546 THE JOURNAL OF THEOLOGICAL STUDIES

A HOMILY OF ST EPHREM. THE MS in which the following Homily is found is in the Library of the Office (Ethiop. and Syr., No. 9). Prof. Wright, who exa- mined it in 1886, describes it as follows : ' Paper, about 8^ inches by 6 J; 444 leaves, 2 columns, 20 to 29 lines. Leaves are wanting at the beginning and end, as well as after ff. 40 (eleven) and 49 (ten). The quires are of 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16 leaves, though 10 predominates; they Downloaded from are signed with letters. This volume is written by two hands, in good, regular Nestorian characters, from the year 1698 to the year 1713 A.D.' {A. G. 2024). For a further description reference may be made to G. Hoffmann's,

Opuscula Nestoriana p. lii. http://jts.oxfordjournals.org/ Amongst the contents of the MS are :— The and Syriac Lexicon of Elias bar Shenaza, Bishop of Nisibis: cf. Lagarde, Praetermissorum Libri Duo; an explanation of difficult words, Syrian and Greek, in the Sdghdinan, by Gabriel Kamse, Metropolitan of (cf. Assem. B. O. (in 1 p. 566); Universal Canon, by John bar Zobi (Assem. B. O. iii 1 307); Bar-Hebraeus, r

The Homily or Hymn is of interest as professing to deal with the opinions of the mysterious and interesting person . But it will been seen that it does not add much to our knowledge of what Bardaisan actually taught. The quarrel which the author picks with DOCUMENTS 547

the famous thinker is over the use of the word K^AuK*. The former would restrict the name to the One Deity, while his opponent appar- ently does not shrink from employing the word to designate created things, e. g. fire. As to the authorship of the homily an objection to its ascription to Ephrem might be raised on the score of the metre. Ephrem does not seem to have commonly used the twelve-syllable verse. Indeed it was supposed that it was invented by Jacob of Sarug (Assem. B. 0.

iii 1 p. 3, and Cod. Vat. 389). Assemani, however, seems to think that Downloaded from this metre, together with those of five and seven syllables, goes back to Bardaisan or Harmonius (£. 0. i 61). And even if the evidence for this opinion is slender, we certainly have occasional twelve-syllable lines in Ephrem (cf. Lamy Hymni et Sermones vol. iii p. 13), so that the authorship of Ephrem need not be precluded by the metre which is used. http://jts.oxfordjournals.org/ On the other hand, the general style and contents of the Homily support the ascription of the MS. It is from Ephrem that we derive most of our knowledge of Bardaisan, as Hilgenfeld * says ' so ist und bleibt die Hauptquelle Ephrem'. And it is in the works of Ephrem that we find the closest parallel to the objections raised against the heretic in this hymn. Thus he writes (Op.' Syr. et Lat. Rom. vol. ii p. 443 D):— at University of Strathclyde on April 9, 2015

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[Bardaisan asserted and affirmed that two Gods could not possibly be.... And if not (two) Gods, then there are not (two) Ithye. . . . They set four Ithye according to the four quarters, one they set in the deep, another in the height, &c] And .again (p. 444), ' Marcion and Bardaisan falsely assert the blasphemy that the Creator is not One', rC.ii-> s.\ oocn L (For Ephrem's use of r£»&v»r< cf. p. 554 c.) And elsewhere (p. 532) a heretic is referred to as recognizing as r

1 Bardesanes der leiete gnostiker (Leipzig, 1864) p. 39. N n 2 548 THE JOURNAL OF THEOLOGICAL STUDIES exposition of the right belief than to the examination of the errors of his opponent. This is quite in Ephrem's manner; so the very fact that we learn so little about Bardaisan is some evidence that the ascription of the homily to Ephrem is not incorrect. The general style of the attack and the treatment of the particular case accordingly both point in' the same direction, supporting the authorship of Ephrem. Downloaded from

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Translation. Again, a hymn of Mar Ephrem against Bardaisan. There is One Being, who knows Himself and sees Himself. And He dwells in Himself, and from Himself sets forth. Glory to His Name. This is a Being who by His own will is in every place, who is invisible and visible, manifest and secret. He is above and below. Mingling and condescending by His grace among the lower (beings); Downloaded from loftier and more exalted, as befits His glory, than the higher. The swift cannot exceed his swiftness, nor the slow outlast his patience. He is before all and after all, and in the midst of all.. He is like the sea, in that all creation moves in Him. As the water besets the fish

in all their movements, so also does God beset all created things. http://jts.oxfordjournals.org/ And as the water is clad with the fish at every moment, (so) the Creator is clad with everything which is made, both great and small. And as the fish are hidden in the water, (so) there is hidden in God height and depth, far and near, and the inhabitants thereof. And as the water meets the fish everywhere it goes, so God meets every one who walks. And as the water touches the fish at every turn it makes, (so) God accompanies and sees every man in all his deeds.

Men cannot move from earth which is their chariot, neither does at University of Strathclyde on April 9, 2015 any one go far from the Just One who is his associate. The Good One is united to all His possessions, which are everywhere, as the soul is united to the body, and light to the eyes. A man is not able to flee from his soul, for it is with him. Nor is a man hid from the Good, for He besets him. As the water surrounds the fish, and it feels it, so also do all natures feel God. He is diffused through the air, and with thy breath enters into thy midst. He is mingled with the light, and enters, when thou seest, into thine eyes. He is mingled with thy spirit, and examines thee from within, as to what thou art. In thy soul He dwells, and nothing which is in thy heart is hid from Him. As the mind precedes the body in every place, so He examines thy soul before thou dost examine it. And as the thought greatly precedes the deed, so His thought knows beforehand what thou wilt plan. Compared with His impalpability thy soul is body and thy spirit flesh. Soul of thy soul, spirit of thy spirit, is He who created thee, far from all, and mingled with all, and manifest above all, a great wonder and a hidden marvel unfathomable. He is the Being concerning whose essence no man is able to explain. This is the Power whose depth is inexpressible. Among things seen and among things hidden there is none to be compared to Him. This is He who created and formed from nothing everything which is. 552 THE JOURNAL OF THEOLOGICAL STUDIES

God said, ' Let there be light!' Lo ! it is created'. He made dark- ness, and it became night. Observe! It is made *. Fire in stones, water in rocks, The Being created them. There is one Power who raised them from nothing. Behold, even to-day, fire is not in a store- house in the earth. For lo! it is continually created by means of flints. It is the Being who ordains its existence by means of him who holds it. When He wishes He lights it, when He wishes He quenches it by way of appeal against the obstinate. In a great grove

by the rubbing of a stick fire is kindled. The flame devours, it grows Downloaded from strong, at last sinks down. If fire and water are Beings and not creatures, then before the earth (was), where were their roots hid? Whoso would destroy his life, opens his mouth to speak concerning everything. Whoso hateth himself, and would not circumscribe God, holds it great impiety that one should think himself overwise. And if he thinks he has said the last thing he has reached heathenism. http://jts.oxfordjournals.org/ Oh, Bardaisan, whose mind is liquid like his name!

A. S. DUNCAN JONES.

1 Lit. ' a created thing'. * Lit. ' a made thing '. at University of Strathclyde on April 9, 2015 INSCRIPTIONS FROM 'S MONASTERY.

THE following texts—only, I am told, a small part of the number still unstudied—were copied during the past spring by Canon W. T. Oldfield on two visits to the White Monastery *. As Canon Oldfield disclaims any knowledge of Coptic, the accuracy of his copies is very remarkable, especially considering the dirty condition of the inscriptions and the bad light in which some of them stand. The inscriptions may be described in two groups: (A) those in or beside the five niches of the north apse of the church2, and upon one of the small walls between this and the central apse, and upon the domed roof of that apse; (B) those in the small room to the north of the central apse *, entered from the north apse by a narrow passage, and called by Canon Oldfield ' the Secret Chamber'. I here number the five niches a to e, counting from the most eastern. The inscriptions here are upon either the plastered facing of the interior of the niche or on the intervening brickwork. They are written partly in black,

1 The best published account and plan of the building: W. de Bock Materiaux pour serwr a Varcheologit &c. (1901) 39 ff; also, Gayet L'Art Cople 143. For Shenoute, v. Leipoldt's book {cf. this JOURNAL V U9). ' In in De B.'s plan. ».Ik in De B.'s plan.