03-10-2010, 01:09 AM
Peace and Blessings,
Judge, I hope you are having a great day. I want you to consider the following passages. I have collected quotations from authoritative, varied sources in regards to the Peshitta and Old Syriac:
William L. Petersen:
If one ignores the Diatessaron (which is the oldest gospel text in Syriac), then three recensions of the gospels in Syriac exist. (A) The oldest of these three is the vetus syra or "Old Syriac," which exists in two manuscripts: Codex Sinaiticus (Syrs or Syrsin, dated to the mid- or late-fourth cent.) and Codex Curetonianus (Syrc or Syrcur, early fifth cent.). It must be pointed out that these two manuscripts do not appear to be related; rather, each seems to represent a more or less independent translation of a Greek archetype (the Greek archetype apparently differed, as well); that this is the case is demonstrated by the differences in (1) word order, (2) vocabulary choice, (3) handling of passages in the Greek which required circumlocution in the Syriac, etc.
5. (B) The second oldest version is the "Peshitta" (= "common" or "vulgate"; Syrp or Syrpes), extant in over 350 manuscripts (the oldest of which dates from the fifth cent.). Its genesis is placed in the early- to mid-fifth century. Unlike the vetus syra, whose circulation was apparently limited (it was overshadowed by the more ancient Diatessaron), the Peshitta enjoyed the approval of clergy whose allegiance was to the Western "Great Church"; it became the standard NT of the Syrian church. The Diatessaron--which from antiquity had been the standard text of the Syrian church--was swept aside in the 420s by the "Great Church" bishops (e.g., Rabbula of Edessa, Theodoret of Cyrrhus), whose allegiance lay with Rome and Constantinople, not the traditions of Edessa and Jerusalem (cf. the Doctrina Addai and the much-remarked upon and striking disjunction between bishop Aggai [Jerusalem-oriented] and his successor bishop Palut [Rome-oriented]; see, e.g., Bauer 1971: 16-17). The Peshitta represents a careful, quite consistent rendering of its fourth- or fifth-century Greek base. (<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://rosetta.reltech.org/TC/vol02/Kiraz1997rev.html">http://rosetta.reltech.org/TC/vol02/Kiraz1997rev.html</a><!-- m -->)
Ilaria Ramelli (footnotes):
6 This is the oldest Syriac version of the Gospels after Tatian???s fragmentary
Diatessaron (which moreover was a harmony rather than a translation
of the four Gospels). The Vetus Syra, i.e., the ???Gospel of the Separated???
(in reference to its distinction from the Diatessaron), dates to the late
second century in its earliest phases, and in its late phases to the fourth.
7 Sinaiticus, or ms. Syr. Sin. 30, is a palimpsest from the Monastery of
St. Catherine on Mt. Sinai: its original leaves date back to the fourth century,
and it reflects a still earlier translation, of the second or third century:
thus, it is a fundamental witness to a very early phase of the Vetus Syra. It
is probable that relatively soon further parts of this translation will be
available, which would be most valuable to scholars. Curetonianus (ms.
Brit. Lib. Add. 14451), written in the fifth century, represents a later stage
of the Vetus Syra, probably of the fourth century.
8 I use G. A. Kiraz, Comparative Edition of the Syriac Gospels, Aligning the
Sinaiticus, Curetonianus, Pesh??t?t?? and H?arklean Versions (Leiden: Brill, 1996),
3.352 on Luke 17:21b. The Peshitta was born as a revision of the Vetus
Syra aimed at a more literal adherence to the Greek; it was completed in
the fifth century for the New Testament. (<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://syrcom.cua.edu/Hugoye/Vol12No2/HV12N2Ramelli.pdf">http://syrcom.cua.edu/Hugoye/Vol12No2/HV12N2Ramelli.pdf</a><!-- m -->)
Brittanica Encyclopedia under "Peshitta" and "Diatessaron":
Peshitta
(Syriac: ???simple,??? or ???common???), Syriac version of the Bible, the accepted Bible of Syrian Christian churches from the end of the 3rd century ad. The name Peshitta was first employed by Moses bar Kepha in the 9th century to suggest (as does the name of the Latin Vulgate) that the text was in common use. The name also may have been employed in contradistinction to the more complex Syro-Hexaplar version.
Of the vernacular versions of the Bible, the Old Testament Peshitta is second only to the Greek Septuagint in antiquity, dating from probably the 1st and 2nd centuries ad. The earliest parts in Old Syriac are thought to have been translated from Hebrew or Aramaic texts by Jewish Christians at Edessa, although the Old Testament Peshitta was later revised according to Greek textual principles. The earliest extant versions of the New Testament Peshitta date to the 5th century ad and exclude The Second Letter of Peter, The Second Letter of John, the Third Letter of John, The Letter of Jude, and The Revelation to John, which were not canonical in the Syrian church.
Diatessaron
the four New Testament Gospels compiled as a single narrative by Tatian about ad 150. It was the standard Gospel text in the Syrian Middle East until about ad 400, when it was replaced by the four separated Gospels. Quotations from the Diatessaron appear in ancient Syriac literature, but no ancient Syriac manuscript now exists. A 3rd-century Greek papyrus fragment was discovered in 1933 at Doura-Europus, northwest of Baghdad, Iraq. Whether the original writing was done in Greek or Syriac is unknown. There are also manuscripts in Arabian and Persian and translations into European languages made during the Middle Ages.
George Kiraz:
The Old Syriac is known in Syriac as Evangelion Dampharshe meaning 'Gospel of the Separated [Evangelists]', in order to distinguish it from the Diatessaron, 'Gospel of the Mixed'. This translation was made at some point between the late second century and the early fourth century by a number of translators. Rather a literal translation, this was a rather free translation from the Greek. A series of revisions took place over a long period of time which brought the Old Syriac into closer line with the Greek. The original translation of the Old Syriac is lost, but we are fortunate to have two lacunous manuscripts which represent two different stages of the revisions: the Sinaiticus palimpsest and the Curetonianus manuscript ( <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://sor.cua.edu/Bible/OldSyriac.html">http://sor.cua.edu/Bible/OldSyriac.html</a><!-- m -->).
Kevin
Judge, I hope you are having a great day. I want you to consider the following passages. I have collected quotations from authoritative, varied sources in regards to the Peshitta and Old Syriac:
William L. Petersen:
If one ignores the Diatessaron (which is the oldest gospel text in Syriac), then three recensions of the gospels in Syriac exist. (A) The oldest of these three is the vetus syra or "Old Syriac," which exists in two manuscripts: Codex Sinaiticus (Syrs or Syrsin, dated to the mid- or late-fourth cent.) and Codex Curetonianus (Syrc or Syrcur, early fifth cent.). It must be pointed out that these two manuscripts do not appear to be related; rather, each seems to represent a more or less independent translation of a Greek archetype (the Greek archetype apparently differed, as well); that this is the case is demonstrated by the differences in (1) word order, (2) vocabulary choice, (3) handling of passages in the Greek which required circumlocution in the Syriac, etc.
5. (B) The second oldest version is the "Peshitta" (= "common" or "vulgate"; Syrp or Syrpes), extant in over 350 manuscripts (the oldest of which dates from the fifth cent.). Its genesis is placed in the early- to mid-fifth century. Unlike the vetus syra, whose circulation was apparently limited (it was overshadowed by the more ancient Diatessaron), the Peshitta enjoyed the approval of clergy whose allegiance was to the Western "Great Church"; it became the standard NT of the Syrian church. The Diatessaron--which from antiquity had been the standard text of the Syrian church--was swept aside in the 420s by the "Great Church" bishops (e.g., Rabbula of Edessa, Theodoret of Cyrrhus), whose allegiance lay with Rome and Constantinople, not the traditions of Edessa and Jerusalem (cf. the Doctrina Addai and the much-remarked upon and striking disjunction between bishop Aggai [Jerusalem-oriented] and his successor bishop Palut [Rome-oriented]; see, e.g., Bauer 1971: 16-17). The Peshitta represents a careful, quite consistent rendering of its fourth- or fifth-century Greek base. (<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://rosetta.reltech.org/TC/vol02/Kiraz1997rev.html">http://rosetta.reltech.org/TC/vol02/Kiraz1997rev.html</a><!-- m -->)
Ilaria Ramelli (footnotes):
6 This is the oldest Syriac version of the Gospels after Tatian???s fragmentary
Diatessaron (which moreover was a harmony rather than a translation
of the four Gospels). The Vetus Syra, i.e., the ???Gospel of the Separated???
(in reference to its distinction from the Diatessaron), dates to the late
second century in its earliest phases, and in its late phases to the fourth.
7 Sinaiticus, or ms. Syr. Sin. 30, is a palimpsest from the Monastery of
St. Catherine on Mt. Sinai: its original leaves date back to the fourth century,
and it reflects a still earlier translation, of the second or third century:
thus, it is a fundamental witness to a very early phase of the Vetus Syra. It
is probable that relatively soon further parts of this translation will be
available, which would be most valuable to scholars. Curetonianus (ms.
Brit. Lib. Add. 14451), written in the fifth century, represents a later stage
of the Vetus Syra, probably of the fourth century.
8 I use G. A. Kiraz, Comparative Edition of the Syriac Gospels, Aligning the
Sinaiticus, Curetonianus, Pesh??t?t?? and H?arklean Versions (Leiden: Brill, 1996),
3.352 on Luke 17:21b. The Peshitta was born as a revision of the Vetus
Syra aimed at a more literal adherence to the Greek; it was completed in
the fifth century for the New Testament. (<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://syrcom.cua.edu/Hugoye/Vol12No2/HV12N2Ramelli.pdf">http://syrcom.cua.edu/Hugoye/Vol12No2/HV12N2Ramelli.pdf</a><!-- m -->)
Brittanica Encyclopedia under "Peshitta" and "Diatessaron":
Peshitta
(Syriac: ???simple,??? or ???common???), Syriac version of the Bible, the accepted Bible of Syrian Christian churches from the end of the 3rd century ad. The name Peshitta was first employed by Moses bar Kepha in the 9th century to suggest (as does the name of the Latin Vulgate) that the text was in common use. The name also may have been employed in contradistinction to the more complex Syro-Hexaplar version.
Of the vernacular versions of the Bible, the Old Testament Peshitta is second only to the Greek Septuagint in antiquity, dating from probably the 1st and 2nd centuries ad. The earliest parts in Old Syriac are thought to have been translated from Hebrew or Aramaic texts by Jewish Christians at Edessa, although the Old Testament Peshitta was later revised according to Greek textual principles. The earliest extant versions of the New Testament Peshitta date to the 5th century ad and exclude The Second Letter of Peter, The Second Letter of John, the Third Letter of John, The Letter of Jude, and The Revelation to John, which were not canonical in the Syrian church.
Diatessaron
the four New Testament Gospels compiled as a single narrative by Tatian about ad 150. It was the standard Gospel text in the Syrian Middle East until about ad 400, when it was replaced by the four separated Gospels. Quotations from the Diatessaron appear in ancient Syriac literature, but no ancient Syriac manuscript now exists. A 3rd-century Greek papyrus fragment was discovered in 1933 at Doura-Europus, northwest of Baghdad, Iraq. Whether the original writing was done in Greek or Syriac is unknown. There are also manuscripts in Arabian and Persian and translations into European languages made during the Middle Ages.
George Kiraz:
The Old Syriac is known in Syriac as Evangelion Dampharshe meaning 'Gospel of the Separated [Evangelists]', in order to distinguish it from the Diatessaron, 'Gospel of the Mixed'. This translation was made at some point between the late second century and the early fourth century by a number of translators. Rather a literal translation, this was a rather free translation from the Greek. A series of revisions took place over a long period of time which brought the Old Syriac into closer line with the Greek. The original translation of the Old Syriac is lost, but we are fortunate to have two lacunous manuscripts which represent two different stages of the revisions: the Sinaiticus palimpsest and the Curetonianus manuscript ( <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://sor.cua.edu/Bible/OldSyriac.html">http://sor.cua.edu/Bible/OldSyriac.html</a><!-- m -->).
Kevin