The Doctrine of Knowledge in Isaac of Niniveh and the East Syriac
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UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI PADOVA C ORSO DI DOTTORATO IN STUDI STORICI, GEOGRAFICI, ANTROPOLOGICI SCUOLA DI DOTTO RATO DI RICERCA IN STUDI STORICI E STORICO - R ELIGIOSI PADOVA XXVIII CICLO The Doctrine of Knowledge in Isaac of Niniveh and the East Syri ac Theology of the 7 - 8 th Century Direttore della Scuola : Maria Cristina La Rocca Coordinatore d’indirizzo: Walter Panciera Supervisore : Ch.mo Prof. Paolo Bettiolo Dottorand o Valentin - Cosmin Vesa 1050110 2015 Introduction One of the mo st popular monastic authors w ith a nearly universal spread along time is Isaac of Niniveh, a Syriac author of the late 7 th century, who belonged to the Church of the East. The great importance of this author is indicated by at least three aspects: firstly, Isaac of Niniveh is a very good example of the ecumenical role played by the Eastern Syriac monastic literature: coming from a religious community which both Chalcedonians and non - Chalcedonians have traditionally described as “Nestorian”, his writings wer e translated soon after his death throughout all the Christian world (all three Christological traditions). The second aspect comes out of his belonging to the so - called “third theological tradition”, the Syriac (Semitic) school (next to Byzantine and Lati n), in a time of synthesis with the Byzantine tradition, rediscovered by scholars in recent times. And t hirdly, Isaac’s writings provide important information about the religious monastic ambient in the Persian territory in a time of turbulence caused by t he arrival of the Muslim powers , as well as by internal schisms or the proselytism of the Western Syriac community. The topic we are going to deal with focuses on the doctrine of knowledge , according to Isaac of Niniveh , in its double dimension, worldly/p hilosophical and theological (the former considered to be more discursive/intellectual and the latter intuitive/ experiential) and the rapport established between these two , prolonged in the concept of vision, as the highest form of knowledge, describing t he inner mystical life. “Knowledge” is a fundamental reading key for Isaac’s writings which, in a nutshell , describe a detailed gnose ological itinerary and yet not really systematically . We will give a contextual reading of his gnose ological doctrine in re ference to the fonts he uses, paying attention to the language and structures he employs , with respect to the contemporary East Christian Syriac thinking. This topic is completely unprecedented and aim s to fill the lacuna of studies there is around this au thor, despite his importance and his popularity for both the history of Eastern and Western Christian tradition. As anticipated, the research topic becomes more interesting if one places it within the Christological development of the East Syriac theology in the Arab conquered territories of the 7 - 8 th centuries and the Messalian controversies revealed in different accusations of the Church authorities and academic theologians directed towards isolated monastic influent authors (such as John the Solitary, Is aiah of Tahal, Henana, Sahdona, Joseph Hazzaya or John Dalyatha). One can identify different positions and, occasionally, three representative categories – the Church leaders, the academic theologians and the charismatic monastics. The question that arises might be expressed in a double way – are there essentially two opposite positions: theologians and Church authorities, on the one hand, and the charismatic monastics, 3 on the other hand? And from here, is there an opposition between the official theology o f the Church and the monastic theology? Or, a second thesis might be expressed as an opposition between a scholastic and a practical - mystical theology, professed occasionally by representatives of the three mentioned categories. Therefore, the main aspect of concern in our study focuses on Isaac’s gnoseology and, consequently, on his mystical doctrine, in reference to the general theological debates of his time, within the ecclesiastical community he belonged to. We will now give a short overview of the aut hor’s bio - bibliography so as to highlight the prominent place he occupies in the history of monastic literature . H e originated from Beth Qatraye, the region of the modern Gulf States, still a strong Christian centre in the mid 7 th century. He w as consecrat ed bishop of Nineveh (Mosul) by the Catho licos of the Church of the East George, the dates of whose office (661 - 680) constitute the sole chronological anchor for his lifetime . A fter only five months he resigned. The remainder of his life was spent as a he rmit in the vicinity of the Rabban Shabur monastery in the mountains of Western Iran. His writings were transmitted in several “parts”, of which the “First Part” is the most important and known , since numerous chapters from it were translated into G reek at the famous monastery of S aint Saba, s outh of Jerusalem, in the late 8 th or early 9 th century. The fortunate survival of a fragment of a Syriac manuscript of the First Part of Isaac’s writings that was written at the Monastery of S ain t Saba shows th at Isaac’s writings were already circulating in the 8 th century in their original language in this citadel of Chalcedonian Orthodoxy. Various t ranslations of the “First Part ” were made from both Syriac and Greek into Georgian, Arabic and Ethiopic in the l ate 9 th century. In the course of the Middle Ages the Greek translation served as source for translations into many other languages: Latin in the 13 th century; Slavonic in the 14 th century; several vernacular translations were made from Latin during the 14 th and 15 th centuries; in the 19 th century the first Romanian translation was made from the Greek ; the Slavonic, occasionally, in combination with the Greek , served as a basis for various Russian translations. F rom one of these Russian translations a Japa nese translation was made (1909). The 20 th century has also witnessed a revival of interest in Isaac in Western Europe and America after the publishing of the Syriac text of the “ First Part ” by Paul Bedjan 1 , followed by several partial translations into va rious modern languages (English, Italian, German , Russian ), thus making Isaac’s discourses available for readers in many different Church traditions , far more widely than ever before . His large popularity can also be observed by the presence of fragments f rom his 1 De perfectione religiosa , Paris - Leipzig, 1909. 4 writings in different anthologies like: Evergetinos, Greek Philokalia, Philokalia of Theophan the Recluse , Romanian edition by D umitru Staniloae, the anthologies of S abino Chialà and that of the Anglican Contemplative Sisters, both translated into Japanese, and the latter into several languages including Persian and Malayalam. In 1983 professor Sebastian Brock rediscovered the “Se cond Part” 2 of Isaac’s writings . Subsequent to its publication , sections from it have already been translated into Itali an, English, Russian, French, Romanian, Arabic, Persian, and Malayalam – a clear indication of the continuing relevance of Isaac’s teaching in many different Christian traditions today. We mention that a “Third Part” 3 has also been discovered recently , an d this is avail able to the readers through an Italian, French, Romanian and very soon an English translation 4 . One can surely say that there are others parts to be identified, called “The fourth” 5 , “The fifth” 6 and , possibly , “The sixth” and “The seventh” 7 . Then, there are other several manuscripts and texts circulating under his name, whose authenticity is to be verified. In this sense, there is an open space for future research. The translation of the first part and especially of the second and third part brought a lot of interest on the part of scholars like S ebastian Brock, P aolo Bettiolo, S abino Chialà, A ndré Louf, H ilarion Alfeyev, A ndrew Lichter, J acques Toraille, G abriel Bunge, M anel Nin, W aclaw Hryniewicz, M arcel Pirard, P atrick Hagman, N estor Kavva das, M ary Hansbury on different inedited issues regarding the religious life of his time: monastic practices, contemplation, purification of mind, justice and love, suffering, nature and ecology. So far, there are few doctoral theses on Isaac’s theology: J . B. Chabot 8 , W . Thomson 9 , M . Hansbury 10 , L . Valiap l ackal 11 , Th . Manoj 12 , A . Gasperin 13 , S . Chialà 14 , P . Hagman 15 , J. Scully 16 , M. Tang 17 , G. 2 The or iginal Syriac: chapter 1 - 3 in manuscript, to be published/ Prof P Bettiolo; The second part. Chapters IV - XLI , ed. Sebastian Brock, CSCO 224, 1995. 3 Terza collezione , ed. S Chialà, CSCO 246, 2011 (Italian translation CSCO 247). 4 Due to Mary Hansbury. 5 Grigory Kessel seems to have traces on “The Fourth Part” of Isaac’s writings. The preliminary conclusion is that this collection is a compilation of the discourses already known from the other collections; cf. his paper presented at the IIIrd Symposium “Syro - Arabicum”, USEK, Lebanon, February 2015 – The ‘Fourth Part’ of Isaac of Nineveh: Lost and Found? (to be published) 6 C f. the manuscript of Ephraim II Rahmani, 15 th century/ 2 homilies published by Sabino Chialà 2012: “Due discorsi della Quinta Parte di Isacco di Ninive?”, in Orient alia Christiana Periodica , 79 (2013), p. 61 - 112. 7 Cf. Abdisho of Nisibis’s biographical note. This text will be discussed in the first chapter. 8 De S. Isaaci Ninivitae vita, scripta et doctrina , Paris, 1892. 9 Isaac of Niniveh. A Study in Syriac Mysticis m , Harvard University, 1924. 10 Evidence of Jewish Influence in the Writings of Isaac of Niniveh: Translation and Commentary , Temple University, 1987. 11 The Way to Go d According to Isaac of Ninive and St Bonaventure: A Comparative Study , Pontifical Gregori an University, 1994.