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For queries about offprints, copyright and republication of your article, please contact the publisher via peeters@peeters-leuven.be EASTERN CHRISTIAN STUDIES 20 SYRIAC ENCOUNTERS Papers from the Sixth North American Syriac Symposium Duke University, 26-29 June 2011 Edited by Maria Doerfler, Emanuel Fiano and Kyle Smith PEETERS LEUVEN – PARIS – BRISTOL, CT 2015 CONTENTS Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IX Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XIII Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XV Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . 11 Jeffrey WICKES, St. Louis University The Poetics of Self-Presentation in Ephrem’s HymnsonFaith 10 . 51 Robert A. KITCHEN, Knox United Metropolitan Church A Poetic Life: Metrical Vita of Jacob of Serug by Saʿīd bar Ṣabūnī . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 I. POETICS AND REPRESENTATION Susan ASHBROOK HARVEY, Brown University Encountering Eve in the Syriac Liturgy . . . II. LANGUAGE AND IDENTITY Christine SHEPARDSON, University of Tennessee Meaningful Meetings: Constructing Linguistic Difference in and around Late Antique Antioch . . . . . . . . . 79 Riccardo CONTINI, University of Naples Aspects of Linguistic Thought in the Syriac Exegetical Tradition 91 Heleen MURRE-VAN DEN BERG, Leiden University Classical Syriac and the Syriac Churches: A Twentieth-Century History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 III. RESURRECTION AND APOKATASTASIS Charles M. STANG, Harvard Divinity School Evagrius of Pontus on the “Great Gift of Letters” . . . . 151 VI CONTENTS Nestor KAVVADAS, University of Tübingen ‘We Do Not Turn Aside from the Way of the Interpreter:’ Joseph Ḥazzaya’s Discourse on Divine Providence and its Apologetic Intention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 IV. NILE AND TIGRIS Maria E. DOERFLER, Duke Divinity School Socializing Evagrius: The Case of Philoxenus of Mabbug’s LettertoPatricius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 Karel INNEMÉE, Leiden University The Doors of Deir al-Surian Commissioned by Moses of Nisibis: Some Observations on the Occasion of Their Restoration. . . 193 Amir HARRAK, University of Toronto Dionysius of Tell-Maḥrē: Patriarch, Diplomat, and Inquisitive Chronicler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 V. EAST AND WEST Nathanael ANDRADE, University of Oregon A Syriac Document and its Cultural Implications for ThirdCentury Roman Syria . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 Alberto CAMPLANI, Sapienza University of Rome Bardaisan’s Psychology: Known and Unknown Testimonies and Current Scholarly Perspectives . . . . . . . . . 259 Craig E. MORRISON, Pontifical Biblical Institute When Judas Thomas the Apostle Prays: Intercessory Prayer in Early Syriac Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 VI. GREEK AND SYRIAC Alberto RIGOLIO, University of Oxford Some Syriac Monastic Encounters with Greek Literature . . 295 Kathleen MCVEY, Princeton Theological Seminary The LetterofMarabarSerapiontoHisSon and the Second Sophistic: Palamedes and the ‘Wise King of the Jews’ . . . 305 CONTENTS VII Alison SALVESEN, University of Oxford Scholarship on the Margins: Biblical and Secular Learning in the Work of Jacob of Edessa . . . . . . . . . . . 327 Ute POSSEKEL, Harvard Divinity School Christological Debates in Eighth-Century Harran: The Correspondence of Leo of Harran and Eliya . . . . . . . . 345 VII. HISTORY AND INFLUENCE Sidney H. GRIFFITH, Catholic University of America What Does Mecca Have to Do with Urhōy? Syriac Christianity, Islamic Origins, and the Qurʾān . . . . . . . . . . 369 Andy HILKENS, Ghent University ‘Sons of Magog’ or ‘Thorgomians’?: The Description of the Turks (Book XIV) in Michael’s Chronicle and its Armenian Adaptations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401 Alessandro MENGOZZI, University of Turin The BookofKhamisbarQardaḥe: History of the Text, Genres, and Research Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . 415 VIII. TEXT AND OBJECT Jeanne-Nicole MELLON SAINT-LAURENT, Marquette University Bones in Bags: Relics in Syriac Hagiography . . . . . 439 Stephanie BOLZ, University of Michigan A Jewish Adjuration Formula in Three Syriac Magic Bowls . 455 Lucas VAN ROMPAY, Duke University Two Syriac Manuscripts in the Special Collections Library of Duke University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467 General Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485 Index of Manuscripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497 A POETIC LIFE: METRICAL VITA OF JACOB OF SERUG BY SA‘ĪD BAR ṢABŪNĪ Robert A. KITCHEN This is a tale of a text, though it is necessary to begin with a manuscript. Tucked into the digital files of the library of the Church of the Forty Martyrs, Mardin (CFMM), located at the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library (HMML) at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, is the unassuming CFMM 00162, offering a metrical Life of Jacob of Serug,1 an enticing prospect since the only other piece of biographical evidence about Jacob is a short passage in Vatican Syr. 37, 16r.2 The manuscript metadata lists a certain Sa‘īd bar Ṣabūnī as the author. Ṣabūnī is not a familiar name in Syriac literature, the only substantive notice is recorded in Aphram Barsoum’s history of Syriac literature, TheScattered Pearls.3 Even then the biography is short and in the end startling. Ṣabūnī, born and raised in Melitene, became a monk of the monastery of ‘Arnish and was consecrated metropolitan of Melitene in 1095 with the name of John. Barely forty days had passed when he was murdered by Gabriel, the Greek governor of the region, on the fourth of July. No birth date is mentioned, but Barsoum estimates that Ṣabūnī died before his fortieth year. He notes that Gabriel received divine justice six or seven years later, according to Michael the Great, when he too was murdered.4 Gabriel was an Armenian Greek Catholic who became governor of Melitene in the aftermath of the First Crusade. With Melitene besieged by Danishmend Turks, Gabriel appealed to several Crusader rulers for relief and Baldwin of Boulogne and Edessa came to his aid. Baldwin, however, left before 1 Theresa Vann, director of the HMML Malta Studies, in showing me how to access the files, randomly clicked on CFMM 00162, a serendipitous choice. CFMM 00162 (20th c.) 1-57. Incipit: H3 "# * / & F. 2 J. S. Assemani, BO, I, (Rome, 1719) 286-89. 3 I. Aphram I Barsoum, The Scattered Pearls: A History of Syriac Literature and Sciences, ed. and trans. M. Moosa (Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2003), 419-22. 4 Barsoum, 419-20; Cf. ChroniquedeMichelleSyrien, vol. 3, ed. and trans. J.-B. Chabot (Paris, 1905) XV.7: 185-86, 188 [corresponding pages in Chabot’s Syriac text and in The Edessa-Aleppo Syriac Codex of the Chronicle of Michael the Great, ed. Gregorios Yuhanna Ibrahim (Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2009): 586-87, 590]. 66 R.A. KITCHEN matters were completely secure and the city continued to suffer severe shortages. The Syrian Church finally sent their new metropolitan Bar Ṣabūnī to help mediate. The Syrians and Armenians in the city wished to surrender to the Turks, which Gabriel understood as an affront to his authority, and thus had Bar Ṣabūnī killed in early 1101. Eventually, the Danishmends were successful in capturing the city in September 1101, with help from Melitene’s Christians, and Gabriel was consequently slain.5 Barsoum has the narrative details generally correct, but his chronology is a bit off. Ṣabūnī is remembered more as an author, “the writer of sedros” by Bar Ebroyo’s account. He allegedly composed fifteen ḥusoyos for a variety of liturgical occasions, still to be found in the churches of Ṭur ‘Abdin; hymns known as the Canons for the assumption of the monastic habit; the order of blessing of the branches on Palm Sunday; and, not the least, “a resounding ode” on the virtues of Jacob of Serug.6 Ṣabūnī composed this ode in response to a request of Bishop ‘Abda of Khashana who had recently retired from his diocese. Barsoum records that the ode ran to two hundred and twenty-nine lines and forty-two pages, not even one-quarter of the length of the manuscripts currently available. Two manuscripts from Jerusalem and Basibrina are mentioned, but not precisely identified, the latter having a different incipit and being of shorter length. Barsoum assigns the date of the original composition to be 1405 of the Greeks, or 1093 CE.7 Adam McCollum has located two other manuscripts of the same text in the HMML collection: CFMM 00144;8 Dayr Al-Za‘farān ZFRN 00040,9 also transcribed into an old-style school notebook in 1905 by the venerable Philoxenus Yuhanna Dolabani, probably from some of the manuscripts noted by Barsoum. Moreover, three additional manuscripts from the HMML collection appear to offer some biographical treatment of Jacob. One is CFMM 00130, “On Mar Jacob the teacher of Batnan of Serug, by Mar Ḥabib.”10 The same text is located in ZFRN 00040.11 Ḥabib of Edessa is 5 S. Runciman, TheFirstCrusadeandtheFoundationoftheKingdomofJerusalem (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1951), 320-22. 6 Barsoum, 420-21. 7 Barsoum, 421. 8 CFMM 00144 (20th c.) 368-432. 9 ZFRN 00040 (20th c.) 368-432. 10 CFMM 00130 (12th/13th c.) no. 137, pp. 407-17, also noted in A. Vööbus, HandschriftlicheÜberlieferungderMēmrē-DichtungdesJa‘qōbvonSerūg, vol. II: Sammlungen: Der Bestand, CSCO 345, Subs. 40 (Louvain, 1973), 70-71: ; 6>< ( "* .E9 ( I1 C 11 ZFRN 00040, pp. 432-468. A POETIC LIFE 67 also attested by Barsoum as a contemporary and student of Jacob, yet no poem has been definitely attributed to him.12 While this mēmrā in question has the same incipit as a mēmrā of Jacob,13 it is a different poem and requires further study. CFMM 00256 also celebrates Jacob’s saintly life, noting that he was buried with great pomp in the hayklā of the church in Serug, with many miracles being performed ‘by his bones.’14 Sebastian Brock points to one earlier manuscript: University of Chicago Oriental Institute A, 12,008, (12th/13th c.); however, despite recent inquiries about this specific text, it has not yet been released because of its fragile condition. In his bibliographical guide to Jacob of Serug,15 Brock also noted the 1972 publication by Paul Krüger of a panegyric of Jacob of Serug in Paris Syr. 177,16 along with another text in the same journal issue providing a prose life of Jacob17 from the same manuscript. Our text is not a biography of Jacob in any modern sense. The hagiographical stories of Jacob’s precocious youthful revelations and writing reflect the material related in Assemani and Vatican Syr. 37. It is a panegyric, a lengthy tribute or ode to the spirituality and literary accomplishment of Jacob by an obscure author who seems to reflect the admiration by a wider community and church for this literary and ecclesiastical saint. Ṣabūnī provides a rough approximation of a catalogue of Jacob’s works. Since it consists of only thematic descriptions, however, it does not appear to be systematic. Appropriately for such a tribute, Ṣabūnī employs the classic twelve-syllable meter of Jacob of Serug throughout the mēmrā — in the CFMM 00162 manuscript the final note by the author or scribe & is that the mēmrā contains 1106 lines (pethgāmē — .). It is actually 1108 lines, but two lines were omitted in several mss (298, 445). 12 Barsoum, 262. P. Bedjan, ed, Homiliae Selectae Mar-Jacobi Sarugensis, vol. III (Paris: Harrassowitz, 1907) mēmrā 97: 687-710. “On the praises of John the Baptist.” Incipit: J & B-. /4  .1 ")    14 & CFMM 00256 (17th c.) pp. 1-8. Incipit: / 8 9 :3  +99 + & ( >  < F Vööbus, HandschriftlicheÜberlieferungderMēmrē-Dichtung desJa‘qōbvonSerūg, vol. I, Sammlungen: Die Handschriften, CSCO 344, Subsidia 39 (Louvain, 1973) 4, n. 15. Many thanks to Adam C. McCollum, Lead Cataloguer of Eastern Christian Manuscripts collection at Hill Museum & Manuscript Library, for graciously drawing my attention to the above texts. 15 S. Brock, “Jacob of Serugh: A Select Bibliographical Guide,” in JacobofSerugh and His Times: Studies in Sixth-Century Syriac Christianity, ed. G.A. Kiraz, Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies 8 (Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2010), 219-44, esp. 239. 16 P. Krüger, “Ein zweiter anonymer memra über Jakob von Serugh,” OC 56 (1972): 112-49. Bibliothèque Nationale de France Syr. 177 (date 1521), ff. 146b-162b. 17 P. Krüger, “Ein bislang unbekannter sermo über Leben und Werk des Jakob von Serugh,” OC 56 (1972): 80-111. Bibliothèque Nationale de France Syr. 177 (1521), ff. 136a-146b. 13 68 R.A. KITCHEN It will be a while before a critical edition can be completed, but there are several questions that need to be addressed. How is the metrical homily edited by Krüger related to the texts of CFMM and ZFRN? There is a small but significant difference in length — Krüger’s is shorter and there is a different early section. The slightly different and apparently shorter mēmrē mentioned by Barsoum indicate that different versions of the homily were in circulation. The second prose text edited by Krüger contains much of the same catalogue found in the latter sections of CFMM and ZFRN, but more study is needed to determine which text is the primary source or whether it simply contains earlier material. The three manuscripts in the HMML collection are very close, with a normal amount of spelling and copyist errors. The missing link may well be in the earlier Chicago Oriental Institute manuscript, which might be able to tell us more about the original shape and content of Ṣabūnī’s work. An annotated summary of the contents of this mēmrā follows, noting that the mēmrā demonstrates how an unsuspecting Biblical exegete can be recruited for all manner of causes centuries after his death without lifting his pen. Ṣabūnī commences with the traditional author’s prayer for inspiration for such a poor soul as his, lacking in intellect and style. This is the first of two acrostic poems within the mēmrā, the two lines of each couplet beginning with the same letter in alphabetical order in this first poem. In the final two couplets, shin (K) and taw ( ), he invites the reader to listen to the story of Jacob, “the harp of words” (lines 1-44).18 A short section (45-68) introduces Jacob as the shepherd of the flock of Batnan of Serug, who from his youth had adorned the church with his teaching. Ṣabūnī describes Jacob as one who surpassed and was superior to all the Fathers, indeed the greatest of the Fathers, a sure sign of Jacob’s spiritual patronage by Ṣabūnī’s community and tradition. A second acrostic poem of forty-four lines, whose theme could stand on its own, follows (69-112). Both acrostics are clearly marked in the manuscript’s margins, however, with this poem, only the first line of the couplet opens with the appropriate letter in alphabetical order. The author begins with the rock sent to the Church as the foundation, an image from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:24-25), which serves, moreover, as the foundation of the Twelve — the twelve stones of the Twelve tribes of Israel in Joshua 24, and of course the Twelve disciples. It is not much of a jump to the twelve syllables of Jacob’s poetic meter, which appears to have been Ṣabūnī’s primary symbolism for the number twelve. 18 7& 7  / 23  A POETIC LIFE 69 Another brief section (113-138) expresses praise, marveling and astonishment at the teaching (malpānūtā —  ;) of Jacob. This malpānūtā, teaching or doctrine, encapsulates Jacob’s personal and spiritual essence as well as his particular dossier of ideas. A longer section (139-220) begins to detail the political, social and theological contexts in which and to which Ṣabūnī is writing. He calls at first for humility and a lack of arrogance among those who might claim spiritual authority. Those familiar with the polemics of Miaphysite, Chalcedonian/Melkite, and Church of the East theology know that this is neither an obvious nor an innocent observation, for Ṣabūnī declares real wisdom is now needed, and his opponents do not have it. He refers to an atmosphere of conflict and antagonism between students and teachers that forced an old man (sābā — 91) to flee to the solitude of the desert. This event specifically compelled Ṣabūnī to bring to public mind and attention the story of the eminent or chosen one (gabyā — 9), Jacob, for his wisdom and mēmrē are superior to the “rational ones.” Indeed, no one else is able to compose even a single mēmrā like Jacob. He concludes this moderatelength section (221-268) with the call to celebrate and honor “the master of teaching and conqueror of faith.”19 The section that follows (269-310) is the biographical/hagiographical account of Jacob’s life, especially his youth. His mother set him on the course of becoming a priest and directed him towards the “exalted ways of virtue” — the ascetical life. Ṣabūnī outlines his strategy of first discussing Jacob’s doctrine and then turning to his ascetical way of life (dūbārā — ). He relates the story about Jacob’s mother taking him to church as a young child. While there, he experienced a divine vision during the celebration of the Eucharist by the chief priest. Jacob saw living waters passing through and flowing out of the church. He took three handfuls of the water and gave it to others to drink, astonishing those around him (303-310). Even at his tender age, this proved to be evidence of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Ṣabūnī seamlessly makes the transition into Jacob’s subsequent vocation as a teacher and author of mēmrē. While he did not compose mēmrē 19 So then come, O discerner of faith, / with love let us tell the story of the master of teaching. / Come here, let us satisfy the inquiry of a godly mind / and let us weave a crown for the conqueror of faith. L    .  ") $  . ;   " 4 /  * <  )  .   -  N0  70 R.A. KITCHEN until the people of the church pressed him, they began to incite him to do so early on. And, by the age of twelve (again that symbolic number), he had begun to write “lucid mēmrē of teaching” (318).20 The mēmrē poured out of Jacob as if from a spring, counted out in the measure of twelve & syllables (8 1) per line, the foundation of the glorious orthodox faith. It was not really Jacob who chose the number, Ṣabūnī insists, but the Holy Spirit, and it would continue to be employed increasingly. Ṣabūnī promotes this symbolic rāzā from lines 311-64. In the following section (365-416) Ṣabūnī continues the theme of Jacob’s gift of teaching, shifting to the position that Jacob, the greatest of all teachers, surpassed all of the ancient Greek writers — whom Ṣabūnī does not unilaterally denigrate. He lists a number of classical vocations (grammarians and rhetoricians, philosophers, astronomers, geometricians) and singles out the great scholars, such as Porphyry, Socrates, and Plato, as having contributed significantly and deeply to human learning. But, in the long run, Ṣabūnī sees the courage of the martyrs and the endurance of the solitaries as more important and wiser than all the contributions of the Greeks. “Why is there not apparent among all these [illustrious Greeks] a single person like Mar Jacob?” (412).21 Ṣabūnī was so struck by this realization that he repeats a variation of this rhetorical question in a later section: “Why is there not among them a single teacher in the example of Jacob?” (620).22 Ṣabūnī appears to play out here a rhetorical strategy in demonstrating Jacob’s superiority to even the best of Greek thinking as he prepares to refute the errors of Greek-based Christological thought. The gloves are off now (417-552), and the six-hundred-year-old elephant in the room is unveiled. Its name is Chalcedon. The Emperor Marcian is identified as the culprit who called the divisive synod, and the Tome of Leo is not treated with respect (417-429). Ṣabūnī goes through the complex language of Chalcedon, but concludes that “[Christ] flourished in unity through giving birth / to one solitary nature constructed without confusion. From two natures is one nature without division / in imitation of the soul and body without change” (469-472).23 In the midst 20 21 22 23  ; >H H8 6) ( 6>< ( $ O  P  /) (     6><  ;  /    L     4 /* B 9    9# # 4  & 0 .   #   #   .;   8 0. ;  A POETIC LIFE 71 of all this controversy, the Holy Spirit found Jacob to be pure and clean. “In this way [the Spirit] moved from the Greeks who had divided the Son into two natures, and it came to dwell upon Mar Jacob” (499-500).24 Ṣabūnī does not relent, and he reprimands the Greeks for pursuing the way of the philosophers, while “Jacob rejected all the subtleties of their contrivances” (514).25 Jacob “was led by the Spirit to comprehend all things as they are” (548).26 Ṣabūnī plays on a hagiographical theme in declaring that the news of Jacob’s teaching reached the ears of Mar Severus, patriarch of Antioch, the most revered of the Miaphysite theologians during Jacob’s era (561-562). Astonished at Jacob’s skill, Severus received him into his company for a period (573-74), and together they fought against “the wolves” (597), eventually extinguishing the flame of the heretics (599-600). Jacob would return home to take up the episcopacy of Batnan of Serug (603-05). Along the way, Jacob would also learn of the writing of Simeon the Potter of Gesir (Shem‘un Quqoyo) (581-84) with whose discovery and promotion he is credited. Jacob became bishop at the very end of his life in 518-519 CE, so it is not accurate to say that Jacob only now began to teach from scripture (605-06), initially following the typologies of Moses. While Jacob did write a number of mēmrē on liturgical, theological and ascetical themes, the greater portion of his corpus involves the retelling and interpretation of the biblical narrative and its personalities, which Ṣabūnī and his church recognized as a distinctive skill and gift. A section (643-672) centers next on Jacob’s qualities as a Trinitarian theologian, an important characteristic in Christological controversy, first among Christian rivals and second in the midst of debate with the Islamic majority culture. Ṣabūnī, however, emphasizes that Jacob’s Trinitarian tendencies enable a more profound theological exploration, from which his readers benefit. “Trinitarily he burrowed, revealing the depths” (672).27 It was not a great shift, then, for Ṣabūnī to draw attention to Jacob’s spiritual qualities and strengths — how he was able to not only refute the Chalcedonian formula and dispel all heresies, but to be the model of 24 25 26 27 & 9 ( 0.     # & 6>< ( "* '  # R & /#  %R* ")  6>< / $ /)  2)    & ><  ;  72 R.A. KITCHEN the ascetical life for all to imitate (685-86).28 His mēmrē were recognized & for the various passions — especially gluttony as the antidotes (1) and its antidote, fasting, as well as the love of money (687-698) — and even more to escort the reader up through the higher degrees of theoria (641, 649-650) ( ). Even Jacob has his limits as a teacher, Ṣabūnī regretfully notes, for his mēmrē are not effective in the persuasion of one who has dared to be a heretic and so chooses not to be a faithful person (744-45). Ṣabūnī has written many a line about the beauty, power, and deep spirituality of Jacob’s mēmrē, yet he has thus far made barely a reference to any particular mēmrā. This is remedied later (817-992), with a long section one could loosely call a “catalogue.” Ṣabūnī does not announce an ordered listing of the mēmrē, but again flows into an impressionistic description of the content of Jacob’s malpānūtā. He does not give titles or incipits, but what might be called today a “tag” to remind or alert the reader to the general content. It is not always clear whether he is referring to a specific mēmrā or to a cluster of ideas contained in several: “He praised Abram and his spouse who had kept his mysteries, and also on account of the sacrifice of the young lad Isaac whom a voice saved” (823-24).29 There is a great deal of identification still to be done here, although I doubt that a definitive one-for-one match between Ṣabūnī’s tag and a known mēmrā of Jacob can be accurately determined for every instance. Nevertheless, Ṣabūnī refers to a lot of mēmrē here, including calling attention to a handful of series of mēmrē on certain personalities or topics. Unofficially, my audit yields one hundred and fifty-six mēmrē, although I am certain that may change with further study by myself and others. Several references are particularly interesting. “When he multiplied & bread for the hungry without bakers” (884) (4 ),30 an obvious reference to the feeding of the four or five thousand. Another suggests a metrical problem: “If on account of the one hundred fifty fish which he took in a net by the commandment of his Lord” (970)31 is surprising because the 28 “The sublime degree of renunciation and asceticism / Who is there like him who demonstrates its genuineness?”  *  73   .  4  # L 29 ( %R C  /% 9  D7  7L /7. , :43 /4 "* ? & & 30 4   ;) 4  +01 # & "*  & 31  7; S  8   A POETIC LIFE 73 number, memorably, is one hundred and fifty-three (John 21:11), though Ṣabūnī probably omitted the number three because it would have pushed his line over twelve syllables. A final short section (1079-1103) may be called the author’s ‘beatitudes’ L (/,), directed in the first instances to the Church that has produced such faithful interpreters and teachers, and then to the accomplishments and personality of Jacob, and finally to those who keep the feast and commemoration day for Jacob of Serug (1099, 1101)32 — an obvious reference to the occasion on which this mēmrā was delivered. Lacking full details about the circumstances of this mēmrā, its author and the community in which it was read and celebrated, the reader can nonetheless infer certain things from the text. Perhaps some ornery questions can point us in a fruitful direction. Is the poem really about Jacob of Serug or does it describe in subtle shades the perceived needs and aspirations of the church of Sa‘īd bar Ṣabūnī at the end of the eleventh century? Yes, it is in the first place about Jacob — to write eleven hundred lines in Jacob’s twelve-syllable meter is testimony enough — but such a mēmrā demonstrates that one’s own Sitz im Leben can have a significant influence on what and how one writes. Obviously, the church in question was adamantly Miaphysite and anti-Chalcedonian at a time when the One Nature was under siege, not only from rival Chalcedonian supporters and the Church of the East, but also from the Islamic government and religious communities that were becoming steadily less tolerant of the Christian presence. In the mēmrā of Ṣabūnī, Jacob of Serug becomes in typical hagiographical transformation more than he ever intended to be. Historically speaking, he was probably a Miaphysite champion who did not really want to fight those battles, an ascetical saint without a historical record of ascetical accomplishments, and an author whose texts would subsequently heal its readers. It is Jacob’s theological ambiguity, even ambidexterity, that allows his carefully harboured allegiance, indeed public neutrality, to be mustered for the Miaphysite cause.33 32 Blessed is whoever honors him on the day of his commemoration. ... / Blessed is whoever keeps his feast faithfully ... / #  / > 8 ( ,  / 8* C  8 ( , 33 While claimed by both Chalcedonian and Miaphysite sides, Jacob was never explicit about his doctrinal affiliations. Modern scholars have been measured in their analysis and generally leave the issue unsettled. See S.H. Griffith, “Mar Jacob of Serugh on Monks and Monasteries: Readings in His Metrical Homilies ‘On the Singles’,” in Jacob of Serugh and His Times: Studies in Sixth-Century Syriac Christianity, ed. G.A. Kiraz, Gorgias Eastern ChristianStudies 8 (Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2010), 71-89, esp. 71-74. 74 R.A. KITCHEN In the study of this specific text by Sa‘īd bar Ṣabūnī, we see simply one piece of what is a larger tradition regarding the life and work of Jacob of Serug. A number of other manuscripts have been noted that may be related to, and/or have contributed to Ṣabūnī’s composition. And, finally, there are also further traditions about the life and work of Jacob that need to be collated with Bar Ṣabūnī’s vita. BIBLIOGRAPHY Assemani, J.S. BibliothecaOrientalis, I. Rome, 1719. Ignatius Aphram I Barsoum. TheScatteredPearls:AHistoryofSyriacLiterature and Sciences, trans. and ed. M. Moosa. Piscataway, New Jersey: Gorgias Press, 2003. Bedjan, P., ed. HomiliaeSelectaeMar-JacobiSarugensis, vol. III. Paris/Leipzig, 1907. Brock, S.P. “A Hymn on the Nativity by Simeon the Potter.” ECR 8 (1976): 54-55. —. trans.TheBrideofLight:HymnsonMaryfromtheSyriacChurches. Mōrān ’Eth’ō 6. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2010. Brock, S.P. “Jacob of Serugh: A Select Bibliographical Guide.” Pp. 219-44 in JacobofSerughandHisTimes:StudiesinSixth-CenturySyriacChristianity, ed. G.A. Kiraz. Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies 8. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2010. Bou Mansour, T. La théologie de Jacques de Saroug, 2 vols. Bibliothèque de L’Université Saint-Esprit, 16 & 40. Kaslik, Lebanon: L’Université SaintEsprit, 1993 & 2000. —. “Die Christologie des Jacob von Serugh.” Pp. 449-99 in A. Grillmeier, Jesus derChristusimGlaubenderKirche, vol. 2.3: DieKirchenvonJerusalem undAntiochiennach451bis600, ed. T Hainthaler. Frieburg: Herder, 2002. Chabot, J.-B. ChroniquedeMichelleSyrien, vol. 3 Paris, 1905. The Edessa-Aleppo Syriac Codex of the Chronicle of Michael the Great, ed. G.Y. Ibrahim. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2009. Euringer, S. “Die neun ‘Töpferlieder’ des Simeon von Gesir.” OC II.3 (1913): 221-35 (Syriac with German translation). Griffith, S.H. “Mar Jacob of Serugh on Monks and Monasteries: Readings in His Metrical Homilies ‘On the Singles.’” Pp. 71-89 in JacobofSerughand His Times: Studies in Sixth-Century Syriac Christianity, ed. G.A. Kiraz. Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies 8. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2010. See also, T.B. Mansour, La théologie de Jacques de Saroug, 2 vols. Bibliothèque de L’Université Saint-Esprit, 16 and 40 (Kaslik, Lebanon: L’Université Saint-Esprit, 1993 and 2000); idem., “Die Christologie des Jacob von Serugh” in JesusderChristusimGlauben der Kirche, vol. 2.3: Die Kirchen von Jerusalem und Antiochien nach 451 bis 600, ed. T. Hainthaler (Freiburg: Herder, 2002), 449-99. A POETIC LIFE 75 Krüger, P. “Ein bislang unbekannter sermo über Leben und Werk des Jakob von Serugh.” OCP 56 (1972): 80-111. —. “Ein zweiter anonymer memra über Jakob von Serugh.” OCP 56 (1972): 112-49. Steven Runciman, AHistoryoftheCrusades, Volume1:TheFirstCrusadeand theFoundationoftheKingdomofJerusalem (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1951). Van Rompay, L. “Simeon van Gesjir. Pottenbakkersgedichten.” Pp. 88-96 in Kerstmis en Epifanie, ed. A.A.R. Bastiaensen et al. Christelijke Bronnen 12. Kampen, 1997. Vööbus, A. Handschriftliche Überlieferung der Mēmrē-Dichtung des Ja‘qōb vonSerūg, vol. II, Sammlungen:DieHandschriften. CSCO 344/Subs. 39. Louvain, 1973. —. HandschriftlicheÜberlieferungderMēmrē-DichtungdesJa‘qōbvonSerūg, vol. II, Sammlungen:DerBestand. CSCO 345/Subs. 39. Louvain, 1973. RelevantManuscripts Hill Museum & Manuscript Library, St. John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota: Church of the Forty Martyrs, Mardin 00130 Church of the Forty Martyrs, Mardin 00162 Church of the Forty Martyrs, Mardin 00256 Dayr Al-Za‘faran, Mardin 00040 Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Syr. 177 University of Chicago Oriental Institute, A—12,008. Vatican Syr. 37