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A NEW FRAGMENT of THEODORE of MOPSUESTIA's CONTRA MAGOS 1. Introduction Until the Publication, in 1968, of H. Scheinhardt's

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A NEW FRAGMENT of THEODORE of MOPSUESTIA's CONTRA MAGOS 1. Introduction Until the Publication, in 1968, of H. Scheinhardt's A NEW FRAGMENT OF THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA'S CONTRA MAGOS 1. Introduction Until the publication, in 1968, of H. Scheinhardt's article Zitate aus drei verlorenen Schriften des Theodor von Mopsuestia1 Theodore's work Contra magos, dedicated to the Armenian bishop Mastubius2, was only known by title and by Photius' summary of its contents3. In this article Scheinhardt published, in German translation, a fragment of the Contra magos discovered by W. Strothmann in the manuscript Vat. syr. 496, and contained in Dadisho{ Qatraya's Commentary on the writings of Abba Isaiah4. The critical edition of Dadisho{'s Commentary by R. Draguet in 1972 made the Syriac text of the fragment together with its French trans- lation accessible to the scholarly world5. Since 1968 Dadisho{'s quotation, which appears to have been taken from the last section of the work6, has been the only known fragment of Contra magos. In this rather short fragment Dadisho{'s adduces Theo- dore's work “against the Magicians ( ) which is called Mastubiya () after the name of the man who asked him (scil. Theodore) (to compose it)" with the purpose of demonstrating that the souls of the righteous are in a state of enjoyment in Paradise7. More re- cently, however, the present writer has drawn attention to a second frag- ment of Contra magos, hidden in a still unpublished East Syrian work on Christology dating from the end of the twelfth century at the earliest8. 1 In Paul de Lagarde und die syrische Kirchengeschichte, Göttingen, 1968, pp. 185- 198 (= SCHEINHARDT, Zitate). 2 See R. DEVREESSE, Essai sur Théodore de Mopsueste (Studi e Testi, 141), Città del Vaticano, 1948, pp. 51, 136. 3 See Leontius of Byzantium, Adversus Nestorianos et Eutychianos, 3 (PG 861, col. 1384 C); Chronicle of Seert, LIII, A. SCHER (ed.), Histoire nestorienne, 1 (PO V), Paris, 1910, p. 290 [178]; ¨Abdisho¨, Catalogue, XIX, J.S. ASSEMANI (ed.), Bibliotheca Orien- talis Clementino-Vaticana, III, 1, Romae, 1725, p. 34; Photius, Bibl. 81, R. HENRY (ed.), Photius, Bibliothèque, 1, Paris, 1959, p. 187. 4 SCHEINHARDT, Zitate (n. 1), pp. 188, 192-194. 5 R. DRAGUET (ed.), Commentaire du livre d'Abba Isaïe (logoi I-XV) par Dadiso Qa†raya (VIIeS.), (C.S.C.O., 326, 327; Scriptores Syri, 144, 145), Louvain, 1972, Dis- cours XV, 16, pp. 270, 21-271, 8 (text), pp. 208, 28-209, 7 (transl.). In Discours XV, 18, pp. 275, 27-276, 5 (text), p. 212, 31-36 (transl.), Theodore's Contra magos is mentioned again, but this is only a reference to the preceding quotation in XV, 16. 6 See Discours XV, 16, 18, pp. 270, 15, 276, 1 (text), pp. 208, 22, 212, 33 (transl.). 7 Discours XV, 16, p. 270, 9-14 (text), p. 208, 18-22 (transl.). 64 G.J. REININK Its contents are sufficiently interesting to justify a separate edition, which will provide students of Theodore with a little piece of fresh in- formation concerning this work, which occupies a rather unique place among Theodore's writings, in defining the Christian faith over against pagan religion9. 2. The Source of the Fragment The Christological work, which bears the title On the Union ( ), is preserved in the East Syrian manuscripts Mingana Syr. 544 and Cambridge Or. 1317. It was composed by Simon the Persecuted ( )10, a monk of the monastery of ¨Abdisho¨ of Kum near the town of Amadia in Northern Iraq11, in the time of the Catho- licosate of Yahballaha II (1190-1222) or possibly still later, in the time of the Catholicos Yahballaha III (1281-1317)12. The direct cause leading to its composition was the appearance of a certain monk George Wash- naya, who had started propagating heretical ideas in the region of Ninive, Bet Zabdai and Bet Nuhadre, and in Simon's monastery. Although the abbot Isho{ expelled George from the monastery, the abbot felt incapable 8 G.J. REININK, The Quotations from the lost Works of Theodoret of Cyrus and Theodore of Mopsuestia in an Unpublished East Syrian Work on Christology, in Studia Patristica. Papers of the 1995 Oxford Patristic Conference, Vol. XXXIII, Leuven, 1996, pp. 562-567 (= REININK, The Quotations). 9 Cfr A. CHRISTENSEN, L'Iran sous les Sassanides, Paris, 1944, pp. 150, 286. 10 The author is otherwise unknown; cfr A. BAUMSTARK, Geschichte der syrischen Literatur, Bonn, 1922, p. 210. Simon calls himself “the Persecuted” for the sake of God and for the sake of Christ. The epithet refers to his being persecuted by the demons, which may be a metaphor both for his ascetic life and for his struggle against the heretics, whom he calls “the children of Satan”. 11 The monastery of ¨Abdisho¨ of Kum is mentioned in Simon's introduction. D. JENKS, Ktabona d-partute, Urmia, 1898, p. 316 (= JENKS, Ktabona), identifies this monas- tery with the monastery of ¨Abdisho¨ “to the east of Amadia”. The geographical indica- tions in the introduction, which localize Simon's dwelling-place in the frontier district ( ) to the north of Bet Zabdai and Bet Nuhadre seem to corroborate this identification. For the description of its church, see G.P. BADGER, The Nestorians and their Rituals, I, London, 1852, pp. 252-253; cfr also J.M. FIEY, Assyrie chrétienne, I, Beyrouth, 1965, p. 206, n. 3. 12 If it is the case that there were to have been a connection between George Washnaya's activities and the revived interest in the Book of the Holy Hierotheos in Jaco- bite circles in Northern Iraq in the second part of the thirteenth century, Simon may have composed his work in the earlier years of Yahballaha III's Catholicosate; cfr F.S. MARSH, The Book which is called the Book of the Holy Hierotheos, with Extracts from the Pro- legomena and Commentary of Theodosius of Antioch and from the “Book of Excerpts” and other Works of Gregory Bar-Hebraeus, London-Oxford, 1927, pp. 175-182, 194-196, 248-249; I. HAUSHERR, De doctrina spirituali christianorum orientalium, in Orientalia Christiana, 30 (1933), pp. 204-211. NEW FRAGMENT OF THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA'S CONTRA MAGOS 65 of taking further measures against the heretic, since the Catholicos Yahballaha, who summoned George by letters to come to Bagdad, failed entirely to put up a vigorous fight against him. Since no efficacious dis- ciplinary actions on the part of the ecclesiastical authorities were taken, Simon decided to use his pen as a weapon against George's perverted ideas, which threatened the orthodox faith of the East Syrian Church13. Simon characterizes George's heresy as plain Origenism. He calls George “the second Origen” denying the resurrection of the body, the existence of angels, souls and demons, rejecting the holy sacraments of baptism and eucharist, and straying from the path of the orthodox East Syrian Diophysite Christology14. This is not the appropriate place to en- ter into the question of the ideological and historical background of George's views15, but it should be noted that Simon's work On the Un- ion is far from being a polemical treatise against George Washnaya alone. Simon rather intends to explain the orthodox confession of his Church over against the heresies of past and present, in which the Jacobites take a prominent place. In so doing, he not only wishes to demonstrate that the Christological doctrine of his Church has always been the orthodox confession, but also that his contemporary, George Washnaya, belongs to a long tradition of ecclesiastical schismatics16. The work On the Union is preceded by a preface, an introduction ex- plaining the grounds for its composition, a prayer and a metrical homily against George17. The principal work is divided into twenty-one chap- ters, called rese (ch. 1-2, 11-21) or memre (ch. 3-10), and it is concluded by a final memra dealing with the refutation of Monophysite heresies18. The title, the literary structure and many of its themes are strongly influ- 13 These data are taken from Simon's introduction, which is only preserved in Cam- bridge Or. 1317, p 9, column 1 - p. 11, column 1 (owing to the loss of several folios the introduction is not preserved in the Mingana manuscript). A summary is given by JENKS, Ktabona (n. 11), pp. 316-317. In this article I quote Mingana Syr. 544 according to the modern numbering of the folios and Cambridge Or. 1317 — only where the Mingana manuscript is incomplete— according to the Syriac pagination. The text in the Cambridge manuscript is written in two columns on each page. 14 Cambridge Or. 1317, p. 9, column 1, line 19 - column 2, line 1; p. 18, column 1, line 25 - column 2, line 14. 15 George Washnaya may have propagated an extreme form of the ideas of Evagrius of Pontus (died 399). The present writer is preparing a separate study of George's heresy. 16 Cambridge Or. 1317, p. 11, column 1, lines 23-25. 17 Owing to the loss of folios at the beginning the Mingana manuscript now begins in the metrical homily against George (Mingana Syr. 544, f. 1r, line 1 = Cambridge Or. 1317, p. 13, column 1, lines 19-20). 18 Owing to the loss of folios at the end the final memra is incomplete in both manu- scripts. However, the Mingana manuscript here is less incomplete than the Cambridge manuscript (Cambridge Or. 1317, p. 475, column 2, line 27 = Mingana Syr. 544, f. 194v, lines 25-26; f. 200 is the last folio in the Mingana manuscript). 66 G.J. REININK enced by the Christological work On the Union composed by the famous East Syrian theologian Babai the Great (died 628)19. However, Simon's work is not to be considered a slavish imitation of that of Babai in every respect20.
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