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Introductory Notice
to
Memoirs of Edessa and Other Syriac
Documents.
————————————
The Syriac
Documents here subjoined are to be regarded as interesting relics
of the primitive ages, but neither wholly genuine nor in details
authentic. They have been interpolated and corrupted so as to
reflect, in some particulars, ideas wholly repugnant to those of
Christian antiquity, and which first received currency in the period of
the Iconoclastic controversy.2888
| 2888 Had the
early Christians used icons,—i.e., pictures in their
churches,—the churches themselves would everywhere have been
visible proof against the Council of Frankfort and all who condemned
icons. Sculptured images are not icons, technically. | Yet
the pages of Eusebius bear witness to the Edessene legends as of very
early origin, and it is reasonable to suppose that they rest on some
inquiries made by the contemporary Abgar concerning the great Prophet
who had appeared in Galilee. The visit of the Wise Men from the
East, and the history of Naaman the Syrian, lend antecedent probability
to the idea that such inquiries may have been made. The mission
of Thaddæus seems a historical fact; and if he found Abgar
predisposed to believe, and familiar with the story of the Christ, the
growth of the whole fable is sufficiently accounted for. Let me
quote Wake in the Preliminary Discourse to his Apostolic
Fathers. He says:2889
“That both the intercourse reported by Eusebius between our
Saviour and this prince (Abgarus), and the report of the picture being
brought to him, have been received as a matter of unquestionable truth
in those parts, the authority of Gregorius Abulpharagius2890
| 2890 Jacobite primate,
died 1286. | will not suffer us to doubt.…But
Gelasius2891
pronounced the
epistle of our Saviour to be apocryphal.…Natalis Alexander judges
both it and the reply of Abgar supposititious; and Dupin, after
him, yet more solidly convicts it of such manifest errors as may
satisfy all considering persons that Eusebius and Ephraem were too easy
of belief in this particular, and did not sufficiently examine into
it.”2892
| 2892 Wake,
Apostolic Fathers, p. 4. |
But I cannot do better than refer the inquirer to
Jones’ work On the Canon,2893
where, even in early youth, I found
the whole matter, and the story of the portrait of our Saviour,
attractive reading. I owe to that work my initiation into the
study of what I am now endeavouring to elucidate, in some degree, for
others. I subjoin the words of Lardner,2894
in concluding his candid examination
of the matter, as follows: “The whole history is the
fiction of some Christian at Edessa, in the time of Eusebius or not
long before. The people of Edessa were then generally Christians;
and they valued themselves upon it, and were willing to do themselves
the honour of a very early conversion to the Christian faith. By
some one of them, or more united together, this history was formed,
and was so far received by Eusebius as to be thought by him
not improper to be inserted in his Ecclesiastical
History.”
I conclude that Eusebius was led to put some
confidence in it by the antecedent probability to
which I have referred,
favouring the idea that some knowledge of Christ had penetrated the
mind and heart of Abgar even in our Saviour’s lifetime.
This idea receives some countenance from the fact recorded by St.
Matthew:2895
“His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought unto
Him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases,”
etc.
The remarks I have quoted from the learned will
sufficiently prepare the reader for the other Syriac Documents
which follow these Edessene Memoirs, as I find it convenient to
call them.
Here follows the Introductory
Notice by the translator:—
These Documents were
selected by the late Dr. Cureton, from manuscripts acquired by the
British Museum from the Nitrian Monastery in Lower Egypt, of which the
first portion arrived in 1841, the second in 1843, and a third in
1847. The preparation of them for publication occupied the
closing days of his life. It is to be regretted that his death
occurred before he was able to write a preface: the more so
because, to use the words of Dr. W. Wright, the editor of the
posthumous work, “he had studied the questions connected with
this volume for years and from every point of view.” In a
note occurring in the preface to his Festal Letters of
Athanasius,2896
he
says: “I have found among the Syriac mss. in the British Museum a considerable portion of the
original Aramaic document which Eusebius cites as preserved in the
archives of Edessa, and various passages from it quoted by several
authors, with other testimonies which seem to be sufficient to
establish the fact of the early conversion of the inhabitants of that
city, and among them of the king himself, although his successors
afterwards relapsed into paganism. These, together with accounts
of the martyrdom of some of the first bishops of that city, forming a
most interesting accession to our knowledge of the early propagation of
Christianity in the East down to about a.d.
300, I have already transcribed, and hope to publish.”
“He was himself firmly persuaded,” adds Dr. Wright,
“of the genuineness of the Epistles attributed to Abgar, king of
Edessa, and our Lord: an opinion which he shared with such
illustrious scholars as Baronius, Tillemont, Cave, R. Mountague (Bishop
of Norwich), and Grabe.”
Without attempting here to decide what degree of
historical value belongs to these Documents, it may be proper to
observe that the several matters contained in them are so far distinct
from one another that they do not necessarily stand or fall
together. Such matters are: the celebrated Epistles, the
conversion of King Abgar Uchomo, the visit of Thaddæus, and the
early prevalence of Christianity at Edessa. With regard to the
letters said to have passed between Abgar and our Lord, it seems
sufficient, without referring to the internal evidence, to remark, with
Lardner and Neander, that it is inconceivable how anything written by
Christ should have remained down to the time of Eusebius unknown to the
rest of the world2897
The
conversion of Abgar is a distinct matter of inquiry. But on this
again, doubt, to say the least, is cast by the statement that Abgar Bar
Manu, who reigned between the years 160 and 170 a.d., is the first king of Edessa on whose coins the usual
symbols of the Baal-worship of the country are wanting, these being
replaced in his case by the sign of the Cross.2898
| 2898 Bayer,
Historia Edessena e nummis illustrata, l. iii. p.
173. | If this refers to a complete
series of the coins of Edessa, the evidence afforded must be considered
very strong. For although, to take a parallel instance, “we
seek in vain for Christian emblems on the coinage of Constantine, the
first Christian emperor,”2899
| 2899
Humphreys’ Coin-Collector’s Manual, p.
364. | this may
readily be accounted for by his preference of military distinction to
the humbler honours conferred by his new faith, whilst it does not
appear that anti-Christian emblems are found, and on the coins
of his son and successor Christian emblems do make their
appearance. The other two subjects referred to do not lie under
the same suspicion. There is nothing in the nature of the case to
disprove the visit of Thaddæus (or Addæus)—nothing
improbable in the fact itself, whatever judgment may be formed of the
details of it presented to us here. If, however, the visit of
Thaddæus also should have to be ranked among apocryphal stories,
this would not affect the remaining point—that with which we
are chiefly concerned in these Documents. “It is
certain,” says Neander, “that Christianity was early
diffused in this country.” How early, is not so
certain. But the evidence furnished by the later portions of
these Documents, which there is nothing to contradict and much to
confirm, proves that early in the second century Christianity had
already made many converts there. The martyrdoms of Sharbil and
Barsamya are said to have occurred a.d.
113,2900
| 2900 It should have been
115. | the year in which Trajan conquered the
Parthian kingdom, of which Edessa was a part; and, whilst the pagan
element was plainly predominant, we find the Christians sufficiently
numerous to have a bishop and presbyters and deacons. This
sufficiently falls in with the proof already adduced of the conversion
of even a king of Edessa about fifty years later.
To the Documents which are presumably of the ante-Nicene
age, Dr. Cureton added two Metrical Homilies by Jacob of Serug, who
lived in the next century. But, as they are so closely connected
with the most interesting portions of the rest, the martyrdoms, and are
besides of considerable merit as compositions, the decision of the
editors to insert them will, it is presumed, be approved by most
readers. The two supplemental portions, one from the Latin of
Simeon Metaphrastes, and the other from Le Vaillant de Florival’s
French translation of Moses of Chorene, have also been inserted.
The translation of the Syriac portions, although
made with Dr. Cureton’s version constantly in sight, may fairly
be considered as independent. The only matter in which his
authority has been relied on is—in the case of proper names, the
supply of the necessary vowels,—for the text is vowelless.
And even to this, one exception occurs, in the Martyrdom of
Barsamya, where “Evaristus” has been adopted instead of
his “Erastus.” In regard to the sense, it has been
frequently found necessary to differ from him, while a style somewhat
freer, though, it is hoped, not less faithful, has been employed.
The Metrical Homilies also have been arranged so as to present the
appearance of poetry. The results of Dr. Wright’s collation
of the text with the mss. have also contributed
to the greater correctness of the work.
The translator desires very thankfully to
acknowledge his obligations to Dr. R. Payne Smith, Regius Professor of
Divinity in the University of Oxford,2901
| 2901 Now Dean of
Canterbury. |
the progress of whose Thesaurus Syriacus is regarded with so
much satisfaction and hope, for his kindness in furnishing much
valuable information respecting matters on which the lexicons are
silent.
The notes marked Tr. are
by the translator. The others, where the contrary is not
indicated, are, at least in substance, Dr. Cureton’s:
though their citation does not always imply approval.2902
| 2902 The translator takes
the opportunity of correcting the error by which the preparation of
Tatian’s work in vol. iii. of the Edinburgh Series was ascribed
to him. The credit of it is due in the first instance to his
lamented friend Mr. J. E. Ryland, at whose request, and subsequently by
that of the editors, he undertook to correct the manuscript, but was
soon obliged by other engagements to relinquish the task. [The
correction was duly made in this series. See vol. ii. pp. 59,
61.] |
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