DIRKJAN PARLEVLIET
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface ix
Bibliography xvi
I.
PREVIOUS EDITIONS
1. J. Pinkerton: The ‘lost’ collations (1912–1916) xxv
2. Pupils of A. Vööbus: The quest for the Old Syriac (1971–1992) xxviii
3. ‘The Aramaic New Testament’: Printing ancient manuscripts (1983) xxix
4. B. Aland: Das Neue Testament in syrischer Überlieferung (1986–2002) xxix
5. The Mor Gabriel Study Bible (1998–2007) xxx
6. ‘Sources Syriaques’: A Polyglot based on Syriac (2010) xxx
7. G. Kiraz: Syriac–English New Testament (2020) xxxi
II.
EDITORIAL CRITICISM
BASED ON THE HISTORY OF THE TEXT
1. Eastern standard text xxxii
a) The Eastern (ecclesiastical) character of the standard text xxxii
b) The ancient and distinctive character of the standard text xxxiii
c) The absorbent character of the standard text xxxiii
2. History of the text xxxiv
a) Textual stages & periods of transmission xxxiv
b) History of the text & history of transmission xxxv
c) Textual history & recensio textus xxxv
3. Editorial criticism xxxvi
a) Editorial criticism & textual criticism xxxvi
b) Editorial criticism & systematic approach xxxvi
c) Editorial criticism & printed edition xxxvii
4. Textual history and ‘majority vote of manuscripts’ xxxvii
a) Gwilliam’s editorial criticism xxxviii
b) Missing the Eastern textual tradition xxxix
c) Inspiration xli
III.
THE BIFURCATION OF TEXTUAL TRADITIONS
1. Identification of the textual traditions xlii
Table: Significantly attested variant units
2. Identification of witnesses to the Eastern and Western textual tradition li
3. The attestation of the Western textual tradition lii
Table: The Western readings of the bifurcation
4. The Text in the pre-‘masoretic’ stage lx
5. Graph: The history of the text lxii
IV.
EDITION
1. Manuscripts lxiii
A. Codices from the pre-‘masoretic’/Byzantine period lxvii
B. Codices from the ‘masoretic’/Islamic period lxxvi
B.1 The early ‘masoretic’/Islamic period lxxvi
B.2 The late ‘masoretic’/Islamic period lxxxvi
2. Text & Apparatus xciv
3. Scribal errors xcviii
APPENDICES
1. Subscriptions cvii
2. Lectionaries cxxvii
3. Six ‘Masoretic’ Manuscripts cxlvi
4. Printed Editions clvi
SYRIAC TEXT
PREFACE
The Peshiṭta (of the Old and New Testament) is the Queen of the Syriac versions, whoever approaches her shouldnot hesitate to invest a lifetime’s worth of love anddevotion. The authority and dignity of the Peshiṭta derive from the fact, that this version is the unrivalled monument of Syriac-Aramaic identity, a mirror of the history and language of the Syrians for more than fifteen centuries. There is no other Syriac monument of similar significance for the Syriac culture past or present. The abundance of manuscripts, and a remarkable conformity of the text, are the outstanding features of this Queen, which both reflect the century-long transmission and integrity of the text.
While the Peshiṭta Gospels are available in the Pusey-Gwilliam volume of 1901, the sequel volume of the remaining NT parts received only a promising but incomplete edition, i.e. the Peshiṭta of Acts and the Pauline epistles in the handsome volume of the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS), issued in 1920. Although the BFBS volume is a provisional edition, the texts of Acts and the Pauline epistles are critical ones of striking quality, based on the collations of John Pinkerton (1882–1916). After Pinkerton’s untimely death, and by permission of Clarendon Press (the original publisher), a text based on these collations was issued by the Bible Society and became the standard text of Acts and the Pauline epistles, though without a critical apparatus. The nature of the hand-written collations certainly contributed to their fate. After the collations entered the then British Museum in 1932 as Ms or. 11,360, they fell into oblivion but received a note in the short preface to the BFBS volume. This note also relates the Praxapostolos to the Gospel volume of 1901 as being prepared ‘on similar lines’. Obviously, the tiresome preparatory editorial work had already been done but was only inaccessible; so why do it once more when the text of the edition was available in print?
The editorial approach
Only few scholars knew about the existence of Pinkerton’s collations in the British Library; a broader public was informed in 1998 by R. Grierson, who worked on a critical edition of Acts. 1 Before that date, the focus of all editorial approaches2 to the Corpus Paulinum was on attaching a critical apparatus (usually much larger than Pinkerton’s) to the BFBS text. After the ‘rediscovery’ of Pinkerton’s collations, the access to the now considerably increased number of manuscripts put the BFBS text in the focus. Since this text is based on the majority vote of Pinkerton’s manuscripts, enhanced collations would disturb the tuning, resulting in new majorities and necessitating changing the BFBS text. One more reason for rethinking Pinkerton’s original design of the project was the standards of the Pusey-Gwilliam-volume of the Gospels (1901), to which the ‘second volume’ was obliged. Before he could meet these standards, Pinkerton was called to
1 GRIERSON, ‘Without Note or Comment’ (1998). The edition was not published.
2 These approaches were mainly executed by pupils of A. Vööbus, see below sec. I,2.
military service in WW I; 3 all he could do was to prepare and leave a clean copy of his work for others to continue. While the standards of the Gospel volume include four witnesses to the ‘Syriac Masora’ and three printed editions of the Textus receptus, Pinkerton could only include one witness to the ‘Syriac Masora’ but no printed edition. Finally, the majority vote of manuscripts, the basic editorial principle inherited from the Gospel volume, could not work well with the comparatively small number of witnesses included in Pinkerton’s collation; additional manuscripts would have to strengthen or to update the majority vote. After more than one hundred years, the task of resuming the ‘second volume’ could not leave the original design untouched but would have to upgrade the project to at least the standards of the Gospel volume.
This was the starting point and original intention of the present new edition of the Corpus Paulinum. The collations of some fifty manuscripts, however, cast doubt on the ability of the Gospel volume to guide our editorial approach. Gwilliam’s full use of fortytwo manuscripts from the 5th–8th centuries is in fact restricted to eight constant witnesses, while the remaining witnesses are quoted only in a selective way. This use of manuscripts reflects the special purpose of the Gospel volume: to give proof to the ‘substantial identity’ of the early Peshiṭta Gospels with the Textus receptus as printed in the editio princeps of 1555 (which is constantly quoted in the Gospel volume). Accordingly, manuscripts from the 9th–16th centuries are almost completely absent. Due to his stated purpose, Gwilliam was not interested in showing how the Textus receptus became the final stage of the textual history but was satisfied with stating its ‘substantial identity’ with the early text. Gwilliam’s basic editorial principle of editing—the majority vote of manuscripts—participates in the issues caused by his restricted use of manuscripts. Restricted to the earliest witnesses, the majority vote refers not to ‘history’ but to ‘antiquity’; new majorities are expected to come up when the number of manuscripts is increased (esp. by late ones). This is exactly what we experienced when collating manuscripts of the Corpus Paulinum beyond Pinkerton’s choice. Therefore, upgrading the project to the standards of the Gospel volume was abandoned and replaced by editing along historical lines.
Nevertheless, the Gospelvolume greatly inspired our editorialwork. First,a historical framework had to be established to balance the absence of text-historical terms in Gwilliam’s approach to the Gospels (even the term ‘majority vote’ is not from him but from M. Black). For describing the history of the text, we introduced the ‘Byzantine period’ and the ‘Islamic period’ of transmission, which coincide with the pre-‘masoretic’ and ‘masoretic’ stages of the text respectively. The significance of the ‘Syriac Masora’ for the textual history we duly acknowledged by our ‘East-West-bifurcation’ of textual tradi-
3 GRIERSON, ‘Without Note or Comment’ (1998) 92: ‘Although clergy were exempt from the general military callup, and Pinkerton’s eyesight was defective in any case, he enlisted in the 1st Royal Scots and requested active service. Training greatly reduced the time he could spend on the edition, and he was soon posted to Saloniki to see action in the Balkan theatre. He entrusted the project to Tritton, and offered his earlier services as a gift if he were not to return. On October 1916, he was killed in action …’
tions. This bifurcation is dissolved by ‘standardization’ infavour of the ‘Easternstandard text’, i.e. by adaptation of the Western to the Eastern tradition. Next, the majority vote of manuscripts on which the text of the Gospel volume is based, inspired us to introduce ‘editorial criticism’ (to be distinguished from ‘textual criticism’) for establishing the text to print (the recensio textus) by a mechanical rule. In the present edition, this rule is the rejection of the (future) Eastern standard text, when the early text is split. This rule is drawn from the history of the text and prepares the stage for ‘textual criticism’, i.e. for decisions on the ‘originality’ of individual readings or variants. Finally, the well-known conformity of the text inspired us to understand the history of the text as the history of conformity. Not surprisingly, the early conformity (as already evidenced in the Gospel volume) became enhanced and fixed by standardization during the Islamic period. The later manuscripts contributed much to the evidence of the textual history.
Continuity
The text of the present edition is not too dissimilar from the BFBS text. Within the one hundred chapters of the Corpus Paulinum, there are only 76 differences, all minor ones. The substantial identity of the texts derives from the fact that both recensiones coincide by using the same early manuscripts, on which Pinkerton’s majority vote of manuscript is based. Using the BFBS text as the collation base, no major differences were to be expected. The substantial identity with the BFBS text is important for keeping the present edition in line with earlier research, esp. with the Concordance of G. Kiraz.4 Our edition gives proof to the high quality of John Pinkerton’s work, which was accessible only inthe disguise of theBFBS text thus far.Allwe had to dowas toreplacethe disguise with the original design, though adapting this design to the scholarly requirements of today.
The continuity with the BFBS text extends also to the presentation in vocalized Serṭā incl. quššāyā/rukkākhā. This presentation is adopted from the Western ‘Syriac Masora’, which transformed the ancient vocalization by diacritical points into the system of five Greek vowels; for lexicography, this way ofpresenting thetextis the most useful. During collation, the editors of the present edition paid carefully attention to the correct correspondence of the old system with the new one; quoted vocalization variants are few.
To some degree, the Gospel volume is echoed bythe inclusionof additional Peshiṭtabased materials, i.e. of five lectionaries, seven ‘masoretic’ manuscripts, and nine printed editions. In divergence from Gwilliam’s procedure, these materials are not fully presented in the apparatus of the present edition but in Appendices. Only when they agree with existing variants, are lectionaries and ‘masoretic’ manuscripts quoted in the apparatus; the printed editions are completely excluded from the apparatus. The individual character of these materials recommended this cautious approach. By their selective and abridged way of quoting texts, lectionaries and ‘masoretic’ manuscripts
4 KIRAZ, Concordance (1993).
offer individual variants and textual transmissions of their own, which should be distinguished from the mainstream of the Peshiṭta text. Quotations from Syriac authors and Patristic translations are not included; the volumes of J. Kerschensteiner (1970) and B. Aland (1991–2002) offer abundant materials.
The aim of this new edition is not topresent all manuscripts but to cover all historical lines (except orthography) of the textual transmission up to and including the Textus receptus. Additional manuscripts may bring to light new variants but are expected to confirmthe East-West-bifurcation of textual traditions and the standardization in favour of the Eastern standard text.5 While the strong Eastern side of the bifurcation is sufficiently represented, a better representation of the faint Western side is much to be desired. The former is attested in great abundance, the latter in great paucity, being obliteratedbyadaptationtotheEasterntradition.ThehistoryandthefateoftheWestern tradition is the story of this book.
The history of the project
At the beginning of the 1990s, Inetje Parlevliet-Flesseman, the co-editor of the present edition, used Pinkerton’s collations6 for her doctoraal-scriptie on the Epistle to the Galatians in the Peshiṭta version, supervised by Tjitze Baarda (1932–2017). After publication,7 the original plan was to continue under the same supervisor with a doctoral dissertation on the Peshiṭta of the Epistle to the Romans, making further use of Pinkerton’s collations. When the supervisor retired (1997), he entrusted the present writer with the task of supervising. However, a severe illness of Inetje’s husband drastically reduced the time she couldspend onfinalizingthe dissertation;hiseventualdeathin2006 dealt adefinitive blow to the dissertation. Inetje decided to continue Peshiṭta research and our cooperation. Since she had acquired remarkable skills in collating Syriac manuscripts, we decided to resume together Pinkerton’s work on the ‘second volume’, the sequel to the PuseyGwilliam volume of the Gospels. In those times, we believed this work to be nothing more than a collation project.
Unfortunately, attempts failed to give the project a permanent home at the University of Münster. Without institutional backing, we shared the delightful and sorrowful moments of a private project, which had its centre in Inetje’s home at Almelo-NL. Some of my fondest memories are of our many working meetings at Almelo! Our work received a new foundation when G. Kiraz offered to install the project at ‘Beth Mardutho/The Syriac Institute’-NJ, of which he is the founder and director; we gratefully accepted this offer. Now we had access to technical and material resources (esp. to microfilms and digitized manuscripts) we were lacking before. However, the growing
5 This view was strengthened by comparison with Gudorf’s edition of Hebrews, which offers additional (late) manuscripts.
6 About the existence of the collations, she was informed by Willem Baars.
7 INETJE E. PARLEVLIET-FLESSEMAN, De tekst van de Pesjitta in de brief aan de Galaten. Een voorlopige studie (Amsterdam, July 1993).
size of the project became a new source of distress: it developed from a collation project towardsa completely new editorial approach, whichrequired a thorough previousstudy.8 In about 2010, we had to decide how to go on: publishing Pinkerton’s now remarkably enhanced collations by attaching them to the BFBS text, or producing a completely new edition based on the history of the text? The above-mentioned necessity of changing the BFBS text after enhancing the collations was decisive in producing a completely new edition, including a thorough study of the textual history. It was my task to give shape to this edition, bringing to conclusion all the results of our co-operation. I underestimated the amount of time and research that this project would require, and regrettably,thoroughworkonthefinalizationofthistaskwas possibleonlyaftermyretirement at the end of 2019. The delay of the completion,9 however, was not disadvantageous for the project itself; it allowed us to include the important studies of J. Loopstra on the ‘Syriac Masora’, and of P. Géhin on the restoration of dispersed Sinaitic manuscripts.10
Inetje was the backbone of the project, constantly collating and working on the evidence of the textual history. It is on her patience, commitment, and painstaking work that the present edition is founded. Doing the first collation, she did not leave much work for my second collation. In times when I could not work on the project, the flow of data from her side never stopped and reminded me to come back to the Corpus Paulinum as soon as possible. During the time when I was working on the introduction and on the appendices of the edition, she continued collating manuscripts of Acts and of the Gospels, thus preparing the ground for future sequels to our project. Meanwhile, her patience duly extended notonly tothe additional collations but alsoto her co-editor’s work on the introduction. I am so grateful for her patience!
One more thing the reader should know. As soon as I learned about the illness of Inetje’s husband, I suggested she interrupt or even stop her work on the then dissertation. She vehemently refused, declaring that working on the Peshiṭta was the ‘cane’ that made her stand upright in this difficult time. By giving her Peshiṭta research this intimate connection with her husband, her research received a personal dimension far beyond the usual scientific concern. The memory of DirkJan is the major source of Inetje’s amazing commitment to Peshiṭta research up to the present day. Nothing better (horribile dictu! ) could have happened to Peshiṭta research! It was for this reason that I suggested we dedicate the volume to DirkJan.
8 A preliminary survey of our results is in JUCKEL, A Guide (2012) 105–163; IDEM, La Peshitta du Nouveau Testament (2017) 115–147.
9 There were four major reasons for the delay: 1) the general private character of the project, which allowed both editors to work on it only at home, 2) the compilation of the four Appendices, 3) the design of a new layout incl. new mss sigla, which necessitated transcribing the critical apparatus completely, 4) research in Acts and the Gospels to find out whether our editorial criticism is applicable to these NT corpora too.
10 For the research of both see the Bibliography.
Acknowledgements
My searchformanuscriptsreceived much help, andthe present editionmuch inspiration, from my visits to the Syriac-Orthodox Church in Syria (since 1991) and to the Chaldean Church in Iraq (1989). At Damascus, H. H. Ignatius Zakkay I. (*1933; 1980–2014), late Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, directed my attention to Ms 12/1 of the Patriarchal Library (now SOPD 346; IIn3of the present edition), which is the most important witness to the Western textual tradition of the Peshiṭta New Testament. I gratefully remember the kindness and help of the Patriarch’s then First Secretary Abuna Kyriaqos (1933–2011), who became bishop Julius Kuriakose of the Syriac-Orthodox Church in India. H. H. Ignatius Aphrem II, the present Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, kindly permitted digitized images of Ms SOPD 346 to be sent to me. — In Baghdad, I enjoyed the help of the unforgettable Chaldean priests Albert Abouna (1928–2021), Yousef Ḥabbi (1938–2000), and Jacques Isḥaq (at present retired Archbishop of the Chaldean Church). Abuna Sharbel, then Abbot of the Monastery at Baghdad/Dora, put the monastery’s library at my disposal and allowed me to photograph Ms syr. 24 (IIIn4 of the present edition). A few days before his lamented death, I was privileged to meet H. H. Paul II. Cheikho (*1906; 1958–1989), Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldean Catholic Church. The present edition is a token of gratitude for the hospitality and help I experienced from the servants of that revered Queen, of whom I was going to become a servant myself.
G. Kiraz gave the project a new foundation and a perspective for the future. He kindly installed the project at ‘Beth Mardutho/The Syriac Institute’ in New Jersey, which is now the hub for the much broader editorial project of reediting the complete NT Peshiṭta. He also provided photographs of the important Ms Mardin 35/2 (IIIn6), and the BFBS text in electronic form. I am grateful for his generous help, encouragement, and patience!
Martin Schøyen (Oslo), Takamitsu Muraoka (Leiden), and Paul Géhin (Paris) contributed to the project by directing my attention to dispersed folios of Sinaitic manuscripts respectively. By sending photographs, M. Schøyen permitted me to study and to use Ms 2530 (part of Ms Sin. syr. 3; Ip1 in the present edition) of his collection. T. Muraoka kindly informed me about folios of Ms Sin. syr. 5 (Ip7) that found their way to Japan and arranged photographstobesent tome.P.Géhin’s indefatigable researchfilled up further textual gaps in Mss Sin. syr. 3 (Ip1) and 5 (Ip7). A textual gap of Ms BL Add 14,481 (Ip10, from Dayr al-Suryān) was filled up by the help of Lucas van Rompay (now ’s-Hertogenbosch-NL), who kindly supplied me with pictures of a folio preserved at New York. The generous help of these scholars I gratefully acknowledge.11
Special thanks are due to the scholars who helped me in St. Petersburg (2014) to get access to Ms n. s. 3 (Ip8) in the National Library of Russia. Irina F. Popova, Director of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts (Russian Academy of Science-St. Petersburg), and
11 For details see the descriptions of the manuscripts.
Natalia Smelova,then affiliated to the sameInstitute (presently at OsloUniversity, Theological Faculty), paved the way to the National Library by providing the required recommendations. In the reading room, Olga Vasilieva (head of the Oriental Manuscript Department) and Boris Zaikovskiy, were extremely helpful. They kindly put the requested manuscripts at my disposal.
Based on the sample of Galatians, Sebastian Brock (Oxford) was so kind to give me his opinion of the Syriac layout of the present edition. His helpful comments were much appreciated. On my request, David Taylor (Oxford) promptly sent copies of Gwilliam’s groundbreaking articles on the Peshiṭta, which in 2002 were inaccessible in Germany. He also spared no efforts to trace and to communicate to me John Pinkerton’s date of birth. I owe to him a debt of gratitude. The staff of Gorgias Press in New Jersey cared for the final shaping of the book with much expertise. Melonie Smierer-Lee (Cambridge) corrected and improved the English of the introduction and of the appendices, I am grateful for her kind help.
The work on this edition started, when only few Syriac manuscript were accessible online. It was always an exciting moment tosee the original manuscripts inthe European libraries and in the Syriac-Orthodox Monastery of St. Mark (Jerusalem). I am indebted to the many unknown persons who served me in the reading rooms.
ÜNSTER, 20TH OF SEPTEMBER 2022
NDREAS JUCKEL
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— Les manuscrits syriaques de parchemin du Sinaï et leurs Membra disjecta. CSCO 665 (subs. 136). Louvain: Peeters, 2017.
GOTTSTEIN, Moshe H. “A list of some uncatalogued Syriac Biblical manuscripts.” Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 37 (1955): 429–445.
GRIERSON, Rodrick. “‘Without Note or Comment’: British Library Or. 11360 and the Text of the Peshitta New Testament.” Oriens Christianus 82 (1998): 88–98.
GUDORF, Michael E. Research in the Early Syriac Text of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Ph. D. dissertation, Faculty of the Division of the Humanities at Chicago, 1992.
GWILLIAM, George H. “An Account of a Syriac Biblical Manuscript of the fifth century, with special reference to its bearing on the text of the Syriac version of the Gospels.” Studia Biblica et Ecclesiastica 1 (1885): 151–74.
“The Ammonian Sections, the Eusebian Canons,and harmonizing tables inthe Syriac Tetraevangelium, with notices of Peshitto and other MSS. which exhibit these accessories of the text.” Studia Biblica et Ecclesiastica 2 (1890): 241–72.
— “The Materials for the criticism of the Peshitto New Testament, with specimens of the Syriac Massorah.” Studia Biblica et Ecclesiastica 3 (1891): 47–104.
— “The Place of the Peshitto version in the apparatus criticus of the Greek New Testament.” Studia Biblica et Ecclesiastica 5 (1903): 189–237.
GWYNN, John. The Apocalypse of St. John in a Syriac Version Hitherto Unknown. Dublin & London 1897; Amsterdam: Philo Press, 1981.
— Remnants of the Later Syriac Versions of the Bible, part I: New Testament. The Four Minor Catholic Epistles in the Original Philoxenian Version of the Sixth Century and the History of the Woman Taken in Adultery (John 7,53–8,12). London 1909; Amsterdam: Philo Press, 1973.
HADDAD, Petrus/ISAAC, Jacques. Syriac and Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of the Chaldean Monastery Baghdad. Publications of the Iraqi Academy, Syriac Corporation; Catalogues of the Syriac Manuscripts in Iraq III,1. Baghdad: Iraqi Academy Press, 1988.
HATCH, William H. P. An Album of Dated Syriac Manuscripts. Boston: 1946. With a New Foreword by Lucas van Rompay. Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2002.
HEIDE, Martin. “Die syrische Apokalypse oder Offenbarung an Johannes. Kritische Edition der harklensischen Textzeugen.” Pages 81–187 in Studien zum Text der Apokalypse II. Edited by Marcus Sigismund and Darius Müller. Unter Mitarbeit von Mathias Geigenfeind. Arbeiten zur neutestamentlichen Textforschung 50. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2017.
HEIMING, Odilo. “Ein Jakobitisches Doppellektionar des Jahres 824 aus Harran in den Handschriften British Museum Add. 14485 bis 14487.” Vol. II, pages 768-799 in Kyriakon. Festschrift Johannes Quasten in Two Volumes. Edited by Patrick Granfield and Josef A. Jungmann. Münster: Aschendorff, 1970.
HILL, Peter A. L. “The Harklean Passion Harmony.” Parole de l’Orient 31 (2006): 213–230.
HORT, Fenton, J. A. see Westcott, Brooke F.
JUCKEL, Andreas. “Ms Schøyen 2530/Sin. syr. 3 and the New Testament Peshiṭta.” Hugoye, Journal of Syriac Studies 6,2 (2003): 311–336.
— “The ‘Syriac Masora’ andthe NewTestament Peshitta”. Pages 107–121in The Peshitta: Its Use in Literature and Liturgy. Papers Read at the Third Peshitta Symposium. Edited by Bas ter Haar Romeny. Monographs of the Peshitta Institute Leiden 15. Leiden: Brill, 2006.
— “Research onthe Old Syriac Heritage of the Peshiṭta Gospels. A Collation of Ms Bibl. Nationale Syr. 30 (Paris).” Hugoye, Journal of Syriac Studies 12,1 (2009): 41–115.
— “A Guide to Manuscripts of the Peshitta New Testament.” Hugoye, Journal of Syriac Studies 15,1 (2012): 79–163.
— “Bemerkungen zur Peschitta-Ausgabe der British and Foreign Bible Society.” Pages 207–224 in Orientalia Christiana. Festschrift für Hubert Kaufhold zum 70. Geburtstag. Edited by Peter Bruns and Heinz O. Luthe. Eichstätter Beiträge zum Christlichen Orient 3. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2013.
— “The Textus Receptus of the New Testament Peshiṭta in the printed editions.” Parole de l’Orient 41 (2015; Mélanges offerts à l’Abbé Élie Khalifé-Hachem): 205–221.
— “La Peshitta du Nouveau Testament (Corpus Paulinum): Histoire du texte et histoire de la transmission.” Pages 115–147 in Le Nouveau Testament en syriaque. Edited by JeanClaude Haelewyck. Études syriaques 14. Paris: Geuthner, 2017.
KAISER, Ursula U. “Brian Walton und die Londoner Polyglotte. Ein Beispiel für die bisweilen schwierigen äußeren Umstände von Editions- und Übersetzungsprojekten.” Pages 425–437 in For the Children, Perfect Instruction. Studies in Honor of Hans-Martin Schenke on the Occasion of the Berliner Arbeitskreis für koptisch-gnostische Schriften’s Thirtieth Year. Edited by Hans-Gebhard Bethge et alii. Nag Hammadi and Manichean Studies 54. Leiden: Brill, 2002.
KAMIL, Murad. Catalogue of All Manuscripts in the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1970.
KAWERAU, Peter. Amerika und die Orientalischen Kirchen. Ursprung und Anfang der amerikanischen Mission unter den Nationalkirchen Westasiens. Arbeiten zur Kirchengeschichte 31. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1958.
— Die Jakobitische Kirche im Zeitalter der Syrischen Renaissance. Idee und Wirklichkeit. Berliner Byzantinische Arbeiten 3. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1960.
KERSCHENSTEINER, Josef. Der altsyrische Paulustext. CSCO 315 (subs. 37). Louvain: Peeters, 1970.
KESSEL, Grigory. “Manuscript Collection of the Syrian Orthodox Church Meryemana in Diyarbakır: A Preliminary Survey.” Pages 79–123 in Manuscripta Syriaca. Des sources de première main. Edited by Françoise Briquel-Chatonnet and Muriel Debié. Cahiers d’études syriaques 4. Paris: Geuthner, 2015.
KIRAZ, George A. Concordance to the Syriac New Testament, vol. 1–6 Leiden: Brill, 1993.
— Comparative Edition of the Syriac Gospels. Aligning the Sinaiticus, Curetonianus, Peshîṭtâ & Ḥarklean Versions, vol. 1–4. New Testament Tools and Studies 21/1-4. Leiden: Brill, 1996.
— “Challenges in Syriac Text Editions Using the DOS-based Word Processor MultiLingual Scholar,” Pages 447–461 in The Letter Before the Spirit. The Importance of Text Editions for the Study of the Reception of Aristotle. Edited by Aafke M. I. van Oppenraay and Resianne Fontaine. Aristoteles Semitico-Latinus 22. Leiden: Brill, 2012.
— Syriac–English New Testament. The Traditional Syriac Peshitta Text and the Antioch Bible English Translation. Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2020.
KNAPPE, Wolf D. The Captivity Letters in the Syriac Tradition. S.T.D. dissertation, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 1977.
LANTSCHOOT, Arnald van. Inventaire des manuscrits syriaques des fonds Vatican (490-631) Barberini oriental et Neofiti. Studi e Testi 243. Città del Vaticano: BAV, 1965.
LAVENANT, René/BROCK, Sebastian P./ SAMIR, S. Khalil. “Catalogue des manuscrits de la bibliothèque du Patriarcat Syrien Orthodoxe à Ḥomṣ (auj. à Damas).” Parole de l’Orient 19 (1994): 555–661.
Le Nouveau Testament syriaque. La Peshttta: Interlinéaire Syriaque-Arabe. Sources syriaques 3. Antélias-Libanon: Centre d’Études et de Recherches Orientales, 2010.
LEROY, Jules. Les manuscrits syriaques à peintures conservés dans les bibliothèques d’Europe et d’Orient. Contribution à l’étude de l’iconographie de langue syriaque, vol. 1–2. Paris: 1964.
LEVI DELLA VIDA,Georgio. Ricerche sulla formazione del più antico fondo deimanuscritti orientali della Bilioteca Vaticana. Studi e testi 92. Città del Vaticano: BAV, 1939.
LIETZMANN, Hans. Zeitrechnung der römischen Kaiserzeit, des Mittelalters und der Neuzeit für die Jahre 1–2000 n. Chr. 4. Auflage, durchgesehen von Kurt Aland. Berlin: 11934; de Gruyter, 41984.
List of Old Testament Peshiṭta Manuscripts (preliminary issue), edited by the Peshiṭta Institute Leiden University. Leiden: Brill, 1961.
LOOPSTRA, Jonathan A. Patristic Selections in the “Masoretic” Handbook of the Qarqaptā Tradition. Vol. I of II: Study. Ph. D. dissertation, Catholic University of America, 2009.
— An East Syrian Manuscript of the Syriac ‘Masora’ Dated to 899 CE, vol. 1: A Facsimile Reproduction of British Library, Add. MS 12138; vol. 2: Introduction, List of Sample Texts, and Indices to Marginal Notes in British Library, Additional MS 12138. Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2014/2015.
— “Le Nouveau Testament dans les manuscrits syriaques massorétiques – où en sommes-nous?” Pages 181–201 in Le Nouveau Testament en syriaque. Edited by JeanClaude Haelewyck. Études syriaques 14. Paris: Geuthner, 2017.
— The Patristic “Masora”: A Study of Patristic Collections in Syriac Handbooks from the Near East. CSCO 689 (syri 265). Louvain: Peeters, 2020.
MACLER, Frédéric. Notice des manuscrits syriaques conservés dans la bibliothèque du couvent des Syriens jacobites de Jérusalem. Paris: Firmin-Didot, 1920.
MACOMBER, William F. Final Inventory of the Microfilmed Manuscripts of the St. Mark’s Convent Jerusalem. Manuscripts in Syriac, Garshuni, Arabic. April 16, 1990. Provo: Brigham Young University, 1995.
MAI, Angelo. Codices chaldaici sive syriaci Vaticani Assemaniani. Scriptorum veterum Nova Collectio e Vaticanis codicibus edita 5. Romae: Typis Vaticanis, 1831.
Manuel de critique textuelle du Nouveau Testament. Introduction générale. Par Ch.-B. Amphoux, G. Dorival, J. K. Elliott, J.-Cl. Haelewyck, D. Pastorelli et J. Reynard. Avec les collaborations de A. Boud’hors, D. Gonnet et D. Lafleur. Sous la direction de ChristianBernard Amphoux. Langues et cultures anciennes 22. Bruxelles: Éditions Safran, 2014.
MARTIN, Jean Pierre Paulin. “Tradition karkaphienne, ou la Massore chez les Syriens.” Journal asiatique 14 (6e série) 1868: 245–379.
— “Histoire de la ponctuation ou de la Massore chez les Syriens.” Journal asiatique 5 (7e série) 1875: 81–208.
MCCONAUGHY, “The Text of Acts in MS Bibl. Nationale Syr. 30.” Hugoye, Journal of Syriac Studies 24,2 (2021): 453–90.
METZGER, Bruce M. The Early Versions of the New Testament. Their Origin, Transmission and Limitations. Oxford: University Press, 1977.
MINGANA, Alphonse. Catalogue of the Mingana Collection ofManuscripts, vol. 1–3. Cambridge: Heffer, 1936; Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2008.
MURAOKA, Takamitsu. “A Fragment of an Old Peshiṭta Manuscript to the New Testament Discovered in Japan.” Ancient Near Eastern Studies 41 (2004): 218–222.
NAU, François. “Notices des manuscrits syriaques, éthiopiens et mandéens entrés à la Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris depuis l’édition des catalogues.” Revue de l’Orient chrétien 6 (2e série) 1911: 271–323.
— “Corrections et additions au catalogue des manuscrits syriaques de Paris.” Journal asiatique 5 (11e série) 1915: 487–536.
PARLEVLIET-FLESSEMAN, Inetje E. De tekst van de Pesjitta in de brief aan de Galaten. Een voorlopige studie (Amsterdam, July 1993).
PHILOTHÉE du Sinaï, Nouveaux manuscrits syriaques du Sinaï. Athènes: Fondation du Mont Sinaï, 2008.
PIGULEWSKAJA, Nina V. “Manuscrits syriaques bibliques de Léningrad.” Revue Biblique 46 (1937): 83–92; 225–230; 392–400; 556–562; 47 (1938): 83–88; 214–226.
PUSEY, Philipp E. /GWILLIAM, George H. Tetraeuangelium Sanctum. Oxford: Clarendon, 1901.
RAHLFS, Alfred. “Beiträge zur Textkritik der Peshita.” Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 9 (1989): 161–210.
ROSEN, Friedrich/ FORSHALL, Josiah. Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum orientalium qui in Museo Britannico asservantur, pars 1: Codices Syriacos et Carshunicos amplectens. London: 1838.
ROSS, Arthur M. Studies in the Thessalonian Epistles in Syriac. S.T.D. dissertation, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 1983.
SACHAU, C. Eduard. Verzeichnis der syrischen Handschriften, vol. 1–2. Verzeichnisse der Königlichen Bibliothek zu Berlin 23. Berlin: Asher, 1899.
SCHER, Addai. Catalogue des manuscrits syriaques et arabes conservés dans la bibliothèque épiscopale de Séert (Kurdistan) avec notes bibliographiques. Mosul: Imprimerie des Pères Dominicains, 1905.
— “Notice sur les manuscrits syriaques conservés dans la bibliothèque du couvent des Chaldéens de Notre-Dame-des Semences.” Journal asiatique 7 (10e série): 1906: 479–512; 8 (10e série): 55–82.
SCHÖNFELDER, J. M. Pages 109–119 (Syriac manuscripts) in Verzeichniß der orientalischen Handschriften der K. Hof- und Staatsbibliothek in München; mit Ausschluß der hebraeischen, arabischen und persischen. Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum bibliothecae regiae Monacensis I/4, ed. Joseph Aumer et alii. München 1875; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1970.
SEGAL, J. B. The Diacritical Point and the Accents in Syriac. Oxford: University Press 1953; Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 22004.
SMITH LEWIS, Agnes. Catalogue of the Syriac MSS. in the Convent of S. Catharine on Mount Sinai. Studia Sinaitica 1. London: 1894.
SODEN,Hermann Freiherr von. Die Schriften des Neuen Testaments in ihrer ältesten erreichbaren Textgestalt hergestellt auf Grund ihrer Textgeschichte, vol. I,1–3: Untersuchungen, vol. II: Text und Apparat. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1902 (21911)–1913.
TEULE, Hermanet alii. The Syriac Renaissance.Eastern Christian Studies 9.Leuven:Peeters, 2010.
Tetraeuangelium Sanctum (1901), see PUSEY, Philipp E. /GWILLIAM, George H.
The Aramaic-English Interlinear New Testament. Vol. 1: Matthew–John (1988); vol. II Acts–Philemon (1988); vol. III Hebrews–Revelation (1989). New Knoxville-OH: American Christian Press–The Way International.
The Aramaic New Testament. EstrangeloScript. Based onthe Peshittaand Harklean Versions. New Knoxville-OH: American Christian Press–The Way International s. a. [1983].
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The New Testament of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Text According to the Peshitto of Mardin. Prepared in the Monastery of Mor Gabriel in Cooperation with the United Bible Societies. Istanbul: Gospels 1998, the complete Bible 2007.
TROUPEAU, Gérard. “Note sur les manuscrits de Séert conservés à la Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris.” Pages 207–208 in Travaux de l’Institut Catholique de Paris 10. Paris : Bloud & Gay, 1964.
VÖÖBUS, Arthur. “Nouvelles sources de l’Octateuch Clémentin syriaque.” Le Muséon 86 (1973): 105–109.
— The Apocalypse in the Harklean Version. CSCO 400 (subs. 56). Louvain: Peeters, 1978.
— Studies in the Historyofthe GospelTextinSyriac II. CSCO 496 (subs. 79).Louvain: Peeters, 1987.
VOSTÉ, Jacques-Marie. Catalogue de la Bibliothèque syro-chaldéenne du Couvent de Notre-Dame des Semences près d’Alqosh (Iraq). Rome-Paris: Geuthner, 1929.
— “La Pešittā de Mossoul et la révision catholique des anciennes versions orientales de la Bible.” Pages 59–94 in Miscellanea Giovanni Mercati I: Bibbia – Letteratura christiana antica. Studi et Testi 21. Città del Vaticano: BAV, 1946.
WEIGELT, Morris A. Diatessaric Harmonies of the Passion Narrative in the Harklean Syriac Version. Th. D., Princeton Theological Seminary, 1969.
WEISS, Theodor. Zur ostsyrischen Laut- und Akzentlehre auf Grund der ostsyrischen MassorahHandschrift des British Museum. Mit Facsimiles von 50 Seiten der Londoner Handschrift. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1933.
WESTCOTT, Brooke F./HORT, Fenton J. A. The New Testament in the Original Greek. vol. 1: Text; vol. 2: Introduction. Cambridge: Macmillan, 1881; Akad. Druck- und Verlagsanstalt Graz, 1974.
WHITE, Joseph. Sacrorum Evangeliorum versio syriaca Philoxeniana, vol. 1–2. Oxonii 1778.
WILKINSON, Robert J. Orientalism, Aramaic and Kabbalah in the Catholic Reformation. The First Printing of the Syriac New Testament. Leiden: Brill, 2007.
— “Immanuel Tremellius’ 1569 Edition of the Syriac New Testament.” Journal of Ecclesiastical History 58 (2007): 9–25.
WILLARD, Louis Ch. A Critical Study of the Euthalian Apparatus. Arbeiten zur neutestamentlichen Textforschung 41. Berlin–New York: de Gruyter, 22009.
WRIGHT, William. A Short History of Syriac Literature. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1894; Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2001.
— Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum, Acquired Since the Year 1838, vol. 13. London: 1870–1872.
WRIGHT, William/ COOK, Stanley A. Catalogue of the Syriac Manuscripts in the Library of the University of Cambridge. Cambridge: University Press, 1901; Piscataway: Gorgias Press, 2002.
YOHANNA, Samer S. The Gospel of Mark in the Syriac Harklean Version. An Edition Based on the Earliest Witnesses. Biblica et Orientalia 52. Roma: Gregorian & Biblical Press, 2015.
ZACAGNI, L. A. Collectanea monumentorum veterum ecclesiae Graece, vol. I: Rome 1698 (reprinted in the Migne series: PG 85, 627–790).
ZOTENBERG, Hermann. Manuscrits orientaux. Catalogues des manuscrits syriaques et sabéens (mandaïtes) de la Bibliothèque Nationale. Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1874.
Sigla of Manuscripts:
The manuscripts and their sigla, which are frequently mentioned in the Introduction to the edition, are presented on page lxiii–lxvi, and are explained on page xcv–xcviii.
I.
PREVIOUS EDITIONS
European scholars received the complete Peshiṭta New Testament via the edition prepared by Mushe of Mardin and J. A. Widmanstadt (Vienna 1555, the first printed Syriac book). The text of this editio princeps is based on two unidentified manuscripts of West Syrian or Maronite provenance;1 it became the Textus receptus, which in subsequent editions of the 17th–19th centuries was reproduced with few corrections and modifications.2 In those times, improvement of the textual foundation was made without any ‘critical’ intention of the editors; the main concern was the best possible presentation of the Syriac text in Syriac or Hebrew type and with Latin translation. The edition of M. Trost (1621) had already included variant readings of four earlier editions; and that of J. Leusden & C. Schaaf (1708) appended the variants of twelve earlier editions.3 In 1789, J. G. Chr. Adler directed scholars’ attention to dated Peshiṭta codices of the first millennium.4 In the 19th century, when access to Syriac manuscripts became somewhat easier for European scholars, S. Lee used manuscripts (though still late ones) for his NT edition of 1816. Late local manu-scripts were the base for the editions printed in the Middle East, as the Urmia editions (NT 1846, OT 1852) by the American Presbyterian Mission, and the Syrian-Catholic Moṣul edition (1887 91) by the Dominicans.
The 20th century began with the first (and thus far, the last) critical edition of the Gospels (1901); and continued with a Praxapostolos, prepared between 1912 and 1916, which did not receive the desired final form when it was printed in 1920.
1. J. Pinkerton: The ‘lost’ collations
a) Praxapostolos: The ‘second volume’ Research on the early Peshiṭta text started around 1870, when Ph. E. Pusey (1830–1880) engaged in collations for a critical edition of the Gospelsbased onaconsiderablenumber of early manuscripts; G. H. Gwilliam (1846–1913) accomplished the edition in 1901.5 For the first time, an edition did not reproduce the text of a given manuscript but offered a recensio textus and claimed to present the Peshiṭta Gospels as a piece of literature in its
1 On the editio princeps see below in Appendix 4, and WILKINSON, Orientalism (2007), where the manuscripts are discussed on p. 172 note 3. Our analysis of the text confirms a West Syrian origin with a participation in the Eastern standard text (based on 238 test units, see below p. xlii) of 81%.
2 A description of the main editions in DARLOW/MOULE, Catalogue (1903) II,1 1–36; II,3 1526–53. A collation of the main editions can be found below in Appendix 4.
3 In DARLOW/MOULE, Catalogue II.3 (1903) 1537 this edition is called a critical one, probably because of the variant readings. Most of the variants, however, refer to vocalization and orthography.
4 ADLER, Novi Testamenti versiones syriacae (1789) 1–42. Among the codices mentioned are Mss Vat. Syr. 12 (548 AD), Vat. Syr. 13 (736 AD), and Plut. I,56 at Florence (the ‘Rabbula Codex’, 586 AD).
5 PUSEY/GWILLIAM, Tetraeuangelium Sanctum (1901).
earliest form.The ‘second volume’ with the Praxapostolos was beingprepared on the same lines as the Gospel volume but was left incomplete after the deaths of Gwilliam and his co-editor J. Pinkerton (5th of May 1882–Oct. 1916). However, the collations of a dozen of 5th–9th-cent. manuscripts were accomplished and could be used for establishing a majority text that was issued by the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS) in 1920. In this BFBS edition, the Gospels of the Pusey-Gwilliam-volume,6 the established text of the Praxapostolos, and the non-Peshiṭta texts published by J. Gwynn 1897 (Revelation) and 1909 (Minor Cath. Epistles), are put together in a handsome complete Syriac New Testament printed in vocalized Serṭā type, but all without critical apparatus.7
The hand-written collations of the Praxapostolos did not find their way into the archives of the BFBS but were acquired in 1932 by the then British Museum from A. S. Tritton.8 They were classified as ‘Ms Or. 11,360’ and fell into oblivion since no record appeared in any printed catalogue. Although scholars voiced their interest in the whereabouts of the collations,9 their re-introduction to scholarship was limited to R. Grierson’s project of editing Acts in the 90s of the last century.10 As the present edition
6 The Gospel text was taken from the 1905 edition of the BFBS, which omitted the apparatus of the 1901 edition. For the sake of completeness, Lk 22:17–18 and Jn 7:53–8:11 (both not extant in the Peshiṭta) were introduced (but put with square brackets) into the 1905 edition from Lee’s edition of 1816 and taken over into the BFBS volume. For the same reason the BFBS volume also adopts Acts 15:34 and 28:29 (as footnotes) from Lee’s edition.
7 In the preface of the BFBS volume, R. Kilgour, editorial superintendent of the BFBS, writes: ‘In 1905 the British and Foreign Bible Society published an edition of the Gospels in Syriac reprinted by permission from a revised text of the Peshitta Version which had been prepared by the late Rev. G. H. Gwilliam, B. D., with a Latin translation and critical apparatus, and issued by the Clarendon Press in 1901. To these have now been added the books from Acts to Revelation, thus completing the New Testament. By special arrangement with the Delegates of the Clarendon Press, the text of the Acts of the Apostles, the General Epistle of James, the First Epistle General of Peter, the First Epistle General of John, and the Pauline Epistles (including Hebrews), follows a critical revision of the Peshitta originally undertaken by Mr. Gwilliam for the Clarendon Press as a completion of his edition of the Gospels (1901), and prepared on similar lines. In the collation of manuscript in the British Museum Library, and in the correction of the proofs, the editor [i.e. R. Kilgour] received assistance from the Rev. J. Pinkerton, B. D., who carried on and completed this work after Mr. Gwilliam’s death in 1913.’
8 Details are given in GRIERSON, ‘Without Note or Comment’ (1998) 93.
9 BLACK, The Syriac Versional Tradition (1972) 139: ‘In view especially of the pre-history of the Peshiṭta in an ‘Old Syriac’ Vorlage for the Acts and Epistles, the question of a critical edition of the Peshiṭta Acts and Epistles becomes an urgent one. Important manuscript materials were collected by the Rev G. H. Gwilliam (continuing his work on the Gospels which appeared as his Tetraevangelium Sanctum, published by the Clarendon Press) and J. Pinkerton and utilised in the edition of the text published by the BFBS. But there is no introduction to this edition; no grounds for choice of readings are given; and there is no apparatus criticus. (…) we urgently need a critical edition of the Peshitta Syriac for Acts and the Epistles.’ In a letter dated 23. 04. 1990 and sent on request of Mrs. I. E. Parlevliet-Flesseman, Rev. Dr. Vrej Nersessian, then Manuscript Keeper in the Oriental Collections of the British Library, gave her details about Ms Or. 11,360. It was W. Baars, who directed her attention to the hand-written collations.
10 GRIERSON, ‘Without Note or Comment’ (1998) 98 note 64: ‘An edition of the Peshiṭta Acts is now in preparation by the author, with an apparatus indicating variants attested by over sixty
