Jacob of Edessa
Jacob of Edessa | |
---|---|
Native name | ܝܥܩܘܒ ܐܘܪܗܝܐ |
Born | c. 640 Aindaba |
Died | 5 June 708 Classical Syriac |
Jacob of Edessa (or James of Edessa) (
Life
Jacob of Edessa was born in Aindaba (Arabic: عيندابا) at 50 km west of Aleppo, around 640. He studied at the famous monastery of Qenneshre (on the left bank of the Euphrates) and later at Alexandria.[5]
On his return from Alexandria he became a monk at Edessa, where he was known for his learning. Ordained a priest in 672, he was appointed
Jacob left Eusebona and proceeded to the great convent of Tel ʿAde (Arabic: تل عدا), one of several Syriac Orthodox monasteries on the 'mountain of Edessa' (? modern Tellgdi, northwest of Aleppo), where he spent nine years in revising and amending the Peshitta version of the Old Testament with the aid of the various Greek versions.[5][7] Jacob played a prominent part in the synod Julian convened in 706.[8]
He was finally recalled to the bishopric of Edessa in 708, but died four months later.[8][7]
Doctrinal allegiance
Jacob belonged to the
Language
Jacob of Edessa wrote in
Since he was born in
Writings
Most of his works are in prose. Few have been published. In 1911 most of the information available was to be found in Giuseppe Simone Assemani's Bibliotheca Orientalis and Wright's Catalogue of Syriac MSS in the British Museum.[7]
Biblical works and commentaries
Jacob produced a revision of the Bible, based on the Peshitta. Wright calls this a curious eclectic or patchwork text. Five volumes survive in Europe (Wright, Catalogue 38). This was the last attempt at a revision of the Old Testament in the Syriac Orthodox Church. Jacob was also the chief founder of the Syriac Massorah among the Syrians, which produced such manuscripts as the one (Vat. cliii.) described by Wiseman in Horae syriacae, part iii. He also wrote commentaries and scholia on the Bible. Specimens of these are given by Assemani and Wright. They are quoted a lot by later commentators, who often refer to Jacob as the "Interpreter of the Scriptures".[7]
Jacob translated the apocryphal History of the Rechabites composed by
Canons and Liturgy
Jacob made a collection of ecclesiastical canons. In his letter to the priest Addai we possess a collection of canons from his pen, given in the form of answers to Addai's questions. These were edited by Lagarde in Reliquiae juris eccl. syriace, pp. 117 sqq. and Thomas Joseph Lamy in Dissert. pp. 98 sqq. Additional canons were given in Wright's Notulae syriacae. All of them were translated and expounded by Carl Kayser, Die Canones Jacobs von Edessa (Leipzig, 1886).[7]
He also made many contributions to Syriac liturgy, both original and as translations from Greek. As a liturgical author, Jacob drew up an anaphora, or liturgy, revised the Liturgy of St. James, wrote the celebrated "Book of Treasures", composed orders of baptism, of the blessing of water on the eve of the Epiphany, and of the celebration of matrimony, to which may be added his translation of Severus's order of Baptism.[8]
Philosophy
Jacob's chief original contribution was his Enchiridion or Manual, a tract on philosophical terms (Wright, Catalogue 984).[7]
Translations of works of Aristotle have been attributed to him. However these are probably by other hands (Wright, Short History p. 149; Duval, Littérature syriaque, pp. 255, 258). The treatise De cause omnium causarum, which was the work of a bishop of Edessa, was formerly attributed to Jacob; but the publication of the whole by Kayser has made it clear that the treatise is of much later date.[7]
History
Jacob also wrote a Chronicle, as a continuation of the
The original text of Jacob's continuation has unfortunately perished apart from 23 leaves in a manuscript in the British Library. Of these a full account is given in Wright, Catalogue 1062, and an edition of these has been published in CSCO by E.W.Brooks.
Grammar
Jacob is most famous because of his contributions to the Syriac language and the West Syriac script (Serto).
In early Syriac vowels are either not shown, or else shown by a system of dots, used erratically. Jacob borrowed five vowel signs from Greek, which he wrote above the line as miniature symbols. This caught on, and is a feature of West Syriac writing even today. He also elaborated the system whereby some consonants could stand for vowels.
Jacob also tried to introduce the Greek practice of writing the vowels on the line, the same way as is done for the consonants. This was resisted by his countrymen and did not come into effect.
In his letter to George, bishop of
Other
As a translator Jacob's greatest achievement was his Syriac version of the Homiliae cathedrales of
A large number of letters by Jacob to various correspondents have been found in various MSS. Besides those on the canon law to Addai, and on grammar to George of Serugh referred to above, there are others dealing with doctrine, liturgy, and so forth. A few are in verse.[7]
In 675, he revised Paul of Edessa's translations of the hymns of John Psaltes.
References
- ^ Salvesen 2008, p. 1-10.
- ^ Talmon 2008, p. 159-187.
- ^ Teule 2009, p. 226-233.
- ^ Witakowski 2008, p. 25.
- ^ a b c "St. Jacob (James) of Edessa (+ June 5th, 708)", Syrian Orthodox Church in America
- ^ McLean 1911, pp. 113–114.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k McLean 1911, p. 114.
- ^ a b c d Gigot 1910, p. 277-278.
- ^ Rompay 2000, p. 76.
- ^ Rompay 2008, p. 203.
- ^ Nestle 1878, p. 495.
- ^ Brière 1960, p. 197, 205.
- ^ Farina 2018, p. 186.
- ^ Rompay 2000, p. 77-78.
- ^ Debié 2009, p. 106.
- ^ Brock 2010, p. 7.
- ^ Farina 2018, p. 185-186.
Sources
- Brière, Maurice, ed. (1960). Les Homiliae Cathedrales de Sévère d'Antioche: Traduction syriaque de Jacques d'Édesse (suite): Introduction générale à toutes les homélies: Homélies CXX à CXXV. Patrologia Orientalis. Vol. 29. Paris: Firmin-Didot.
- Brock, Sebastian P. (1970). "A Calendar Attributed to Jacob of Edessa". Parole de l'Orient. 1 (2): 415–429.
- Brock, Sebastian P. (1979). "Jacob of Edessa's Discourse on the Myron". Oriens Christianus. 63: 20–36.
- ISBN 9781463216634.
- Brock, Sebastian P.(2019). "Jacob of Edessa's Letter to Addai on the Blessing of the Epiphany Water". Parole de l'Orient. 45: 119–132.
- Debié, Muriel (2009). "Syriac Historiography and Identity Formation". Church History and Religious Culture. 89 (1–3): 93–114. .
- Dinno, Khalid (2010). "The Physical World in Jacob of Edessa's Hexaemeron". Studies on Jacob of Edessa. Piscataway: Gorgias Press. pp. 15–26. ISBN 9781463216634.
- Farina, Margherita (2018). "La linguistique syriaque selon Jacques d'Édesse". Lesauteurs syriaques etleurlangue. Paris: Geuthner. pp. 167–187.
- Gigot, Francis (1910). "James of Edessa". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company. pp. 277–278.
- Ginkel, Jan J. van (2002). "Jakob von Edessa in der Chronographie des Michael Syrus". Syriaca: Zur Geschichte, Theologie, Liturgie und Gegenwartslage der syrischen Kirchen. Vol. 2. Münster: LIT Verlag. pp. 115–124. ISBN 9783825858001.
- Ginkel, Jan J. van (2005). "History and Community: Jacob of Edessa and the West Syrian Identity". Redefining Christian Identity: Cultural Interaction in the Middle East Since the Rise of Islam. Leuven: Peeters Publishers. pp. 67–75. ISBN 9789042914186.
- Hainthaler, Theresia (2010). "Jacob of Edessa and his Enchiridion: Some Remarks". Studies on Jacob of Edessa. Piscataway: Gorgias Press. pp. 27–42.
- Harrak, Amir (2010). "Jacob of Edessa as a Chronicler". Studies on Jacob of Edessa. Piscataway: Gorgias Press. pp. 43–64. ISBN 9781463216634.
- Juckel, Andreas K. (2010). "Did Jacob of Edessa Revise the New Testament Peshitta?". Studies on Jacob of Edessa. Piscataway: Gorgias Press. pp. 65–80. ISBN 9781463216634.
- Kruisheer, Dirk; Rompay, Lucas van (1998). "A Bibliographical Clavis to the Works of Jacob of Edessa" (PDF). Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies. 1 (1): 35–56. S2CID 212689087.
- public domain: McLean, Norman (1911). "Jacob of Edessa". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 113–114. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- Minov, Sergey (2020). Memory and Identity in the Syriac Cave of Treasures: Rewriting the Bible in Sasanian Iran. Leiden-Boston: Brill. ISBN 9789004445512.
- ISBN 9789042914186.
- Nestle, Eberhard (1878). "Jakob von Edessa über den Schem hammephorasch und andere Gottesnamen: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Tetragrammaton". Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft. 32: 465–508, 735–736.
- Phillips, George (1864). Scholia on Passages of the Old Testament, by Mar Jacob, Bishop of Edessa. London and Edinburgh: Williams and Norgate.
- Phillips, George (1869). A Letter by Mār Jacob, Bishop of Edessa, on Syriac Orthography, also a Tract by the Same Author, and a Discourse by Gregory Bar Hebraeus on Syriac Accents. London and Edinburgh: Williams and Norgate.
- Price, Richard M. (2010). "The Christological Controversies of the Age of Jacob of Edessa". Studies on Jacob of Edessa. Piscataway: Gorgias Press. pp. 81–92. ISBN 9781463216634.
- Rompay, Lucas van (1999). "Jacob of Edessa and the Early History of Edessa". After Bardaisan: Studies on Continuity and Change in Syriac Christianity. Louvain: Peeters Publishers. pp. 269–285. ISBN 9789042907355.
- Rompay, Lucas van (2000). "Past and Present Perceptions of Syriac Literary Tradition" (PDF). Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies. 3 (1): 71–103. S2CID 212688244.
- Rompay, Lucas van (2008). "Jacob of Edessa and the Sixth-Century Syriac Translator of Severus of Antioch's Cathedral Homilies". Jacob of Edessa and the Syriac Culture of His Day. Leiden-Boston: Brill. pp. 189–204. ISBN 978-9004173477.
- Salvesen, Alison (2008). "Jacob of Edessa's Life and Work: A Biographical Sketch". Jacob of Edessa and the Syriac Culture of His Day. Leiden-Boston: Brill. pp. 1–10. ISBN 978-9004173477.
- Salvesen, Alison (2010). "Was Jacob Trilingual? Jacob of Edessa's Knowledge of Hebrew Revisited". Studies on Jacob of Edessa. Piscataway: Gorgias Press. pp. 93–105. ISBN 9781463216634.
- Shemunkasho, Aho (2010). "A Verse-Homily Attributed to Jacob of Edessa: On Faith and Contra Nestorius". Studies on Jacob of Edessa. Piscataway: Gorgias Press. pp. 107–141. ISBN 9781463216634.
- Talmon, Rafi (2008). "Jacob of Edessa the Grammarian". Jacob of Edessa and the Syriac Culture of His Day. Leiden-Boston: Brill. pp. 159–187. ISBN 978-9004173477.
- Teule, Herman G. B. (2009). "Jacob of Edessa". Christian-Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History. Vol. 1. Leiden-Boston: Brill. pp. 226–233. ISBN 9789004169753.
- Witakowski, Witold (2008). "The Chronicle of Jacob of Edessa". Jacob of Edessa and the Syriac Culture of His Day. Leiden-Boston: Brill. pp. 25–47. ISBN 978-9004173477.
- Wright, William (1867). "Two Epistles of Mār Jacob, Bishop of Edessa". Journal of Sacred Literature and Biblical Record. New Series. 10: 430–460.
- Wright, William (1871). Fragments of the Turrāṣ mamllā nahrāyā or Syriac Grammar of Jacob of Edessa. London: Gilbert and Rivington.