Rediscovery of the Oldest Recension of the Lost Original Greek Text of the ‘Notitia Antiochena’

Introduction

In the course of cataloging the Syriac manuscripts in the Oriental Institute Museum of the University of Chicago, a rediscovery was made of a collection of six leaves on parchment with Syriac text, dated to the middle of the ninth century. Among these leaves, a fragment was found that contains the records of the episcopal sees of the patriarchate of Antioch, known as Notitia Antiochena. It was translated from the lost Greek original text, probably at the end of the seventh century or the beginning of the eighth century. I have edited the Syriac text and translated it into English with a commentary in a recent article published in the journal Oriens Christianus 103 (2020): 1-23.

My intention here is to share this rediscovery with the public, as well academics, summarizing some discussion and observations about this historical document. Among its many characteristics, it also reflects a cultural and linguistic shift between the Greek Byzantine and Syriac worlds. This is seen in the context of a new Arab Muslim political reality in Syria and North Mesopotamia between the seventh and ninth centuries.

Notitia Antiochena

Among the historical sources for the ecclesiastic geography in late antiquity, Syria and Byzantine Mesopotamia is a list of episcopal sees of the patriarchate of Antioch, known as Notitia Antiochena. This register was drawn up in Greek in 570 by Anastasios I, the Chalcedonian patriarch of Antioch (died 599), and records the bishoprics of the Patriarchate of Antioch, according to the following:

• Twelve Great metropolitanates: Tyre; Tarsus; Edessa; Apamea; Hierapolis; Bostra; Anazarb; Seleucia; Damascus; Amid; Sergiopolis; and Dara.
• Autocephalous metropolitan: Berytos; Emesa; Laodicea; Samosata; Cyrrhos; Martyropolis; Callinicos.
• Syncelli bishops: Aleppo; Chalcis; Gabala; Seleucia; Anasarta; Paltos; Gabbula.
• Simple bishoprics: Salamias; Barkousa
• Suffragan bishopric sees: 124 suffragan bishopric sees distributed within the twelve great metropolitanates.

Lost Original Greek Text and its Survival in a Collection of Recensions

The original Greek text of the Notitia Antiochena, or the register of episcopal sees, is lost and survived only in later recensions in Greek, Syriac, Armenian, and Arabic. The Notitia Antiochena has attracted much attention since its edition by the Greek scholar Papadopoulos-Kerameus in 1884. Simeon Vailhé then dedicated a study of this document and made the first attempt to restore its original form, followed by Ernst Honigmann, who also tried to restore the original Greek text with the help of all the surviving variants. It is important to mention that all the recensions know up to now are found in manuscripts copied after the twelfth century.

Robert Devreesse’s Doubt

Robert Devreesse questioned the authorship and the date of composition of the Notitia Antiochena. Devreesse believed that Notitia Antiochena is a fragment detached from a treatise on the Pentarchy known as Recapitulatio thronorum. Recapitulatio thronorum was probably composed in the second half of the ninth century and lists the major episcopal sees of the patriarchate of Antioch, with the exception, however, of the suffragan bishoprics. According to Devreesse, a forger extracted Notitia Antiochena from the very beginning of the appearance of Recapitulatio thronorum and filled in for each province the name of the omitted suffragan bishopric sees. The whole thing would naturally have been placed under the authority of Patriarch Anastasios (died 599). However, a recent discovery that I was fortunate to make of an unknown Syriac recension found in a manuscript from the middle of the ninth century, based on a much older Greek original, disproves the doubt of Devreesse.

However, a recent discovery that I was fortunate to make of an unknown Syriac recension found in a manuscript from the middle of the ninth century, based on a much older Greek original, disproves the doubt of Devreesse.

Rediscovery of the Oldest Recension of the Lost Original Greek Text

During my work cataloging the Syriac manuscript collection of the Oriental Institute Museum, I have identified two Syriac fragments, which are part of a collection of six leaves from the middle of the ninth century. These contain a record of the episcopal sees of the patriarchate of Antioch (Notitia Antiochena) which is the oldest version known to us up to now. These surviving leaves, which were purchased by Martin Sprengling from the Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Afrem Barṣawm on July 1st, 1928, belonged to the same manuscript known as “the canonical collection of Beth Sabrina,” which was lost during the First World War.

The first reference to this Syriac recension was made by Afrem Barṣawm in his catalog Maḫṭūṭāt Ṭūr ˓Abdīn:

“The record of the episcopal sees and the principle provinces, metropolitanates and bishoprics of the see of Antioch and more […] the total number (of the episcopal sees) is 153.”

Barṣawm also mentioned this recension in his book The Scattered Pearls: A History of Syriac Literature and Sciences:

“A table of the 153 episcopal sees of Antioch made in the middle of the sixth century with some revisions. We found an old copy of this table in Beth Sabrīnō commented upon in the second half of the ninth century which we quoted. A second copy of the same, in the Library at Ḥimṣ, was completed in 1602 and is not free from distortion. There are also some differences between the two copies.”

In the very recent publication of the journal Oriens Christianus 103 (2020), I made these two fragments and their contents known by editing the Syriac text and translating it into English.

Some Observations and Aspects

The critical examination of the text shows that our Notitia is basically two Notitias: one belongs to the seventh century and was translated from the original Greek, and the second infused the ecclesiastic updates regarding the status of some of the suffragan sees into the more archaic one, yet, without changing it. Here we are dealing with two layers found in one document: 1) the Syriac translation of the original Greek text dating back to the end of the seventh century or the beginning of the eighth century; 2) a geographical and ecclesiastic update that was made between the end of the eighth century or the first half of the ninth century.

Among the interesting aspects of this text is the transliteration of the place names from Greek to Syriac. It is more systematic than the other much more recent Syriac versions, and this reflects the work of an expert translator. This could also indicate that the Syriac form of our Notitia is a direct translation from the original Greek with a very limited number of copies in between. The text frequently adds Syriac matres lectionis resembling the Greek vowels to the consonantal structure of Syriac. The Greek ε epsilon was always transliterated into the Syriac letter of ܗ, which is a rare practice witnessed in the manuscripts. This practice evidently came into (limited) use in the seventh and eighth centuries.

It is more systematic than the other much more recent Syriac versions, and this reflects the work of an expert translator.

Another interesting aspect is that the place names of the episcopal sees were transliterated into Syriac; however, the translator kept the original Greek form of the place names to preserve the original Greek topographical aspect of the document. In addition, a noticeably large amount of these place names were given with Syriac alternatives. It seems that the original translator considered the political and social developments of his time in Syria and Mesopotamia, particularly with the growing Arabic culture under the Muslim Arab dominion. This probably explains the presence of a good number of alternatives local places names that were given in this document.

Below is an example of the original Greek form of the place names and, in parallel, the Syriac alternative ones:

About the Author

Iskandar Bcheiry, PhD, Metadata Editor in the Production Department of Atla, frequently publishes articles in the Atla Blog on Syriac Orthodoxy. Read his recent article published in the journal, Oriens Christianus 103 (2020): 1-23, for more information on this topic.