Jacob of Edessa’s Defining Christianity: An Introduction, Edition, and Translation

Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 64(3-4), 175-199. doi: 10.2143/JECS.64.3.2961410 © 2012 by Journal of Eastern Christian Studies. All rights reserved. JACOB OF EDESSA’S DEFINING CHRISTIANITY INTRODUCTION, EDITION, AND TRANSLATION MICHAEL PENN* Jacob of Edessa (d. 708 C.E.) remains one of the most significant yet most understudied figures in Syriac Christianity.1 Jacob twice served as the bishop of Edessa (684-687 C.E. and 708 C.E.), was among the first to witness the rise of Islam, and has left a huge corpus of literary material. His chronicle, letters, canons, scholia, grammatical treatises, and exegetical works provide some of our most valuable sources for the development of Miaphysite Christianity.2 Their import has prompted modern scholars to pay greater attention to Jacob. Several recent international conferences have been dedicated to studying Jacob and their published proceedings supplement a growing collection of articles and occasional books about his work.3 Nevertheless, many of Jacob’s writings remain only in manuscript form hindering a more comprehensive understanding of Jacob and his influence. The following is a small step to help address this neglect. * Michael Penn is an Associate Professor of Religion at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusets (mpenn@mtholyoke.edu). Special thanks to Mount Holyoke College, the American Philosophical Society, and the British Academy for funding the travel and manuscript research that made this article possible. 1 As summarized by Dirk Kruisheer and Lucas Van Rompay, ‘A Bibliographical Clavis to the Works of Jacob of Edessa’, Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies, 1 (1998): ‘Jacob has not fared well in modern scholarly research. A considerable part of his preserved work has remained unpublished to the present day and a comprehensive monograph on him is still missing.’ 2 For a very brief overview of Jacob’s corpus see Alison Salvesen, ‘Jacob of Edessa’s Life and Work: A Biographical Sketch’, in Jacob of Edessa and the Syriac Culture of His Day, ed. Bas ter Haar Romeny (Leiden: Brill, 2008), pp. 3-9. 3 In addition to the title mentioned in the previous note, see also Gharighuriyus Yuhanna Ibrahim and George Anton Kiraz, eds., Studies on Jacob of Edessa (Piscataway, N.J.: Gorgias Press, 2010). For a bibliography of recent scholarship of Jacob’s writings, see Dirk Kruisheer, ‘A Bibliographical Clavis to the Works of Jacob of Edessa’, in Jacob of Edessa, ed. ter Haar Romeny, pp. 265-294, and Kruisheer and Van Rompay, ‘A Bibliographical Clavis’. 176 MICHAEL PENN Two previously unedited and untranslated manuscripts in the British Library preserve sections from a document by Jacob that has remained virtually unnoticed by modern scholarship.4 The manuscripts title Jacob’s work, ‘the memra of refutation against the presumptuous and the transgressors of God’s law and (against) those trampling upon the ecclesiastical canons’.5 In the middle ages this text remained popular enough to be mentioned by the twelfth-century Miaphysite Patriarch Michael the Great (d. 1199). Michael reports that Jacob wrote this refutation while he was at the Monstery of Mar Jacob of Kayshum.6 Michael states that Jacob retired to this monastery in 687 after his first stint at being bishop of Edessa and left the monastery eleven years later when he moved to Tell cAdda. This places the text’s composition in the late 680s or the early to mid 690s.7 The earlier of the two manuscripts preserving this work is British Library Additional 12,154 which the nineteenth-century cataloger William Wright dated on paleographic grounds to the late eighth or early ninth century.8 Wright characterized the manuscript as having contents that ‘are of a very miscelaneous character’ consisting of at least thirty-six different documents 4 Although never discussed for more than a sentence or two, these two texts have been briefly cited by several modern scholars, including Anton Baumstark, Geschichte der syrischen Literatur (Bonn: A. Marcus and E. Webers, 1922), p. 254, n. 7; Robert G. Hoyland, ‘Jacob of Edessa on Islam’, in After Bardaisan: Studies on Continuity and Change in Syriac Christianity in Honour of Professor Han J.W. Drijvers, eds. G.J. Reinink and A.C. Klugkist (Leuven: Peeters, 1999), p. 149, n. 4; Robert G. Hoyland, Seeing Islam as Others Saw It: A Survey and Evaluation of Christian, Jewish and Zoroastrian Writings on Early Islam (Princeton: Darwin Press, 1997), p. 160, n. 159; David Thomas and Barbara Roggema, eds., Christian-Muslim Relations: A Bibliographic History, volume 1 (600-900) (Leiden: Brill, 2009), p. 226; Salvesen, ‘Jacob of Edessa’s Life and Work’, p. 2; Herman G.B. Teule, ‘Jacob of Edessa and Canon Law’, in Jacob of Edessa, ed. ter Haar Romeny, pp. 83-84. 5 BL. Add. 12,154, f. 164b. BL. Add. 17,193, f. 58a omits ‘and (against) those trampling upon the ecclesiastical canons’. 6 Michael the Syrian, Chronicle 11:15; cf. J.B. Chabot, Chronique de Michel le Syrien, patriarche jacobite d’Antioche (1166-1199), vol. 4 (Paris: E. Leroux, 1910), p. 446. 7 The same account also appears in the thirteenth-century writings of Bar Hebreaus, Ecclesiastic Chronicle: Jean Baptiste Abbeloos and Thomas J. Lamy, Gregorii Barhebraei chronicon ecclesiasticum (Paris: C. Peeters, 1872), 1, pp. 289-294. Also see Hoyland, ‘Jacob of Edessa on Islam’, pp. 149-150; Hoyland, Seeing Islam, pp. 16-161; Salvesen, ‘Jacob of Edessa’s Life and Work’, pp. 1-3. 8 W. Wright, Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum Acquired Since the Year 1838. Volume 2 (London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1871), p. 976. JACOB OF EDESSA’S DEFINING CHRISTIANITY 177 ranging from polemical treatises, to Miaphysite apologies, to patristic extracts, to letter collections.9 This particular tractate by Jacob appears in the midst of several of Jacob’s other works. It is preceeded by a short philosophical tract by Jacob and preceeds a set of questions posed to Jacob along with his responses. British Library Additional 17,193 was completed by a scribe named Abraham in the year 874 C.E.10 The scribe titled the manuscript ‘a volume of demonstrations, collections, and letters’.11 Wright records the manuscript as containing no fewer than 125 different documents.12 Here the tractate appears between a collection of Jacob’s scholia on the Old Testament and before a biblical commentary by John the Monk. In neither British Library manuscript do we have the entire work. Both incipits attribute the text to the memra’s twelfth chapter. Because of its content, I have subtitled this chapter Defining Christianity. The two British Library manuscripts similarly sumarize the extracts as ‘concerning what Christianity is and that it precedes and is the oldest of all religions’.13 This topic provided Jacob the opportunity to distill his understanding of Christianity into an extremely succinct form. The resulting text presents the opportunity to better understand the theological challenges that Jacob and his community faced. But even this twelfth chapter is not fully extant. Both surviving manuscripts include only excerpts of Defining Christianity and their scribes frequently note omitted material with red lettered transitions such as ‘and after a little’ or ‘and after many things’. Given only minor variance between the passages found in both manuscripts, it is clear that these two scribes shared similar exemplars. Nevertheless, either they or their predecessors decided to excerpt the chapter differently. As a result, in addition to overlapping sections each manuscript includes some parts that the other excludes. For example, a section that BL Additional 12,154 alludes to as ‘after a little’, BL Additional 17,193 includes in full. In contrast, BL Additional 17,193 ends almost two folios before BL 12,154 which overall preserves almost 9 Wright, Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts, 2, p. 976. Its contents are summarized on pp. 976-989. 10 BL. Add. 17,193, f. 1a. 11 BL. Add. 17,193, f. 1b. 12 Wright, Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts, 2, pp. 989-1002. Wright euphemistically stated that ‘the contents are various’. 13 BL. Add. 17,193, f. 58a. BL. Add. 12,154, f. 165a omits ‘and is the oldest’. 178 MICHAEL PENN 33% more of Jacob’s original chapter. Thus an examination of the two manuscripts together not only alerts one to textual variations, it also provides access to a larger portion of Defining Christianity. In Defining Christianity Jacob tries to find an acceptible definition of Christianity. Jacob begins by proclaiming Christianity to be the oldest of all religions. By defining Christianity as ‘God’s covenant with humanity’ Jacob argues that Christianity, although not yet so named, began with God’s first commandment to Adam. This leads Jacob to establish a schema of seven ages of humanity, each corresponding to a different manifestation of God’s covenant. Jacob sees himself and his contemporaries as living at the end of the sixth age. Because of human neglect of the divine commandments, God will very soon and very dramatically issue in the eschaton and establish His seventh and final covenant. Jacob’s initial definition of Christianity, however, presents a problem. How can one harmonize the argument that Christianity is the world’s oldest religion with Jacob’s schema of an evolving covenant in which Christianity as he knows it only emerges in the sixth age? What also should one do with nomenclature such as the ‘Old Testament’ and ‘New Testament’ which seems to imply Christianity’s novelty? After noting that the very term ‘Christianity’ and words such as ‘Testament’ are dependent not on Syriac vocabulary but Greek terms, Jacob argues that prior to Christ’s coming those whom we might be tempted to call Jews were actually Christians. That is, Jacob nuances his definition of Christianity as God’s covenant with humanity to God’s covenant with those expecting Christ’s coming. Thus, all the protagonists of the Old Testament were really Christians as, according to Jacob, they anticipated Christ’s appearance. After Christ’s coming, however, those who did not believe in Christ’s incarnation were no longer Christians, or even true Jews, but rather errant Christ killers. In his original chapter, Jacob next included definitions of Christianity found in earlier church fathers, but the scribes of BL Additional 12,154 and BL Additional 17,193 (or their exemplars) chose not to include them. Rather, BL Additional 17,193 ends at this point. BL Additional 12,154 continues with two last folios in which Jacob further defends and expands his own definition. Jacob claims that he has effectively distinguished Christianity from all other religions. But up to now he has provided little information regarding what Christians believe and do. Jacob thus decides to be more JACOB OF EDESSA’S DEFINING CHRISTIANITY 179 specific regarding creed and conduct. Here Jacob is particularly concerned to emphasize that faith alone does not a Christian make. Rather, he cites passages from 1 Timothy and from John Chrysostom suggesting that one must have both orthodox faith and practice in order truly to be Christian. This prompts Jacob to briefly list several definitions he has found regarding Christian faith and, having found no previous definition of Christian action, to quickly define proper action as the keeping of God’s commandments. At this point, the extant text concludes with the scribe of BL Additional 12,154 stating ‘these are his sections concerning what Christianity is and concerning faith and action’.14 It remains unclear how much of chapter twelve is extant in these two manuscripts. When reading BL Additional 12,154’s reference to a paragraph worth of text preserved only in BL Additional 17,193 as ‘after a little’, one fears how much material may have been condensed into the later phrase ‘and after many things’. Still, the scribes’ occasional paraphrasing of omitted sections and the general coherence of Jacob’s argument suggest that they have preserved the kernal of Jacob’s overarching topics, at least as they pertain to chapter twelve. There is, however, no indication for how many chapters Jacob’s memra originally contained. Nevertheless, even in their fragmentary form, these excerpts provide important information to help us refine our knowledge of Jacob and his historical context. The text’s emphasis on right conduct and the following of God’s commandments are well known themes for Jacob who quickly gained a reputation as a stickler for church regulations and himself authored almost two hundred extant ecclesiastical canons.15 Other aspects of these excerpts, such as their occasionally vehement anti-Judaism, are far from unique in the history of Christianity. Nevertheless, they point toward an aspect of Jacob’s theology rarely addressed by modern scholarship. So too, Jacob is certainly not the first Christian to schematization the world into seven ages. But his insistence on the eschaton’s imminence points toward a much more apocalyptic Jacob than has previously been suggested. 14 BL. Add. 12,154, f. 167b. For brief overviews of Jacob’s canonical literature see Konrad D. Jenner, ‘The Canons of Jacob of Edessa in the Perspective of the Christian Identity of his Day’, pp. 101-112 and Teule, ‘Jacob and Canon Law’, ibid., pp. 83-100. 15 180 MICHAEL PENN There also remains the question of why Jacob felt compelled to write a definition of Christianity in the first place, especially a definition that emphasized Christianity’s distinctiveness and its antiquity. Despite being written only a few decades after the Islamic conquests, the excerpts preserved by BL Additional 12,154 and BL Additional 17,193 make no explicit reference to Islam.16 Jacob’s stay at Mar Jacob’s of Kayshum, however, corresponded with the rise to power of the Ummayad Caliph cAbd al-Malik (r.685-705 C.E.), the second Arab civil war, and cAbd al-Malik policies of Islamization including his coinage reforms and the building of the Dome of the Rock.17 Given Jacob’s fairly detailed descriptions of Islam in many other documents, 16 Jacob does refer to ‘pagans’ and ‘barbarians’ either of which might be an allusion to Muslims, especially as Syriac writers will occasionally use the term ‘pagans’ to speak of Muslims. In the context of this particular text, however, there is no clear indication that Jacob here intends to signify Muslims as opposed to polytheists. 17 The literature on cAbd al-Malik is increasingly vast. A particularly useful starting point is Chase F. Robinson, ‘Abd al-Malik (Oxford: Oneworld, 2005). For discussions of his policies of Islamization see Jamsheed K. Choksy, Conflict and Cooperation: Zoroastrian Subalterns and Muslim Elites in Medieval Iranian Society (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997), p. 113; Sidney H. Griffith, The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque: Christians and Muslims in the World of Islam (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008), pp. 14, 32-33; Sidney H. Griffith, ‘Answering the Call of the Minaret. The Topics and Strategies of Christian Apologetics in the World of Islam’, in Die Suryoye und ihre Umwelt, ed. Andreas Heinz Martin Tamcke (Münster: Lit Verlag, 2005), p. 14; Sidney H. Griffith, ‘Images, Islam and Christian Icons’, in La Syrie de Byzance a l’Islam, ed. Jean-Paul Rey-Coquais Pierre Caniver (Damascus: Institut Français de Damas, 1992), pp. 126-129; G. R. Hawting, The First Dynasty of Islam: The Umayyad Caliphate AD 661-750, 2nd Edition (New York: Routledge, 2000), pp. 64-65; Hoyland, Seeing Islam, p. 16; Gerrit J. Reinink, ‘Following the Doctrine of the Demons: Early Christian Fear of Conversion to Islam’, in Cultures of Conversions, eds. Wout J. van Bekkum, Jan N. Bremmer, and Arie L. Molendijk (Leuven: Peeters, 2006), p. 128; Gerrit J. Reinink, ‘Political Power and Right Religion in the East Syrian Disputation between a Monk of Bet Îale and an Arab Notable’, in The Encounter of Eastern Christianity with Early Islam, eds. Emmanouela Grypeou, Mark N. Swanson, and David Thomas (Leiden: Brill, 2006), p. 153; Gerrit J. Reinink, ‘Early Christian Reactions to the Building of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem’, Xristianskij Vostok, 2 (2002), pp. 228-230; Gerrit J. Reinink, ‘The Romance of Julian the Apostate as a Source for Seventh Century Syriac Apocalypses’, in La Syrie de Byzance à l’Islam VIIe-VIIIe Siècles, eds. Pierre Canivet and Jean-Paul Rey-Coquais (Damascus: Institut Français de Damas, 1992), pp. 79-80; Gerrit J. Reinink, ‘Ps.-Methodius: A Concept of History in Response to the Rise of Islam’, in The Byzantine and Early Islamic East, eds. Averil Cameron and Lawrence I. Conrad (Princeton: The Darwin Press, 1992), p. 183; Robinson, ‘Abd al-Malik, pp. 79-80. Reinink, ‘Following the Doctrine of the Demons’, p. 131 summarizes the early 690s as a time when Syriac Christians first encountered ‘an JACOB OF EDESSA’S DEFINING CHRISTIANITY 181 it is difficult to imagine Defining Christianity not having been written, at least in part, as a reaction to these larger changes that Jacob and his audience were experiencing.18 For late seventh-century Syriac Christians, the rise of Islam produced a crisis of differentiation. Their new conquerors increasingly defined themselves as supersessionary to Christianity; Jesus was said to have foretold their prophet, their scriptures claimed to succeed the Old and New Testaments, and their monuments purposefully challenged Christian holy sites. Furthermore, under Islamic rule Christianity was no longer favored over Judaism. In the words of the late seventh-century John bar Penkaye, ‘there was no difference between the pagan and the Christian. The believer was not known from the Jew’.19 Such developments forced Syriac Christians to more articulately distinguish themselves from Islam and from Judaism. They also motivated a number of late seventh-century Syriac apocalypses that saw the rise of Islam as the harbinger of an immenent eschaton.20 These tendencies – Arab government that publicly proclaimed that Islam was the ideological basis of the Arab state and would take over the prominent position of Christianity’. 18 Jacob explicitly speaks of Muslims and of Islam in over a dozen different works. Such references appear in his Chronicle, his scholia, his letters, and his writings on canon law. For a bibliography of several of Jacob’s works that speak of Islam see Roggema, ed. Christian-Muslim Relations, pp. 226-232. For an overview on Jacob’s discussion of Islam see Jan J. Van Ginkel, ‘History and Community. Jacob of Edessa and West Syrian Identity’, in Redefining Christian Identity: Cultural Interaction in the Middle East since the Rise of Islam, eds. H.L. Murre-Van den Berg J.J. Van Ginkel, T.M. Van Lint (Leuven: Peeters, 2005), pp. 67-76; Robert Hoyland, ‘Jacob and Early Islamic Edessa’, pp. 11-24; Hoyland, ‘Jacob of Edessa on Islam’, pp. 149-160; Hoyland, Seeing Islam, pp. 160-167; Jenner, ‘Canons of Jacob of Edessa’, pp. 108-110; Teule, ‘Jacob and Canon Law’, pp. 96-99. 19 John bar Penkaye, Book of Main Points 15: Alphonse Mingana, Sources syriaques I (Leipzig: Dominican Press, 1907), p. 151*. 20 Of all the early Syriac writings on Islam, it is the seventh-century Syriac apocalypses that have obtained the most thorough scholarly treatment. For a bibliography of scholarly writings on the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Ephrem, the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius, the Edessene Apocalypse, and the Apocalypse of John the Little see Roggema, ed. Christian-Muslim Relations. In the case of the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius, a much more extensive bibliography can be found in Gerrit J. Reinink, Die Syrische Apokalypse des Pseudo-Methodius, CSCO, 541 (syri, 221) (Louvain: Peeters, 1993), pp. xlviii-lxi. For an overview of these apocalypses and their connection to late seventh-century changes in Muslim polity and religion see Jan J. Van Ginkel, ‘The End is Near! Some Remarks on the Relationship between Historiography, Eschatology, and Apocalyptic Literature in the West-Syrian Tradition’, in Syriac Polemics: Studies in Honour of Gerrit Jan Reinink, ed. Wout Jac van 182 MICHAEL PENN emphasis of Christian distinction, anti-Judaism, and apocalypticism – are all prominent in Jacob’s Defining Christianity. This does not mean that Jacob wrote this text solely in reaction to Muslims. But it does suggest that the changing social, political, and theological circumstances brought about by the Islamic conquests and their aftermath motivated the production of a wide range of texts – including those like Defining Christianity – that did not explicitly speak of Islam. The possible connection between Defining Christianity and the challenges brought about by Islam is just one of numerous ways that Defining Christianity allows one to better understand Jacob of Edessa and his times. In order to help other scholars make more detailed investigations of this text and to include it in the expanding published corpus of Jacob’s writings, it seems appropriate to provide the first edition and translation of this work. Whenever they overlap, BL Additional 12,154 and BL Additional 17,193 are extremely similar. With only a few exceptions, their variation consists of different punctuation, minor orthographic differences, or slightly altered phrasing. I have chosen to use BL Additional 12,154 as the base text not because I believe it to necessarily be closer to the ur text, but simply because it contains more of Jacob’s memra. With the exception of the one paragraph found only in BL Additional 17,193 I have left this document to the footnotes which include all non-punctuation variants between the manuscripts. I have kept the English translation fairly literal to the Syriac. In those cases where this would have mdae a Syriac idiom seem awkward, I have been a bit looser in my translation but provide a more literal version in the notes. • • • • Bekkum, Jan Willem Drijvers, and Alex C. Klugkist (Leuven: Peeters, 2007), pp. 205217; Griffith, In the Shadow of the Mosque, pp. 32-35; Reinink, ‘Reactions to the Dome of the Rock’, pp. 227-241; Reinink, ‘A Concept of History in Response to the Rise of Islam’, pp. 149-187; Cynthia Villagomez, ‘Christian Salvation through Muslim Domination: Divine Punishment and Syriac Apocalyptic Expectation in the Seventh and Eighth Centuries’, Medieval Encounters, 4 (1998), pp. 203-218. JACOB OF EDESSA’S DEFINING CHRISTIANITY 183        21.      " ! ! "   #$ % &' ( )*($ * #% ! 22 ( +* (,  -$. [BL. Add. 12,158, f. 165a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dd. 17,193 starts here with  $ . ! " ! BL. Add. 17,193 omits  (   #. 23 " Instead of 8 5, BL. Add. 17,193 reads )/ (. " 24 BL. Add. 17,193 reads 2%. 25 Here and throughout the manuscript BL. Add. 17,193 reads   0&. 26 BL. Add. 17,193 reads 2   ##$ / )/. Paragraph divisions are my own and often, but not alwayss, correspond to divisions in the manuscript, for example red-lettered phrases such as ‘after many things.’ 27 BL. Add. 17,193 reads 2  $/. 28 BL. Add. 17,193, f. 58b. " % 9% 22($ 29 BL. Add. 17,193 has  55  ##$ % -% in the margin in a different hand than the main scribe. 30 BL. Add. 17,193 reads  . 21 22 184 MICHAEL PENN % / 5E  % /  " .#!   ! $ G% /   ;  32 312 5E . >& ,25$ 6 H 34 2 $   $/ &' / )/$2% 33.)/ 5!  2 5E + )/! 5 $ I  2  2 5E$ +  J' 2 5E$ + K8 %$ G/5%  35L5;% ! ,25$ 36.22$ 3 5 % % M 5 '( 6 " ! 37  5=5  %  /  % 9% /  .2*% " ! 5E 2 ' [165b]  ( A2#"  % ' /, / #$ / # =6  / 8#  6    $/ $$/  2 &%2  #!  5 @ ! !  C   6 % '  '6 $ &'  & " ,$ A%$ -$'( 97/ %$ #5 $/$ #!  5 @ 6 6 23 )H/ # ! 5 D( ' /    5 $/$ :-% @ ! 9% :7  ( $% 52  538   .! 5E ! 39 3% $H/ $7   5 % 3 )5 N2 6 6 + ' 52 . " '( D%  " % 9% /  " / 5 ' ! . " " " :2%$ L3  )/ 2%  5E 23 )/    ! / '( '3 ,25 ' -$  ,'C$ '( D 2( <D3 $ 25F $H/ '5 6 " ! ( " 9% J   O7 <" " ! $/"  = )/$ )2 % <' #5  ($ <2'36  %$ =6   (  ! $ " 40  3 &' )*$   3* <K&  6 .D  %$ D& 31 BL. Add. 17,193 reads D& " /20  %  % :#  5!  % ' ! $/$ ! .( 6 6 %$ J 6 %$  >& 2 5E BL. Add. 17,193 reads D. ! G%  G% . BL. Add. 17,193 reads )/ 5$ 34 BL. Add. 17,193 reads 3/ )/$2%. ! ! 35 Instead of L5,%  2E, BL. Add. 17,193 reads L5,% 2 5E$. 36 Corr. with BL. Add. 17,193. BL Add. 12,154 reads 252$. ! 37 Instead of 2% ,25$ BL. Add. 17,193 reads  /  % ,25. 38 BL. Add. 17,193, f. 59a. 39 BL. Add. 17, 193 reads 2. 40 In BL. Add. 12,154 the ) of  3 has been inserted either by the original scribe or by a later hand. BL. Add. 17,193 correctly reads  3 . 32 33 JACOB OF EDESSA’S DEFINING CHRISTIANITY 185 2! 5E 5 B% =% / B%   "   41$/ = 8 :2*% $/ F2 6 " 8 :&' $/ 0  7% $/ 2$ :' " " " $/ 8 $ $/ &"   5  :' " 3/ B%  / '# " ,25 ( 2 )/ P $/ " 43 = 2 8  . 0 * -  23 / 2 5E 45 "  9% :&'   3$ '  8  44 " ,   2$ :3/  K3 B% % & 2 ")/ 2 5E  %  46 0 B% $  /$ : 3,% ! ! " # / )/7$ )/&' -$ )5 :L3 6 " " 47 M  ,  6 F / '( B% / 0 $ :05$ " "  # / $ <$/ B% / '   8 @ H H "  D6 $/  $/ 7% 2 $/ .3 $/ ' @ @ ! H " 2 % 23 )/ 2 5=5 B% '% $/ :#  5 D( '( D6 5E  5 9% $/  )/ C / " [166a] $ 2%==($ 482 % 2 # ' 6 .3 / ' '(  D6 22 ' /( *3 $ 3 5   C $H5}49 -$/  ! 5 $2  *3  $ ;   $H/ +. # "  '( F 5 2   $H/ .+. 223$ C 5 5;%  $H/ .. + ..  $  O$= " H " " " .  $/ +  . $ L'3 G 2  O  "  . $ K.&$ <,$ '# " C 5 #' " " 2# ! ! M 5! 5& 5  %$ <' #,$ 2. D& % 5 23  $H/ .+.   % 5 $ 2( 3  $H/ .+.  5 6 " $H/ $H/ [BL Add. 17,193, f. 59b] <==($  C   '( D& %  / .#  5  C   (5 $ 42 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 BL. Add. 17,193 does not have $/. BL. Add. 17,193 reads F 2 . 6 ! BL. Add. 17,193 reads  0&. Corr.with BL. Add. 17,193. BL. Add. 12,158 reads . Corr.with BL. Add. 17,193. BL. Add. 12,158 reads  8 . BL. Add. 17,193 reads  0 ! . BL. Add. 17,193 reads5,  F. Corr. with BL. Add. 17,193. BL. Add. 12,158 reads 2. 6 The following section in braces only appears in BL. Add. 17,193. 186 MICHAEL PENN 2 3  ( '( ,3  % ' 2 2( '5 '( D& 2 2(  /$ .2 # {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dd. 17,193 does not have  ,25$. BL. Add. 17,193 reads   6 %. 52 BL. Add. 17,193 reads )'# 6 B%. 53 Corr. with BL. Add. 17,193. BL. Add. 12,154 originally read % %, but the second % was later erased. 54 BL. Add. 17,193 reads   %. 55 BL. Add. 17,193 reads B% A. 56 Instead of / &$ / $.3 0 $ BL. Add. 17,193 reads / $ 3 0 $ ./ 5&$ 57 BL. Add. 17,193 reads '  . 58 BL. Add. 17,193, f. 60a. 59 BL. Add. 17,193 reads  .%. 6 50 51 JACOB OF EDESSA’S DEFINING CHRISTIANITY 187 " 60.  0 .  '3 K#72 C ' .  "  0 * -  / '  / $  " 3 5 2( $H/ '$ . "   H F$ 5, $/    .22(   " .%$ /,3 $H/ 8#  :/ '  D& %  8#   9%  8# A ( %  .8# )/$2% Q0  '3   9%   0  ! -H/ [166b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ere and throughout BL. Add. 17,193 reads 2. BL. Add. 17,193 reads   6 %. BL. Add. 17,193 puts B% after   0&. BL. Add. 17,193 puts 2 after 8#'. BL. Add. 17,193 inserts )/. Corr. with BL. Add. 17,193. BL. Add. 12,158 reads /2 '. BL. Add. 17,193 reads /2 '. BL. Add. 17,193, f. 60b. BL. Add. 17,193 does not have . BL. Add. 17,193 does not have / . 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dd. 17,193 reads '$. An arrow in the margin preceeds both this and the next line to denote the scriptural citation. 72 BL. Add. 17,193 reads  .. 73 BL. Add. 17,193 does not have . 74 BL. Add. 17,193 reads  'C2 . 6 75 BL. Add. 17,193 reads 5  P,   '/ 5. 76 Corr. with BL. Add. 17,193. BL. Add. 12,154 orignally read   7 3$. The  was later erased and the entire word   was crossed out with diagonal line from top right to bottum left. 77 BL. Add. 17,193, f. 61a. 78 BL. Add. 17,193 reads  2'. 70 71 JACOB OF EDESSA’S DEFINING CHRISTIANITY 189 ! ! % 7$ &' [167a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dd. 17,193 reads 2! 25  . BL. Add. 17,193 ends here. The  appears to have been inserted by a different hand. 190 MICHAEL PENN ! ( "  :F   $,& B% :5  P, :5    $ 2#5  $,&      ! ! 9% $/ $ % 7$ &'  $,0$ H " <2F  % -/ <&' )*( 2&   "  0&$ < ,. 85  P,   '/  .& ! 5$$ 2   $,&  ,2&$ <&'  $,0 "  % % / ( A& % &" ?E +   $  V H  $/ U. 0 0  K 7%   2 B% "  .  0   "   <8#   (  " " 82 " 9#. [167b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n arrow in the margin preceeds the first two lines to denote the scriptural citation. A marginal note, perhaps from a different hand: 4 . W to number the definition. Marginal note: % JACOB OF EDESSA’S DEFINING CHRISTIANITY 191 " " 2% M   $ *%  2 9%85 0 $ % 0  #. P,  53   '/  ! 86 B%   2% +  D23%   / 6 " 0  23F  ,$% 2%   '/ +*% " 2%   '/87 .$ $ +  6 !  / 0 $ <%  0 $ <% 0   2 $  3 2( "  6 2%   '/88 .$ $ .+ -;2  / 0 $ % 0  <G $ T7 $ 2 !   / 6 "   '/ 0 $ + 2 !  / $ C  " 9%   $,& 0 + 8 3% )/ C J    G5 + N2    8 3%  "  9&$ P, $  5$ 2%  " % 9% ! + 7  $,0 5  2#  <(  $,&$   '/ 0 $ : "   0  0 $ + D3 ++ / /" ! 6 By the same holy89 Jacob, from the memra of refutation90 against the presumptuous and the transgressors of God’s law and (against) those trampling upon the ecclesiastical canons.91 From [165a] the twelfth chapter concerning92 what Christianity is and that it precedes93 all religions.94 95 Christianity would be an exalted and necessary thing and an honored and venerable name even if it were considered to be the newest and the last of all human customs and religions. But indeed it is the first and the (most) ancient, as I will explain. And (it is) older than barbarism and paganism and W to number the definition. Marginal note:  W to number the definition. Marginal note: X W 87 Marginal note:  to number the definition. W to number the definition. 88 Marginal note: / 89 Or,‘bishop’. 90 BL. Add. 17,193 begins, ‘Then, from the memra of refutation…’. 91 BL. Add. 17,193 omits, ‘and (against) those trampling the ecclesiastical canons’. 92 BL. Add. 17,193 reads, ‘From the twelfth chapter in which he shows what is Christianity…’. 93 BL. Add. 17,193 adds, ‘and is the oldest of…’. 94 Sections italicized in my translation are marked in BL. Add. 12,154 by red ink. 95 Paragraph breaks are my own and are not consistantly marked in the manuscripts. 85 86 192 MICHAEL PENN Judaism and all beliefs and religions that human thought has introduced to this world. That is to say, it is as old as humanity’s creation even if it received this honored and revered designation (of Christianity) in later times. When Christ, our savior, became incarnate for our salvation and saved us, and when He taught all of us the true knowledge of God and made us true worshippers of the divine, He also bestowed us this great and amazing designation. For what is Christianity if not God’s covenant with humanity? And when God created the first man in His image96 and put him in paradise, what was God’s covenant with humanity? He decreed His law and commandment and gave him free will. And He warned Adam97 to keep His commandment98 saying to him, ‘If you keep the commandment, you will live. And if you do not keep (it), you will die’.99 We see that for the first time God’s covenant was decreed and entrusted to humanity. It then was decreed and given to humanity. And after many things…100 And the second age: to Adam and to his children – now101 the law was natural and unwritten. And the third age: to Noah and his children. And102 the fourth age: to Abraham and Isaac. And the fifth age: through Moses to the nation of the Israelites – and written. And after other things…103 Then, as I said, when God’s covenant was thus being transmitted, from time to time it was changed until [165b] Christ’s coming. Then, when He saw humanity’s evil and the severity of its sickness – that they were incurably sick – the decreer of laws and the establisher of covenants Himself came to the human race and became incarnate and dwelled with them.104 And He taught and instructed them. And (in) this sixth age, He Himself renewed the covenant with humanity, not writing it 96 Gen 1:27. MSS = ‘him’. 98 MSS = ‘it’. 99 Cf. Prov 19:16. 100 BL. Add. 17,193 includes what is most likely a paraphrase of the excerpted passage. It reads, ‘And after many things that concerned God’s covenant with humanity: how it was decreed and came into being many times and was violated and transgressed. Namely, the second age…’. 101 ‘Now’ only appears in BL. Add. 17,193. 102 ‘And’ only appears in BL. Add. 17,193. 103 BL. Add. 17, 193 reads ‘And afterward he says…’. 104 Cf. John 1:14. 97 JACOB OF EDESSA’S DEFINING CHRISTIANITY 193 with ink or on stone tablets,105 as the covenant106 was written by the hands of Moses.107 Rather, He wrote the covenant by the savior’s blood that was shed on our behalf.108 Indeed, as I said, when He Himself established the covenant with us, this was the sixth age. And the seventh, last, and final of all covenants is after the end of this world. In that blessed and unending world, He will establish with us a covenant when He rewards everyone in accord with their deeds: to the righteous from ‘that which the eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, nor the human heart perceived’;109 but to the wicked, and to the iniquitous, and to the transgressors of the law, eternal torment.110 Know also this: in these other ages, as soon as He saw that His entire covenant had been forgotten and that none kept His law, He immediately made and renewed His covenant while it gradually approached greater perfection. So, too, He will do now after this sixth age, which is for us Christians. For indeed, as soon as He sees that we have completely overturned His covenant and abandoned His law, He will immediately make this present world past away and He will hasten the consecration of that seventh covenant. Indeed, this zealous labor111 has fallen to me as one who thinks that even now (His law) is being abandoned by us and that we have become more wicked than any generation. And behold, even now this seventh age is being provoked to come. Indeed, although He who will establish with humanity (the seventh covenant) is the same as He who also established the sixth age, nevertheless it is evident that He will not establish the covenant with us peacefully as always (before). Rather, He will ferociously and vehemently and [166a] unbearably establish this seventh covenant with us. 112 For that first covenant He made through a child and with children. And also the second: quietly and with children who regretted their folly. And the third: with an adolescent who began to stir from instruction. And the 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 Cf. 2 Cor 3:3. MSS = ‘it’. BL Add. 17,193 reads ‘[the covenant] which He wrote through the hands of Moses’. Cf. Matt 26:28. 1 Cor 2:9. Cf. Matt 25:46. BL. Add. 17,193 reads ‘greatly zealous labor’. BL. Add. 12,154 omits this paragraph which is only preserved in BL. Add. 17,193. 194 MICHAEL PENN fourth: through a man who now knew that he understood and learned some of what he had heard. And the fifth: through a grown and educated man to whom it sufficed to be a teacher and the head of a nation. But to the opposing enemies who share his [human] nature, he will be designated a god.113 And the sixth: through God who put on a veil of flesh. The seventh will be through the revealed, awesome, and powerful God who will be the judge and the avenger of the entire human race. Thus God’s covenant has been decreed with us from the beginning of the world until now quite peacefully. And thus it will be decreed with us in the world to come quite ferociously. And after a little… Then, because whenever anything newly comes into being, while new it is thus called; it impels that which in every way precedes it to be called ‘old’. Therefore, when we name this covenant that Christ Himself founded with us (in) this sixth age ‘new’, we call ‘old’ that which (was founded) by Moses in the fifth age, i.e. that which is called Judaism. Indeed, at that time this designation ‘Judaism’ was an honorable name. But now, like whoever is not in his (own) age, the Jews, the crucifiers of Christ, want to be wicked ones and God’s adversaries that they might seize Him and betray Him. We consider this name of ‘Judaism’ not as a confession of God and the keeping of His covenant, but as some hideous appellation and the designation of a religion of error. And we have grown accustomed to the Greeks. And all the apostles, so to say, frequently stayed with the Greeks114 on account of the error among them. And, by Christ, this covenant especially flourished among the Greeks.115 And immediately there were among them instructors and many teachers who rose to the head of the Lord’s people and completely kept and held His covenant. And everyone, so to say, immediately learned to also employ their words because of the language’s beauty.116 Therefore, not only have we learned and become accustomed to use Greek for calling the name of the 113 This passage remains a bit unclear. Special thanks to Adam Becker who helped with its translation and especially for pointing out the likely reference to Exodus 7:1 where God tells Moses that to Pharaoh, Moses will be like a god. 114 MSS = ‘them’. 115 MSS = ‘them’. 116 BL. Add. 17,193 reads very differently, ‘… and everyone, so to say, immediately learned to also employ their words because of the language’s hideousness and contrariness’. JACOB OF EDESSA’S DEFINING CHRISTIANITY 195 covenant, but also to that designation that Greek117 has for Christ. Instead of covenant, we say ‘diatheka’, for the (Greek) name diatheka is translated covenant.118 But, because of the newness of this covenant to us Christians we call it the ‘new diatheka,’ and that old covenant through Moses the ‘old diatheka.’ But this great and blessed designation that has been given to this covenant is from Christ who sent it and taught it to us. Instead of ‘Messiahism’ – as one could call (it) from (the Syriac) ‘Messiah’ – we have become accustomed to (use), ‘Christianity’ from the (Greek) name ‘Christ’, i.e. the Messiah.119 Therefore we worshippers of Christ, [166b] who believe in His sufferings and are saved by His death and are called by His name, instead of ‘Messiahists,’ we are named in Greek ‘Christians.’ And for us, this is God’s covenant with us. Because of Him we also are called Christians. And indeed that covenant, the teaching of our Lord Christ also, as I said, is named Christianity. For by it we are distinguished from all human teachings and religions in this world. In this way, we say that Christianity is older and prior to all religions. From paganism, I say, and from barbarism and also from this errant Judaism that now consists of erring God killers. What is the first Judaism that preceded Christ’s coming? It also should be named Christianity if it indeed constantly expected Christ and prophesized His coming. Also, all those other, old covenants that the first righteous ones had, should be named Christianity if all of them expected Christ’s coming. Therefore, calling Christianity God’s covenant to those who expected Christ, we say that Christianity is the oldest of all religions. For God then gave God’s word toward humanity, His law, and His commandment to keep and to live by to Adam in paradise, as well as to Adam120 and his children after the expulsion from paradise, and to Noah, as well as to Abraham, and to Moses and the Israelites, and also to us Christians. This is God’s covenant 117 MSS = ‘it’. What Jacob is trying to explain is that Syriac authors generally use a Syriac word for covenant (qyâmâ). But when they speak of the New or Old Testament Syriac authors often use the Greek loan word for covenant (diatheka). 119 What Jacob is trying to explain is that Syriac authors most often use the Syriac word  (Messiah) when they speak of Christ. But when they speak of Christianity Syriac authors most often use the Greek load word,   (Christianity). 120 MSS = ‘him’. 118 196 MICHAEL PENN with humanity, even though it is given various designations by various people. For this, as I said, is God’s word with humanity. In these other, prior ages it came through men. But in this last age, which is the sixth, (it came) through God, the only begotten word of the Father (who) was with us.121 As the holy apostle Paul says when writing to the Hebrews, ‘In each and every way, through the prophets of old God spoke with the fathers. But now He speaks with us through His Son’.122 Then, as we now have taught123 what is Christianity and we know that it is God’s covenant with us humans, we now will define it by a complete definition and logical argument that completely separates it from all other teachings and religions. The definition of Christianity. Thus we say Christianity is: God’s covenant with humanity that is fulfilled through orthodox faith in God,124 and through this knowledge and confession of that providence which God the word bore on our behalf when He became incarnate, and through the rebirth from water and spirit and the sharing in the suffering and death of the only begotten word, our Lord Jesus Christ, and through the receiving of His holy body and blood, and through pure conduct and the holy imitation of Christ – however much it is possible for humans to imitate (Him) – which is achieved by keeping [167a] God’s laws and commandments, and through the hope and expectation of the resurrection of human bodies from the dead125 and (the hope and expectation) of the judgment and reward in the world to come.126 This is for us a logical argument and discerning definition of Christian teaching. For by it we are separated and distinguished from all people: the pagans and the Jews, the errant and the iniquitous and the unlawful. And this is the mark of the royal, level, and pure path commanded by God for us to follow with all our soul and all our might,127 not turning aside to the right nor to the left128 and in no way treading upon errant paths that lead 121 Cf. John 1:14. Heb 1:1-2. 123 BL. Add. 17,193 reads ‘Then, as we have now learned what is Christianity…’. 124 Correct with BL. Add. 17,193. This sentence seems to be slightly corrupted or, at the very least awkward, in BL. Add. 12,154. 125 BL. Add. 17,193 reads, ‘from the grave’. 126 BL. Add. 17,193 ends here. 127 Deut 6:5. 128 Cf. Deut 28:14, Josh 1:7, 23:6, 2 King 22:2, 2 Chr 34:2, Prov 4:27. 122 JACOB OF EDESSA’S DEFINING CHRISTIANITY 197 us away to the desert of error and destruction. It is (a path) from which if we turn aside even a little – that is, we think that we are walking on its edge rather than in its middle – we will by all means fall from the truth and become strangers to God and to the kingdom of heaven. (We will fall) if we stray in (our) faith in God, or if we grow lame in the confession of Christ’s divine providence,129 or if by evil conduct we destroy the grace from baptism, or if we become sick from Christ’s passion130 and the sharing of His blood and His body,131 or if we trample God’s laws and commandments, or if we despise or wrong Him, or if we injure each other by evil deeds, or if we doubt the resurrection of the dead and the judgment. And after a little… So thus I have written what is Christianity. And thus I have explained the caution necessary for whoever is Christian. And because, indeed, we wrote a logical and clear argument of what Christianity132 is, with God’s help we have shown our opinion about the matter. But there are also many other logical definitions of Christianity that have been written by holy and divine men using various phrases.133 I will also concisely bring these forth as I am able to remember (them), even if we cannot put all of them here. And after he wrote those definitions from the holy teachers, he also said: This is the complete account of Christianity and this is the rule and the definition demonstrating it. And indeed, along with orthodox faith in God, Christianity134 also demands the doing of good deeds through the prohibition of evil action and the oppression of a neighbor and (through) the keeping of God’s laws and commandments. It is not in accord with the empty opinion of the transgressors of the law. (They) erroneously say that orthodox faith alone suffices for our salvation (even) without the keeping of the laws and without commendable action and pure and modest conduct. 129 Literally: ‘the providence of Christ-God’. Literally: ‘suffering’. 131 The reference is most likely to the enigmatic passage 1 Cor 11:25-34. Here Paul claims that many of the Corinthians have become sick, and some have died, from the Eucharist that they took while they were unworthy of Christ’s body and blood. 132 MS = ‘it’. 133 Literally, ‘through various, other words’. 134 MS = ‘it’. 130 198 MICHAEL PENN Concerning these things that have been said, I think I should also add a word from John, Bishop of Constantinople, the most illustrious of Christ’s entire church, who designates righteousness as Christianity. For when he interprets this (passage) to Timothy, ‘Instruct [167b] yourself in righteousness’135 he says, ‘This is righteousness: true faith and orthodox, blameless conduct.’ And what else, in every way, is true faith and orthodox, blameless conduct except for Christianity – that which cannot136 be achieved without these two founding parts. Then from all these things that have been gathered together I hope that it has become clearly known that righteousness is that which completely has all things fitting and beautiful and does not lack anything. And that which has only a part of goodness is not (righteousness). Therefore neither faith alone nor action (alone) is in and of itself righteousness and neither is it complete goodness. Therefore Christianity, if it is complete goodness as well as righteousness, has and is faith as well as action. Therefore faith alone is not complete Christianity and neither action alone, but the two together. For what is faith? In accord with the divine apostle Paul’s decree, ‘The conviction in those things hoped for, as they were in action, and the revelation of those things unseen’.137 And this is known of faith. Thus he said and defined what it is: not only the knowledge of God, but the complete conviction that the human mind has concerning those things unknown and hidden from it. And in accord with others’ arguments and my own view, this is faith: the orthodox forsaking of oneself undertaken by us on account of God and on account of these things (that come) from Him. And we also have other definitions. Faith is the unerring contemplation of God and of those things promised us. And also, faith is the true and firm knowledge of God and of all virtuous things. And also, faith is the stable, unwavering, blameless belief of God and of these things expected. Concerning faith indeed we have found these definitions. But concerning action, as for what is published and known, we have not found a written definition. But it is apparent to all that it is as 135 136 137 1 Tim 4:7. Here one must read with the marginalia for the sentence to make sense. Heb 11:1. JACOB OF EDESSA’S DEFINING CHRISTIANITY 199 I have said: pure, orthodox, and entirely innocent conduct that is accomplished through the keeping of the commandments. And these are his sections concerning what Christianity is and concerning faith and action. It is completed.