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The Canadian Society for Syriac Studies The Canadian Society for Syriac Studies JOURNAL Volume 17 2017 ● Robert Kitchen - Canadian Society for Syriac Studies ● Khalid Dinno - Canadian Society for Syriac Studies ● Nima Jamali - University of Toronto ● Amir Harrak - University of Toronto ● Vincent van Vossel - Babylon College, Enkawa, Iraq ● Tala Jarjour - Yale Institute of Sacred Music Toronto - Ontario - Canada Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies/ de la Société Canadienne des Etudes Syriaques The JCSSS is a refereed journal published annually, and it contains the transcripts of public lectures presented at the Society and possibly other articles and book reviews Editorial Board General Editor Amir Harrak, University of Toronto Editors Sebastian Brock, Oxford University Sidney Griffith, Catholic University of America Craig E. Morrison, Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome Lucas van Rompay, Duke University Kyle Smith, University of Toronto Alexander Treiger, Dalhousie University Copy Editing Antoine Hirsch, Colin S. Clarke Publisher Gorgias Press 180 Centennial Avenue, Suite 3 Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA The Canadian Society for Syriac Studies La Société Canadienne des Etudes Syriaques Society Officers 2016-2017 President: Amir Harrak Vice-President : Khalid Dinno and Secretary-Treasurer: Arlette Londes Members of the Board of Directors: Marica Cassis, Khalid Dinno, Geoffrey Greatrex, Amir Harrak, Robert Kitchen, Kyle Smith, Ashoor Yousif The aim of the CSSS is to promote the study of the Syriac culture which is rooted in the same soil from which the ancient Mesopotamian and biblical literatures sprung. The CSSS is purely academic, and its activities include a series of public lectures, one yearly symposi- um, and the publication of its Journal. The Journal is distributed free of charge to the members of the CSSS who have paid their dues, but it can be ordered by other individuals and institutions through Gorgias Press (www.gorgiaspress.com). Cover 19th century Icon from the town of Tellesqof (Iraq) miraculously rescued from war Photo Amir Harrak The Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies Table of Contents From the Editor 1 Robert A. Kitchen, 3 Trying to Fix What is Broken in a Broken Age: Syrian Orthodox Synodical Canons (628-896) Khalid Dinno, 21 The Synods and Canons in the Syrian (Syriac) Orthodox Church in the Second Millennium – An Overview Nima Jamali, 37 The Book VI of Īšō‘-bokht’s Corpus Juris and the Emergence of Procedural Laws in the Church of the East Amir Harrak, 49 The Code of Law of Simeon, Bishop of Rev-Ardashir: Presentation and Translation Vincent van Vossel, 69 A Christian Icon Rescued from War Tala Jarjour, 77 Syriac Chant as Music in Culture: A New Approach Members of the CSSS for 2016-2017 89 ___________________________________________________________________________ FROM THE EDITOR CSSS 17 (2017) contains four papers of the Church of the East” is written by Nima presented in last year’s CSSS Sympo- Jamali, a lawyer by profession and a doctoral sium pertaining to the symposium’s candidate in Syriac Studies at the University J theme: Probing Two Millennia of Syr- of Toronto. The canons of the Church of the iac Legal Literature. A fifth paper details a East, before and during the Islamic period, rare nineteenth-century icon rescued from largely deal with family and inheritance is- Tell-Esqof, northern Iraq. sues of Christian communities in Iran, the Robert Kitchen’s “Trying to Fix what is Gulf, and Iraq, stressing their legal rights and Broken in a Broken Age: Syriac Orthodox obligations. The author notices that the 8th Synodical Canons (628-896)” deals with five century metropolitan Īšō‛-bokht changes ac- early collections of Syriac Orthdox canons. cent in one part of his Code of Law, where he Synods reflect the historical and social shows some level of executive authority to conditions of their times. Occuring during enforce legal decisions. By doing so, he dif- the advent of Islam, unsurprisingly, these fers from other authors who set up a potential canons do not include sticky theological model for a comprehensive Christian legal issues, but rather focus on safeguarding system Christian communities threatened by Islamic Amir Harrak’s “The ‘Law Code’ of Sime- conversion and hostility. on of Rev-Ardashir, Presentation and Analy- Khalid Dinno’s “The Synods and Canons sis,” offers an overview of a law code origi- in the Syrian Orthodox Church in the Second nally written in Middle Persian near the ad- Millennium – An Overview,” continues vent of Islam in Iran. The original document, chronologically where Dr. Kitchen stopped. now non-extant, fortunately survived in a This millennium saw the Omayyad Caliphate Syriac translation written by a monk from the commence and the succeeding Abbasid Cali- region of Qatar. The Code is divided into two phate collapse. In the few synods that occurred parts: the first part is theoretical; the second during these two caliphates, systematic theolo- part consists of twenty-two cases pertaining gy was quasi absent, and canons dealt with to family law, namely inheritance. Interest- internal and external threats. During the sec- ingly, a few cases deal with slaves within the ond half of the millennium, thanks to the Ot- community: slaves that can be manumised by toman millet system which gave the Church their masters to marry free partners and to some autonomy, canonical legislation reflected join ecclesiastical ranks. sophisticated ecclesiastical organization in The last article is by Vincent van Vossel, both the Near East and Syrian Orthodox India. professor at the Babylon College of Bagdad, “The Sixth Book of Īšō‛-bokht’s Corpus who published extensively on Christian art Juris and the Emergence of Procedural Laws and architecture in Iraq. His article entitled ___________________________________________________________________________________ Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies 17 (2017) — Page 1 From the Editor ____________________________________________________________________________________ “A Christian Icon Rescued from War,” dis- argues for an ethnographic approach that does cusses an interesting piece of art owned by not solely take into consideration the aural the Christian town of Tell-Esqof in the north value of musicality but also the living culture of Iraq. The painter is a 19th century Armeni- of the people who brought about this musical an who has left us a number of icons all bear- heritage, heritage marked by centuries-old ing Armenian touches, but executed for Or- spiritual, literary, and living experiences. thodox and Catholic Churches. The Tell- We are very thankful to all the participants Esqof’s icon and the painter’s other icons in the 2016 CSSS symposium, to the authors, share figures of martyrs, themes that may re- and to the Editorial Committee for making flect the Ottoman persecution of the Chris- this issue possible. tians in Turkey during the 19th century. The publication of JCSSS is financially Jarjour’s article, “Syriac Chant as Music in supported by the Social Sciences and Humani- Culture: A New Approach,” addresses domi- ties Research Council of Canada, through its nant scholarship on the chants and hymns of “Aid to Scholarly Journals” program. the Syriac church. Critiquing early sources in A. H. terms of methodology and scope, the author September 2017 ________________________________________________________________________________ Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies 17 (2017) — Page 2 ______________________________________________________________________ TRYING TO FIX WHAT IS BROKEN IN A BROKEN AGE: SYRIAN ORTHODOX SYNODICAL CANONS (628-896) ROBERT KITCHEN CANADIAN SOCIETY FOR SYRIAC STUDIES n early 1947 the Dead Sea Scrolls were Religious people construct all manner discovered near Khirbet Qumran. With of regulations to retain or revive what is I the Jewish-Arab War beginning shortly perceived to be the charisma and genius of after, it took a while before some of the the origins of a specific faith and its com- scrolls were brought to the American munity – a classic exemplification of Max School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem. Weber’s concept of ‘the routinization of Two junior fellows, John Trever and Wil- charisma.’1 I will present a set of synodical liam Brownlee, saw them first and recog- canons that point to occasional, as well as nized that they were something important. abiding problems in the life of the church. One of the manuscripts, 1QS, now entitled While issues that energized patriarchs and the Community Rule, was originally called bishops in the mid-7th- to late-9th-centuries the Manual of Discipline, the name of the in the Syriac Orthodox Church may not be hefty constitution and rules of The Meth- ours, we may understand and have sympa- odist Church. As a minister of the United thy for the circumstances and impassioned Church of Canada, whose rulebook is motives that gave rise to certain canons called The Manual, due in part to the during that period and ours today. These Methodist component of the 1925 merger can shed some light on the principles and of the Presbyterian, Methodist and Con- procedures we still employ today in organ- gregational Churches in Canada, I believe izing and disciplining our faith communi- Qumran deserved better. ties. Rules, laws, and canons have been a My venture into this legal territory part of the Judeo-Christian heritage since comes from involvement in a much larger almost the beginning: the Torah, Haus- project, the monumental Conciliorum Oe- tafeln, Qumran’s Manual of Discipline,
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