The Doctrine of Addai (Syriac: ܡܠܦܢܘܬܐ ܕܐܕܝ ܫܠܝܚܐ Malp̄ānūṯā d-Addai Šlīḥā) is a Syriac Christian text, written in the late 4th or early 5th century CE. It recounts the legend of the Image of Edessa as well as the legendary works of Addai and his disciple Mari in Mesopotamia.[1]

Content

edit

The story of how King Abgar and Jesus had corresponded was first recounted in the 4th century by the church historian Eusebius of Caesarea in his Ecclesiastical History (i.13 and iii.1) and it was retold in elaborated form by Ephrem the Syrian.[citation needed]

Purpose

edit

Helmut Koester regards the development of tradition of Thaddaeus' activity in Edessa as part of an effort to build the authority of the orthodox or Palutian[a] faction in Syria against the Manicheans and gnostics, who had an older and stronger presence in the area and traced their lineage to Thomas the Apostle.[2][b] He considers the Palutian faction to have come to Edessa around 200 CE and only become significant in the fourth century.[3]

Manuscripts

edit
  • ms Saint-Pétersbourg, Bibliothèque Publique Saltykov-Shchedrine, N.S. Syr. 4 (Pigulevskaya 48), f. 1v33
  • ms Londres, British Library, Add. 14654, f. 33r-v (fgt) + Add. 14644, f. 1-9v + Add. 14535, f. 1r (fgt) + Add. 12155, f. 53v + Add. 17193, f. 36v-37 (extrait)
  • ms Alqosh, Église paroissiale chaldéenne, cod. 87 ?
  • ms Londres, British Library, Add. 12161, f. 1v (fgt)
  • ms Londres, British Library, Add. 14612, f. 165r (fgt)
  • ms Londres, British Library, Add. 14644, f. 1-9v (mutilé du début et au milieu)
  • ms Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, syr. 62, f. 102v-108 (extraits)
  • ms Birmingham, Selly Oak College Library, Coll. Mingana, Syr. 405, f. 1
  • ms Jérusalem, Couvent syrien orthodoxe Saint-Marc, cod. 153, p. 241-259[4]
  • Pseudo-Abdias (x. 1)
  • Nicephorus (H. E., ii. 7)[5][better source needed]

Published editions

edit
  • Phillips, George, ed. (1876). The Doctrine of Addai, the apostle (in Syriac). London: Trübner & Co. pp. 51–106.
  • Meščerskaja, Elena Nikitična (1984). Legenda ob Avgare — rannesirijskij literaturnyj pamjatnik: istoričeskie korni v ėvoljucii apokrifičeskoj legendy [The Legend of Abgar — early Syrian literary monument: Historical roots and evolution of an apocryphal legend] (in Russian). Moscow: Nauka. pp. 119–184. OCLC 715504370.

Modern translations

edit

English

edit

Other

edit
  • Desreumaux, Alain (1993). Histoire du roi Abgar et de Jésus: présentation et trad. du texte syriaque intégral de "La doctrine d'Addaï" [History of King Abgar and Jesus: Presentation and tradition Of the Syriac text of "The Doctrine of Addai"] (in French). Paris: Brepols. pp. 53–117. ISBN 978-2-503-50305-9. This also contains an Ethiopian version.[6]
  • Dutch: Jan Willem Drijvers, Helena Augusta, waarheid en legende ( Groningen: Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, 1989), pp: 153–157, Note: partielle
  • Russian: Elena Nikitična Meščerskaja, Legenda ob Avgare — rannesirijskij literaturnyj pamjatnik: (istoričeskie korni v ėvoljucii apokrifičeskoj legendy) ( Moskva: Nauka, 1984), pp: 185–203
  • Armenian: A Carrière, La légende d'Abgar dans l'Histoire d'Arménie de Moïse de Khoren ( Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1895), pp: 357–414
  • Ethiopic: Getatchew Haile, " The Legend of Abgar in Ethiopic Tradition," Orientalia christiana periodica vol. 55 ( 1989), pp: 375–410[4]

See also

edit

Notes

edit
  1. ^ The group now understood as the orthodox faction was known as the Palutians in Syria at this time. (Koester 1965, p. 305)
  2. ^ Cf. Bauer, Walter (1909). Das Leben Jesu im Zeitalter der neutestamentlichen Apokryphen (in German). Tübingen, Germany: J. C. B. Mohr. pp. 444–445.

Citations

edit
  1. ^ Noegel, Scott B.; Wheeler, Brannon M. (2010-04-01). The A to Z of Prophets in Islam and Judaism. Scarecrow Press. p. 89. ISBN 9781461718956.
  2. ^ Koester 1965, p. 296,305.
  3. ^ Koester 1965, p. 305-306.
  4. ^ a b c Saint-Laurent et al. 2015.
  5. ^   Walker, Alexander (1885). "Translator's introductory notice to the apocryphal acts of the apostles" . In Roberts, Alexander; Donaldson, James (eds.). Ante-Nicene Christian Library. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark.. Note: Walker conflates the 'Acts of Thaddeus with the Doctrine of Addai.
  6. ^ French national library

References

edit

Further reading

edit