03-30-2010, 11:39 PM
Peace and Blessings,
It has been said that Veta Syra was not highly regarded in the Syriac-speaking church. If that is true, then we will rarely find traces of it in Syriac documents. With this in mind, let us examine these claims.
When ancient "Syriac Christian" scribes translated a work, usually from Greek, they translated the entire work, save the OT/NT quotations. These were carefully supplanted by the familiar readings known to the translators. If we examine the works of Greek theologians that interested these scribes, the aforementioned process will guide us to what the "familiar" readings were. Arthur Voobus observes:
.....a systematic screening of the great mass of Syriac literature created during the centuries after the ultimate separation of the religious factions, yields a rich harvest. Many of these documents come from the sphere of the Old Syriac dominance and bear the sign of its influence. Many priests, bishops and other prominent clerics, as well as teachers, and other known and unknown writers, have used the Old Syriac Gospels, and quoted from them, some sparingly, but some abundantly; some negligently, but some very carefully....the works of John Chrysostom in the Syriac translation are an outstanding example. His great series of exegetical homilies and commentaries was translated into Syriac, and fortunately the transmission of the manuscripts can be traced even into the middle of the 6th century. Almost all this literature contains the inserted New Testament text and - be it noted - it is taken from the Old Syriac text type. The importance of these monuments surpasses that of all the other documents of translated literature. First, it is well known how often John Chrysostom quotes Scripture; and, second, it is evident that in the commentaries the Bible text is more carefully inserted....But that is not all. The richness of this field and the rewards reasonably to be expected from its cultivation are attested by the following fact: almost every document I have perused has brought me into contact with the inserted New Testament text taken from the Old Syriac version. Samples taken at random from Athanasius, Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus, Macarius, Cyril of Alexandria, Jesaja of Scete, John the Monk, and many, many authors translated in later centuries, even under Umayyads and Abbasids, show that they present the Old Syriac text type.
What is most interesting here is that the "Old Syriac text type" was even preferred centuries after the Peshitta.
Bibliography
V????bus, Arthur. "A CRITICAL APPARATUS FOR THE VETUS SYRA." Journal of Biblical Literature 70.2 (1951): n. pag. 30 Mar 2010.
It has been said that Veta Syra was not highly regarded in the Syriac-speaking church. If that is true, then we will rarely find traces of it in Syriac documents. With this in mind, let us examine these claims.
When ancient "Syriac Christian" scribes translated a work, usually from Greek, they translated the entire work, save the OT/NT quotations. These were carefully supplanted by the familiar readings known to the translators. If we examine the works of Greek theologians that interested these scribes, the aforementioned process will guide us to what the "familiar" readings were. Arthur Voobus observes:
.....a systematic screening of the great mass of Syriac literature created during the centuries after the ultimate separation of the religious factions, yields a rich harvest. Many of these documents come from the sphere of the Old Syriac dominance and bear the sign of its influence. Many priests, bishops and other prominent clerics, as well as teachers, and other known and unknown writers, have used the Old Syriac Gospels, and quoted from them, some sparingly, but some abundantly; some negligently, but some very carefully....the works of John Chrysostom in the Syriac translation are an outstanding example. His great series of exegetical homilies and commentaries was translated into Syriac, and fortunately the transmission of the manuscripts can be traced even into the middle of the 6th century. Almost all this literature contains the inserted New Testament text and - be it noted - it is taken from the Old Syriac text type. The importance of these monuments surpasses that of all the other documents of translated literature. First, it is well known how often John Chrysostom quotes Scripture; and, second, it is evident that in the commentaries the Bible text is more carefully inserted....But that is not all. The richness of this field and the rewards reasonably to be expected from its cultivation are attested by the following fact: almost every document I have perused has brought me into contact with the inserted New Testament text taken from the Old Syriac version. Samples taken at random from Athanasius, Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus, Macarius, Cyril of Alexandria, Jesaja of Scete, John the Monk, and many, many authors translated in later centuries, even under Umayyads and Abbasids, show that they present the Old Syriac text type.
What is most interesting here is that the "Old Syriac text type" was even preferred centuries after the Peshitta.
Bibliography
V????bus, Arthur. "A CRITICAL APPARATUS FOR THE VETUS SYRA." Journal of Biblical Literature 70.2 (1951): n. pag. 30 Mar 2010.