Arabic translation of the works of St. Isaac the Syrian: channel for broadcasting Syriac Christian literature

Contents Introduction Forms of the Arabic Isaac: a four-part collection The first book of the Arabic Isaac: florilegies of Syriac texts Overall assessment Several ancient translations of the works of St. are attested in Arabic. Isaac the Syrian. As a result, whole generations of Arabic-speaking believers, especially monks, of various church jurisdictions were nurtured on the instructions of Isaac: both pre-Chalcedonites (Copts) and Chalcedonites (belonging to the Patriarchates of Antioch and Jerusalem). Arabic translations, as well as ancient translations into Greek, Slavic, Georgian, Ethiopic and Latin, allowed the works of St. Isaac to transcend the ecclesiastical boundaries of its origin and spread without the slightest resistance or distrust. And although Isaac belonged to a theological tradition that everyone else considered heretical, he was read and loved as an “Orthodox father” who achieved unrivaled spiritual authority. However, this has become a problem in certain circles now that Isaac's true theological-ecclesiastical origin can no longer be ignored or questioned (despite some feeble attempts of dubious scientific merit) 1 . Isaac represents a true theological crux: how can an author from a tradition considered heretical be such a respected spiritual authority? In the Arab context, this issue is particularly acute for two reasons. First, the Coptic tradition, which for centuries was nourished by the writings of Isaac, is especially sensitive to the Nestorian heresy: after all, it is the direct heir of Cyril of Alexandria, the champion of the Council of Ephesus, which condemned Nestorius and his Christology. Secondly, as I will try to explain in my report, the Arabic codex of the writings of Isaac includes, in addition to his original works, the writings of other Syrian authors, and one of them, Dadisho Qatraya, belonged to the same theological tradition as Isaac. Forms of the Arabic Isaac: a four-part collection One of the forms in which the Arabic translation of Isaac's works has come down to us consists of a collection in four parts, each part containing a different number of Discourses. As the manuscripts attest, it is neither the oldest nor the only edited text of Isaac in Arabic, but it is undoubtedly the most widespread in the ancient manuscript tradition and, indeed, in recent printed editions 2 . One of the most famous evidence of this tradition is the Karshuni Code 3. dating from the beginning of the 16th century, which was taken as the basis for the description of Isaac’s works in Assemani’s “Clementine-Vatican Oriental Library” 4. There this manuscript is called Nitrensis XX, since it comes from the monastery of the Virgin Mary ("Monastery of the Syrians") in the Egyptian Nitrian desert (Wadi al-Natrun). Nowadays it is Codex Vaticanus syriacus 198. From this edited text in four volumes, the first and fourth books have been considered counterfeit in modern times - although not at all on the basis of a thorough analysis 5. In his work, which can be considered the first modern critical study of the works of Isaac, the prominent syrologist J.-B. Chabot says that he “considers entirely apocryphal” the first book of the four-book collection: Librum autem hunc totum uti apocryphum habeo. He then adds that, in his opinion, it is “a compilation of discourses of various authors,” which “the scribe attributed to Isaac,” and cites as an example the first Discourse of this book, which he identifies as the text of Isaac of Antioch 6 . Although Chabot's statement is not entirely false, it is inaccurate, since the first book contains many authentic passages belonging to Isaac. Indeed, the same scientist a few years later, in an article published in the Journal Asiatique in 1896, noted that in one manuscript of Isaac, stored in Paris (Parisinus syr. 289) and containing the text that later became known as the "Second Part" of Isaac the Syrian, he found several conversations from the Arabic first book, thereby recognizing that this book was not entirely "apocryphal" 7. In my report I will try to make a more accurate, although not definitive, analysis of the first part of the “collection in four books” in order to determine its content and thereby offer some elements for assessing the entire collection 8 . The First Book of the Arabic Isaac: A Florilegium of Syriac Texts From the analysis of the book under consideration, two elements emerge: 1) the presence in it of the writings of Isaac from all three known Syriac collections; 2) the transfer, along with the original writings of Isaac, of passages from other Syrian authors under the name of Isaac. Some of these texts were not previously known to have an Arabic translation. The organization of the meeting seems unusual. This is not an anthology in which texts from various authors follow one another in more or less complete form, but a veritable florilegium of excerpts, sometimes brief, from various authors and books, interwoven according to a logic that is not always easy to understand. In some cases, excerpts from some works are given in fragments in different contexts, leaving the impression that the collection, without being the result of conscious editing, reproduces a manuscript with its pages mixed up. However, this may be contradicted by the specific sequence of the meeting. In other cases, it seems that the author does not strictly follow his source, but provides brief notes to the patristic texts. A listing of the passages in the Discourses found may give a clearer idea of ​​the composition of this collection. Regarding the numbering, I follow the above Qarshuni manuscript as described by Assemani, where the first book consists of 28 sections: The analysis of the first book, although preliminary because many passages are unidentified, allows us to make three relatively important observations. The first concerns the already identified creations of Isaac. Contrary to Chabot's assertion, I was able to establish that the first book of the Arabic four-book collection is not entirely apocryphal. Indeed, from a certain point of view it is an outstanding monument of Isaac's work, since it contains sections belonging to three famous Isaac collections. It contains sections not only from the “First Collection,” the most famous and therefore the most widespread, but also from the 2nd collection, from which it contains a number of passages from the “Centuries,” and from the 3rd collection. The witnessing of this last meeting is especially important since its first three conversations are reproduced almost completely. It adds to the meager data that speak of the 3rd meeting, and, moreover, is the only evidence of the 3rd meeting in a non-Syriac language, thereby proving its distribution beyond the original environment. The same can be said about the 2nd meeting, for which we also have no non-Syrian evidence other than this Arabic translation. Although the texts are incomplete and in some places revised, the passages associated with the 3rd collection proved very valuable for the preparation of a critical edition of the Syriac text, as they helped to throw light on some points that were doubtful or unclear in the original. The second final observation regarding the Arabic collection of Isaac concerns the texts that are not authentic. At this stage of research (I repeat that we are only at the first stage of our study), in addition to the original works of Isaac, our collection contains the following: Isaac of Antioch, “Word 33” (many passages); John the Hermit (Apamean), “Discourse on Prayer”; Dadisho Katraya, “Conversation on the Silence of Weeks.” The first two authors, belonging to the early period, are the common heritage of the whole Syrian tradition. This applies especially to Isaac of Antioch, but also to John the Hermit, who lived in the first half of the 5th century. before the Chalcedonian crisis, therefore it is accepted by both Syrian traditions, eastern and western 45 . The presence in this collection of Dadisho Katraya's The First Discourse on Silence, known as the Discourse on the Silence of the Weeks, may seem problematic since it is the work of an East Syrian author similar to Isaac of Nineveh and his contemporary. Hence the same exponent of the Christological tradition, rejected by the Churches of the pre-Chalcedonian and Chalcedonian tradition. Moreover, as far as I understand, nothing is known about Dadisho’s translation into Arabic of “Conversations on the Silence of Weeks” 46 . Thus, Isaac served as a channel for the transmission of a certain part of Syrian literature in the Arabic-speaking environment - both Coptic and Melkite. Before I conclude this second observation, I would like to briefly consider the possible reasons that led to Isaac being credited with the work of others. I reject the hypothesis that this was a deliberate concealment of authorship. As for the first writer on the list, Isaac of Antioch, we can agree that the decisive fact here was homonymy, which led to confusion, as is also evidenced by various Syrian manuscripts and catalogs attributing the works of Isaac of Antioch to Isaac of Nineveh. Establishing the authorship of John the Hermit is a more difficult problem. I just want to remind you that the “Discourse on Prayer” in the Syriac manuscripts is attributed to various authors, not only John, but also Philoxenus of Mabbug and, in a note in the margin of the National British Library codex (Add. 12167), Basil 47 . Finally, the last case with the text of Dadisho is easily explained, since already in the Syriac manuscript tradition this text is transmitted by some copies under the name of Isaac of Nineveh 48 . I move on to the third and final observation. As I have said, a significant portion of the texts in this collection have not yet been identified either with the known collections of Isaac's works or with the works of other authors. This does not mean that this will not happen in the future with more careful analysis and further research. But, at least as a working hypothesis, it must be assumed that these sheets may contain the original texts of Isaac, which, however, are not part of the known collections. In fact, we know from sources that Isaac wrote more than three collections—in fact, probably five. Until we have a reliable Syriac text attesting to the fourth or fifth meeting, it will be difficult to select from this Arabic translation any passage that can be considered authentically Isaac's. However, the discovery in this first book of the Arabic quaternary collection of many passages from the 3rd collection, recently found in the Syriac original, is a strong basis for formulating at least the hypothesis that there may be other works of Isaac, the original of which has not yet been possible to identify. In this connection I would like to mention the presence in four Syriac manuscripts of passages from the “fifth part” of the works of St. Isaac - passages that I recently published in Orientalia Christiana Periodica, even if I have doubts about their authenticity 49 . I would also like to mention the presence in many Syriac manuscripts of Discourses attributed to St. Isaac, which I have not been able to identify with any text from the three known collections. Perhaps a comparison of these Syrian texts with the Arabic tradition will expand our knowledge of the literary heritage of St. Isaac the Syrian. See Φωτόπουλος Ι. Ἀββᾶς Ἰσαὰκ ὁ Σύρος ὁ ἀδικημένος ἅγιος. Ἀθῆναι, 2010. For a review, see Chialà S. Dall'aseesi eremitiea alia misericordia infinita. Ricerche su Isacco di Ninive e la sua fortuna. Firenze, 2002, pp. 334–338. Arabic text written in Syriac letters. – Approx. lane See Assemani J. S. Bibliotheca Orientalis Clementino-Vaticana. T. 1. Romae, 1719. P. 444–463. In his preface, Assemani also speaks of the Syriac and Greek manuscript traditions, based on the Vatican manuscripts, but it was the Arabic tradition that determined the structure of his description. Thus, he divides Isaac's conversations into four books (as in the Qarshuni manuscript), from time to time pointing out the correspondence with the Syriac or Greek text, if any, and only at the end of the fourth Arabic book adds conversations available only in other languages, first in Syriac, then in Greek. The second and third books more or less correspond to the 1st collection of Isaac in Syriac. Wed. Chialà S. Dall'ascesi eremitica... P. 334–338. See Chabot J. B. De S. Isaaci Niniυitae vita, scriptis et doctrina. P., 1892. P. 55. Wed. Isaac of Nineveh (Isaac the Syrian). "The Second Part", Chapters IV–XLI / Ed. S. P. Brock. Louvain, 1995. P. XXXIV. The first results of this research were published in the editor's preface to the Italian translation of the Arabic Isaac: Isacco di Ninive. Grammatica di vita spirituale / A cura di V. Ianari. Cinisello Balsamo, 2009, pp. 21–27. Wed. S. Isaaci Syri Antiocheni Homiliae / Ed. P. Badjan. Parisiis, 1903, pp. 398–409. The letter "ch" indicates that the text is only partially present in the collection. Wed. Isacco di Niniυe. Terza collezione/Ed. S. Chiala. Lovanii, 2011. P. 3–9 (text), 3–16 (translation). Wed. Isaac of Nineveh. The Second Part... P. 53–54 (text), 63–64 (translation). Wed. Isaac of Nineveh. The Second Part... P. 55–56 (text), 65–66 (translation). Wed. Isaac of Nineveh. The Second Part... P. 84–85 (text), 95–96 (translation). Wed. Los cinco tratados sobre la quietud (šelyā) de Dādīšo’Qatrāyā / Ed. F. del Rio Sanchez. Sabadell-Barcelona, ​​2001. P. 47–56 (text), 123–128 (translation). Wed. Isacco di Niniυe. Terza collezione... P. 10–18 (text), 17–31 (translation). Wed. Isaac of Nineveh. The Second Part... P. 56–72 (text), 66–83 (translation). Wed. Isacco di Ninive. Discorsi spirituali / Tr. P. Bettiolo. Bose, 1985, pp. 161–164. Wed. Isacco di Ninive. Discorsi spirituali... P. 108. Wed. Los cinco tratados sobre la quietud... P. 54–56, 59–60 (text) and 127–128, 130 (translation). Wed. Mar Isaacus Niniυita. De perfection religiosa/Ed. P. Badjan. P., 1909. P. 308–309. Wed. Los cinco tratados sobre la quietud... P. 62, 70–72 (text) and 131, 136–137 (translation). Wed. Mar Isaacus Niniυita. De perfectione religiosa. P. 93. Wed. Isaac le Syrien. (Euvres spirituelles – II: 41 Discours recémment découverts / Tr. A. Louf. Bégrolles en Mauges, 2003. P. 100, 102–104. Wed. Isacco di Ninive. Discorsi spirituali... P. 91–92, 94. Wed. Los cinco tratados sobre la quietud... P. 69, 81, 82 (text) and 135–136, 142–143 (translation). Wed. Los cinco tratados sobre la quietud... P. 73–75 (text), 138–139 (translation). Wed. Los cinco tratados sobre la quietud... P. 76–77 (text), 139–140 (translation). Wed. Mar Isaacus Niniυita. De perfectione religiosa. P. 90–92. Wed. Mar Isaacus Niniυita. De perfectione religiosa. P. 531–533. Wed. Mar Isaacus Niniυita. De perfectione religiosa. P. 410–412. Wed. Mar Isaacus Niniυita. De perfectione religiosa. P. 351. Wed. Mar Isaacus Niniυita. De perfectione religiosa. Ρ. 533–535 Wed. Los cinco tratados sobre la quietud... P. 84 (text), 144 (translation). Wed. Isacco di Ninive. Discorsi spirituali... P. 96, 98–100, 107, 112, 110–112. Wed. Isacco di Ninive. Discorsi spirituali... P. 123–124, 126–127, 129, 132, 146. Wed. Isacco di Ninive. Discorsi spirituali... P. 179. Wed. Isacco di Ninive. Discorsi spirituali... P. 99. Wed. Isaac of Nineveh. The Second Part... P. 109–110 (text), 121–122 (translation). Wed. Los cinco tratados sobre la quietud... P. 57–61, 69–77 (text) and 128–130, 135–140 (translation). Wed. Bettiolo P. “Sulla preghiera”: Filosseno o Giovanni? // Le Muséon. T. 94. 1981. p. 75–89. Wed. Isaac of Nineveh. The Second Part... P. 73–76 (text), 84–87 (translation). Wed. Isacco di Ninive. Discorsi spirituali... P. 166–168. Wed. Isacco di Ninive. Discorsi spirituali... P. 137. Wed. Isacco di Ninive. Discorsi spirituali... P. 94 For an Arabic translation of the Discourses of John the Hermit, see Brock S. John the Solitary, On Prayer // Journal of Theological Studies. Vol. 30. 1979. P. 84–101, in particular p. 85 and 101. But we know of the existence of an Arabic translation of his commentary on the Paradise of the Fathers, which is evidenced by an Ethiopian translation from the Arabic. See Witakowski W. “Filekseyus”, the Ethiopic Version of the Syriac Dadisho Qatraya’s Commentary on the “Paradise of the Fathers” // Rocznik Orientalistyczny. T. 59. 2006. P. 281–296. Wed. Bettiolo. Sulla preghiera... Published by Bejan in an appendix to his edition of the 1st collection as the work of Isaac, see Chialà. Dall'ascesieremitica... P. 76–77. Some Syriac manuscripts record two discourses as excerpts from the "Fifth Part" of Isaac's writings, but their authorship remains doubtful. For an edition of these texts, with Italian translation and commentary, see Chialà S. Due discorsi ritrovati della Quinta parte di Isacco di Ninive? // Orientalia Christiana Periodica. Vol. 79. 2013. P. 61–112.