Review of WELTECKE, Dorothea (herausgegeben von), Geschichte, Theologie, Liturgie und Gegenwartslage der syrischen Kirchen. Syriaca 40, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 2012, pp. IX + 151. (original) (raw)
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Äthiopistische Forschungen, 86, 2020
The Martyrium Arethae and His Companions in Naǧrān (BHG 166) is one of the best known and most widespread texts of the Christian Eastern martyrological literature. Written in Greek in the second half of the 6th century, probably from a Syriac model, it was translated into several languages, including Arabic, Ethiopian, Armenian and Georgian. Modern scholars studied this work since the 19th century, when the first editions of the texts connected with the tragic events of Naǧrān appeared. Paolo La Spisa's study provides the critical edition of all the Arabic versions known so far. The Arabic manuscript tradition has transmitted to us ten witnesses, whose in-depth analysis has allowed him to identify three distinct recensions (labelled in the present edition Ar1, Ar2, Ar3). This study intends to offer an updated and corrected edition of some Arabic versions that had already been published in the first decade of the 2000s (Ar1, Ar2), as well as to offer the standard edition of a still unpublished version (Ar3). The edition of each recension is accompanied by an Italian translation and by a historical-philological commentary in which the parallel passages within the Arabic tradition and the intertextual relations with non-Arabic versions are highlighted. In the introduction, not only the criteria for the edition of the texts have been outlined, but the importance and originality of the Arabic versions are highlighted with respect to the previous and subsequent versions, Greek and Ethiopic respectively. Eventually, a brief presentation of the linguistic features of the manuscript texts belonging to the Middle Arabic spectrum, is offered. (Text in Arabic/Italian)
'Abdīšō' of Gazarta, the first literate of the Chaldean Church: Poems dedicated to the Popes of Rome
'Abdīšō' of Gazarta, the first literate of the Chaldean Church: Poems dedicated to the Popes of Rome, 2018
The paper discusses Syriac verse texts from the Ottoman period which are connected with the history of the Chaldean (East Syriac Uniate) Church. They were composed by ' Adbīšō' of Gazarta, the second patriarch of the new Church (1555–1570), an outstanding literate, whose legacy has been significantly neglected by researchers. The pieces discussed in the present paper typify their very early samples epitomizing the beginning of this literary tradition that was connected with the name of ' Adbīšō' of Gazarta. They were devoted to the Popes of Rome, with whom the young Chaldean Church had intensive contacts and whose supremacy it was in the process of acknowledging. Until recently, scholars have lacked access to most of the numerous textual corpora of this Church; as a result, research on these manuscripts had been confined to their catalogue descriptions, printed in the early–20 th century. Although they have never been an object of detailed study so far, the short pieces discussed here, composed on various occasions, contain important evidence for both the history of Syriac literature and the history of the Christian Churches in this region. The names mentioned in the poems can be easily identified, which would serve to date the texts to certain periods of ' Adbīšō''s Church career. The present paper is the first attempt of a detailed study and a critical edition of his poems dedicated to the Roman Catholic Popes.