Syriac Orthodox Patriarchal Journal 62 (2024)

Table of contents

Brock, Sebastian P., “A sughitho for the Resurrection”, SOPJ 62 (2024), 1-13.

Abstract: This critical study, authored by Sebastian P. Brock, examines a rare, historically neglected Syriac liturgical poem (sughitho) celebrating the Resurrection. By collating four early manuscripts from the ninth to eleventh centuries—including fragments from Deir al-Surian, the Bodleian Library, and St. Catherine’s Monastery—the author traces the complex transmission history of the text across three distinct recensions, identifying a total of 37 variant stanzas. Structurally, the paper analyzes the poem’s popular folk background, characterized by distinctive opening phrase repetitions and irregular syllabic meters. Furthermore, the commentary elucidates the rich resurrection typology embedded within the verses, highlighting the deployment of distinctive bridal, celestial, and avian imagery alongside historical gospel expansions. Ultimately, the research preserves a vital artifact of West Syrian liturgical development, offering a verified baseline for early Christian hymnography.

Carpen, David Gabriel, “Brotherly war or peace with the heretics? The dispute among the Syrian non-Chalcedonians regarding ecclesiological practice and the solution of Patriarch Severus of Antioch”, SOPJ 62 (2024), 15-30.

Abstract: This article investigates the severe internal conflicts regarding the readmission of former Chalcedonians into the non-Chalcedonian communion during the early sixth century. Focusing on a seminal letter written by Patriarch Severus of Antioch to the archimandrites Photius and Andrew, the author contextualizes the theological dilemma within a peak period of non-Chalcedonian dominance under Emperor Anastasius. The study explores the strategic tension between the non-Chalcedonian rigorists, who demanded mandatory rebaptism and reordination, and the moderate faction led by Severus. Ultimately, the paper analyzes Severus’s pastoral implementation of ecclesiastical economy (oikonomia) to integrate returning Christians without humiliation, successfully preserving canonical authority while preventing a major schism within the West Syrian ecclesiastical landscape.

Youssef, Youhanna Nessim and Habil, Youhanon, “The Prayer of Fraction: St. James the brother of the Lord between Coptic and Syriac Traditions”, SOPJ 62 (2024), 31-40.

Abstract: This comparative liturgical study investigates the “Prayer of Fraction” attributed to St. James, the brother of the Lord, analyzing its historical transmission and structural integration within the Coptic and Syriac Eucharistic traditions. Utilizing text-critical and historical-comparative methods, the authors evaluate how this specific anaphora—traditionally the standard Eucharistic Typicon of Jerusalem—evolved across Greek Byzantine, West Syrian, and Egyptian Monastic milieus. The research highlights a unique historical convergence in the eighteenth century at the Coptic Monastery of Saint Macarius, where the short Syriac fraction prayer, traditionally associated with Dionysius Bar Salibi, was introduced and eventually amalgamated with the baseline Liturgy of St. James. Ultimately, by contrasting the shorter Syriac and Copto-Arabic recensions against the expanded Greek Byzantine formulas, the paper applies Baumstark’s laws of liturgical development to demonstrate that the concise Syriac text preserves a more ancient, primitive liturgical stratum, underscores the enduring intercultural links between Coptic and Syriac Christianity.

Habil, Youhanon, « La question du Nasab de Habib Abu Ra’ita al-Tagriti », SOPJ 62 (2024), 41-44.

Abstract: This critical philological study resolves the long-standing scholarly ambiguity surrounding the nasab (patronymic name) of Habib Abu Ra’ita al-Tagriti, a prominent ninth-century Syriac Orthodox theologian and apologist. By shifting from a purely Arabic framework to a Syriac socio-cultural and ecclisial perspective, the author re-evaluates the corrupted manuscript readings traditionally deciphered as “Khidmah” (service). The research demonstrates that the enigmatic Arabic graph is a direct transliteration of the condensed Syriac name Houdemeh (or Khoudemeh), a highly localized linguistic mutation and diminutive form of Ahoudemmeh. Backed by historical-geographical data, the paper emphasizes that Tagrit’s primary patron saint was Mar Ahoudemmeh, whose dedicated primatiale cathedral drove the local custom of naming children after him. Ultimately, the study introduces the corrected historical designation, Habib ibn Houdemeh Abu Ra’ita al-Tagriti, providing an accurate contextual baseline for future early Islamic interfaith research.

Burke, Simon, “Dionysius bar Ṣalībī’s Commentaries on Joshua and Judges. Introduction, critical edition, and translation”, SOPJ 62 (2024), 45-125.

Abstract: This critical philological study presents the baseline text and text-critical evaluation of the commentaries on Joshua and Judges by the prolific twelfth-century Syriac Orthodox bishop, Dionysius bar Ṣalībī (d. 1171). Utilizing a strict comparative methodology across four key thirteenth-to-sixteenth-century manuscript witnesses—led by the early Cambridge Add. 1972 recension—the author reconstructs both the literal (suʿrānāyā) and spiritual (rūḥānāyā) analytical structures deployed by the bishop. The research demonstrates that while bar Ṣalībī’s literal notes systematically explain historical and psychological motivations within pre-monarchical narratives, his spiritual commentary heavily utilizes pre-Chalcedonian patristic typologies to link historical events to Christological and ecclesial archetypes. Ultimately, the study highlights how this condensed commentary served a vital pedagogical role, compiling vast interpretive traditions into an accessible format for overburdened mediaeval readers.

Ecumenical report

“Fourteenth Meeting of the Heads of Oriental Orthodox Churches in the Middle East, May 10, 2024, Cairo, Egypt”, SOPJ 62 (2024), 127.

“Meeting between representatives of the Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches. September 16-17, 2024 Monastery of St. Bishoy, Egypt”, SOPJ 62 (2024), 128-9.

“Nineteenth Meeting of the International Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches. 31 January – 4 February 2023, Wadi al-Natrun, Egypt”, SOPJ 62 (2024), 130-3.

“Tenth meeting of the Anglican–Oriental Orthodox International Commission. Communiqué, 2023”, SOPJ 62 (2024), 134-5.

المجلة البطريركية (الإصدار الجديد) 62، 2024

المحتويات

هابيل، يوحانون، “كتاب تفسير أسرار الكنيسة لجرجس أسقف العرب. ترجمة إلى اللّغة العربيّة مع بعض الشروحات”، المجلة البطريركية 62 (2024)، 1-18.

Abstract: This text-critical study evaluates the treatise Interpretation of the Mysteries of the Church authored by Saint George, Bishop of the Arab Tribes (d. 724). Translated and annotated by Dr. Youhanon Habil, the research provides a liturgical-theological framework for understanding early West Syrian sacramental theology. Grounded in the pseudo-Dionysian Areopagite traditions, the paper analyzes how George contextualizes the “Mysteries” (Arzo) not through later scholastic enumeration, but via fluid, non-systematic descriptions of ecclesiastical services. Specially focused on a primitive triad—Holy Baptism, the Eucharist, and the Consecration of Holy Myron—the study highlights the practical development from this early three-fold framework into the modern institutionalized seven sacraments, showcasing the persistent cultural baseline of early Syriac liturgical evolution.

الباجوشي، إسحاق إبراهيم، “شرح أمانة السريان والقبط اليعاقبة للعلامة القسّ ميخائيل السريانيّ قسّ البهنسا”، المجلة البطريركية 62 (2024)، 19-56.

Abstract: This text-critical publication evaluates the historical catechism Explanation of the Faith of the Syriac and Coptic Jacobites, authored by the eighteenth-century cleric Father Mikhail, Priest of al-Bahnasa (later Bishop of al-Bahnasa and al-Ashmunayn). Grounded in structural analysis of early Arabic-Christian manuscripts compiled during the patriarchate of Coptic Pope Peter VI (1718–1726), the researcher investigates how the author systematically builds an anti-Chalcedonian defense utilizing authoritative West Syrian patristic sources, including Saints Ephrem the Syrian, Jacob of Serugh, and Balai of Balsh. The paper highlights Mikhail’s pedagogical distribution of the miaphysite faith into ten structural blocks, demonstrating the deep-seated dogmatic convergence between the Sees of Antioch and Alexandria against the proselytizing maneuvers of contemporary Western Catholic missionaries. Ultimately, the study preserves a vital artifact of late antique inter-church unity, reinforcing the shared Christological baseline of the Coptic and Syriac Orthodox traditions.

بوشرعه، جوزف، “الشّعر السّريانيّ المارونيّ الدّنيويّ”، المجلة البطريركية 62 (2024)، 57-126.

Abstract: This text-critical publication, authored by Joseph Bou Charaa, systematically examines the secular Syriac Maronite poetic tradition across three post-medieval historical intervals. Grounded in critical codicological analyses of diverse West Syrian manuscripts—stretching from late medieval Garshuni compositions by Bishop Ibn al-Qalaʿi to early modern polyglot registers from the Maronite College in Rome—the researcher evaluates how Maronite humanists synthesized native Aramaic prosody with evolving Lebanese sociolinguistic varieties. The study categorizes this vast literary corpus into three definitive structural branches: panegyric (quloso), pedagogical (turgomo), and elegiac (ulito) works, emphasizing how early figures like Patriarch Joseph al-ʿAqouri and humanists like Gabriel al-Qardahi maintained a distinctive Aramaic linguistic identity. Ultimately, the research illustrates how secular poetry functioned as an enduring baseline of Maronite ecclesiastical authority, tracing its developmental trajectory up to modern twentieth-century educational and socio-political manifestations.

التقرير المسكوني

“الاجتماع الرابع عشر لرؤساء الكنائس الأرثوذكسية الشرقية في الشرق الأوسط، بطريركية الأقباط الأرثوذكس، القاهرة – مصر، 10 أَيَّار 2024″، المجلة البطريركية 62 (2024)، 127-133.

“اجتماع بين ممثلي الكنائس الأرثوذكسية الشرقية والكنيسة الأرثوذكسية. 16-17 أيلول 2024 دير القديس بيشوي، مصر”، المجلة البطريركية 62 (2024)، 134-137.

“الاجتماع التاسع عشر للجنة الدولية المشتركة للحوار اللاهوتي بين الكنيسة الكاثوليكية والكنائس الأرثوذكسية الشرقية. 31 كانون الثاني – 4 شباط 2023، وادي النطرون، مصر”، المجلة البطريركية 62 (2024)، 138-141.

“اللّجنة العالميّة المشتركة للحوار اللّاهوتيّ بين الكنيسة الكاثوليكيّة والكنائس الأرثوذكسيّة الشّرقيّة. الأسرار في حياة الكنيسة. روما، 23 حزيران 2022″، المجلة البطريركية 62 (2024)، 142-163.

“الاجتماع العاشر للّجنة العالميّة الأنگليكانيّة – الأرثوذكسيّة الشرقيّة، الأردن – ٢٠٢٣”، المجلة البطريركية 62 (2024)، 164-165.