A Syriac account of Edessa’s conversion linking King Abgar, Jesus, and the missionary Addaeus, with narratives of healing, preaching, church establishment, and royal patronage within Syriac Christianity.
Author
Anonymous Syriac compiler
Traditional attribution
Addai / Thaddeus
Date
c. AD 400
Origin
Edessa
Genre
Apocryphon
The narrative is later than the events it portrays and develops earlier Abgar traditions; it names Labubna as a recorder or scribe.
This fragment, extending to the lacuna on p. 658, is contained in the ms. No. 14,654, at fol. 33. It consists of one leaf only, and is part of a volume of fragments, of which the age is certainly not later than the beginning of the fifth century.
2
See note 1 on p. 653.—Tr.
3
Moses Chor says that he had been suffering seven years from a disease caught in Persia.
4
“The certitude.”—C. [See p. 653, supra, note 6.]
5
Eph. ii. 14.
6
The vowels supplied in this word are conjectural, as is the case with most of the proper names in these Documents. Perhaps the name of this person is to be read Shalamtho, as there is a Σαλαμψιώ, the wife of Phasaëlus, mentioned in Jos., Antiq., b. xviii. c. v.
7
Who this was, does not appear. He may have been some connection of Meherdates king of the Parthians, of whom Tacitus, Ann., xii. 12, speaks as having been entertained at Edessa by Abgar.
8
According to Moses Chor. b. ii. ch. xxxv., the first, or chief, wife of Abgar was Helena.
9
Probably one of the second rank. Tacitus, Ann., vi. 31, 32, mentions a man named Abdus, perhaps the same as this one, as possessing great authority in the Parthian kingdom. [Note 2, p. 653, supra]
10
Or “times.”—Tr.
11
The remainder of “The Teaching of Addæus” is taken from another ms. of the Nitrian collection in the Brit. Mus., Cod. Add. 14,644. It is one of those which were procured in the year of the Greeks 1243 (a.d. 931) by the abbot Moses during his visit to Bagdad. It appears to be of the sixth century.
12
Both “for” and “willing” are conjectural, the ms. being damaged.—Wright.
13
Both “for” and “willing” are conjectural, the ms. being damaged.—Wright.
14
Possibly “earthquake,” for which sense see Mich., p. 161; and so on p. 659, infra.—Tr.
15
Properly “miserable.” Compare Rom. vii. 24; 1 Cor. xv. 19.—Tr.
16
Otherwise Cæsarea Paneas, or C. Philippi: now Banias.—Tr.
17
Cureton: “the whole object of our Lord’s coming into the world was.” But *** is = omnino.—Tr.
18
A few lines are wanting here in the ms.
19
The greater part of the word rendered “deaf” is conjectural.—Wright. The “your” looks as if it were impersonal: “it is useless for any one to talk to the deaf.”—Tr.
20
“By” (***) is not in the printed text.—Tr.
21
Lit. “the blame in which justice is involved (prop., buried) is yours.”—Tr.
22
Comp. Prov. xix. 25.—Tr.
23
“This” is doubtful.—Wright.
24
I have very little doubt that we should substitute ***—the earth trembled—for ***—who is from the earth.—Wright. [Words in italics are by the translator.]
25
Lit. “have proclaimed.”—Tr.
26
Cureton renders: “They would not have proclaimed the desolation of their city, nor would they have divulged the affliction of their soul in crying Woe!” Dr. Wright pronounces the two words whose equivalents are given in italics to be very doubtful. Dr. Payne Smith, instead of the latter of the two (***), conjectures ***. This conjecture has been adopted. “Brought down” is lit “cause to drop.”—Tr.
27
The ancient Syriac Gospel, Luke xxiii. 48, gives: “And all those who were assembled there, and saw that which was done, were smiting on their breast, and saying, Woe to us! what is this? Woe to us for our sins!”
28
i.e., Christianity.—Tr.
29
Or “confirmed.”—Tr.
30
Perhaps “town” will not seem too insignificant a word if it be taken in its original sense of a fortified place, which the Syriac term also denotes. It seemed desirable to distinguish, if possible, the two words which have been rendered respectively “city” and “town” in these pages. The only exception made is in a single passage were Rome is spoken of.—Tr.
31
These words are not in the letter of Christ to Abgar. They must therefore be, either a message brought by Addæus himself, or, much more probably, a later interpolation: earlier, however, than Ephraem Syrus, who alludes to them in his Testament. This notion of the immunity of the city of Edessa is referred to by several Syriac writers. Nor was it confined to the East: it obtained in very early times in our own country, where the letter of our Lord to Abgar was regarded as a charm. In a very ancient service-book of the Saxon times, preserved in the British Museum, the letter followed the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostles’ Creed; and an appended description of the virtues of the epistle closes with these words, according to the Latin version of Rufinus: “Si quis hanc epistolam secum habuerit, securus ambulet in pace.” Jeremiah Jones, writing of the last century, says: “The common people in England have had it in their houses in many places in a frame with a picture before it: and they generally, with much honesty and devotion, regard it as the word of God and the genuine epistle of Christ.” Even now a similar practice is believed to linger in some districts. The story of Abgar is told in an Anglo-Saxon poem, published in Abgarus-Legenden paa Old-Engelsk by G. Stephens, Copenhagen, 1853. It consists of 204 lines, is a tolerable close rendering of Eusebius, and is ascribed by Stephens to Aelfric, archbishop of York from 1023 to 1052. Note that ambulet (above) is for ambulabit, apparently.—Tr.
32
See Eph. i. 18.
33
Lit. “obtain.”—Tr.
34
Or “lose.”—Tr.
35
Lit. “Spirit of holiness.”—Tr.
36
[Isa. lii. 15.]
37
Prop. “lost,” or “being lost,” “perishing.”—Tr.
38
Lit. “support of your head.”—Tr. The word rendered “support” is not in the dictionaries, but its derivation and form are known. Mar Jacob, infra, has a similar expression: “A resting-place for the head, etc.” Where, however, his word is derived from a root meaning to “prop up” (***), whereas the root of our word denotes to “bend itself,” “bow down” (***), and is often used of the declining day (as Luke xxiv. 29). It is used of the bending of the head in John xix. 30. The actual leaning of the head of support is not expressed in the verb, but would naturally be inferred from it.—Tr.
39
Lit. “the truth of Christ is not believed in many things.”—Tr.
40
Lit. “the Spirit of His Godhead” = His Spirit of Godhead = His divine spirit.—Tr.
41
Lat. “The Gospel of.”—Tr.
42
See p. 652, note 3, supra.
43
Abgar had two sons of this name. This is probably the elder, who succeeded his father at Edessa, and reigned seven years. Bayer makes him the fifteenth king of Edessa.
44
Abgar’s mother: see p. 657.
45
Lit. “reckoning.”—Tr.
46
The vowels in this name are supplied from the treatise of Bardesan. Whiston, from the Armenian form, writes the name Samsagram. He was sent, together with Hanan and Maryhab, as envoy to Marinus. See Mos. Chor. B. ii. c. 30.
47
See Tac., Ann., xii. 12.
48
Lit. “stood.”—Tr.
49
The son of Zati (see p. 663, note 7, supra).
50
Or “the headbands of the kings.” Nothing appears to be known of the derivation of the word ***, which does not occur in the ordinary lexicons. Dr. Payne Smith has favoured the translator with the following note: “*** is evidently some kind of ornament. In Ephs. ii. 379 (in the form ***) it is an ornament worn by young people. B.A. (Bar Alii Lex. Syro-Arab.) and K. (Georgii Karmsedinoyo Lex.) render it (in the form ***) ***, which may mean ‘a circlet of jewels.’” Cureton says: “These headbands of the king, or diadems, seem to have been made of silk or muslin scarves, like the turbans of orientals at the present day, interwoven with gold, and with figures and devices upon them, as was the case with that worn by Sharbil. See Acts of Sharbil, sub init.” The art. Diadema in Dr. W. Smith’s Antiqq. seems to furnish a good idea of what is intended. The ornament was probably white; and this has caused our expression to be sometimes confounded with the similar . See Teaching of Simon Cephas, init.—Tr.
51
The same name as Berosus, who is so called in the modern Persian.
52
These were the chief gods of Edessa, the former representing the sun, and the latter the moon.
53
The reference seems to be to Mark v. 15.—Tr.
54
The “soft clothing” of Matt. xi. 8, where the Peshito and the “Ancient Recension” have the same word as appears here. Cureton renders it “silk,” but remarks: “It would appear to be cotton or muslin, lana xylina, not bombycina.” [The word clothing, with the Peshito and, should be credited to the translator.]
55
The text has not ***, but it is best to supply it.—Tr.
56
Cureton gives “chains,” which in his notes he changes to “silks,” or “muslins,” adopting, with C., the reading *** instead of the *** of the printed text. Mos. Chor. calls Aggæus “un fabricant de coiffures de soie,” according to the translation of Florival; or “quendam serici opificem,” according to Whiston. It may be added that the word *** is doubtless the same as our “silk,” which is only a form of Sericum, an adjective from Seres, the people whose country was the native home of the silk-worm.—Tr.
57
These terms could only have been used here in the sense of the Law of Moses and the Gospel. If by the Acts of the Apostles is meant the work of Luke, this passage seems to show that the compiler of this account of Addæus wrote some years subsequently to the events which he relates, or that it has been added by a later interpolator. For at the earlier period of Addæus’ ministry no other part of the New Testament was written than the Hebrew Gospel of Matthew, which is probably the Gospel here meant.
58
Or “Ditornon.” The reading of the ms. is not clear. It seems that it ought to be Diatessaron, which Tatian has the Syrian compiled from the four Gospels about the middle of the second century. This was in general use at Edessa up to the fourth century, and Ephraem Syrus wrote a commentary on it. If this be so, we have here a later interpolation. [The translator says (of Ditornon and Diatess.): “The two words would differ but slightly in the mode of writing.” He also corrects Cureton, who calls Tatian “the Syrian:” it should be “the Assyrian.”]
59
Lit. “the hand of priesthood:” and so passim.—Tr.
60
Strabo, de Persis, b. xv. (ch. iii.): “They sacrifice to fire and to water.”
61
See his letter in Mos. Chor., infra.
62
Dio Cassius, liv. 8: “Augustus fixed as the boundaries of the empire of the Romans the Tigris and Euphrates.”
63
See it also, with some variations, in Mos. Chor., infra.
64
It was Pilate’s duty, as governor of Judea, to send an account to the Roman Government of what had occurred in respect to Jesus; and his having done so is mentioned by Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and several other writers.
65
The word is evidently misspelt. The name intended may have been confounded with that of the Albinus who was made governor of Judea at a later period by Nero, a.d. 62. The same person is referred to, in the Exit of Mary, infra: “Sabinus, the governor who had been appointed by the Emperor Tiberius; and even as far as the river Euphrates the governor Sabinus had authority.” The person meant can only be Vitellius, who was then governor of Syria, who removed Pilate from the administration of Judea, sending Marcellus in his stead, and ordered him to appear before Tiberius at Rome. The emperor died before he reached Rome.
66
No mention is made by historians of any war with Spain. But about this time Vitellius, mentioned in the preceding note, was mixed up with the wars of the Parthians and Hiberians; and, as Hiberi is a name common to Spaniards, as well as Hiberians, the apparent error may have arisen in translating the letter out of Latin into Syriac.
67
Baronius says Pilate violated the law by crucifying our Lord so soon after sentence had been passed, whereas a delay of ten days was required by a law passed in the reign of Tiberius.
68
Tiberius is said by Tertullian (Apol., 5) to have referred to the senate the question of admitting Christ among the gods. This has been interpolated into the epistle of Tiberius to Abgar as given in Moses Chor., B. ii. c. 33. He also adds another letter from Abgar in reply to this.
69
This word has been so much distorted and disfigured by the transcribers, that I am unable to recognise what is the place intended.—Cureton.
70
This word may be read Ortyka, and may be intended for Ortygia near Syracuse, which was not far from the island of Capreæ, where Tiberius then resided, seldom leaving it to go farther than to the neighbouring coast of Campania.
71
Lit. “the other villages.” So, in several passages of these Documents, “the rest of the other—.” The habit of including two or more distinguished nations under a class to which only one of them belongs was not unknown among classical writers also: as when, e.g., Thucydides speaks of the Peloponnesian war as the most remarkable of all the wars that preceded it. Milton’s imitation, “The fairest of her daughters, Eve” [Paradise Lost, iv. 324], is well known.—Tr.
72
The *** (and) seems to have been altered into *** (of).—Wright. Perhaps “of” is the better reading.—Tr.
73
It is plain from the context here, as well as wherever it occurs in these early Syriac Documents, that this title (or that of Guide alone) is precisely the same as that of Bishop, although the Greek word ἐπίσκοπος had not yet obtained in the East. The first mention we find of the title Bishop (in these pages) is in the Acts of Sharbil about a.d. 105–112, where Barsamya is called “the Bishop of the Christians,” although he is more generally designated as here. It is also found in the Teaching Simon Cephas, sub fin., which seems to have been written early in the second century or at the end of the first. The passage in the Teaching of Addæus, p. 665, infra, where it occurs, was interpolated at a much later period. [The parenthetic words of this note are supplied by the translator.]
74
Perhaps Φιλώτας.
75
Perhaps the same as Izates: see Jos., Antiq., xx. ii. 1, 4; Tac., Ann., xii. 14.
76
This seems to be the person spoken of by Moses Chor., B. ii. c. 30, under the name “Mar-Ihap, prince d’Aghtznik,” as one of the envoys sent by Abgar to Marinus.
77
Tacitus writes this name Sinnaces: see Ann., vi. 31, 32.
78
Patricius.
79
These are given at pp. 673 sqq., infra.
80
Quoted in the Epistle of Addæus, infra.
81
Probably “wicked,” the meaning being that all such wandering is wilful. Cureton makes “hateful” the predicate: “error is abominable in its paths.”—Tr.
82
One leaf apparently is lost from the ms. in this place. What follows appears to be part of the reply of those addressed—their “testimony concerning the teaching set forth in their preaching.”—Tr.
83
The reference seems to be to Matt. x. 7–10.
84
May. The death of Addæus occurred before that of Abgar, which took place a.d. 45. It would appear, therefore, that his ministry at Edessa lasted about ten or eleven years.
85
Compare the Teaching of the Apostles, Ord. xviii. p. 669, infra.
86
This seems to apply to those who especially belonged to the ministry of the Church. This is the only passage in the Documents in which women are spoken of as connected with the ministry.—Tr. [The estate of deaconesses was of Apostolic foundation. Rom. xvi. i.]
87
The reference is only to their purity of life. It is not implied that they lived in seclusion.—Tr.
88
Lit. “their burden-bearing.”—Tr.
89
Or “belonging to.”—Tr.
90
An allusion to Matt. iv. 19: “I will make you fishers of men.”
91
i.e., refusing to accept Christianity: as a few lines before.—Tr. The person referred to would seem to be the second of the two sons of Abgar called Maanu, who succeeded his brother Maanu, and reigned fourteen years—from a.d. 52 to a.d. 65, according to Dionysius as cited by Assemani.
92
This ignominious mode of execution, which was employed in the case of the two thieves at Calvary, seems to have been of Roman origin. The object of the king in putting Aggæus to this kind of death was, probably, to degrade and disgrace him.
93
This paragraph is a barefaced interpolation made by some ignorant person much later, who is also responsible for the additions to the Martyrdom of Sharbil, and to that of Barsamya. For this Palut was made Elder by Addæus himself, at the time that Aggæus was appointed Bishop, or Guide and Ruler. This took place even before the death of Abgar, who died a.d. 45; whereas Serapion did not become bishop of Antioch till the beginning of the third century, if, as is here stated, he was consecrated by Zephyrinus, who did not become Bishop of Rome till a.d. 201.
94
Moses Chor., ii. 36, calls him, in the translation of Le Vaillant de Florival, “Ghéroupna, fils de l’ecrivain Apchatar;” in that of Whiston, “Lerubnas, Apsadari scribæ filius.” Apchatar of the first, and Apsadar of the second, translator are evidently corruptions in the Armenian from the Adbshaddai (= Ebedshaddai) of the Syriac. Dr. Alishan, in a letter to Dr. Cureton from the Armenian Convent of St. Lazarus, Venice, says he has found an Armenianms., of probably the twelfth century, which he believes to be a translation of the present Syriac original. It is a history of Abgad and Thaddæus, written by Ghérubnia with the assistance of Ananias (= Hanan), confidant (= sharir) of King Abgar.
