Severus of Antioch: A collection of letters from numerous Syriac manuscripts (1915) Introduction

Severus of Antioch: A collection of letters from numerous Syriac manuscripts (1915) Introduction

A COLLECTION OF LETTERS

OF SEVERUS OF ANTIOCH

FROM NUMEROUS SYRIAC MANUSCRIPTS

INTRODUCTION

The letters of the great Monophysite patriarch Severus, who held the see of Antioch from 512 to 518 and died in exile in Egypt in 538, like the rest of his works, and indeed nearly all Greek Monophysite literature, have been lost in the original, except in so far as a large number of citations are preserved in catenae and a few in Acts of Councils; and of Syriac versions only one exists in a continuous form, the collection of 123 letters entitled ŤThe Sixth Book of Select Letters (e/klogai/)ť, translated by Athanasius of Nisibis, which I edited with an English translation for the Text and Translation Society in 1902-4. Of the existence of other Syriac versions, either of all the letters or of selections, we have no direct evidence; but it may be inferred from the fact that citations in MSS. of different contents often agree verbally, and that, where the letter in question is included in the Athanasian collection, the text in the other MSS. differs from that of Athanasius. On the other hand the existence of different versions of particular passages (in one part of ep. 99 of the present edition there are four) does not prove the existence of different continuous translations, since the compilers of the catenae or other documents in which the citations are found may have translated the passages for themselves, and in many cases the citations are found in translations of Greek works such as those of Peter the patriarch and those against Probus and Paul of Beth Ukhame ¹, where the translator naturally rendered them from the original.

The object of the present edition is to collect the letters and |iv fragments of letters outside the Athanasian collection which are found scattered in various MSS; but, in order to keep the edition within reasonable limits, I have excluded the great dogmatic letters ŤTo Sergius the grammarianť, ŤAgainst John the grammarianť, and ŤAgainst Julian of Halicarnassus,ť which rather require separate publication, as well as letters already published in the work of the so-called Zacharias Rhetor, and other versions of letters contained in the Athanasian collection. The heavy task of collecting the Greek fragments also seemed to lie outside the scope of the present work, and I have contented myself with referring to published extracts from letters to the same addressees as those of the present collection. Coptic and Arabic versions are also excluded.

The total number of manuscripts used is 28, of which 20 are in the British Museum, 6 in the Vatican, one at Paris, and one at Berlin. Of the Berlin extract M. Kugener kindly lent me a photograph which he had obtained for another purpose; for the Paris extract and most of the Vatican extracts I have, as usual, to thank the indefatigable photographic labours of M^gr Graffin; of some of the Vatican extracts I have copies which I took in 1901; and for the few which remain I am indebted to the kindness of M. Tisserant, who verified the references and had the required photographs taken for me. - A list of MSS. is given after the Introduction; but for a full description of each I must refer to the catalogues of Wright, Assemani, Zotenberg, and Sachau, only noting that I seems to be a copy of V and is only useful where the photographs of V are defective or indistinct or the accuracy of my copy doubtful, and that, as part of F is identical with part of L (Wright p. 1007), and apparently a copy of it, I have not thought it necessary to collate this portion except where L is defective or illegible. Where more than one version of a passage exists, I have given the text of all, but in the translation I have tried to reproduce the original from the different versions, placing such variants as seemed worth preserving in the notes. Of the usual varieties of spelling in such words as [Syriac] I have taken no account in the apparatus, and I have in such cases generally placed the shorter spelling in the text, whatever the MS. reading may be. Words or letters inserted to fill illegible or defective places in the MSS. are |v enclosed in square brackets in the text and words depending on such supplements in the translation.

The letters in the original Greek existed in a collection divided into 23 books, of which 4 contained those written before episcopacy, 10 those written during episcopacy, and 9 those written after exile, and there were also some letters described as 'outside the 23 books' (S. L., iv, 7, 10). Of these the books which contain those written during episcopacy seem from the numerals of the letters preserved to have been much longer than the other books. In the Select Letters the place of each letter in the original collection is stated; but among the scattered letters contained in the present edition it is only in 26 cases that any such information is given, and there is still nothing to show on what principle the letters were arranged. That the order is not chronological I showed in the Introduction to the translation of the Select Letters (p. x). As however a list of the contents of the original collection, so far as they can be ascertained, may be useful for easy reference, I subjoin a catalogue of letters in the order of that collection with the names of the addressees and references to the Select Letters or to the present edition, the former being distinguished by the letters S. L.

Before episcopacy :
i, 7	About the Anthropomorphists	28
---- 250	Theognostus	109
---- 272	A woman	S.L., x, 2
ii, 10	Phocas and Eupraxius	68
---- 12	Constantine of Seleucia	S.L., i, 1
---- 63	Antoninus of Berrhcea	29
iii, 5	The patricians	S.L., ii, 1
---- 227	Conon silentiarius	---- x, 4
---- 257	Alypius	---- x, 1
iv, 2	John the tribune	---- v, 1
---- 18	Theodore the monk	---- x, 5
---- 89	---- ---- notary	---- x, 3
---- 104, 106	Solon of Seleucia	---- i, 2
---- 118, 121	Jannia the archimandritess	---- vii, 2
Without number of book or letter : Oecumenius comes		1
	Entrechius of Anazarba	19
During episcopacy :
i, 10	Peter, Ammonius, and Olympiodorus	38
---- 22	Ammonius the Alexandrine	S.L.,iv, 2

i, 115	Dioscorus of Alexandria	S.L., iv, 3
---- 121	Eleusinius of Sasima	---- vi, 1
---- 141	Archelaus the reader	---- vi, 2
---- 208, 209	Zacharias of Pelusium	---- iv, 1
ii, 4	Dionysius of Tarsus	---- iv, 4
---- 16	Cosmas of the monastery of Cyrus	---- iv, 5
---- 22	Solon of Seleucia	96
---- 24	do	S.L., i, 3
---- 42, 50	do	---- i, 4
---- 55	Conon silentiarius	78
iii, 5	Peter of Apamea	S.L., i, 5
---- 10, 15	Valeriana the archimandritess	---- vii, 1
---- 35	Simeon of the great monastery	---- vii, 3
---- 171	Nicias of Laodicea	---- i, 6
---- 232	Castor of Perga	---- i, 7
---- 256, 258	Timostratus dux	---- i, 8
---- 323	Nicias of Laodicea	---- v, 2
---- 345	Archimandrite of monastery of Bassus	---- i, 11
---- 354	Cosmas, Polyeuctus, and Zeno	---- i, 12
---- 390	John comes	---- iv, 6
---- 397, 398	Entrechius of Anazarba	---- i, 13
iv, 64	The fathers	---- i, 42
---- 65	Antoninus of Berrhoea	---- i, 14
---- 72	do	---- i, 15
---- 100	Misael the chamberlain	---- xi, 1
---- 101	Antoninus of Berrhoea	---- i, 16
---- 103	Misael the chamberlain	---- i, 17
---- 123	Entrechius of Anazarba	---- i, 18
---- 149	Solon of Seleucia	---- i, 19
---- 156	Victor of Philadelphia	---- vii, 5
---- 187	Suffragans of Apamea	---- i, 20
---- 189	The magister officiorum	---- i, 21
---- 231	The fathers	---- i, 22
---- 248	Monks of Tagais	---- v, 3
---- 270	Solon of Seleucia	---- i, 23
---- 293	Theotecnus archiater	---- i, 24
---- 331	Dionysius of Tarsus	---- i, 25
---- 338	Solon of Seleucia	---- i, 26
v, 66	Philoxenus of Doliche	---- i, 28
---- 74	Musonius and Alexander	---- i 27
---- 97	Monastery of Isaac	---- i, 29
---- 135	Clergy of Apamea	---- i, 30
---- 236, 237	Bishops of Phoenice	---- i, 31
vi, 1	The fathers	---- IX, 1
---- 154	John of Alexandria Minor	---- i, 32
---- 161	Theotecnus archiater	---- v, 4
---- 178	Dionysius of Tarsus	---- v, 5
---- 186	do	---- i, 33

vii, 42, 51	Solon of Seleucia	S.L. , i, 41
---- 106	Stephen of Apamea	---- vii, 6
---- 127	do	---- i, 34
---- 140	Eustace the presbyter	---- i, 35
---- 218	Eusebius the deacon	---- i, 36
---- 238, 240	Simeon of Chalcis	---- i, 37
---- 267, 269	do	---- i, 38
---- 289	Clergy of Apamea	---- i, 39
---- 354	Monastery of Bassus	---- x, 6
---- 372	Cassian of Bostra	---- viii, 2
---- 376, 378	Aurelius scholasticus	---- viii, 3
---- 392	Stephen the reader	---- viii, 1
---- 406	Anastasius comes	---- iii, 1
---- 458, 465	Hypatius mag militum	---- i, 40
viii, 20	Monastery of Isaac	84
---- 134	Archim of monastery of Simeon	S.L. , i, 43
---- 157	Wife of Calliopius	---- vii, 7
---- 190	Eutychian, governor of Apamea	---- i, 44
---- 237	Conon < SIZE="1">lh\|stodiw&kthj	---- i, 45
---- 264, 265	Clergy of Antaradus	---- i, 46
---- 276, 277	Stephen of Tripolis	---- i, 9
---- 288	Cassian of Bostra	---- i, 47
ix, 1	Against Re-anointers	---- v, 6
---- 5	Archelaus the reader	93
---- 8	Theodore of Olbe	S.L., ix, 2
x, 61	Dionysius of Tarsus	---- v, 7
---- 295	Philoxenus of Hierapolis	---- i, 48
---- 384, 385	Nunna of Seleucia	---- vii, 4
Without number of book :
	142, 143 Eucherius of Paltus	---- i, 10
Without number of book or letter : Oecumenius comes		2
After exile :
i, 6	John and John	S.L., ii, 2
---- 11	Scholasticus	82
---- 16	John and John	S.L., i, 50
----53, 55	do	---- i, 49
11, 8	Anastasia the deaconess	71
----9	Believers at Antioch	S.L., iv, 8
---- 24	Orthodox at Antioch	---- v, 8
---- 27	Sergius comes archiater	---- 85
---- 28	Simeon, archim. of Teleda	S.L., v, 9
---- 29	Monastery of Isaac	---- v, 10
---- 40	Philip the presbyter	---- i, 51
---- 42	John and John	---- i, 52
---- 64	Bishops at Alexandria	---- i, 53
---- 71	John and John	---- v, 11
---- 72	do	---- v, 12
---- 93	Orthodox at Emesa	---- ii, 3

iii, 32	Theodore of monastery of Romanus	S.L., i, 55
---- 35	Proclus and Eusebonas	---- v, 13
---- 36	Proclus of Colonia	---- i 56
---- 46	Caesaria hypatissa	---- x, 7
---- 50	Didymus the bishop	---- i, 57
---- 53	Thecla comitissa	---- ix, 3
---- 74	Caesaria hypatissa	97
---- 90	Thecla comitissa	S.L., i, 58
iv, 5	Caesaria hypatissa	98
---- 21	John, Philoxenus, and John	S.L., v, 14
---- 57	Caesaria hypatissa	99
---- 69	Sergius of Cyrrhus	88
---- 81	Sergius and Marion	S.L., v, 15
v, 1	Anastasia the deaconess	69
---- 15	Constantine of Laodicea	91
---- 22	Georgia	S.L., x, 8
---- 38	Eustace the monk	---- vii, 8
---- 39	John of Bostra	---- viii, 4
---- 52	Julian of monastery of Bassus	---- i, 59
vi, 3	Caesaria hypatissa	100
---- 4	Probus mag militum	79
---- 70	Sergius comes archiater	86
vii, 15	Photius and Andrew	59; S.L., i,60
---- 29	Ammonius and Epagathus	S.L., iii, 2
---- 30	Misael the deacon	---- iii, 3
viii, 54	Caesaria hypatissa	---- iii, 4
ix, 13	Isidora	---- vii, 9
---- 27	Thomas of Germanicea	108
---- 43	Misael the deacon	S.L., i, 63
---- 51, 61	Andrew the reader	---- viii, 5
---- 62	do	iv, 9
Outside the 23 books :
4	John Canopites	S.L., iv, 7
15	Caesaria hypatissa	---- iv, 10
Without number of book or series :
60	Leontius the presbyter	87

If we take the highest number in each book and in the extra letters and add them up, we shall find that the smallest number of letters that the collection can have con tained is 3824. There are indeed 19 cases in which the same letter occurred twice, and in the whole collection there were no doubt many more; but, as it is very unlikely that the last letter in each book has been preserved, we may be sure that the whole number of letters did not fall short of that given above. The letters according to the subjects with which they deal fall naturally into three classes : 1) theological, 2) ecclesiastical, 3) epexegetical : of which only the second class are preserved in the Select Letters, while the present collection comprises letters and fragments of all three. In fixing the order of the letters therefore it has been my object to arrange them according to these three classes, and in each class to place letters dealing with one subject |ix together. This system however it was impossible to carry out completely, since (1) it often happens that one letter deals not merely with different subjects but with subjects of different classes; (2) there are some letters which it is difficult to assign definitely to one class more than another; (3) some letters which should from their subject have been included in the present fascicule were not known to me till it had gone to press. The division is therefore only a rough one; and I have not separated the letters into classes, but numbered them continuously. Of whole letters the number contained in the present edition is 7 or 8 only, the first two to Oecumenius (1, 2), that to the Emesenes (25), that to Elisha the presbyter, which is attached to the work against John the Grammarian (34), that to the monks of the East, which is attached to the correspondence with Julian of Halicarnassus (35), that to the convents of virgins (61), the first to Anastasia the deaconess (69), and perhaps that to the presbyters at Alexandria (39), which, though described as an exbract, appears to be a whole letter : but the Answers to the Questions of Eupraxius (65) must be nearly complete, and there are many long extracts, especially in the epexegetical portion, which exhaust the subject with which they deal. As the distinction between whole letters and fragments is therefore of no practical importance, I have made no separation between them, but arranged them all indiscriminately according to the subject matter. It has been my object to include all accessible letters and fragments of letters of Severus existing in Syriac with the exceptions mentioned above; but, as these are distributed over a vast number of MSS., of which some are imperfectly catalogued, there are no doubt many which have escaped me. The document contained in Brit. Mus. Add. 14668 f. 44 v° which Wright (p. 788) calls a letter is however a prayer, and the letter in Y p. 117 (Assemani's notation) addressed to the patriarch Peter the younger, which Assemani (III, p. 63) with strange chronological confusion ascribes to Severus, is a letter of Damian. Wherever possible, I have placed a date in the margin of the translation of each letter; but the cases in which the date can be fixed within narrow limits are few. In an appendix I have added a short collection of hymns composed for use at the commemoration of Severus.

A =	Brit. Mus. Add. 14601 (9^th cent.).
B =	---- ---- ---- 12157 (7^th or 8^th cent.).
C =	---- ---- ---- 17149 (6^th cent.).
D =	---- ---- ---- 14531 (7^th or 8^th cent.).
E =	---- ---- ---- 17214 (7^th cent.).
F =	---- ---- ---- 14538 (10^th cent.).
G =	---- ---- ---- 12155 (8^th cent.).
H =	---- ---- ---- 17193 (874).
I =	---- ---- ---- 12144 (1081).
J =	---- ---- ---- 12168 (8^th or 9^th cent.).
K =	---- ---- ---- 17191 (9^th or 10^th cent.).
L =	---- ---- ---- 14532 (8^th cent.).
M =	---- ---- ---- 14533 (8^th or 9^th cent.).
N =	---- ---- ---- 14613 (9^th or 10^th cent.).
O =	---- ---- ---- 17134 (end of 7^th cent.).
p =	Par. Syr. 62 (9^th cent.).
Q =	Brit. Mus. Add. 12154 (circ. 800).
R =	Vat. Syr. 140 (6^th or 7^th cent.).
ρ =	---- ---- 255 (6^th or 7^th cent.).
S =	Berlin Sachau 321 (8^th cent.).
T =	Brit. Mus. Add. 14612 (6^th or 7^th cent.)-
U =	---- ---- 12153 (845).
V =	Vat. Syr. 103 (841).
W =	---- ---- 100 (9^th or 10^th cent.).
X =	---- ---- 107 (7^th cent.).
Y =	---- ---- 108 (7^th cent.).
Z =	Brit. Mus. Add. 7191 (7^th -cent.).
ζ =	---- ---- ---- 7192 (7^th cent.).

A. v.	Alia versio.
C. B. M.	Wright, Catalogue of Syriac MSS. in the British Museum.
P. G.	Patrologia Graeca.
P. L.	---- Latina.
P. O.	---- Orientalis.
R. O. C.	Revue de l'Orient chrétien.
S. L.	Select Letters of Severus, ed. Brooks.
S. V.N. C.	Mai, Scriptorum Veterum Nova Collectio.