Syriac Liturgy

In all liturgical families, including the Syriac ones, the proclamation of the Word of God is an essential element of liturgical celebration. Although in the numerous communities sharing the same tradition of Antioch, Edessa and Nisibis the practice of reading from the Bible during the liturgy looks different there are some common elements. They include: a great respect for the Bible (the book seen as a monstrance), the readings taking place during the Liturgy of Cate- chumens; the division of readings from both the Old and New Testament into the psalmodic chants, the practice of reading the Gospel which is reserved strictly for the priest, the presence of the biblical poetry during the whole celebration. In this study, apart from the analysis of the essential elements of the Syriac Liturgy of the Word, the Author includes a brief introduction to the history and geography of the Syriac Churches and describes the historical place of the procla- mation of the Bible, i.e. the bema.

In every liturgical family, including the Syriac ones, the proclamation of the Word of God belongs to the essential elements of the celebration. Although in the many communities sharing the same tradition of Antioch, Edessa and Nisibis the practice of the biblical readings within the liturgy looks different there are some common elements. Among them one can list: a great respect towards the Bible (the book seen as a monstrance); the readings take place during the Liturgy of Catechumens; the readings from both the Old and New Testament are divided by the psalmodic chants; the practice of reading the Gospel is strictly reserved for the priest; the presence of the biblical poetry within the whole celebration. In this study, aside from the analyshis of the essential elements of the Syriac Liturgy of the Word, the author has included also a brief introduction to the history and geography of the Syriac Churches and has described the historical place of the proclamation of the Bible, i.e. the bemā.

In terms of influence and literary quality, St. Ephrem 1 the Syrian (d. 373) may be considered as the greatest figure in the history of Syriac literature. His survived literary heritage consists of a vast corpus of poetical texts, commentaries and discourses in Syriac, 2 a remarkable corpus of commentaries and other texts in Armenian, 3 in addition to a spurious yet influential collection of ascetic texts in Greek. During the last decades, there has been a remarkable growth of scholarly studies on the Syriac Ephrem. 4 Ephrem's theological mission was in developing a holistic vision of all reality centred on the mystery of Christ. Ephrem's approach was enabled and enriched by the fact that the main vehicle of his theological expression was that of poetry. The main body of his vast literary output was written in poetical Syriac characterised by an effective fusion of compact expression and capacious content. Ephrem's methodical approach might be called "symbolic synecdoche", in which parts refer to the whole and the parts function as variations of certain main themes.

English Translation: First Service (Gabriel Bar-Sawme) revised by Robert Kitchen; Second service (Charbel Rizk & Gunay Raheb) revised by Sebastian Brock.
Arabic Translation: First Service (Antonios Gharib); Second service (Zaytoun Sawmi)
General Editor: Roger Akhrass

LIT Umschlagbild: Inschrift am Haupteingang der Kirche Notre Dame d'Ilige, Mayfouk/Libanon. Alter Sitz der maronitischen Patriarchen (Foto: Hans Hollerweger) Gedruckt mit Unterstützung von: ZECO -Zentrum zur Erforschung des Christlichen Ostens / Center for the Study of the Christian East Ñ ½ Gedruckt auf alterungsbeständigem Werkdruckpapier entsprechend ANSI Z3948 DIN ISO 9706 Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar.

On the occasion of the 80 th birthday of Sebastian P. Brock, Sankt Ignatios Theological Academy & Stockholm School of Theology, Sweden, are hosting a major conference on " The Future of Syriac Studies. " Sebastian Brock has agreed to be present and participate and it is expected that this will be a significant and memorable event for Syriac studies. Papers are now being invited and solicited from senior and junior scholars for a limited number of spaces in general sessions. Papers should be 20-25 minutes in order to give time for discussion, and may concern any topic in the broad range of Syriac studies. Please keep in mind that the theme of this conference focuses upon new directions and methodologies, as well as to forge new resolutions to traditional issues. The deadline for submittal of a title and abstract (ca. 200 words) is 1 February 2018. The conference committee will notify those whose papers have been accepted by 1 March 2018. During the concluding session, Sebastian Brock will be awarded the Order of Sankt Ignatios for his long and valued contribution to all matters Syriac, along with his mentorship to so many scholars. In addition to the plenary and general sessions, events of Syriac song and poetry are being planned, as well as a round-table discussion of the future of Syriac studies. Housing and meals will be available for all participants at the Sigtuna Conference Centre or in the close vicinity. Sigtuna is one of the oldest settlements in Sweden and is located only 20 minutes from the Stockholm Arlanda Airport. A registration form will be available shortly at www.sanktignatios.org.

This essay examines several liturgical poems in which a correspondence exists between the texts and the space in which they were performed. A key term in my investigation is ekphrasis, a rhetorical technique common in classical Greco-Roman world that influenced late antique liturgical poets. I begin with a discussion of the impact of ekphrasis on Christian and Jewish poetic texts and continue with an examination of several poems that appropriate the ekphrastic technique and use it as part of their own liturgical and ritual practices. Finally, I situate these poems alongside the architecture and the artwork of the synagogues and churches of late antiquity in which they were performed.

Longtemps perçu à tort comme une marge reculée et peu créative de l’Empire byzantin, le monde syriaque n’en a pas moins incarné un rôle déterminant, au cours des derniers siècles de l’Antiquité, dans l’émergence de l’art du livre chrétien. C’est en effet entre Tigre et Euphrate que virent le jour certains des plus anciens manuscrits bibliques illustrés, parmi lesquels la « Bible de Paris », conservée à la Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF syr. 341), occupe à plus d’un titre une place remarquable. Un siècle après son acquisition mouvementée, au plus fort des tourments qui meurtrirent les communautés syriaques de l’Empire ottoman, le présent ouvrage se propose d’offrir une synthèse des études consacrées à ce manuscrit encore trop méconnu, tout en présentant les avancées décisives des recherches les plus récentes.

Indispensables à une juste compréhension des enjeux de son décor, l’analyse des différents aspects matériels du livre, l’étude de la tradition textuelle dont il est le fruit et l’examen des diverses fonctions dont il a pu être investi offrent des éclairages nouveaux aux questions soulevées par son lieu de création, sa datation, et les techniques picturales mises en œuvre par ses auteurs.

Vingt-quatre miniatures, retraçant la geste de l’ancienne Alliance et illustrant les hauts faits des prophètes, esquissent les contours d’un programme iconographique élaboré et sans équivalent. À travers ces vestiges, le milieu d’origine du manuscrit se dévoile ainsi comme le creuset d’un art original et novateur, irrigué de références visuelles communes aux chrétientés de Méditerranée orientale et traversé de nombreux échos de la spiritualité syriaque.

Badania prehistorii islamu oraz poszukiwania źródeł religii muzułmańskiej, zarówno w tym wymiarze duchowym jak i materialnym, od wieków stanowiły pole dla bezlicznych dociekań naukowych, opieranych na dostępnych dowodach i przesłankach – zabytków literatury, sztuki, archeologii, epigrafiki, paleografii i wielu dyscyplin pokrewnych. Myślą przewodnią książki jest stwierdzenie, że islam jako religia, której geneza ginie w pomrokach historii, musiał posiadać w pewnym zakresie swoje źródła w duchowości wcześniejszych kultur i nurtów religijnych / filozoficznych / ideologicznych późnego antyku, poprzedzających go chronologicznie. Jest to więc próba badania ciągłości całokształtu procesów historycznych, które doprowadziły do uformowania się zrębów muzułmańskiej wiary w takiej, a nie innej formie, w tym a nie innym czasie, w tym a nie innym miejscu.
Narodziny islamu i dwa pierwsze wieki jego dziejów są dla islamoznawców i historyków religii okresem niosącym nieporównywalnie więcej znaków zapytania i dylematów niż pewników. Patrząc na nurtujące badaczy zagadnienia przez pryzmat prawideł krytyki naukowej, niepewności dotyczą już najbardziej podstawowych ustaleń powszechnie uznawanych za niepodważalne aksjomaty. Jeśli odłożyć na chwilę na bok napiętnowane religijnym kerygmatem i późne źródła tradycji religijnej islam, wziąwszy na przykład Koran, nasuwają się fundamentalne pytania: kiedy, gdzie i jak sposób powstał? Z jakiego środowiska pochodzi? Dla kogo został napisany – kto był jego grupą docelową? W jakiej postaci i w jakim języku powstał? W jaki sposób przekazywano Koran w jego najstarszej fazie? Kto, kiedy, w jaki sposób i w jakim celu go skodyfikował? Czy możliwa jest rekonstrukcja koranicznego tekstu najbliższej tzw. wersji autograficznej? Autor przedstawia w swojej książce i poddaje krytycznej analizie pięć współczesnych teorii naukowych, których przegląd ma na celu przybliżenie nas do odpowiedzi na te pytania, a przynajmniej zakreślenie tła Sitz im Leben i zakresu badawczego, w którym należy ich szukać. Badania autora, oprócz źródeł literackich, bazują również na osobistych kontaktach z autorami w/w teorii naukowych w czasie pobytów badawczych w USA i Niemczech.

At the turn of the 20th and 21st century, the field of Arabic and Islamic studies became enriched by a number of multi-facetted scholarly theories challenging the traditional knowledge of the genesis and early centuries of Islam. This book in the Polish language presents some of them, with particular emphasis on the question of the historical origins of the Quran and its exegesis, on the ever returning issue of credibility of the traditional Islamic literary sources, as well as on topics resulting out of these two problems and related to the figure of the prophet Muhammad, the Arab conquests and the first formative years of the Arab state.

The present collection is part of the Syriac manuscript patrimony held in that corner of land
commonly referred to as Tur ‘Abdin, a slither of land in far southeastern Turkey that creeps
between Syria and Iraq. A land whose wealth of ecclesiastical heritage contrasts with its remote
unassuming nature, far from any easy and straightforward path. However, even what is but a drop in
a sea, speaks to the importance of this ancient culture and of the exceptional and strenuous
conservation work.

Paper edition available the 20th of Sept (220 euros)
Kindle Amazon available the 21st of August (140 USD)

The Liturgy of the Holy Apostles Addai and Mari (or the Liturgy of the Apostles) occupies the most important place among the liturgies of the Church of the East (the so-called "Nestorian Church"). Romanian theology first came into contact with this liturgy through the articles of Teodor Tarnavschi at the end of the 19th century, articles that were revised and enriched by illustrious liturgists such as Petre Vintilescu and Ene Branişte. All of them show us the great importance of the Liturgy of the Apostles, which, together with other liturgies of the Christian Orient, is distinguished by its ancient character, its symbolic-theological richness, its biblical-patristic anchoring and its lyric poetry. Although the Romanian liturgical theologians of the last century have tried to promote the study of the liturgical rites of the Christian Orient, their research has remained almost without echo. Therefore, with the proposed study, we wish to contribute to the knowledge of one of these Oriental liturgies, namely the Liturgy of the Holy Apostles Addai and Mari, which is the heart of the "Nestorian" rite. Therefore, after a brief description of its origins and the available historical sources, we will try to outline the stages of the historical development of the Liturgy of the Apostles, taking into account the most recent Western research in this field.

For the first time, this volume brings together biblical scholars and specialists in Syriac liturgy and patristic literature. It contains introductory essays on the Syriac versions in the liturgy, the Syriac Old Testament commentary tradition, and the challenges posed to exegetes by the different Syriac versions of the New Testament, written by the leading scholars in the field. Twenty-one further contributions discuss the patristic and liturgical evidence for the development of the text of the Peshitta and other Syriac versions, as well as the reception and use of those versions in the exegesis and liturgy of the Syriac Churches. These studies are fully updated versions of the papers read at the Third Peshitta Symposium, held in Leiden, 12-15 August 2001.

A community of particular significance in the development of Mesopotamian-Iraqi Christian life in the modern era was (and is) the Dominican Order which has had a sustained presence since the 18th century. This article serves as an overview of Dominican contributions to Syriac Christian life in Mesopotamia and reflects on the Order's presence as part of the traditional plurality of Iraqi society. Notwithstanding the rise of Da'esh/ISIL since June 2014 multiple religious traditions continue to exist in Iraq. The willingness of wider Iraqi society to accept a Christian presence is easily forgotten in contemporary narratives which focus on sectarian discourses and avoid acknowledging that the Middle East is not dichotomous in perpetuity: there are wider considerations than Jewish-Muslim, Arab-Kurd, Arab-Persian &c. Moreover, while Islam is an ever present reality in the modern and contemporary Middle East, it is not the only reality.

The relationship between God and human being was seen, already in the OT, as amorous. The image that was most preferred, with which this relationship could be described, was the spousal image. It was used metaphorically to underline, on the one hand, the desire of the man-bride to go back to paradise, after his fall, and to be with his God-bridegroom and to join Him, and on the other, the will of God-bridegroom himself, being in his garden-paradise, to invite His bride to come and to enter to make the nuptial feast with Him. In this first part of our article we will illustrate this symbolic image, starting from its dogmatic base, then presenting its biblical background and at the end analyzing the Greek patristic interpretations of it and how the fathers related this image to the liturgical life of the primitive church.

La littérature en langue syriaque, du nom que l'on donne à la forme de l'araméen en usage chez les chrétiens du Proche-Orient, est l'une des plus riches de l'Orient chrétien. Elle est celle de communautés qui ont fleuri depuis la Méditerranée jusqu'à l'Inde et à la Chine et qui sont actuellement répandues du Liban à l'Iran et à l'Inde et du Sud-Est de la Turquie à l'Iraq et à la Syrie, sans compter une très forte et dynamique présence en émigration. Cette forme d'araméen est à l'origine celle de la ville d'Édesse en Mésopotamie, actuellement Urfa dans le Sud de la Turquie, d'où le christianisme s'est répandu vers l'Orient et dont la langue et la culture se sont diffusées avec la christianisation. L'araméen chrétien est l'héritier de la culture araméenne, celle d'une langue qui est attestée dans les petits royaumes araméens de l'actuelle Syrie par des inscriptions depuis le début du IX e siècle av. J.-C. et qui a connu une première diffusion très vite en raison des déportations de populations opérées dans l'empire assyrien. La langue araméenne, qui faisait usage d'une écriture alphabétique, plus simple que le système logo-syllabique cunéiforme, a donc été largement utilisée dans l'empire assyrien (IX e -VII e siècle) et a été la langue administrative d'usage dans l'empire perse achéménide (VI e -IV e siècle). Elle a été parlée dans tout le Proche-Orient jusqu'à la conquête arabo-musulmane et certaines formes d'araméen ont été d'usage vernaculaire jusqu'à récemment chez les Juifs d'Iraq et sont parlées jusqu'à aujourd'hui chez les chrétiens du Tur 'Abdin en Turquie ou du Nord de l'Iraq. La littérature syriaque est celle de différentes Églises : -l'Église de l'Orient ou « assyrienne », que l'on a longtemps appelée de façon polémique « nestorienne » et qui s'est développée à l'origine dans l'empire perse sassanide, en Iraq et en Iran. Elle a une Église soeur catholique, l'Église chaldéenne ; -l'Église syro-orthodoxe ou jacobite, qui a rejeté les conclusions du concile de Chalcédoine au V e siècle pour défendre une interprétation miaphysite, selon la formule de Cyrille d'Alexandrie, « une seule nature du Verbe incarné », qui mettait en avant l'union des natures, humaine et divine, dans le Christ tandis que la définition du concile insistait sur le fait que le Christ était pleinement homme et pleinement Dieu en une seule personne. Cette Église a également une soeur catholique, l'Église syro-catholique ; -l'Église maronite, qui s'est développée au Liban ; -les Églises chalcédoniennes melkites, orthodoxe et catholique, qui ont aussi usé du syriaque pendant une partie de leur histoire.

"This document contains a draft translation of Ps.-Chrysostom In Ascensionem 1 (PG 52:791-794 = CPG 4531 = RP 516)

I translated this for practice in Greek. To my untrained eye this text hints at early liturgical traditions, includes a statement against Eutychianism, and shows a faint Syriac influence.

1. Introduction 2. English Translation 3. Latin-Greek-English Parallel Text"

Intervento tenuto all'interno del convegno «Il Levante cristiano. Giornata di studio sul Libano e Siria a partire dalla pubblicazione di due monografie della collana Studia Orientalia Christiana (Edizioni Terra Santa 2019)» tenuto a Milano, Venerabile Biblioteca Ambrosiana il 24 gennaio 2020

Un approccio patristico-liturgico. Parte seconda Nella prima parte di questo studio abbiamo analizzato il simbolo sponsale es-presso nell'AT e nel NT, come una relazione tra Dio e il suo amante — l'uomo. Abbiamo rilevato in quale modo l'incarnazione del Verbo è stata vista come l'unione matrimoniale di amore divino analizzando la dottrina patristica greca. In questa parte vedremo come la tradizione patristica siriaca vide tale immagine simbolica e come si è sviluppata sin dalla tradizione giudeo-cristiana semitica fino a quella dei Padri siriaci dei primi secoli. Alla fine arriveremo a vedere come questa immagine ebbe (e ha ancora) un ruolo semantico nella tradizione liturgica sia bizantino-greca sia quella siriaca.

In the liturgical literature of the Church of East (the so-called Nestorian), the Wardā collection, meant for the liturgical performance at night services on the festival days and Sundays of the whole liturgical year, holds a special place. Strophic hymns – ōnītā (pl. ōnyātā) – contained in the collection are still a part of the liturgy of the East Syrian Church. Altogether, the collection comprises more than 120 hymns, most of which are ascribed to Gīwargīs Wardā (13th century), who is the eponym of this book. According to their content, the hymns can be divided into five categories: exegetic, hagiographic, apocryphal narratives, describing historical events and calamities, dedicated to other subjects. The first part of the book is a detailed study of the textual, poetical and historical peculiarities of the Wardā collection. Ist evolution stages and the main types have been reconstructed. A special chapter focuses on the position of this book in Syriac church literature and defines ist main sources. The second part represents a critical edition of 35 hymns from the Wardā collection according to the existing manuscripts, including English translations. Many of these hymns have been translated for the first time.

This paper proposes an analysis of some rites described in Pseudo-Dionysius
the Areopagite’s De ecclesiastica hierarchia, focusing in particular on the
sacraments of the Ordination and of the Enlightenment, as well as on some
parts of the Eucharistic Synaxis. Through the comparison between the ordo
and its exegesis (theoria) it is possible to point out that Ps.-Dionysius, in
several cases, comments on a rite that presents relevant differences in
comparison with the ordo reported. These disparities suggest that Dionysius
followed some sort of a Syriac ordo , even if his commentary was influenced
by a familiarity with the rites of Constantinople. The results presented here
allow to challenge the historiographic issue of the Syrian origins of Ps.-
Dionysius and to put forward a new chronology for the Corpus dionysiacum.
Finally, an attempt is made to discover the hidden message behind the
complex organization of the liturgical matter of the treatise, at the light of
the more general framework of the dionysian pseudo-epigraphy

Sakrament namaszczenia chorych jest jaskrawym wyrazem troski Kościoła o najsłabszych członków jego wspólnoty. Chociaż modlitwa za nich obecna jest w całym dziedzictwie liturgicznym wspólnot chrześcijańskich, to jednak szczególne miejsce zajmuje tu celebracja specjalnego sakramentu uzdrowienia, której charakterystycznym elementem jest namaszczanie ciała chorego „olejem łaski”. Symbolika oleju w liturgiach wszystkich wspólnot chrześcijańskich jest niezwykle bogata i odnosi się głównie do szczególnej duchowej mocy oraz wylania obfitych łask bożych. W sakramencie chorych poprzez modlitwę kapłanów, włożenie rąk i namaszczenie chory otrzymuje specjalną łaskę umocnienia i uzdrowienia, które może posiadać dwie płaszczyzny: duchową i fizyczną. Ta pierwsza wydaje się ważniejsza, dlatego też niemal wszystkie tradycje orientalne podkreślają pokutny charakter obrzędu. Każda choroba, nawet duchowa, czyni nas zdolnymi do przyjęcia uzdrawiającej mocy sakramentu chorych. Niniejsze studium ukazuje ogólny zarys historii rozwoju obrzędu poprzez wskazanie głównych źródeł historycznych oraz jego kształt we współczesnej praktyce dwóch wielkich tradycji chrześcijańskiego Wschodu: bizantyjskiej i syryjskiej.

Słowa kluczowe: namaszczenie chorych, sakrament uzdrowienia, liturgia bizantyjska, liturgia syryjska.

The Anointing of the Sick in the Liturgy of the Byzantine and Syriac Churches

The Sacrament of the Sick is a clear expression of the Church’s care for the weakest members of its community. Even if the prayer for the sick is present in the whole liturgical Christian heritage, a special place in this field has the celebration of the sacrament of healing with its characteristic rite, i.e. the anointing of the body of the sick with a blessed “oil of grace”. In the liturgy of the Church the symbolic of the oil is abundant and refers mainly to the peculiar power and to the overflow of the divine graces. In the Sacrament of the Sick, through the prayer of the priests, the placing of the hands and the anointing with the blessed oil the sick person receives a special strength and healing which can have both spiritual and physical effects. The spiritual healing seems to be more important therefore almost every oriental liturgical tradition underlines the penitential character of the rite. Every sickness, also the spiritual one, make us able to receive the healing strength of the sacrament. This study shows the general outline of the development of the rite and its actual practice in two great tradition of Christian East: Byzantine and Syriac.

Key words: Anointing of the Sick, sacrament of healing, Byzantine Liturgy, Syriac Liturgy.

Posługa liturgiczna kapłana jest ściśle związana z rzeczywistością, która przez wierzących rozumiana jest jako „święta”. Taki stan rzeczy zakłada, że sprawujący najświętsze tajem- nice kapłan powinien być doskonałym przykładem dla swoich współwyznawców. Jed- nakże ludzka natura kapłana podobnie jak każdego innego człowieka jest słaba i grzesz- na. Niniejszy artykuł stanowi studium zbioru modlitw z liturgii Mszy świętej (Qurbono) tradycji zachodnio-syryjskiej, które odnoszą się do słabości i grzeszności celebrującego ją kapłana. W przebiegu liturgii wynotowano dwadzieścia trzy modlitwy i aklamacje od- noszące się bezpośrednio do osoby celebransa. Stając przed Bogiem, pozostaje on grzesz- nikiem, którego grzechy są wielkie i niezliczone. Teksty tzw. modlitw penitencjalnych uświadamiają go, że aby sprawowana przez niego liturgia była godną, potrzebuje on bo- skiego przebaczenia, gdyż tylko wtedy jego „słabe i grzeszne ręce” będą zdolne wypełnić kapłańską posługę na rzecz zgromadzonej wspólnoty i całego Kościoła. Dlatego też te modlitwy są recytowane nie tylko przez sprawującego liturgię prezbitera czy biskupa, ale także przez wiernych.

In the liturgical literature of the Church of East (the so-called Nestorian), the Wardā collection, meant for the liturgical performance at night services on the festival days and Sundays of the whole liturgical year, holds a special place. Strophic hymns – ōnītā (pl. ōnyātā) – contained in the collection are still a part of the liturgy of the East Syrian Church. Altogether, the collection comprises more than 120 hymns, most of which are ascribed to Gīwargīs Wardā (13th century), who is the eponym of this book. According to their content, the hymns can be divided into five categories: exegetic, hagiographic, apocryphal narratives, describing historical events and calamities, dedicated to other subjects.
The first part of the book is a detailed study of the textual, poetical and historical peculiarities of the Wardā collection. Ist evolution stages and the main types have been reconstructed. A special chapter focuses on the position of this book in Syriac church literature and defines ist main sources. The second part represents a critical edition of 35 hymns from the Wardā collection according to the existing manuscripts, including English translations. Many of these hymns have been translated for the first time.