The Patriarch, the Scribe and Mr

THE PATRIARCH, THE SCRIBE AND MR. READER

THE COLOPHON OF JERUSALEM MS.SYR 1, A GOSPEL LECTIONARY FROM ALQOSH (1679)

HELEEN MURRE-VAN DEN BERG*

In the summer of 1679, a beautiful manuscript was produced in Alqosh, a small town in the foothills of the Ba’edhre Mountains in today’s North Iraq. It is a Gospel Lectionary, containing the lections (qeryane) for the Sundays and Holidays of the whole year, starting with the ﬁrst Sunday of Annuncia- tion (subbara), the period of the year that corresponds with the Latin Advent. Further on in the colophon the scribe noted that the lectionary was written for “the famous church that is in Jerusalem.” Until today, the manuscript has remained in the city, in the library that is part of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchal complex.1 While the later history of the manuscript, including the question how it ended up in the Greek Patriarchal library, needs further research, its location in Jerusalem is directly connected to the reasons for commissioning and donating it as explicated in the colophon. This manuscript, though exceptional in many respects, provides an excellent basis for a further discussion of scribal practice and the function of manuscripts and colophons, following up upon an earlier article in which I discussed the colophons of the Church of the East in the Ottoman period.2 This study, which includes a full translation of the colophon and an overview of the

* Heleen Murre-van den Berg is Professor of the History of World Christianity at Leiden University. Her research focuses on the history of Western missions in the Middle East and the modern history of the Syriac churches. 1 J.B. Chabot, ‘Notice sur les manuscrits syriaques conservés dans la bibliothèque du patri- arcat grec orthodoxe de Jerusalem’, Journal Asiatique, 3 (1894), pp. 92-134, here 94-95; Sebastian Brock, ‘East Syriac Pilgrims to Jerusalem in the Early Ottoman Period’, Aram, 18-19 (2006-2007), pp. 189-201; see further A Rücker, ‘Mitteilungen: Ein alter Handschrif- tenkatalog des ehemaligen nestorianischen Klosters in Jerusalem’, Oriens Christianus, 28 (1931), pp. 90-96, and K.M. Koikylides, Katalogos synoptikos ton en te bibliotheke tou hierou koinou tou p. Taphou apokeimenon syriakon cherographon (Berlin, 1989) (quoted by Brock). 2 Heleen Murre-van den Berg, ‘“I the weak scribe”, Scribes in the Church of the East in the Ottoman Period’, The Journal of Eastern Christian Studies, 58 (2006), pp. 9-26.

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historical context, intends to contribute to understanding the particular circumstances of the genesis of this volume, but also to enhance our insight in the function of colophons in the Church of the East more generally, in its religious as well as socio-political aspects.

THE MANUSCRIPT

There can be little doubt that this Gospel Lectionary was intended to be one of the top manuscripts of its time. I will refrain from an extensive codicological discussion, but a few observations should be made.3 The first of these is its outward appearance: its huge size (580x345mm) and beautiful red leather binding, fitting its prominent place in the liturgy. The leather binding is decorated with a cross in relief, which shows traces of a yellowish (perhaps originally golden) color. The decorative band along the border has traces of the same yellow as well as green, though all colors have faded towards browns and grays. Somewhat remarkably, the cross, with three equal arms ending in a fleur-de-lys motive, stands on a pedestal that is on the long, spinal side of the book. This may indicate a flat lectern where readers and devotees approached the manuscript from different sides. However, marks on the cross, resulting from touching and kissing, are mostly on the right- middle side of the volume, suggest a standing, rather than a flat, position on a lectern. Whatever its intended and actual position, these marks indicate that at least for some period of time this manuscript was used for devotional purposes. Compared to other liturgical manuscripts the cover is remarkably well preserved, pointing to the transfer of the manuscript to a library collection before it got too much damaged by regular usage.

3 On East Syriac codicology more generally, see W.H.P. Hatch, An Album of Dated Syriac Manuscripts, Monumenta paleographica veteran, 2 (Boston, Mass., American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1946). Of the 200 photographs of manuscripts, only 24 are East Syriac (‘Nestorian’), two dating to the 14th c. (nos. 175-6), three to the 15th c. (177-9) and four to the 16th c. (180-3). See further The Hidden Pearl: The Heirs of the Ancient Aramaic Heritage, eds. Sebastian P. Brock, David G.K. Taylor (Rome: Trans World Film Italia 2001), II, “The Art of the Scribe” (Ch. 7), pp. 243-262. Two detailed codicological descriptions of individual manuscripts are given by Jean-Marie Sauget, Un cas très curieux de restauration de manuscrit: le Borgia syriaque 39, and Un gazza chaldéen disparu et retrouvé: le MS. Borgia syriaque 60, Studi e testi, 326 (Città del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1987).

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The inside is in an even better condition. Most of the manuscript is written in a monumental and refined East Syriac Estrangela, in two columns, in shiny black ink, with almost full vocalization, on thick paper. For the initial paragraphs of the colophon, the scribe used the same script, but from fo. 128a/A onwards (§4, see below, fig. vi) is written in a much smaller, cursive, East Syriac hand. The columns are bordered by a double thin red line and new Sunday lections are indicated by the use of red ink for the initial lines of writing, often in addition to decorative bands consisting of a variety of geometric designs in black, red, green and yellow. On a number of pages larger geometric designs are included, with crosses and rose-like motives, sometimes including larger crosses and lamps, customarily positioned at the beginning of new Sunday lections. The title page, in accordance with East Syriac and wider Middle Eastern practice, is decorated with a monumental ‘gate’, consisting of two larger borders including knotted designs in red, green, yellow and black, alternated with simple striped borders. The initial lines of the text are outlined in red and filled in with gold (fig. i). Most remarkable is the fact that the manuscript includes two large (though not quite full page) drawings, something not very common in the later East Syriac manuscripts.4 The first pictures Jesus’ triumphal entrance in Jerusalem on a young ass, with beardless youngsters in the trees while others welcome him by putting items of clothing on the street. Notably, no disciples are included in the scene. As one would expect, it introduces the reading for Palm Sunday (fig. iii). The second displays the so-called Incredulity of St. Thomas, the scene at the Upper Room (Cenacle) of Zion (‘ellita Òehyonita) with the risen Christ in the middle, putting Thomas’s hand on his right-side wound and Simon (Peter) watching on the right, introducing the reading for the first Sunday after Easter (“New Sunday”) (fig. v).5 Jules Leroy, in his monumental overview of illustrated Syriac manuscripts, notes a series of several Gospel lectionaries with similar illustrations. Among these are lectionaries produced in 1572, 1576 and 1586 in Gazarta (Cizre,

4 Jules Leroy, Les manuscrits syriaques a peintures conservés dans les bibliotheques d’Europe et d’Orient: contribution a l’étude de l’iconographie des églises de langue syriaque (Geuthner: Paris, 1964). 5 On this version of the Incredulity, see Bas Snelders, Identity and Christian-Muslim Inter- action: Medieval Art of the Syrian Orthodox from the Mosul Area, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, 198 (Leuven: Peeters, 2010), pp. 182-183.

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East Turkey) and Wasta (also East Turkey, not far from Silope), as well as a later series produced in Alqosh in 1679, 1706, and 1735. As far as can be concluded from the current overviews of the manuscripts of this period, this modest tradition of illustrated Gospel lectionaries was started by the famous scribe and priest Attaya, son of priest Faraj, of Gazarta, in 1572.6 It is tempt- ing to see our manuscript, the one produced in Alqosh in 1679, as the ﬁrst of a new series and thus our scribe as the one who re-introduced these illustrated Gospel lectionaries after a pause of more than hundred years. So far, no conclusive evidence supports this hypothesis. The illustrations, however, are strikingly similar to those in Borgia 169 (Gazarta 1576), though these were not copied slavishly. The Borgia manuscript is discussed in detail by Leroy, and was also produced by priest Attaya, like the ﬁrst of the series.7 Interestingly, like our Jerusalem manuscript, this second manuscript of the series was written for ‘the church of the Nestorians in Jerusalem, situated near the church of the Franks, north of the tomb of Christ.’8 This is not to place to delve deeper into the iconography of this series of Gospel lectionaries, but despite their lack of technical sophistication, these drawings certainly deserve a separate study. In such a project, their connection to earlier Byzantine, Armenian and Syrian Orthodox traditions and the context of their appearance in the Lectionaries of the Church of the East, should be further explored. This might also shed light on the artistic choices of the time, which sometimes are rather convincing, like the balanced composition

6 The most complete overview of East Syriac manuscripts can be found in David Wilms- hurst, The Ecclesiastical Organisation of the Church of the East, 1318-1913 (Leuven: Peeters, 2000), though focusing on the colophons, not on the contents of the text. 7 Leroy, Les manuscrits syriaques I, pp. 396-408, 431; Leroy mentions Alqosh 21 (Gazarta 1572), CA 1975 (Wasta 1586), Min 227 (Alqosh? 1706), Qaramlesh 30 (Alqosh 1710) and Aqra 7 (Alqosh 1735), in addition to a series dated to 1648, 1654 and 1675. Unfor- tunately, I have not been able to identify the last three manuscripts. Unlike Anton Baum- stark, ‘Drei illustrierte syrische Evangeliare’, OC, 3 (1904), pp. 409-413, Leroy sees the pictorial tradition as late, though making use of earlier Byzantine models. See further Hatch, An Album of Dated Syriac Manuscripts, plate 179 (Gospel Lectionary, BL Add 7174, Mosul 1498) and 183 (Gospel Lectionary, CA 1975, Wasta 1586). A late reflection of the same tradition is found in a private collection in Russia, in a Lectionary produced in Menyanish in 1827 and reproduced on the cover of Herman Teule, Les Assyro-Chal- déens: Chrétiens d’Irak, d’Iran et de Turquie, Fils d’Abraham (Turnhout: Brepols, 2008). 8 Brock, ‘East Syriac Pilgrims’, p. 192 and S. Giamil, Genuinae Relationes inter Sedem Apostolicam et Assyriorum Orientalium seu Chaldaeorum Ecclesiam (Rome: Ermanno Loe- scher & Co., 1902), pp. 519-524.

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and well-chosen bright colors of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem in the Jerusa- lem manuscript.9 Leroy notes that in some illustrated manuscripts from the same period a speciﬁc painter is mentioned, among others in a lectionary that was written more than twenty years later by the same scribe that copied this Jerusalem volume. This indicates that at the time, icon painters were available, but also suggests that when no painter is mentioned, like in our manuscript, perhaps the scribe himself took to the art. If so, that might explain their lack of sophistication.10

THE PROTAGONISTS

The colophon, the main interest of this article, furnishes another indication of a link between the earlier and later group of Gospel lectionaries. Among the manuscripts singled out by Leroy as belonging to the same iconographic tradition is a manuscript mentioned above, the one produced in Wasta in 1586, by a priest Yosep son of David, for the convent of Mar Awdisho the Anchorite in Dere, not far from Amadiya (North Iraq).11 This manuscript and its colophon were described in some detail by William Wright. The colophon has a surprising amount of phrases in common with the colophon of the Jerusalem manuscript, suggesting that the scribe of the Jerusalem manuscript used the Wasta Lectionary as his example.12 If this indeed was the case, the relatively young and, as may be inferred from his later career, eager scribe, may have used an exquisite example to enhance his own skills and renew current practices. Early on in the Jerusalem manuscript, the scribe makes himself known as Giwargis, in a familiar rhythmical and rhyming prayer request scribbled in

9 Contra Leroy, Les manuscrits syriaques I, pp. 407-408, who notes that the drawings show ‘à quel degré d’incapacité était tombé l’art pictural dans ces pays reculés’ and ‘Ce qui est certain c’est que la perfection de l’écriture et le caractère negligee des images – mais non des décors abstractes – est un chose choquante.’ 10 Leroy, Les manuscrits syriaques I, pp. 406-407; Qaramlesh 30 (Alqosh 1710), painter Moshe. Another painter of the period was called Abraham. 11 The identification of Mar Awdisho the Anchorite (nukri†a) with the convent of Mar Awdisho in Dere is made on the basis of CA 1981 which was produced in this convent in 1607. 12 William Wright, A Catalogue of the Syriac Manuscripts in the Library of the University of Cambridge (Cambridge: CUP, 1901), I, pp. 58-80 (C-Add 1975).

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one of the colored borders between lections (Òla b-Ìubba qaroya / äl giwargis Ìa††aya, ‘pray in love, reader, for Giwargis the sinner’) (fo. 27b/A, fig. ii). In the colophon he introduces himself more extensively as ‘the humble Giwar- gis who in name is priest, son of the deceased Qasha (“priest”) Israel, son of Qasha Hormizd, son of Qasha Israel Alqoshaya’ (§12). This identifies him as the priest from Alqosh who was to become the most prolific scribe of the Church of the East in this period, as yet in the early stages of his career. As was reconstructed by David Wilmshurst, two families from Alqosh, the Beth (house of) Shikwana and Beth Nasro, dominated the scribal profession in the Church of the East for almost a hundred years, from the late sixteenth to early seventeenth century. Both families built upon the works of a few eminent precursors and boasted some important scribes later on in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. From among these scribal lineages, our priest Giwargis is the one with the longest list of achievements, not only in the Shikwana and Nasro families, but among all the scribes that we know of in this period: between 1676 and 1727 he produced forty-eight manuscripts. This averages in about one manuscript a year. In fact, considering the amount of manuscripts that were lost, his production may even have been higher. No other scribe of his time rivals the combined length, amount and quality of his activities. Furthermore, the same Giwargis is known as the composer liturgical poetry, among which a couple of unyatha.13 In line with the scribal conventions of the time, Giwargis refrains from telling us anything specific about himself. What is remarkable, though, that in addition to the usual self-deprecating part that follows the familiar models of other colophons (§12-13), he adds a few paragraphs in which he, through addressing the reader (‘Mister Reader’, mary qaroya, ‘my brothers’, aÌay) includes a number of rather melancholy thoughts on his own limited abilities, the idleness of earthly powers, and the hope for rest after a life of intensive work, ‘like the helmsman who is looking forward to arrive at the quiet harbor’ (§16-20). These notes are interspersed with prayers and prayer requests for himself, his family and his spiritual brothers. While not very specific, these paragraphs seem to confirm the scribe’s location in a circle of

13 Wilmshurst, The Ecclesiastical Organisation, pp. 241-258, Sauget, Un gazza chaldéen (Bor 60, Alqosh 1688), pp. 51-55, Anton Baumstark, Geschichte der syrischen Literatur (Bonn: A. Marcus und E. Webers Verlag, 1922), p. 335; Rudolf Macuch, Geschichte der spät- und neusyrischen Literatur (Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1976), p. 49.

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other readers consisting of fellow scribes. Most of these were secular priests, as we know from other sources, but some may have had monastic interests, considering the explicit prayer for the ‘eremitic brothers’ (aÌe aksanaye). His circle must have overlapped with that of the patriarch, the second main protagonist of the colophon. It was usual for scribes of the period to mention the patriarch in office as the highest in rank in the hierarchy of the church. In the Jerusalem manuscript, Priest Giwargis does so too, thereby acknowl- edging the patriarch’s jurisdiction and power. He describes him as ‘Mar Eliya, Catholicos Patriarch of the corners of the East and of all the borders of the orthodox world’ (§9), and as the son of the ‘elected priest Marogi’ (§10). Eliya was the official name of all patriarchs in Rabban Hormizd between 1502 and 1830, but on the basis of the dates, other sources and comparative patriarchal lists, this Eliya can be identified as Mar Eliya IX Yohannan Maraugin, who was in office from 1669 till his death on May 17, 1700.14 Until today, his tombstone with elaborate inscription is in Rabban Hormizd, the monastery that in the sixteenth to early nineteenth centuries was the official residence of the patriarchs of the Church of the East.15 According to Wilmshurst, Mar Eliya IX Yohannan Maraugin initiated a revival of manuscript writing, a revival that becomes apparent from the significant increase in levels of production starting in the 1670s.16 The vast majority of these manuscripts were produced by scribes from Alqosh – by the same Giwargis, but also by his father, brothers and nephews, as well as by scribes from the rival family that also had its main base in Alqosh. Many of the newly produced manuscripts consisted of liturgical books, varying from lectionaries, various kinds of missals and breviaries to hymnals, in addition to copies of the lives of the saints and a modest theological collection. It was also the period of the first texts in the Aramaic vernacular of the region, among which the poetry of the priests Israel of Alqosh and Yosep of Telkepe is the most important. Israel generally is thought to have been active

14 Heleen Murre-van den Berg, ‘The Patriarchs of the Church of the East from the Fifteenth to Eighteenth Centuries’, Hugoye, 2,2 (1999) (http://syrcom.cua.edu/hugoye/) #16. 15 Amir Harrak, ‘Patriarchal Funerary Inscriptions in the Monastery of Rabban Hormizd: Types, Literary Origins, and Purpose’, Hugoye, 6/2 (2003) (http://syrcom.cua.edu/ hugoye/), #16-20; Jean-Maurice Fiey, ‘Résidences et sépultures des patriarches syriaques- orientaux’, Le Muséon, 98 (1985), pp. 149-168. 16 Wilmshurst, The Ecclesiastical Organisation, p. 242.

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around the beginning of the seventeenth century, whereas Yosep of Telkepe is a near contemporary of Giwargis and Mar Eliya IX: his works are dated to the second half of the seventeenth century.17 In the wider context of a significant increase in literary and cultural production in the Mosul region from the 1690s onwards,18 the most likely reason for patriarch Eliya’s outspoken patronage of Syriac literature was the growing success of the Catholic movement. Capuchin missionaries settled in Diyarba- kir in 1667, building upon earlier initiatives to unite the Church of the East with Rome.19 In 1670, the Church of the East metropolitan of Amid (Diyar- bakir), Mar Yosep, converted to Catholicism, a decision that in due time would lead to a separate patriarchate with Ottoman consent.20 From then on, the Catholic movement constituted a serious threat to the survival of separate traditional Church of the East communities further east, especially after Yosep I returned from Rome in 1676, armed with money and an Ottoman berat supporting his position.21 Though no references in manuscripts or letters explicate the connection, like Wilmshurst I think it is highly probable that Mar Eliya IX intended to counteract the growing strength of the Catholic movement with a new focus on Syriac tradition and literature. While confir- mation of this hypothesis awaits further research of the individual manuscripts of the period, for now the significant increase in manuscripts produced in the area under his jurisdiction points in this direction.22

17 Alessandro Mengozzi, Israel of Alqosh and Joseph of Telkepe. A Story in a Truthful Lan- guage, Religious Poems in Vernacular Syriac (North Iraq, 17th century), CSCO 589, 590, Scriptores Syri 230, 231 (Leuven: Peeters, 2002). 18 Percy Kemp, ‘Power and Knowledge in Jalili Mosul’, Middle Eastern Studies, 19,2 (1983), pp. 201-212; Dina Rizk Khoury, State and Provincial Society in the Ottoman Empire: Mosul, 1540-1834 (Cambridge: CUP, 1997), 41-2, 112, used population counts to suggest that after difficult years in the 1670s and 1680s, the Mosul economy recovered in the late 17th and early 18th century. 19 Ignazio da Seggiano, O.F.M.Cap, L’Opera dei Cappuccini per l’unione dei cristiani nel vicino oriente durante il secolo XVII (Rome 1962), pp. 129, 282-4, 432-73, 494; Albert Lampart, Ein Märtyrer der Union mit Rom. Joseph I., 1681-1696, Patriarch der Chaldäer (Einsiedeln: Benziger Verlag, 1966), pp. 85-94. 20 Lampart, Ein Märtyrer, pp. 95-103, Herman G.B. Teule, ‘Joseph II, Patriarch of the Chaldeans (1696-1713/4), and the Book of the Magnet. First Soundings’, in eds. Rifaat Ebied, Herman Teule, et al., Studies on the Christian Arabic Heritage, Eastern Christian Studies, 5 (Leuven: Peeters, 2004), pp. 221-241. 21 Lampart, Ein Märtyrer, pp. 121-178. 22 Wilmshurst, The Ecclesiastical Organisation, pp. 25, 57, 195, 242.

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One is inclined to read some of the lines Giwargis devotes to the patriarch as referring to these interests, as him being the ‘builder of monasteries’ and ‘places of learning’. However, these lines occur regularly in other colophons referring to other patriarchs (among which C-Add 1975 from Wasta dated to 1586), and thus say little about the actual achievements of the patriarch. What is more important in connection to this manuscript is the fact that in this case the patriarch is also the commissioner and donor of the manuscript. Rather than assuming an indirect connection between patriarch and manuscript, as is the case with most other manuscripts written in this period, the colophon explicates that none other than the patriarch himself ordered its writing. This leads to a very effective doubling of the verbal attention paid to the patriarch: rather than being mentioned as patriarch in office only (in the second part of the classic tripartite structure of the colophon), he is mentioned again as the commissioner.23 This enticed the scribe to elaborate on the patriarch much more than usual, as apparent in the English translation below in which about one third of the text directly or indirectly refers to the patriarch. In order to ensure a logical flow of the text, the scribe slightly adapted the usual structure and mentions the manuscript’s commissioner directly upon the mentioning of the patriarch, postponing the reference to himself, the scribe, to the last part (see below: §10-11 should have followed upon §13). The two functions of patriarch in office and commissioner, however, remain separate (§6-9 and §10-11), and keep their particular characteristics, such as the different types of prayer that belong to each category: that of the lofty well-wishes for the patriarch in office (‘may he stand and be steadfast …’) and the humble prayer requested from ‘all Christians’, for the life of the one who paid for the manuscript, ‘that it will be prolonged like Methuselah’s’ (§11). While this reversal simplifies the structure of the colophon and puts full light on the patriarch as the main protagonist being both the protector and commissioner, one might argue that it simultaneously puts the scribe in clear focus at the end of the colophon, especially because the additional paragraphs 14

23 The first part describes the title of the manuscript and the date of its completion (here §1-4), the second part stating the place of writing, the ecclesiastical allegiance and the name of the scribe (here §5-9, 12-13), and the third part refers to the act of commissioning and the destination of the manuscript (here 10-11); see further Murre-van den Berg, ‘“I the weak scribe”’, pp. 14-15.

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to 22, which constitute the fourth, optional part of the colophon, elaborate on the world of the scribe as much as on that of the patriarch.24

GEOGRAPHY

This brief historical survey puts Patriarch Mar Eliya IX at the center of the literary revival of the Church of the East in the second half of seventeenth and the early decades of the eighteenth century. Our discussion of the main elements of the colophon, however, should include two locations that are equally important in this revival. The first of these already has been introduced: Alqosh, the small town whose life and livelihood was closely connected to the center of ecclesial power in the nearby monastery of Rabban Hormizd. Priest Giwargis praises the town’s orthodoxy and Christian virtues using the traditional formulae, recalling her honorable connections to the prophet Nahum and the holy monastery of Rabban Hormizd, while invoking Christ’s protection and the prayers of the Virgin Mary, the ‘ark of light’, for the town’s wellbeing (§5). The town of Alqosh had recently risen to prominence; it did not feature in the more modest literary revival of the early seventeenth century. At that time, most codices were produced further west, in places like Amida (Diyar- bakir), Seert, Mardin and Gazarta (Cizre), or in the monasteries near to these places, like Mar Yaquw, Mar Augin and Mar Yohannan. The monks of Rabban Hormizd, though, did participate in this earlier interest in Syriac manuscripts. Monastic life, however, that flourished in the sixteenth and early seventeenth century, soon afterwards declined considerably, in terms of numbers of male and female monastics as well as in terms of its contribution to manuscript production. Around the middle of the seventeenth century, monasteries were mostly empty except for the few that functioned as the seat of a metropolitan bishop or the patriarch, like Rabban Hormizd.25 The reasons for this rather sudden decline of monasticism remain unclear, but obviously had little to do with a waning interest in the art of writing: the gap left by the lack of monastic scribes was soon filled by increasing

24 Ibid.; the fourth part contains curses and bans (here §19-22), as well as historical notes on major events such as wars and plague (not in this colophon). 25 This conclusion is mostly based on the overview of manuscript colophons by Wilms- hurst, The Ecclesiastical Organisation, pp. 382-732.

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numbers of secular priests that were eager to expand their literary activities, making it into a profitable business serving both family and church. As indicated above, it were two families of Alqosh that were especially success- ful in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century. While the Shikwana and Nasro families profited from earlier local scribal and literary expertise, their success was directly connected to the fact that the center of ecclesiastical power was located in nearby Rabban Hormizd: for most of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it was a third family, the Abuna family, that dominated the political and ecclesiastical life of the Church of the East. All patriarchs came from this family, transferring the ecclesiastical dignity from uncle to nephew, sometimes to a younger brother. In the Ottoman period, the patriarch was the community’s spiritual as well as secular leader, and his extended family, among which not only brothers and nephews but also sis- ters and aunts, supported him in ruling the wider community. The Abuna family had its basis in Alqosh, with nearby Rabban Hormizd functioning as the official residence of the patriarchs. The scribal families of Alqosh, thus, owed their prominence as much to their skills and business instincts as to their geographical and familial proximity to the ruling family of the time. While the manuscript’s provenance in Alqosh links it with hundreds of other manuscripts of the time, its explicit dedication to ‘the famous church’ of Jerusalem distinguishes it from most other productions. The links of the Church of the East with the Holy City are well known, though considerable uncertainty surrounds many aspects of it. These mainly concern the question when and where the Church of the East possessed monasteries and churches in the Holy Land. There are many indications that this was the case, at least from the early eighth century onwards. Their presence in the Crusader period is well attested, both to the use of a chapel in the Holy Sepulchre (with different locations) and to the Church of Mary, north of the Holy Sepulchre, today possibly part of the Greek patriarchal compound – the church has so far not been conclusively identified with an existing building. The Church of the Virgin Mary is likely to be the same as the church that is referred to several times in the Ottoman period.26 Of the manuscripts that

26 Otto F.A. Meinardus, ‘The Nestorians in Egypt’, Oriens Christianus, 51 (1976), pp. 112-129 (including ‘A Note on the Nestorians in Jerusalem’, pp. 123-129), Jean-Marie Fiey, ‘Le pèlerinage des Nestoriens et Jacobites à Jerusalem’, Cahiers de civilisation médiévale, Xe-XIIe siècles, 12 (1969), pp. 113-126. Meinardus speaks of a location ‘near’

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refer to this church, the closest in time to ours is Jer. 2, a hymnal (ktaba d-ùnyata) dated to 1662 ‘for the Church of the Nestorians of Jerusalem’.27 In 1710, the same priest Giwargis who wrote our manuscript wrote a takhsa (‘Priest’s ritual’) ‘for the church of Mart Maryam in our monastery in the holy city of Jerusalem’.28 In the sixteenth century, the Church of the East had acquired rights to the chapel of Mary Magdalene in the Holy Sepulchre, in the part of the church that until today is in the hands of the Franciscans. In all likelihood, these rites of usage had been negotiated in the context of the first discussions over a union with the Catholic Church, discussions that had started in Jerusalem in 1552 when Yohannan Sulaqa, the counter patriarch, visited the city on his way to Rome.29 The chapel, acquired in the 1554, became a bone of conten- tion between the Catholic and traditional factions, not only because the monks in Jerusalem switched sides easily, but also because travelers to Jerusalem were not always clear about which party they belonged to. The Church of the East was dependent on Franciscan cooperation, suggesting at least a more or less good relationship with the Catholics as a precondition for using the chapel.30 Unfortunately, the ambiguous way in which the destination of the manuscript is described makes it difficult to decide which location the scribe or patriarch had in mind. The lofty language seems to refer to the Holy Sepul- chre, ‘the holy place and lordly dwelling (dukta qaddista wa-skinta maranayta), the famous church (èdta msammahta)’. The addition ‘that is, the monastery (dara31) that is in Jerusalem’, however, makes the church of

the Monastery of St. Demetrius of the Greeks, which, however, is located southwest rather than north of the Holy Sepulchre; cf. R. Denys Pringle, The Churches of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: A Corpus, III (Cambridge: CUP, 2009). 27 Chabot, ‘Notice’, pp. 95-96. 28 Brock, ‘East Syriac Pilgrims’, pp. 192-193; the 1710 ms (in private possession) was described by Isaac Hall, ‘On a Nestorian Liturgical Manuscript from the Last Nestorian Church and Convent in Jerusalem’, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 13 (1889), pp. cclxxxvi-xxcx. He has a full translation of the colophon that shares many phrases with ours. The ms probably is the same described by Chabot as Jer.5. 29 Murre-van den Berg, ‘The Patriarchs’, #12, 13, 21. 30 Wilmshurst, The Ecclesiastical Organisation, pp. 67-70. 31 The term dara, used twice to refer to the location in Jerusalem, may result from Arabic dayra (‘monastery’) or simple dar- (‘dwelling’); elsewhere in this colophon monasteries are referred to as either `umra (of Rabban Hormizd, §5) or ‘umre w-dayrata (‘monasteries and convents’, §6).

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St. Mary more likely, as being the place where the East Syrian clergy, monastic and otherwise, had their lodgings. Perhaps this vagueness may be explained from the fact that neither the scribe nor the patriarch had visited Jerusalem and thus were not familiar with the exact situation. Whatever the case, the manuscript was explicitly meant to go to Jerusalem and to be used in the liturgy in the Holy City. If both places were available, the manuscript could easily have been used in both locations and may have played a role in the ongoing struggles between Catholics and traditional that affected Jerusalem’s clerical community more than most others.32 Indeed, the fact that the manuscript today is in the Holy City makes it highly likely that the manuscript was used in the Jerusalem liturgy. However, the manuscript, part of a collection of forty-nine manuscripts, was lost to the East Syrians at some point during the eighteenth or nineteenth century. For unknown reasons, the community lost its strongholds in the city and was forced by circumstances to sell or hand over their books and liturgical possessions to the other churches. The majority of the manuscripts ended up in the library of the Greek Orthodox, as notes in this and other manuscripts conﬁrm. A few others ended up in the library of St. Mark’s, the Syrian Orthodox convent, either directly or via the Greek library.33 A short note at the end of this colophon shows that this manuscript was transferred at the latest in the mid-nineteenth century, before the pilgrimage of Priest Michael from Urmia (Iran) in 1859. Whether he was a member of the Church of the East, or had converted to Greek or Russian Orthodoxy (not uncommon at the time) is uncertain, but when he came across the manuscript in the Greek library he carefully registered his pilgrimage in the vernacular language of his home town, as was the custom in earlier periods (§24).34

32 A later Greek note in the manuscript notes that it came ‘From the library of the Holy Sepulchre, 1815’ (fo1a); however, that in itself is not proof enough that it was also donated to the Holy Sepulchre. Other Jerusalem manuscripts are explicitly donated to one of the two churches, cf. Brock, ‘East Syriac Pilgrims’, pp. 192-193. 33 Brock, ‘East Syriac Pilgrims’, pp. 190-191; see also his ‘The Syriac Manuscripts of the National Library, Athens’, Le Muséon, 79 (1966), pp. 165-185; it is possible that these manuscripts also originate in the same East Syriac collection of Jerusalem. 34 There are many examples in Jerusalem manuscripts, see Chabot, ‘Notice’ and Brock, ‘East Syriac Pilgrims’; on Urmia in this period, see Heleen Murre-van den Berg, From a Spoken to a Written Language. The Introduction and Development of Literary Urmia Aramaic in the Nineteenth Century (Leiden: NINO, 1999), pp. 72-73.

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STYLE

Until recently, colophons seldom have been edited and translated in full. Even those who, like William Wright (Syriac catalogues of the British Museum and Cambridge) and Eduard Sachau (Berlin), edited more or less complete colophons, routinely omitted the repetitive and explicitly pious phrases that embellish the sentences that included the basic facts of dates, places, ecclesial hierarchy, scribes and donors.35 While this decision enabled the description of hundreds of colophons in handsome volumes, it also obscured many interesting aspects of the genre. Of course, the earlier editors were right in assuming that the parts that remained unedited usually did not contain any concrete information on the contents of the manuscripts, bishops, patriarchs, scribes, villages or churches. The factual information of the colophon of the manuscript under discussion, as we have seen in the preceding paragraphs, can be summarized in six short phrases: the content of the manuscript (Gospel lectionary in a specific redac- tion), the date and place where it was written (Alqosh, 14 August 1679), the scribe (priest Giwargis son of Israel), the patriarch in office (Mar Eliya), the commissioner (the same Mar Eliya) and its destination (church in Jerusa- lem). While these are crucial elements of the colophon, they are only a part, even a minor part, of what makes a colophon a colophon rather than a piece of historic writing. What makes an East Syriac text a colophon are precisely those phrases that are added to the basic sentences of the text. How this is done and what these phrases are saying, is crucial in understanding the world of the scribe and his donors. The colophon of Jer. 1 constitutes a fine, though somewhat exaggerated, example of this. This colophon consists of a series of paragraphs each devoted to one of the basic elements of the colophon, and each of the paragraphs consists of not more than one or two main clauses, the first of which describes an act (com- pleting, writing etc.), the second a wish (‘May …’). One of the nicest examples is the first sentence devoted to the patriarch (§6). The main verbal clause, ‘it was written in the days of our father Mar Eliya Catholicos Patriarch’

35 A notable early exception to this is the early edition of colophons by S.E. and J.S Assemani, Bibliothecae Apostolicae Vaticanae: codicum manuscriptorum: catalogus in tres partes distributes; Vol. 2: Codices chaldaici sive syriaci; Vol. 3: Reliqui codices chaldaici sive syriaci (Rome, 1756-1759).

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encloses a string of nominal and adjectival phrases that elaborate on the virtues of the patriarch, phrases that come in roughly synonymous pairs that in turn form two, sometimes three, parallel phrases in semantic parallelism before turning to a new subject. It reminds one of older strands of Aramaic or Hebrew poetry, with its semantic parallelism (synonymous or antithetic) as an important structural feature. In addition, the phrases display rhythmic and vocal parallelisms that reminds one of poetry rather than prose. Compare, for instance, the following lines:

masóÌa d-kúmre, w-mésraÌ kákre / anointer of priests, consecrator of talents ˆ ˆ w-qater qamre, w-mawÌed Ìú†re / tier of girdles and holder of the scepter ˆ ˆ †aba w-Ìakkíma wa-mraÌmana / good and wise and merciful ˆ w-naggir rúÌa w-makkíka w-Ìayyustana / and patient and meek and merciful

The ﬁrst two lines each consist of two nominal phrases, each with two main accents (2x2x2). This is followed by a string of six adjectives that could be divided either in two phrases (2x3, as above), or in three (3x2, as in the translation below). In addition, the ﬁrst two pairs have end rhyme in -re, in the following lines each phrase ends in -a, while certain consonants (especially k/q/g/Ì) occur more often than average. However, unlike in the Syriac poetry of the time, these rhymes and rhythms change are unstable and incon- sistent, changing every few lines. The most pervasive characteristic of the style of the colophons is the long strings of pairs of nominal and adjectival phrases, often in semantic parallelism, phrases that as such are not original to a particular scribe, but in their combination very well may be. A comparison with the English translation of a colophon by the nineteenth-century American scholar Isaac Hall gives some indications of the range of choices of the scribe. This colophon too was written by priest Giwargis, but quite a few years later, in 1710. In it, he literally copied many of the phrases of the older text. The younger colophon, however, is considerably shorter and many of the adjectival phrases have disappeared. On the other hand, a few phrases seem to be new, or at least variations on the older ones. Here too the patriarch, Eliya X (1700-1722), plays a considerable role and is awarded a good number of lines, though he is less central to the colophon than his predecessor in 1679.36

36 Hall, ‘On a Nestorian Liturgical Manuscript’.

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In addition to the regulated and formulaic prose that forms the basis of the colophons, scribes sometimes introduced short pieces of poetry, like Giwargis does in paragraph 3. These four lines display a stanzaic rhythm of 4x7 and consistent end rhyme in –tak, features common to liturgical poetry.37 To further help the reader, the lines are written neatly below each other, each occu- pying one line in the column – thus clearly distinguishing these lines from the rest of the colophon that is written continuously, thus underlining the differ- ence between this little piece of hymnal poetry and the genre of the colophons. All this suggests that the colophons should be considered a distinct genre, different from formal poetry on the one hand, and from the prose of theological or historical texts on the other. It resembles other types of Syriac texts, all of which have a specific ritual function.38 Among these are the introduc- tory and closing formulas of letters in which many of the phrases describing the patriarch occur. In these letters, similar phrases describing the patriarch or other high clerical officials can be encountered.39 Further, some of the phrases describing the patriarch also occur in the liturgy for the consecration of a new patriarch. However, while the style, with the pairs of semantically parallel formulaic phrases, is very common in some prayers, verbal correspondences are less frequent than one may expect.40 Another genre in which this style of extended clauses is common is that of the so-called magic texts. Like the other texts in Syriac literature, these texts were produced by priestly scribes, sometimes the same ones that produced the colophons. They were usually tailored towards the wishes of individual cli- ents, choosing those prayers and anathemas from the generic handbooks that would be the most appropriate in the specific circumstances. The protective

37 Baumstark, Geschichte, pp. 303-304 (on the unyatha). 38 In many traditions, religious language takes a specific marked form that can be characterized with very different stylistic or linguistic means; however formality, a specific pros- ody and redundancy are often part of it; see the review article by Webb Keane, ‘Religious Language’, Annual Review of Anthropology, 26 (1997), pp. 47-71, esp. 52-55, and John L. McCreery, ‘Negotiating with Demons: The Use of Magical Language’, American Ethnolo- gist, 22 (1995) pp. 144-164. 39 Giamil, Genuinae Relationes, pp. 493, 537; in both cases similar phrases are used to address the Pope. 40 See the additional prayers in the Chaldean edition of the Ritual of Consecration [ktaba d-†aksa kumraya ayk ¨yada d-¨edta qaddista d-suryaye maddenÌaye d-hennon kaldaye](Rome, 1957), pp. 315-320.

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prayers could address all kinds of adversities, such as those concerning fertility and childbirth, all kinds of diseases, the influence of evil spirits on familial and marital relationships or on the fertility of cattle or crop, and the effects of war and economic disasters on family and community. While the exact correspondences are few because mostly the topics are different, these texts too are characterized by the stringing of nominal and adjectival phrases, usually in semantic parallel pairs. Only in the case of the pronouncement of ‘bans’, prominent in colophons as well as in protective prayers (§19) literal correspondences add to the stylistic similarities.41 What is it then that binds these rather different types of text together? Does this similarity in literary style also point to a similarity in function? It seems that these texts (for the letters at least the introductions and conclu- sions) are connected by a basic ‘protective’ function. They are ritual texts that first and foremost in their written form invoke divine protection and, simultaneously, human fear and admiration – protecting the manuscript and its protagonists in case of colophons, protecting the senders and receivers of letters and the individual buyers of the protective prayers. However, it is not only the stylistic characteristics of abundant use of elaboration, repetition, parallelism, rhythm and rhymes that distinguish these texts from the wider repertoire of ritual texts. It is also the very specific use of the written text as the main carrier of these protections: while for the ecclesial communal ritual, reciting is an essential complement of the material, written, text, this does not seem to be the case for either the colophons or the protective prayers.42 Different from the texts of the daily and weekly liturgies, whose efficacy is intrinsically bound to the recitation of the text, accompanied by bodily ges- tures and an extensive communal choreography, it is the written text, rather than the oral representation of it, that is the primary carrier of the protective power in colophons and protective amulets.

41 For examples, see Hermann Gollancz, The Book of Protection, Being a Collection of Charms, now ed. for the First Time from Syriac MSS (London: H. Frowde – Oxford Uni- versity Press, 1912), for an overview of recent scholarship, see Erica C.D Hunter, ‘Magic and Medicine amongst the Christians of Kurdistan’, in The Christian Heritage of Iraq: Collected Papers from the Christianity of Iraq I-V Seminar Days, ed. Erica C.D. Hunter (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2009), pp. 187-202. 42 Regular readings of the colophons seem to have been more common among the Arme- nians, see Avedis K. Sanjian, Colophons of Armenian Manuscripts, 1301-1480. A Source for Middle Eastern History (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1996), p. 33.

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This is a somewhat daring hypothesis that needs to be tested via further research of both colophons and protective texts – both genres in Syriac so far have not received the attention they deserve. Notably, there are obvious dif- ferences between them, like, for instance concerning the number and charac- ter of the participants. Whereas in the individual protective prayers, it is the ‘I’ of the saint or unidentified diviner that dominates the discourse, addressing the demons directly, and referring to the one to benefit from this in the third person (though some are formulated as prayers in the first person for the afflicted person), in the colophons there is the ‘I’ of the scribe, the second person, the addressee, of the potential reader, the third person or persons of the ecclesial hierarchy on the one hand, and the donors on the other, reflect- ing complex social interactions that distinguish the colophons from the protective prayers. In this colophon, the reader (always a ‘he’) is addressed by the scribe (‘Oh, Mr. Reader’) with the term qaroya, a term suggesting reciting (qara). However, this reader, while reminding one of one of the ranks of the deacon who reads part of the liturgy, is not expected to publicly recite the text. The reader of the colophon is presented as the accomplice in the work- ing of the protective text: as the one to pray for the donor and the scribe, as the one to return the manuscript to its rightful owners, or, in case he refrains from doing so, the one to endure God’s judgment (§22b).

IN CONCLUSION

The correspondences between these different genres suggest that in addition to the juridical and archival functions of the colophon (confirming the manuscript’s authenticity and reliability), the religious functions of the colophon should be taken more seriously. In my earlier contribution I emphasized the ‘sacralizing’ effects of the way in which the scribes mapped the world of their time, in addition to the important function of the accumulation of religious merit by those involved in the manuscript’s production.43 The study of this particular colophon has highlighted another aspect of these ‘sacralizing’ and mediating functions, especially a further understanding of how the scribe of the colophon mediates those spiritual benefits. The crucial aspect of this mediation seems to lie in the combination of specific stylistic means in com-

43 Murre-van den Berg, ‘“I the weak scribe”’, pp. 20-25.

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bination with fact of the writing itself. In and by writing the codex, the content in tandem with the colophon, divine protection is ensured. While this protective function has generally been recognized when looking at the part of the colophon that bless those that care for the manuscript and curse those that steal or destroy it, this interpretation suggests that this is a characteristic of the colophon as a whole. It intends to include the human and geographic protagonists under a protective cover that is set up by this textual ritual construction. It would be a mistake, however, to think that both this specific protective function and the wider religious functions of the colophon would narrow down its relevance to a ‘spiritual’ world, disconnected from the socio-political context. As described in the earlier sections, the two main protagonists, the patriarch and the scribe, played their parts in a society in which patriarchs and bishops fight for power, in which the Church of the East is slowly being drawn back into the wider ecclesiastical global politics, and in which its local communities, lay and clerical, are asked to take a stand in these wider struggles. Thus, the ‘Mr. Reader’ to which the scribe addresses this colophon is a potential ally who through all the scribal techniques that make the colophon part of a long tradition of religious writing perhaps could be convinced to give or renew his support to the traditional church rather than to the Catho- lic party, to the patriarch of Alqosh rather than to the one in the Hakkari mountains, to the clans of Alqosh rather than to those of neighboring valleys. In varying degrees, all colophons of the period reflect these wider political issues. In some, the interests are difficult to trace: the personal names and locations are known to us only from that particular colophon and the political subtext probably concerns mostly local circumstances. This colophon, however, is quite the opposite: there are few colophons whose protagonists are so well known as the two men featuring in this one. From that perspec- tive, this colophon is very much about patriarch Mar Eliya IX and his efforts to build up the Church of the East, protect it against the attacks of Catholic missionaries and disaffected bishops of his own church and extending his power base to the holiest place of Christendom, Jerusalem and its pilgrim churches. In this, the patriarch is supported by what perhaps at that time already was one of the ablest scribes of his generation, priest Giwargis from Alqosh. He produced a Gospel Lectionary that in all respects belongs to the top layer of his time, including the intricate colophon honoring the patriarch.

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Colophon Jer. 1, fo.127a/A – fo.129a/B44

[1] They were completed with the help of our Lord, the lections of the separated Gospels of the circle of the whole year, and to our Lord be glory, truly, forever, Amen. […]45 [2]46 It was completed through the aid of the will of the divine grace, which is accustomed to manifest her strong force in those that are weak, the book of the separated lections of the adorable Gospel, life-giving and full of life, which is read according to the circle of the whole year, the Sundays, and Feasts and Memorials, according to the orthodox universal order that is read in the churches of Mosul,47 and to God be glory and the reception of goodness forever and ever, Amen. [3] Make worthy our Lord in your goodness, the scribe to this your Good Tidings48 the one who is diligent for your love to the pleasure that is in your kingdom.

44 Numbering and phrasing are mine, informed by indications provided by the scribe like the alternation of black or red ink (§1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 11, 13, 15, 18a, 19, 20, 22a, 23 are in red) and the use of white space, mostly but not always between color alternation, together with my interpretation of the linguistic sequences, taking the sentence as the primary organizational principle. The scribe’s punctuation system is important for decisions on the level of intra-clausal and clausal phrases, but is ambiguous for the larger units. 45 I left out two columns (fo. 127a:B and fo. 127b:A) in monumental Estrangela in which are the readings for special occasions, clerical consecrations and burials of believers of all ranks; for these see C-Add 1975 (Wasta 1586), Wright, A Catalogue I, pp. 75-78. For further comparisons, I refer to the 1710 ms by the same priest Giwargis, described by Hall in 1710 (see n. 28). 46 Idem in C-Add 1975. 47 The lectionary’s readings, taken from the four canonical gospels, have not been studied in detail, but presumably correspond to those in C-Add. 1975. For a further discussion of the East Syriac lectionary system see Pauly Kannookadan, The East Syrian Lectionary: An Historico-Liturgical Study (Rome: Mar Thoma Yogam – The St. Thomas Christian Fel- lowship, 1991), and Heleen Murre-van den Berg, ‘“The One Talent is the Words of the Teaching of our Lord”. The Gospel Translation and Commentary of Deacon Israel of Alqosh (Houghton Ms. Syr. 147, 1768/69)’, in Malphono w-Rabo d-Malphone: Studies in Honor of Sebastian P. Brock, ed. George A. Kiraz (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2008), pp. 497-516. 48 sbarta: regular synonym for “Gospel”

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[4]49 It was finished then and completed, this book of the adorable Gospel, filled with life, in the blessed month Ab 14, on Thursday, in the evening of the commemoration of the Virgin Mary, which is in the middle of this month, of the year 1000 and 900 and 90 of the blessed Greeks, and of the Ascension of our Lord and God, 1000 and 600 and 40 and 8, and of the blessed Muslims, 1000 and 80 and 6, in the month Rajab 17,50 to God then, the Father who helps, and to the Son Lord of all (marekul) who supports, and to the Holy Spirit completer of all (gamar kul), who leads to the conclusion in the goodness of his grace; glory and honor and faith and veneration and authority and praise from all rational beings above and below, in all secular ages, forever and ever, Amen [5] It was written, then, this book filled with life in the blessed and blissful village, renowned for the orthodox faith, strong in the Pauline message,51 strong in the righteous and just, dense with the honorable and distin- guished ones, a place of rest for the anxious, relief for those unfortunate, an abode for the weak and a hospital for the sick, a place of refuge for the weary, and a bakery for the hungry and the miserable, Alqosh, village of the prophet Nahum,52 which is set and placed and built near the most holy monastery of Mar Rabban Hormizd the Persian –

49 Here the script changes from large Estrangela to a much smaller East-Syriac cursive; this paragraph is similar but not identical to C-Add 1975. 50 That is: August 14, 1679. Note the use of three dating systems plus the reference to a memorial; the inclusion of hijra and Ascension dating is not uncommon but certainly not average. On hijra dating, see Sebastian Brock, ‘The Use of Hijra Dating in Syriac Manu- scripts. A Preliminary Investigation’, in Redefining Christian Identity. Cultural Interaction in the Middle East since the Rise of Islam, eds. J.J. van Ginkel, H.L. Murre-van den Berg, T.M. van Lint, OCA, 134 (Leuven: Peeters, 2005), pp. 275-290. 51 The same two phrases occur in the reverse order in C-Add. 1975 (which, describing a different village, is identical only in the first two phrases). In Hall 1710, where Alqosh is described, the lines from ‘strong in …. sick’ are missing, as well as a few phrases in the part ‘the oppression of … plundering hand’. 52 Cf. Nahum 1,1 (‘Elkosh’); the Jewish shrine of the prophet Nahum in Alqosh today is cared for by local Christians.

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May our Lord Christ make her a safe dwelling place, and enlarge her with his strong right hand and make to cease and remove from her the oppression of the oppressors and the taxes of the emirs, the tribute of the sultans and the evil deeds of the evil doers, and turn away from her the passion and anger of evil and barbarous men, a strong foot, I say, and a plundering hand. In the prayers of the ark of light, Maryam and the good apostles and the righteous ones of the Old, and the holy ones of the New, Amen.53 [6] It was written, this lordly54 good news and this spiritual treasure, in the days of our Father, holy and blessed and full of goodness and worthy of heaven, father and lord of the fathers, and head of the shepherds and bishops, anointer of priests, distributor55 of talents, tier of girdles and holder of the scepter; good and wise, merciful and patient, meek and merciful, a man of God and a man of peace, vessel of goodness and dwelling of the Holy Spirit, whiff of good odor and dwelling place of the Trinity, clothed with the ephod of the head of the Jesuit priesthood,56 dressed with the high Simeonite priesthood, leader of the monasteries and convents, and builder of temples and churches,

53 These lines that seem to reflect the often unstable political situation of the time occur in a number of manuscripts, and thus cannot be taken as literal references, cf. H. Murre- van den Berg, ‘Apostasy or “a House Built on Sand”. Jews, Muslims and Christians in East-Syriac texts (1500-1850)’, in Contacts and Controversies between Muslims, Jews and Christians in the Ottoman Empire and Pre-Modern Iran, eds. Sabine Schmidkte and Camilla Adan, Istanbuler Texte und Studien, 21 (Würzburg: Ergon-Verlag, 2010), pp. 223-243, here 234-235; similarly in C-Add 1975 (personal notes, not included by Wright). In Hall 1710, referring to this patriarch’s successor, a number of lines are the same (including the one on the churches and schools), others are missing and not replaces by others. 54 maranayta 55 The verb for ‘distributing’ (Af. of srÌ) is also used in the sense of ‘ordaining, consecrat- ing,’ yielding a nice semantic parallel with the previous phrase. 56 Literally: the ‘Jesuite’ priesthood (kumruta iso`ayta), parallel with the Simeonite priesthood (kahnuta sem`onayta) of the next line, referring to the double origin of the priesthood in Christ as well as Simon Peter.

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father of the orphans and widows, and planter of schools and houses of learning, loving the Messiah and filled with spiritual goodness,57 Mar Eliya Catholicos Patriarch of the chief of the Eastern regions and of all the outskirts of the orthodox world, glory. May he stand and be steadfast, become strong and valiant, and from all harm and damages without […]58 he be praised, in the enlargement of his honor, the exaltation of his rank and the elevation of his throne, to the flourishing of his churches and the honor of his flock, Amen. [7] In stewardship, the steward excelling, he is worthy of honor and in steadfast administration, the helper being completely diligent, he is the accomplisher of the word of the Lord. [8] This then will be established like it was established, strengthening the will in this Peter of our time and Paul of our era, [Nestorius]59 of our years and Eusebius of our days, the one in [whose] days,60 the holy Church stood in all its rights and in whose time, the orthodox gathering was strengthened in the congregation of her attendants, the one who rebuilt our ruins and resurrected our desolated places, the one who did not fall short of the good deeds of the ancients, which he not himself completed, and who also did not fall short of beautiful deeds, which he not in person elegantly fulfilled, the one who closes the breeches and stands with the fallen, the one who maintains the apostolic church, and who strengthens the Simeonite faith; the one who is the foundation of the Jesu-ite confession, and the chosen basis of the messianic message;

57 These lines were not included by Wright in his edition of C-Add 1975, but personal notes taken when inspecting the manuscript suggest they are present, though perhaps not in word by word correspondence. 58 Unreadable, paper is damaged. 59 Name deliberately erased, 5 to 8 letters, traces of the letters and the historical context allow for reading Nestorius (nes†orius). 60 Suffered from the erasion in the previous line, probably yaw[maneh].

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May he be established in full power and strengthened in all prosperity that is from Christ, and may his name be known among all nations, like that of Simeon his equal. [9] This one then, blessed father and worthy of heaven, whose name is sweeter than honey to the palate and than a honeycomb to the lips, Mar Eliya Catholicos Patriarch of the East and head of all the orthodox churches, glory. [10] This glorious and precious branch, which sprouted from the father whose soul is at rest, the elected priest Marogi, whose sins Christ removed from him,61 took care and commissioned, this father of fathers and head of the pastors, from what is his, and in the zeal of the holiness in him, and in the caretaking of his exaltation, and in the expenses of his fatherhood, and he ordered the writing of this book of the adorable gospel, and paid with a good heart and a free will, for the holy place and lordly dwelling, the famous church, that is, the monastery that is in Jerusalem, and he did this, so that according to his commandment, they would read in it, in the monastery, all of them who assemble there, forever. [11] Therefore then, this book, that is of this aforementioned place, should remain, while we, all Christians, pray for the life of this commissioner, that it will be prolonged like Methuselah’s, and that the Messiah may save him from all damages, and in the last day may deem him worthy to his sweet call:

61 These lines probably refer to the patriarch’s biological father, which then would explain his second name Maraugin as a reference to his father (taking Marogi as short for Maraugin). The picture can be completed with the information in the 1710 ms (Hall, 1889), written at the time of Eliya X Maraugin (1700-1722) and sponsored by Lady Ezdiye, who (if I read Hall’s translation correctly) was Eliya X’s mother (rather than sister- in-law), because ‘daughter of priest Marogi,’ and thus the sister of Eliya X’s predecessor, Eliya IX Yohannan. Wilmshurst’s family tree (The Ecclesiastical Organisation, 250-1) indicates that the next generation included another Lady Azdiya, daughter of priest Safar who was married to priest Khoshaba, brother of Eliya X Maraugin and the mother of Eliya XI Denha (1722-78).

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“well done, good and reliable servant, enter into the joy of your Lord,”62 Amen. [12] He then wrote, rather ruined and defiled, and blackened and spoiled these sheets; a man most wretched and weak and sinful, richer than anyone in leftish things, and poorer than anyone in the right things, fuller than anyone in oppositions, and emptier than anyone in praises, strong and powerful in hateful things, lazy and weak in beautiful things, cheerful while eating, rejoicing while drinking, grieved while fasting, pained when praying, a field of thorns, a patch of weeds, an obscured heart, a soul tottering under the burden of sin, hideous from the outside and the inside, that is, in body and soul; in sum, he knows himself as does the One who created him, that there is nothing at all, that he does not do in his transgressions, the sinner, rich in mishaps, the humble Giwargis who in name is priest, son of the deceased Q. Israel, son of Q. Hormizd, son of Q. Israel Alqoshaya, while asking from all the saints, that his sins will not be uncovered; that our Lord Christ pities him in his mercy, and deems him worthy the forgiveness of his sins, that not according to his deeds he asks from him, but according to the generous flow of his mercy, over the sinners according to the goodness of his grace, Amen. [13] I wish and beseech and supplicate and humbly pray, I the weak scribe, to all bodily authorities, when in this book they read or write, and find in it shortcomings, or error, or mistakes, or omission, may they straighten it in love, without murmur, knowing that human nature is foolish and deviant, but instead of reproaches and vituperations, dedicate a sincere prayer to him

62 Abbreviated quote from Matt 25,21.

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who labored according to his power and fabricated according to his capability, because to peace is God’s favor,63 and he ordered us through his apostles and said to pray for one another so that you will heal;64 and he will carry the difficulties of everyone, in his mercy for which him be glory, forever Amen. [14] Remember me, Mister Reader, how I am dust and powder and ash in the heart of the earth, and say, how fleeting is every head and every sultan and all powers, and the heavenly king rises to resurrect those thrown down on the earth from all ages and at the shouting of the last horn, all children of Adam rise up, those who did good things to the resurrection of life, and those who did bad things to the resurrection of judgment; you our Lord Jesus Christ, king of all kings, will do mercy and compassion to the poor scribe, and to his fathers and brothers in the flesh and in the spirit, Amen. [15] Do not, Lord, refuse the wages five times double, to those who labored and toiled and cultivated and sowed good seeds in the white field with the reed from the forest but may they be saved and rescued from the fire of Gehenna that will not grow weak, Amen. [16] Truly, my brothers, the writers said they tried like the helmsman who is looking forward to arrive at the quiet harbor, to rest from his labor and anguish among the waves of the sea, so also the weak scribe of this last book, that he may find rest from his strife and labor in the art of writing, [17] Glory to him who brought him to here; blessed be the Lord, o lords, pray for me in love, that when the bearers will suddenly come, I will be found in grace and not in idleness, because I am poor and needy, and the merciful Lord will have pity on me, with the help of your prayers, Amen. [18a] Remember all eremitic brothers, who secluded themselves for eternity and who walk straight in the way of the truth,

63 qran alaha; lit. ‘horn of God’. 64 James 5,16.

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[18b] at the holy altar of our Lord, before the magnificent Trinity; prophets, I say, and apostles, and fathers and the heads of fathers, and martyrs and witnesses and doctors and all solitaries rushing on the high way that leads to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with all the resurrection of the holy Church to the good and the beautiful; and us the poor and weak and lost, with your prayers will be assisted and saved and rescued from the damages of this world, and from the penitence of the world to come, through the grace of our Lord, Amen. [19] Everyone who does not love our Lord, and does not believe the words of our Lord, there will be a ban from the mouth of our Lord, and also from the saints of our Lord. [20] Blessed be God for ever and glorified his name, forever and ever and ever and ever and ever. [22] And this one is due also to inform his intelligent readers and upright believers, that the vicissitudes of this world are many, and the difficulties of this our time multiply, that if there is to be disturbances or great fear, and if something happens to this book, plundering or robbery, and it falls to other churches or monasteries, or to those who are readers or believers, it is fitting and right for them to save it from the hands of the oppressors and bring it to its place, and return it to its owners mentioned above, and he will receive compensation from our Lord in the last day, and his portion will be with the righteous and just fathers, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven, which has no end. [22a] And if then someone happens to see this colophon, and read in it, and despises and disdains it, and resists to return this book to its place, or go after its owners and not give it to them, [22b] the judgment that God, through the hands of Moses, brought upon Pharaoh and all his might, will come over this man and all his seed, so say angels and men, En Amen. [23] prayer of …. prayer of half … [different handwriting, not completely readable] [24] I, priest Saggu, came – now he is called Qasha Michael, son of Mr.(usta) Pera from Iran - from the city of Urmia, from the village of Digalah, I had built Mar Giwargis that was taken. I came to Jerusalem during Patriarch Kirillos, his deputy, Agios Ledes, Metropolitan Agios Peter,

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because I came from Istanbul to Jerusalem on a ﬁrman from the patriarch, I received much respect, in the year of the Lord, 1859, Amen.65

Illustrations66 (i) Title page (fo. 1a) (ii) Scribal prayer (fo. 27b) (iii) Entrance in Jerusalem (fo. 67b) (iv) Cross (77b) (v) Incredulity of Thomas (82a) (vi) Fourth page of the colophon (128b)

65 This note indicates that in 1859 the manuscript was in Greek Orthodox hands; the name of the patriarch of Jerusalem, Cyril II (1846-1872) is known from Greek patriarchal lists. The metropolitan has not yet been identified. Perhaps priest Michael may be identified with the priest Michael who in 1861 travelled to St. Petersburg to establish links between the Church of the East and the Russian Orthodox Church; cf. J.F. Coakley, The Church of the East and the Church of England. A History of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Assyrian Mission (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992), p. 219. I wish to thank Alessandro Mengozzi for his help in translating this rather unorthodox piece of Neo-Aramaic writing, with all remaining mistakes being my own. 66 I thank Archbishop Aristarhos of the Greek Patriarchal Library in Jerusalem for his kind help in consulting this manuscript.

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fig. i. Title page (fo. 1a)

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fig. ii. Scribal prayer (fo. 27b)

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fig. iii. Entrance in Jerusalem (fo. 27b)

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fig. iv. Cross (fo. 77b)

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fig. v. Incredulity of Thomas (fo. 82a)

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fig. vi. Fourth page of the colophon (fo. 128b)

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