The Syrian Orthodox Church

By H.H. MOR IGNATIUS YACOUB III (1980+)

ITS BIBLICAL HERITAGE

This Church played an active role in the field of the Biblical literature. Its scholars dived into its vast ocean and extracted brilliant pearls with which they decorated the neck of human society. They translated the Bible, first into Syriac, their own language, and then studied it thoroughly and wrote many volumes of commentaries on it. The libraries of the East and the West are heavily stacked with these in spite of many dreadful calamities which destroyed many thousands of manuscripts, especially during the first world war. After studying the Bible in Syriac, they translated it from Syriac into other living languages. Around 404 the Syrian Professor Daniel co-oerated with the Armenian scholar Mesrob in translating the Bible into Armenian. Around 643, our Arab scholars of the "Tay" and Tanouckh tribes and others from Aaquoula (Coufa) translated the Holy Gospels into Arabic by the order of our Patriarch St. John II, in response to the wish of Umeir son of Saad son of Abi Waqqas el Ansari, the Prince of el Jazira. In 1221, John , son of Joseph, the priest of Taflis (South of Russia), translated it into Persian. In the beginning of the 19th century, the V. Rev. Philipose Remban of south India translated it into Malayalam, the language of south India. In the present century, the V. Rev. Konathu mathew Malpan translated and published in Malayalam the whole New Testament except the book of Revelation.

The conversation which took place between the above mentioned Ruler of el Jazira and our Patriarch St. John confirms the faithfulness of the Syrian translators of the Holy Scriptures. The Ruler asked the Patriarch to translate the Holy Gospel on condition that he would mention in it neither the Godhead and crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ nor the baptism. "I will never omit a single letter from the Gospel of my Lord, even if all the arrows of your army pierce me ", the saint answered him with great courage. When the Prince had noticed his courage he told him, "Go and write as you know".

What makes us more proud is that the scanty remnant of that rich heritage which withstood the plights of ages is considered to be the most ancient among the manuscripts of the world, especially those which were taken from the library of the Syrian Monastery in Egypt of the libraries of Vatican, London, Milano, Berlin, Paris, Oxford, Cambridge and others. Some of these go back to the fifth and sixth centuries. Moreover, the most ancient manuscript of the Holy Gospel at present is found in Syriac. It was copied by the writer Yacoub in Edessa in 411 A.D. It is preserved in the library of the British Museum.

In order to appreciate the efforts of the Syrian Church in the field of the publication and preservation of the Holy Bible we should note the number of manuscripts preserved in various libraries in the world. The Rev. Fr. Paulan Martain counted 55 Syriac Estrangelo manuscripts of the "Peshitha" Version, copied in the 5th, 6th and 7th centuries , compared to 22 (only) in Latin and 10 in Greek.

The Syrian scholars arranged the Holy Scriptures into chapters, and fixed according the Ecclesiastical order readings that agree with the services of Sundays and festivals throughout the year, besides special readings for the days of the Lent, the orders of the celebrated Festivals, ordinations, baptism, matrimony, consecration of the Chrism and baptismal oil, and funerals. They specified for each Sunday and festival three readings from the Old Testament and five from the new Testament.

Due to their boundless love of the Holy Bible, they employed many of its words in the liturgical books.

© 1995 - 2008 Syrian Orthodox Church

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