1. Journal of Ancient History 4 (295)
  2. Early Syriac Version of the Encounter of Basil of Caesarea and Ephrem the Syrian

Early Syriac Version of the Encounter of Basil of Caesarea and Ephrem the Syrian

Muraviev Alexei V.

The article is dedicated to the episode of the encounter between St Basil of Caesarea and Ephrem the Syrian which took place in Caesarea about late 370s. As a result of that encounter according to the legend Ephrem became deacon and learned Greek. The episode is preserved in four texts and became popular in the form of Ps.-Ephrem’s Encomium in Basilium . The surviving Syriac version of the episode testifi es to a quite an early existence of the story in Syriac. Later it became a part of the Helladius’ of Caesarea collection of the Miracles of Basil which has been included into the Ps.-Amphilochius’s Vita Basilii . The comparison between Syriac and Greek texts of the episode as well as the early Christian Arabic witness preserved in two mss. (Sinai and Strassburg) shows that an early Syriac version close to one of the forms of the Life of Mar Aphrem circulated between Syria and Cappadocia before it was translated into Greek. The later form known from Ps.-Amphilochius gave life to different stories refl ecting the encounter: Sozomen, Syriac Life of Ephrem, Ps.-Ephrem’s and Ps.-Gregory’s of Nyssa encomia  in Basil.

Keywords: Syriac, hagiography, Greek Church, Late Antiquity, Ephrem the Syrian, Basil of Caesarea, Ps.-Amphilochius.
References:
  1. D'yakonov A.P. 1918: K istorii siriyskogo skazaniya o sv. Mar Evgene // Khristianskiy vostok. 6/2, 107–174 (reprint: D'yakonov A.P.. Ioann Efesskiy i ego tserkovno-istoricheskie trudy. SPb., 2006, 581–654).
  2. Meshcherskaya E.N. 1987: Pateriki v siriyskoy pis'mennosti' // Palestinskiy sbornik. 29 [92], 22–27.
  3. Muraviev A.V. 1997: Perepiska Yuliana Otstupnika i sv. Vasiliya Velikogo (BHG 260) v svyazi s zhitiynoy traditsiey poslednego // VDI. 2, 138–145.
  4. Muraviev A.V. 2010a: «Messalianskiy» mif IV–V vv. i spory ob asketike v iranskoy Tserkvi Vostoka VII v. n.e. // VDI. 4, 153–165.
  5. Muraviev A.V. 2010b: Mṣalyānūtha. Siriyskoe dos'e «messalianskogo» fenomena (IV vek). K voprosu o nachale dvizheniya «molitvennikov» v siroyazychnoy srede // Vestnik PSTGU. 22, 44–53.
  6. Muraviev A.V. 2015: Mṣalyānūthā 3. Ioann Zlatoust v Antiokhii, dvizhenie akimitov i vopros o soderzhanii «messalianskoy eresi» // VDI. 1, 66–86.
  7. Muraviev A.V., E.P.A. 2009: Vasiliy Velikiy. Zhizn' / Pravoslavnaya entsiklopediya. T. 7. M., 131–141.
  8. Alexander P. 1953: The Iconoclastic Council of St. Sophia (815) and its Definition (Horos) // Dumbarton Oaks Papers. 7, 35–66.
  9. Amar J.P. 2011 (ed.): The Syriac Vita Tradition of Ephrem the Syrian (CSCO, 629). Louvain.
  10. Assemani S.E. 1743: S. Ephraem Syri opera / S.E. Assemani (ed.). Roma.
  11. Bedjan P. 1896: Acta martyrum et sanctorum. Vol. I. Lpz.
  12. Blau J. 1966: A Grammar of Christian Arabic, based mainly on south‑Palestinian texts from the first millennium (CSCO, 267, 276, 279. Subsidia, 27–29). 3 vols. Louvain.
  13. Boulenger F. 1908: Grégoire de Nazianze. Discours funèbres en l’honneur de son frére Césaire et de Basile de Césarée / Éd. par F. Boulenger. P.
  14. Budge E.A.W. 1904: The Book of Paradise, Being the Histories and Sayings of the Monks and Ascetics of the Egyptian Desert by Palladius, Hieronymus and Others: The Syriac Texts, according to the Recension of ‘Anān‑īshō‘ of Beth ‘Abhē. L.
  15. Combefis F. 1644: Sancti Amphilochii ep. Iconii In vitam et miracula S. Basilii // Sanctorum patrum Amphilochii Iconiensis, Methodii Patarensis et Andreae Cretensis opera omnia / Ed. F. Combefisus, Parisiis. Col. 202–206.
  16. Chron. Seert. 1911: Chronique de Seert / A. Scher, P. Dib (éds.) (Patrologia Orientalis, IV). P.
  17. Delehaye H. 1937: De codice rescripto Barocciano // Analecta Bollandiana. 55, 71–74.
  18. Devos P.S. 1961: Grégoire de Nazianze et Héllade de Césarée en Cappadoce // Analecta Bollandiana. 79, 91–101.
  19. Dolabanī Y., Lavenant R., Brock S. 1994: Catalogue des manuscrits de la bibliothèque du Patriarcat Syrien Orthodoxe à Homs (auj. à Damas) // Parole de l’Orient. 19, 555–661.
  20. Escolan F. 1998: Monachisme et Église. Le monachisme Syrien du IVe au VIIe siècle: un monachisme charismatique (Théologie historique, 109). P.
  21. Featherstone J.M. 1997: Nicephori Constantinopolitani Refutatio et Eversio editionis synodali anni 815 / J.M. Featherstone (ed.) (Corpus Christianorum. Series Graeca, 33). Tournhout.
  22. Hatch W. 2002: An Album of Dated Syriac Manuscripts. Piscataway (NJ).
  23. Halleux A. de 1983: Saint Ephrem le Syrien // Revue theologiue de Louvain. 14, 328–355.
  24. Holl K. 1904: Amphilochius von Ikonium in seinem Verhältnis zu den Großen Kappadoziern. Tübingen.
  25. Mercati 1915: S. Ephraem Syri opera / S. Mercati (ed.). Vol. I. Roma.
  26. Muraviev A. 1998: La partie syriaque du dossier hagiographique de St. Basile le Grand // VII Symposium Syriacum (OCA 256), 203–210.
  27. Polotsky H.J. 1933: Ephraems Reise nach Aegypten // Orientalia. 2, 269–274.
  28. Possekel U. 1999: Evidence of Greek Philosophical Concepts in the Writings of Ephrem the Syrian. Louvain.
  29. Rousseau O. 1957–1958: La rencontre de S. Ephrem et de S. Basile // L’Orient Syrien. 2 (1957), 261–284; 3 (1958), 73–90.
  30. Rousseau P. 1994: Basil of Caesarea. Berkeley (CA).
  31. Sauget J.-M. 1987: Une traduction arabe de la collection d’Apopthegmata Patrum de ‘Enanišo‘. Étude ms. Paris arabe 253 et des témoins parallèles. CSCO 495, Subs. 78. Louvain.
  32. Stewart C. 1991: “Working the Earth of the Heart”: The Messalian Controversy in History, Texts, and Language to AD 431. Oxf.
  33. Stewart C. 2013. The Ascetic Taxonomy of Antioch and Edessa at the Emergence of Monasticism // Adamantius. 19, 207–221.
  34. Wright 1872: Catalogue of the Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum. Т. I–III. L.
  35. Zettersteen K.V. 1915: Eine Homilie des Amphilochius von Iconium über Basilius von Caesarea. Syrisch herausgegeben // Festschrift Eduard Sachau / G. Weil (Hrsg.). B., 223–247.
  36. Zettersteen K.V. 1934: Eine Homilie des Amphilochius von Iconium über Basilius von Caesarea // Oriens Christianus. 9. Lpz, 67–98.
  37. Μουτσούλας Η.Δ. Παπαχριστόπουλος Κ.Γ. (eds.) 1992: Ἀμφιλόχιος, ἐπίσκοπος Ικονίου. Απάντα (Βιβλιοθήκη Ελλήνων Πατέρων και Εκκλησιαστικών Συγγραφέων, 71). Αθῆναι.