The title of the present book, "The Baptismal Mystery in the Assyrian Church of the East. History, Liturgy and Theology in the Light of the Writings of the Syro-Oriental Fathers and Commentators", clearly points to the questions...
moreThe title of the present book, "The Baptismal Mystery in the Assyrian Church of the East. History, Liturgy and Theology in the Light of the Writings of the Syro-Oriental Fathers and Commentators", clearly points to the questions elaborated in it. It concerns the rites connected with the Sacrament of Baptism in the tradition of the venerable Assyrian Church of the East, known also as the Church of Persia, the Nestorian Church or simply the Church of the East (ܥܕܬܐ ܕܡܕܢܚܐ).
The main aim of this book is to present the Syro-oriental baptismal ṭaksā (ordo) together with its theological and symbolic meaning, which developed within that less well-known and still apostolic Christian community. The goal is achieved gradually, through an analysis made in the individual chapters. Starting from the biblical basis and analysing the testimonies proper to the Church of the East, we try to show the specific character of the East-Syrian rites of baptism and of the baptismal euchology. Among the author’s aims is to fill a gap regarding the disputed questions, which still exist not only in the Polish scientific field, but also on the wider, global scale. Our reflection is not limited to the elaboration of the main baptismal testimonies from Persia but is based on the East-Syriac patristic commentaries, which constitute a real novum in the presentation of the mystery. Above all, the first Polish translation of the Rite (see: Annexe 1) provides access to that liturgical source also for those scholars who regard the Syriac language as a real barrier to further studies on Syro-Oriental Baptism.
Obviously in the study we widely refer to the Church Fathers, as well as to some prominent scholars, such as Sebastian P. Brock, Bryan D. Spinks, Maxwell E. Johnson, Gabriele Winkler, and many others. At this point we must draw special attention to the writings of prof. Brock. In fact, in his research the Syriac baptismal traditions seem to have a special place, as can be deduced from reading his famous book entitled The Holy Spirit in the Syriac Baptismal Traditions, or many other papers dedicated to this question (see: Bibliography).
The book The Baptismal Mystery in the Assyrian Church of the East consists of six chapters, the division of the material being motivated both by the chronology of the presented topics and the range of the questions discussed. In the first chapter the analysis concerns the Old Testament baptismal types, together with some references to Jewish ritual practices. For this part of the research, we have chosen the biblical narration from the Book of Genesis on the Deluge (cf. Gen 6–8) and the Crossing of the Red Sea by the Chosen People during the Exodus (cf. Ex 14–15). Then we discuss two principal Jewish customs which in a liturgical key were read as antetypes of Baptism, i.e. circumcision, seen as the visible sign of the covenant; ritual ablutions and the Baptism of proselytes.
Though it is true that the Mystery of Holy Baptism and its deep theology is greater
than any ritual ablution in other religions, yet in discussing it one cannot omit the Old Testament figures which somehow became typical for the later rites of Baptism and for Christian Initiation as a whole, especially in the East-Syriac tradition. Although some researchers claim that to point to the traditional Jewish rites as prototypes of the Christian ones is simply banal, any analysis deprived of these references would run the risk of falling into the methodological trap of cutting off its vital roots. This in turn would provoke the well-founded criticism that the intended stress on the continuity of the History of Salvation loses its justification. Moreover, we know very well that Christianity did not appear ex nihilo, but has its roots precisely in the Old Testament. Therefore, the references to the heritage of the Chosen People are not only justified, but are seen to be necessary.
The second chapter presents a logical continuation of the first, because it contains the New Testament typology of Baptism. The analysis opens with the figure of St. John the Baptist. Without any reference to this protagonist and to his work it would be very difficult to understand the uniqueness of Christian initiation and of its quality in comparison with the Jewish ablutions. It is clear that only by referring to St. John the Baptist can we notice that the
Baptism administrated by John was given “for something” (repentance and conversion), and that Christian Baptism is always “ordered towards something” (to gain the new identity of an adopted son/daughter of God). The following paragraph discusses the Baptism of Jesus Christ,
which in the Syriac traditions and in some commentaries of the Church Fathers, is often considered as the prototype and even the institutional moment of the later Baptism administrated by the Church. For some authors Christian Baptism has to be regarded as the μιμήσις (imitation) of Jesus’ Baptism in the River Jordan. In this part of the book some symbolic images are also discussed. The second chapter closes with the analysis of two paschal events, which also acquired a baptismal meaning: the washing of the feet and the open side of Jesus on the Cross.
In the third chapter the research focuses on two Syro-Oriental Apocrypha which give us very important information on the practice and theology of the baptismal mystery. Even if some scholars approach the Apocrypha with reserve, it seems that this kind of literature represents a valuable heritage of the Syriac East and sheds light on how the Church began to celebrate the mysteries, and on their symbology. The first text to be discussed is known as the Acts of Thomas, where the rite of Baptism is mentioned on five occasions. The second text is known as the History of John the Son of Zebedee, where we encounter two quite detailed descriptions of Baptism. The last part of the chapter contains the baptismal analysis of three collections of the early Christian Church canons, namely Didachè (Διδαχὴ κυρίου διὰ τῶν δώδεκα ἀποστόλων τοῖς ἔθνεσιν), Didascalia Apostolorum (Διδασκαλία τῶν ἀποστόλων; ܩܦܿܠܐܐ ܕܟܬܒܐ ܕܕܝܕܣܩܠܝܐ ܐܘܟܝܬ ܡܠܦܢܘܬܐ ܕܫܠܝ̈ܚܐ ܩܕܝ̈ܫܐ) and the Apostolic Constitutions.
In the fourth chapter the analysis once again includes the writings of the East-Syriac Fathers but this time the research differs from that in the first chapter. Here, the starting point is not the typologcical commentaries but the structural information found in patristic writings. In the study the works of the following Fathers are discussed: Aphraate the Persian Sage, Ephrem the Syrian, Narsai of Nisibis and Jacob of Serough. There is one more important commentary which we only mention in the footnote: that of Theodore of Mopsuestia. The reason to omit a detailed presentation is that his commentary – though known to the East-Syrian Church – remains a heritage of the West-Syriac tradition and there is no need to refer widely to it.
The discussion contained in the fifth chapter is based on the medieval East-Syriac commentaries, which in turn refer to the well-developed rite of Baptism attributed to the patriarch Ishā’Yahb III. The works of the following authors are discussed in the chapter: Anonymus known also as Pseudo George of Arbela, Abdišā of Nisibis and Timothy II. The most important texts from our point of view are the first and the third. In fact, their authors transmitted not only the probable structure of the Syro-Oriental baptismal taksā, but also a matured theology, which until the modern era remained almost unchanged.
The fifth chapter became a real prelude for the last one, which we can certainly call the heart of this book. Indeed, in the sixth chapter the analysis based on the baptismal ritual can be seen as a kind of editio typica for the whole East-Syriac tradition. It is exactly the rite attributed to Ishā’Yahb III. For the analysis we have chosen the edition published in Urmi in 1890 under the title: Ṭaksā d-qudše d-qurbana wdaʿmada. In the first part of this chapter we made a brief presentation of different editions of the taksā; we showed also its structural outline. After that all parts of the ordo have been discussed. Because the East-Syriac baptismal mystery gives special place to different anointings, therefore in this study we depart from the classic division of the Rite (introductory rites, baptismal rites, concluding rites) and focus attention on those anointings. Is should be noted that the question of the East-Syriac understanding of confirmation is also discussed in this part of the work.
The analysis made in this study was an attempt to show the entire development of the
baptismal Rites of the Church of the East and their underlying theology.
Keywords: Baptism, Jesus’ Baptism, Church of the East, Syriac Fathers, Ephrem the Syrian,
Narsai of Nisibis, Afrahat, Jacob of Serough, biblical baptismal typology, baptismal taksā,
Apocrypha, Acts of Thomas, History of John the Son of Zebedee.
