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Studies in Syriac Theo Logy and Liturgy (London: Var’OržM Repr’Nts, 2006) (Var’OržM Col Lected StžD’Es Ser’Es, 863) XIV + 352 Pp 460 Scrinium IV (2008). Patrologia Pacię ca ‘K©öw{ð{: „ï¢[é]: ‹X]r]; = preghiera nel post-communio. Anche gli ultimi due spezzoni non appaiono nella recensione araba. È doveroso concludere queste osservazioni, proposte unicamente per costruire, esprimendo un cordiale apprezzamento per questo im- portante contributo. Tedros Abraha Sebastan Bџќѐk, Fire from Heaven: Studies in Syriac Theo logy and Liturgy (London: Varorm Reprnts, 2006) (Varorm Col lected Stdes Seres, 863) XIV + 352 pp. ISBN-10: 0-7546-5908-9. The readers of Scrinium will need no introduction to Sebastian Bџќѐј whose studies make a major contribution to various aspects of Syriac scholarship, ranging from the language and history of the Syriac-speaking world to the history, theology and ritual of the Syr- ian Churches. The Fire from Heaven represents the fourth volume of reprinted articles by Sebastian Brock from the famous Collected Stud- ies Series. Besides the obvious usefulness for Syriac scholars to have articles which were previously published in diě erent editions and pe- riodicals now in one work, for a more general audience of scholars in Patristic and Byzantine Studies and in Church History, the entire collection serves as a perfect introduction to the ecclesiastically di- vided Syriac spiritual tradition that developed a distinctive outlook in its early stages independently from Greek-speaking Christianity. The appearance of this volume is even more timely since the present schol- arly paradigm more and more oĞ en requires viewing the Mediterra- nean and Middle Eastern worlds of late Antiquity with their ethnic and doctrinal variety not as a set of separate entities that need to be studied one-by-one but as one Christian civilization developing in an active and complex interaction across languages, cultures, theological and geographical divisions. The collection consists of three major sections: a theological part on the Christology and theological terminology employed in the Church of the East, the specię c terminology of the invocations to the Holy Spirit in the Syriac liturgical tradition and its underlying doctrines, and three publications of Syriac sources containing brief exegetical pieces of liturgical rites. Although the articles were published on dif- ferent dates and in diě erent places, they are assembled in a perfect logical order constituting a continuous narrative in the course of the Downloaded from Brill.com09/24/2021 04:43:34PM via free access Sebastian Brock 461 volume with each subsequent one developing the theme of the previ- ous one. Each article of the leading scholar in Syriac Studies contains not only a pertinent historical overview of materials presented serving as a good reference tool, but in addition contains apt methodological considerations that may enrich a scholar from ę elds other than Syriac Studies. Part 1. The Christology of the Church of the East The ‘Nestoran’ Chrch: a Lamentable Msnomer. The ę rst article serves as an introduction to the whole section on Christology. It is argued that the name “Nestorian Church” sometimes applied to the Church of the East is thoroughly misleading. The au- thor investigates the reason for the sobriquet, aptly pointing that the “Ecumenical Councils” being summoned by the Byzantine Emperors for seĴ ling ecclesiastical controversies within the Byzantine Empire, were of no direct concern for the Church of the East located within another, Persian Empire unless the Church of the East subsequently decided to recognize their decisions as it happened with the creed and canons of the First Council of Nicaea eighty ę ve years aĞ er the Coun- cil was held. Consequently, the rejection of the Council of Ephesus by the Church of the East happened in fact not due to a doctrinal deci- sion (since no deę nition of faith was issued by the Council) but due to its irregular procedure, and the Council of Chalcedon was viewed by the Church of the East only as an unsatisfactory compromise. Indeed, Nestorius was respected by the Church of the East as “a martyr for the Antiochene Christological cause” and an anaphora aĴ ributed to Nestorius exists in the Church of the East yet none of his works except the apologetic Bazaar of Heraclides was translated into Syriac and no traces of Nestorius’ doctrinal inĚ uence can be traced in the formation of the Christological tradition of the Church of the East. Instead, in the ę Ğ h century the School of Edessa that aĴ racted many students from the Persian Empire enhanced the interaction between Christians on both sides of the Byzantine-Persian border. Within the milieu of the School with its strict Antiochene Christology many works of Theodore of Mopsuestian in the 420s were translated into Syriac, and aĞ er the closing of the School by Emperor Zeno in 489 many teachers moved across the border to Nisibis, whose School became a channel for dis- seminating the theological inĚ uence of Theodore of Mopsuestia in the East making his theology a norm of orthodoxy much the same way as Cyril of Alexandria served as the norm of orthodoxy in West Syria for Severus of Antioch. Downloaded from Brill.com09/24/2021 04:43:34PM via free access 462 Scrinium IV (2008). Patrologia Pacię ca The Chrch of the East n the Sasanan Empre p to the Sxth Centry and ts Absence from the Concls n the Roman Empre. This article develops the theme of the previous one from a his- torical and theological perspective and presents a brief outline of the history of the Church in the Sasanian Empire up to the sixth century with special aĴ ention made to the contacts between the Churches and available sources. The author aĴ empts at correcting the “Eusebian” view on Church history as the history of the Church within the Roman Empire and the “Eurocentric” aĴ itude that still permeates works on Church history up to the present day. The origins of Christianity in the Parthian Empire (up to 224) are mostly legendary. Some sources of the late third century seem to in- dicate the existence of two Christian groups on the Persian soil that may be native Christians and Christians deported in large numbers by Shapur I in the course of his successful campaign against the Romans. This situation played a part in the greatest persecution of Christians by Shapur II that began in 341 and continued until his death in 379 and was conditioned by the hostilities between the Empires, one of which had just obtained a Christian Emperor, and a fear of the disloyalty of “Greek captivity” communities of the descendants of deported Roman people. The Synod of 410 held by the initiative of the Roman ambassa- dor and Western Syrian bishop proposed a series of reforms on eccle- siastical and calendar issues, accepted the Creed and canons of Nicaea I, and the audience of bishops with the shah aĞ er the Council of 410 was the ę rst aĴ empt to regulate the relationship between the Church and the State. It is signię cant that the acts of the Synod of 410 that are transmiĴ ed in both the Eastern Synodicon Orientale and in the Western Syriac recension reĚ ect some signię cant diě erences in Christological terminology. The next Council of 420 put an end to the interference of “western bishops,” but aĞ er the persecutions of the early 420s many Christians crossed the border and ended up in the School of Edessa whose Christology from the 420s developed a clear dyophysite charac- ter under the inĚ uence of the writings of Theodore of Mopsuestia. It is emphasized over and over again that in order to have a balanced picture of this Christology we need to set aside a simplistic three-fold division of Churches into Nestorian, Monophysite and Chalcedonian and in a careful and unbiased manner examine the terminology of the Church of the East that oĞ en did not correspond word-to-word with its Greek equivalents and had serious diě erences in meaning and in its whole archaic and metaphorical tenor that led and still leads to Downloaded from Brill.com09/24/2021 04:43:34PM via free access Sebastian Brock 463 misunderstandings when simply equalized with customary Greek theological terms. At the same time Sebastian Brock carefully delin- eates the similarities in the semantic ę elds of the terms and underlying concepts, avoiding the pitfall of “it’s all the same but named diě er- ently,” while viewing common or even compatible ideas in a historical perspective as missed opportunities for understanding and unity. The Chrstology of the Chrch of the East. A more subtle approach to the traditional tripartite distinction be- tween the Monophysites, the Chalcedonians, and the Nestorians is proposed and presented in the form of a seven-fold model: 1. Extreme Antiocheans or true Nestorians, upholding the “two prosopa” doctrine, 2. Strict Dyophysites outside of the Roman Empire (Church of the East), 3. Strict Dyophysites within the Roman Empire such as Theodoret, the Akoimetai, or the Roman Church, 4. The group which keeps silence on the maĴ ers of Chalcedon (for example the Henoticon, or Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite), 5. Neo-Chalcedonians, 6. “Miaphysites” (Severus of Antioch and others), 7. Extreme Alexandrines (Eutychians or true Monophysites). However, the author notes that even such a division presents an oversimplię ed model since even the sevenfold system may be grouped in a diě erent way, depending on the diě erent criteria of orthodoxy ap- plied. Besides the criterion of compliance to Chalcedon’s deę nition of the middle three positions, the author proposes the criteria of a single subject in Christ, and Christ consubstantial with us and the Father that allows one to view in the same theological spectrum both the Oriental Orthodox and the Church of the East, excluding the radical positions of Eutyches and the two prosopa doctrine.
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