Narsai

6th-century Syriac poet From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Narsai (sometimes spelt Narsay, Narseh or Narses; Classical Syriac: ܢܪܣܝ, romanized: Narsay, name derived from Pahlavi Narsēh from Avestan Nairyō.saȵhō, meaning 'potent utterance'; c. 399 – c. 502) was one of the foremost of the poet-theologians of the early Church of the East, perhaps equal in stature to Jacob of Serugh, both second only to Ephrem the Syrian. He is venerated as a saint in all the modern descendants of the Church of the East; the Chaldean Catholic Church, Assyrian Church of the East, Ancient Church of the East, and Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. Saint Narsai is known as the 'Flute of the Holy Spirit.'

Bornc. 399
‘Ain Dulba (ܥܝܢ ܕܘܠܒܐ)
(modern-day Iraq)
Diedc. 502
Nisibis, Sassanid Empire
(modern-day Nusaybin, Mardin, Turkey)
VeneratedinRoman Catholic Church
Assyrian Church of the East
Ancient Church of the East
Syro Malabar Church
Chaldean Catholic Church
Quick facts Saint, Born ...
Saint

Narsai
Bornc. 399
‘Ain Dulba (ܥܝܢ ܕܘܠܒܐ)
(modern-day Iraq)
Diedc. 502
Nisibis, Sassanid Empire
(modern-day Nusaybin, Mardin, Turkey)
Venerated inRoman Catholic Church
Assyrian Church of the East
Ancient Church of the East
Syro Malabar Church
Chaldean Catholic Church
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Although many of his works seem to have been lost, around eighty of his mēmrē (ܡܐܡܖ̈ܐ), or verse homilies are extant.

Life

Narsai was born at ‘Ain Dulba (ܥܝܢ ܕܘܠܒܐ "Plane Tree Spring") in the district of Ma‘alləta (ܡܥܠܬܐ) in the Sasanian Empire (now in Duhok Governorate, Iraq).[1]: 2  Being orphaned at an early age, he was raised by his uncle, who was head of the monastery of Kfar Mari (ܕܝܪܐ ܕܟܦܪ ܡܪܝ) near Beth Zabdai (ܒܝܬ ܙܒܕܝ). Narsai spent ten years as a student at the School of Edessa and later returned there to teach (c. 437), eventually becoming head of the school. Perhaps in 471, Narsai left Edessa after disagreeing with the city's bishop Cyrus (471–498). With the help of his friend Barsauma, who was bishop of Nisibis (although Narsai and Barsauma's wife do not seem to have seen eye-to-eye), Narsai re-established the School of Nisibis.[1]: 3  When his former school was ordered closed by Byzantine emperor Zeno in 489, it seems that many of his faithful staff and students came to join Narsai in Nisibis. Evidence from the first Statutes of the School of Nisibis, drafted in 496, shows that Narsai was still alive, and he must have been a venerable old teacher in his nineties. Narsai died sometime early in the sixth century[2] and was buried in Nisibis in a church that was later named after him. Joseph Huzaya was one of his pupils.

Narsai's extant works belong to the distinctive Syriac literary genre of the mēmrā, or homily in verse. He employs two different metres — one with couplets of seven syllables per line, the other with twelve. The mêmrê were designed to be recited in church or religious school, each an exposition of a particular theme. The later Syriac writer Abdisho bar Berika of Nisibis suggests that Narsai wrote 360 mēmrē in twelve volumes along with prose commentaries on large sections of the Old Testament and a book entitled On the Corruption of Morals.[1]: 6  However, only eighty mēmrē remain, and none of his prose works.

Homilies

Hundreds of works have been attributed to Narsai, but only just over 80 of his homilies (mēmrē) have survived. Some surviving sogitha are also attributed to Narsai, but they are considered spurious.[3] The homilies are all poetry, and most use 12-syllable metre, with a minority using 7-syllable meter. Most, if not all, of Narsai's homilies involve biblical exegesis across liturgical, moral, and theological subjects.[4]

In 1905, Alphonse Mingana published a two-volume work with the Syriac text of 47 of these homilies. In 1970, a photographic reproduction of a manuscript with 72 of Narsai's homilies was published by Patriarchal Press. Two numbering systems are used for Narsai's homilies: one by Mingana, and a second by Macomber,[5] in his 1970 inventory of Narsai's manuscripts.[6]

List of Narsai's homilies

More information Name, Number (Macomber) ...
Name[7]Number (Macomber)[7]Number (Mingana)[6]Translations Additional notes
On Revelations to Patriarchs and Prophets (I)11English[8]
On Revelations to Patriarchs and Prophets (II)22
On Revelations to Abraham33English[9]
On the Nativity4-English[10]
On Mary

(On the Incarnation)

 5-English[11][12]
On Epiphany6-English[13]
On John the Baptist7-English[14]
On Peter and Paul84English[15]

German[16]
On the Four Evangelists9-
On Stephen105English[17]
On the Three Doctors11-French[18]
On the Iniquity of the World126English[19]
On Supplication

(On Prayer)

 137English[20]
On Jonah148English[21][22]
On Reproof159
On Human Nature1616English[23]
For Any Saints Day17-
On the Departed and the Resurrection18-French[24][25]
On Works19-
On Lent I2010
On the Temptation of Christ (1)21-English[26]
On the Temptation of Christ (2)22-
On Lent III2311
On Lent IV2412
On Reproof2513
On Lent V2614
On the Parable of the Ten Virgins2715French[27]
On the Raising of Lazarus28-
On Palm Sunday (1)29-
On Palm Sunday (2)30-
Against the Jews3118Italian[28]
On the Canaanite Women32-English[29]
On the Prodigal Son33-French[30]
On Holy Week3419
On the Mysteries3517English[31]

French[32]

 Probable forgery[33]
On the Passion36-McLeod[34]
On the Repentant Thief3720English[35]
On Mysteries and Baptism3821English[36]

French[37][32]
On Baptism3922English[38]

French[39]
On the Resurrection40-McLeod[40]
On the Confessors4124
On the Martyrs (1)4225
On the Martyrs (2)43- Probable forgery
On New Sunday

(On the New Creation)

 4426English[41]
On the Ascension45-McLeod[42]
On Pentecost4627
On the Workers in the Vineyard4728French[43]
On the Rich Man and Lazarus4828French[44]
On Creation IV

(On the Forming of Adam and Eve)

 4929English[45]

French[46][47]
On Humility50-
On the Antichrist5123
On the Second Coming5223French[48]
On the Wheat and the Tares53-French[49]
On the Finding of the Cross5430
On the Bronze Serpent55-English[50]
On the Dedication of the Church56-
On the Tabernacle57-English[51]
On Isaiah's Vision5831English[52]
On the Church and the Priesthood5932English[53]
On the Dedication of the Church6033English[54]

German[55]
On Creation II6134French[56][57]
On Creation III6235English[58]

French[59]
On Creation I6336French[60][61]
On Creation V6437French[62]
On Creation VI6538French[63]

German[64]
On the Soul6639German[65]
On the Blessing of Noah67-English[66]
On the Tower of Babel68-English[67]
On Job6940
On Joseph7041
On the Flood71-English[68]
On the Miracles of Moses7242
On Samson7343
On David and Saul74-
On Solomon75-
On Enoch and Elijah76-English[69]
On the Three Children7744
On Reproof of the Clergy7845
On Reproof7946
On Reproof of Women8047English[70]
On John 1:14

(On Christology)

 81-English[71]
On the Feast of the Victorious Cross82
(Title Unknown)83
(Title Unknown)84
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Syriac editions

  • Major collection of Narsai's works, containing the full text of 47 memre and the incipits of 34 more — Mingana, Alphonse (1905). Narsai Doctoris Syri Homiliæ et Carmina (in Syriac and Latin). Mosul.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Published translations

English

French

  • Brouwers (1965). "Premier poème de Narsaï sur le Baptême". Mélanges de l'Université Saint-Joseph. 41: 177–207.
  • Delly, E. (1959). "Le 23e 'Memra' de Narsai". Divinitas. 3: 514–553.
  • Frishmann, J., ed. (1992). Narsai's Memre on Old testament Topics. University of Leiden (dissertation).
  • Martin, F (1900). "Homélie de Narsaï sur les trois Docteurs". Journal Asiatique. 15: 469–525. Archived from the original on December 21, 2006.
  • Guillaumont, Antoine (1956). "Poème de Narsaï sur le baptême". L'Orient Syrian. 1 (2): 189–207.
  • Gignoux, Philippe, ed. (1968). Homélies de Narsaï sur la création: Édition critique du texte syriaque. Patrologia Orientalis 34, fasc. 3–4 (in French). Turnhout/Paris: Brepols.
  • Gignoux, Philippe (1962). "Homélie de Narsai sur la création d'Adam et d'Eve et sur la transgression du commandement". L'Orient Syrian. 7: 307–336.
  • Gignoux, Philippe (1962b). "Homélie de Narsai sur la création du monde". L'Orient Syrian. 7: 477–506.
  • Gignoux, Philippe (1963). "Sur les mystères de l'église et sur le baptême". In Hamman, A. (ed.). L'Initiation chrétienne. Bernard Grasset. pp. 195–213.
  • Gignoux, Philippe (1963b). "Sur l'exposition des mystères". In Hamman, A. (ed.). L'Initiation chrétienne. Bernard Grasset. pp. 214–247.
  • Gignoux, Philippe (1963c). "Homélie de Narsai sur le mot 'au commencement' et sur I'Essence divine". L'Orient Syrian. 8: 227–250.
  • Gignoux, Philippe (1966). "Les doctrines eschatologiques de Narsai". L'Orient Syrian. 11: 321–352, 461–488.
  • Gignoux, Philippe (1967). "Les doctrines eschatologiques de Narsai". L'Orient Syrian. 12: 23–54.
  • Kruger, Paul (1958). "Traduction et commentaire de l'homélie de Narsaï sur les martyrs. Contribution à l'étude du culte des martyrs dans le nestorianisme primitif". L'Orient Syrien. 3: 299–316.
  • Siman, Emmanuel Pataq, ed. (1984). Cinq homélies sur les paraboles évangéliques (in French). Paris: Cariscript.

German

  • Allgeier, Arthur (1917). "Der König und die Königin des 44. (45.) Psalmes im Lichte des N. Test. und der altchristlichen Auslegung. Ein Beitrag zur Begriffsgeschichte der Sponsa Christi". Der Katholik. 19 (3): 145–173.
  • Allgeier, Arthur (1922). "Ein syrischer Memrâ über die Seele religionsgeschichtlichem Rahmen". Archiv fiir Religionswissenschaft. 21: 360–396.
  • Kruger, Paul (1952). "Die älteste syrisch-nestorianische Dokument über die Engel". Ostkirchliche Studien. 1: 283–296.
  • Kruger, Paul (1958b). "Ein Missionsdokument aus frühchristlicher Zeit. Deutung und Übersetzung des Sermo de memoria Petri et Pauli des Narsai". Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft und Religions wissenschaft. 42: 271–291.

Italian

  • Mingana, Paul T. (2003). E saranno benedetti nel tuo seme tutti i popoli della terra : uno studio di Pshitta Gn 22, 15-18 nell'esegesi di Mar Narsai, tesi di laurea in Teologia Biblica / Paul T. Mingana. Pontificia Universitas Urbaniana.

See also

References

Further reading

External links

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