodicy as represented by the Ante-Nicene writers Lactantius and the writer of the Pseudo-Clementine literature. Bussell’s dialogue with these sources points to the role human responsibility plays in the origin of evil.

A thorough analysis of St. Cyprian’s writing style and use of language, this study is invaluable for the student of the saint. Comparison with contemporary writers and careful attention to grammatical and linguistic elements mark this useful study of an important figure of early Christianity.