Christian Literature in Arabic in the Early Islamic Period

CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IN ARABIC IN THE EARLY ISLAMIC PERIOD (8TH-10TH C.): THE CIRCULATION OF TEXTS AND IDEAS BETWEEN THE GREEK, SYRIAC, ARABIC, AND GEORGIAN COMMUNITIES It is commonly acknowledged that the rise of Christian literature in Arabic (8th-10th c.) in the Palestino-Sinaitic area (commonly defined as the “Holy Land”1) occurred alongside the spread of Islam in the same region and at the same time. In this article I would like to highlight the fundamentally multicultural mechanism of the emergence of Christian Arabic literature. This phenomenon was firstly determined by a linguistic factor, such as the progressive Arabisation of the Holy Land region (8th- 10th c.), and, secondly, by the distinctive literary context developing in Palestino-Sinaitic Melkite monasteries. In shedding light on the general linguistic background of Palestino- Sinaitic monasteries, we should take into consideration the fact that Greek had been playing the role of dominant language in the ecclesiastical cul- ture of the Holy Land region from the 4th-8th century; however, because of the Arab conquest between 750-1050 AD, Arabic progressively became the main language of the Melkite communities2 and accordingly played an increasing central role in Palestino-Sinaitic Chalcedonian monasteries. Indeed, by the late 8th century, the formation of the communal identity of Arabic speaking, orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christians, the so-called Melkites – having its ecclesial and cultural centre in Jerusalem – was well on its way to achievement3. That identity was marked by the rapid adoption of the Arabic language in the churches and by the expression of their religious ideas in Arabic. It was not long before the other Churches (Syriac Orthodox, East-Syrian, Copt) followed suit. As one of the most Arabized Christian communities sharing a Greek patristic and liturgical heritage, the Melkites found themselves at the fore- front in creating Christian literature in Arabic, especially as concerns 1 According to the scholarly tradition we use the term “Holy Land” in its historical meaning as the name of Palestine and the Sinai area. Presently the “Holy Land” may refer to the modern territories of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan and the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. 2 GRIFFITH, From Aramaic to Arabic, p. 24-31; GRIFFITH, The Monks of Palestine; TREIgER, The Arabic Tradition; FLUSIN, Palestinian Hagiography; LEEMINg, The Adoption of Arabic. 3 GRIFFITH, Answering the Call of the Minaret. Le Muséon 132 (1-2), 199-222. doi: 10.2143/MUS.132.1.3286538 - Tous droits réservés. © Le Muséon, 2019. 200 T. PATARIDZE translations from Greek into Arabic4. Thanks to the Patriarchate of Jerusa- lem’s adherence to Chalcedonian orthodoxy and due to strong ties main- tained with Constantinople, it was only in Melkite Palestine that Christian Church-books systematically remained in the Greek language5. Hence it is not surprising that the initial impetus for translations of Christian literature from Greek into Arabic arose in the Melkite monasteries of the Holy Land, such as Mar Saba, Mar Chariton and St. Catherine of Sinai6. As mentioned earlier, the Christian Graeco-Arabic literary channel developed in a unique historical context. On contacting Syriac, it was by then already widely used within the framework of Syriac Churches and granted preference as a language of the non-Chalcedonian circles, but, not exclusively: its extensive usage is attested to in Melkite monastic centres too7, a factor contributing to strengthening the important literary channel of Christian Syro-Arabica. Lastly, current research is also showing that another important language in Palestino-Sinaitic Melkite monasteries was Georgian, which preserved the greater part of Christian Arabic literature through the translations done in those monastic centres between the 8th- 10th centuries8. Summing up, we may note that Mar Saba and St. Catherine of Sinai were the multicultural centres where Greek, Arabic, Syriac, and Georgian speaking scholar-monks cohabited. A burgeoning literary activity developed there, creating a favourable context for the circulation and exchange of texts and ideas9, the result being both a literary and a scholarly melting-pot. Through their translations, these were the places where texts were exchanged among the four languages: Greek, Syriac, Georgian, and Arabic10. The aforementioned literary collaborations were an important source, heavily 4 TREIgER, Christian Graeco-Arabica, p. 190. 5 GRIFFITH, The Monks of Palestine, p. 4. 6 GRIFFITH, Anthony David of Baghdad, p. 12; GRIFFITH, The Monks of Palestine, p. 10; TREIgER, Christian Graeco-Arabica, p. 197; TREIgER, The Arabic Tradition, p. 96. 7 “Syriac was a language of the Melkite community and not a monopoly of the non- Chalcedonian Churches, as is sometimes thought”: GRIFFITH, Greek into Arabic, p. 130; BROCK, Syriac on Sinai. About the Syriac presence on Sinai from 8th-9th century, see BINggELI, La version syriaque des Récits d’Anastase. 8 BLAKE, La littérature grecque en Palestine; GVARAMIA, Massacre des Saints Pères de Sinaï et Raïthu; OUTTIER, Les Enseignements des Pères; OUTTIER, À propos des traductions de l’arabe; NANObASHVILI, The Development of Literary Contacts; PATARIDZE, Christian Literature Translated from Arabic. 9 See: BROCK, Syriac on Sinai; BROCK, Syriac into Greek at Mar Saba; BINggELI, L’hagiographie du Sinaï arabe; BINggELI, Early Christian Graeco-Arabica; TREIgER, Syro- Arabic Translations; TREIgER, Christian Graeco-Arabica; TREIgER, The Earliest Dated Christian Arabic Translation; NASRALLAH, Histoire du mouvement littéraire. 10 GRIFFITH, Greek into Arabic; GRIFFITH, The Monks of Palestine; GRIFFITH, Anthony David of Baghdad; GRIFFITH, From Aramaic to Arabic; TREIgER, Christian Graeco-Arabica, p. 190. CHRISTIAN LITERATURE IN ARABIC IN THE EARLY ISLAMIC PERIOD 201 influencing the birth of Christian literature in Arabic, nourishing it by its literary connections. Besides translations into Arabic, the significant origi nal Christian literary production written in Arabic was born there too. The literary context for a blossoming of Christian Literature in Arabic was, therefore, provided by the highly specific multicultural microcosms configured in the Palestino-Sinaitic Melkite monasteries mentioned and nourished by a complex set of diversified linguistic connections. Scholar- monks of different origins, but sharing a common space, created a remarka- bly ideal milieu for the circulation of texts and ideas. Those inter-connections largely determined the profile of the emerging Christian literature in Arabic, flourishing precisely on that collaborative literary backdrop. The current scholarly need must be seen to be providing a holistic vision of targeted literary processes. This will require finding answers to ana- lytical questions, such as: what specific literary channels were commonly used for treating various types of texts and authors? How was the monastic curriculum of the Melkite community emerging from this multilingual framework structured? 1. The complete linguistic circuit There are some significant examples of texts having passed through the “complete” circuit, thus being exchanged between all four of the languages of the Palestino-Sinaitic Melkite monasteries. The case of the Report on the Martyrdom of the Monks of Sinai and Raithu is worthy of interest in that respect. All the versions of this text likely come from Mar Saba or Sinai11: firstly, it was translated from Greek into Arabic in 772 AD at Mar Saba or Sinai (while the Arabic translator used both the Syriac and Greek models12). The Georgian version translated from Arabic before 864 AD at the same place – Mar Saba’s monastery – is known for being based on the earliest Arabic translation (made in 772 AD). Vat. Sir. 623, the oldest known Syriac manuscript containing this text, was copied on Sinai in 886 AD, but the Syriac translation was done in 767 AD. We are therefore dealing with the case of three different translations of this text done within an analysed spatio-temporal framework: 8th-9th centuries, Mar Saba – Sinai13. The text was first transmitted from Greek to Syriac; and, secondly, from Greek and Syriac to Arabic; and finally, from Arabic to Georgian. 11 TREIgER, Christian Graeco-Arabica, p. 200. 12 TREIgER, The Earliest Dated Christian Arabic Translation, p. 32. 13 BINggELI, Early Christian Graeco-Arabica, p. 238. 202 T. PATARIDZE The case of Isaac the Syrian is similar. It is clear that the Syriac manu- scripts of Isaac’s Ascetical Homilies were used in Mar Saba14, giving rise to three different translations that were done over a relatively short period of time. The Ascetical Homilies were therefore translated from Syriac to Greek (8th c.), from Syriac to Arabic (885 AD) and from a Semitic sub- stract (likely from Syriac) to Georgian (907 AD)15: all at Mar Saba. These examples prove that from the late 8th century on there was an ongoing practice of dynamic literary collaboration between all of these linguistic communities. This also shows that these Christian Arabic trans- lators used both Greek and Syriac models from the very beginning. 2. From Greek into Arabic It is obvious that in speaking about the rise of Christian literature in Arabic the most important issue relates to the emergence of Biblical texts in Arabic. It seems that prior to the 9th century no texts of the Gospel in Arabic were available to either Muslims or Christians16. So the earliest unambiguous documentary evidence for translation of the Gospels into Arabic dates

Load more