Syriac[1] is a dialect of Aramaic.[2] Portions of the Old Testament were written in Aramaic and there are Aramaic phrases in the New Testament. Syriac translations of the New Testament were among the first and date from the 2nd century. The whole Bible was translated by the 5th century. Besides Syriac, there are Bible translations into other Aramaic dialects.

Syria played an important or even predominant role in the beginning of Christianity. Here is where the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of Luke, the Didache, Ignatiana, and the Gospel of Thomas are believed to have been written. Syria was the country in which the Greek language intersected with the Syriac, which was closely related to the Aramaic dialect used by Jesus and the Apostles. That is why Syriac versions are highly esteemed by textual critics.[3]

Scholars have distinguished five or six different Syriac versions of all or part of the New Testament. It is possible that some translations have been lost. The manuscripts originate in countries like Lebanon, Egypt (Sinai), Mesopotamia, Assyria, Armenia, Georgia, India, and even from China.[citation needed] This is good evidence for the great historical activity of the Syriac Church of the East.[4]

Bruce M. Metzger

At Antioch of Syria, the third largest city of the Roman Empire, the followers of Jesus were first called Christians (Acts 11:26). Though most of the mixed population of Antioch were acquainted with Greek, when the new faith spread elsewhere in Syria during the second half of the second century, the need was felt for a rendering of the Scriptures into the mother tongue of the populace. This was Syriac, a branch of Aramaic that was akin to Hebrew, though using a different script (called Estrangela; later, other forms were used). From a very early date, the center of Syriac-speaking Christianity was Edessa (now Urfa in southeast Turkey). The church there, destroyed in 201 during a flood, may be the oldest known Christian edifice. The town soon became the most important bishopric in Syria. Large and well-built villages developed up to the desert edge. The gospel had a great number of devoted followers throughout all that region. At the close of the second or beginning of the third century, parts of the New Testament began to circulate in Syria in what is called the Old Syriac version. Only two manuscripts of this version, both containing text from the Gospels, have survived. These are known as the Curetonian and the Sinaitic Syriac manuscripts, written in the fifth and fourth centuries respectively. There was current also at the close of the second century an edition of the four Gospels in one continuous narrative. This had been compiled by Tatian, a native of Assyria who had become a Christian in Rome between 150 and 165, where he was a pupil of Justin Martyr. Whether Tatian’s work was first published in Greek at Rome about A.D. 170 or in Syriac in his native land has not been determined with finality. In any case, for the next several centuries Christian congregations throughout the Middle East made use of his harmony, known as the Diatessaron (Greek for “through the Four”). Unfortunately, all of the witnesses to the Diatessaron that are extant today, with the exception of one imperfect leaf of Greek text, are secondary and tertiary witnesses. The form of the Syriac Bible that came to prevail in Eastern churches has, since the ninth century, been called the Peshitta, meaning “simple” or “common.” It is not known whether the term refers to its simple, nonarchaic language or to its unifying of different existing translations. The origins of the Peshitta Old Testament are shrouded in uncertainty, but in part it would seem to be the work of Jews, and in the Pentateuch, at least, there appear to be tenuous links with the Targums. Those who suppose Christian, or Jewish Christian, origin usually locate the translation in Edessa. On the assumption of Jewish origin, however, one may think either of Edessa or of Adiabene, the Jewish kingdom east of the Tigris. The question whether the translators of the Old Testament were Jewish or Christian has been hotly debated, both in antiquity as well as today. Recently, however, it has been suggested that this should not be posed as a question of either/or, since it is quite possible that some books were translated into Syriac by Jews and others by Christians. It must not be assumed, however, that the Christian translators were of gentile background, but rather that they were converts to Christianity from Judaism. It is generally recognized that a sufficient knowledge of Hebrew among Christians of gentile background would be extremely unlikely. Furthermore, had the incentive to translate a book, or books, of the Old Testament come from gentile Christians, then the translation would have been made from the Septuagint rather than the Hebrew, since the former had rapidly established itself as the authoritative text of the Old Testament for Christians. The diversity of translators who produced the Peshitta version is reflected in the strikingly diverse style and quality of the rendering. The Pentateuch is very literal, which is true also for the Song of Songs; Psalms and the Minor Prophets are free translations; Ezekiel and Proverbs are close to the Targums; Job is servile and sometimes unintelligible; Ruth is a mere paraphrase. Furthermore, the influence of the Greek Septuagint is obvious from the inclusion of Syriac translations of non-Hebraic books of the Apocrypha in Peshitta manuscripts. The late M. P. Weitzman argued that the Old Testament Peshitta “was put together about 200 c.e. by a small Jewish community estranged from the Rabbinic majority, and the community eventually embraced Christianity, bringing the Old Testament Peshitta with them.” The manuscripts extant today present considerable variety in the number of books and the order in which they are placed. Some manuscripts have, after the Pentateuch, a section comprising the books of Joshua, Judges, Job, Samuel and Kings, Proverbs, Ecclesiasticus, Ecclesiastes, Ruth, and Song of Songs. In other manuscripts, Ruth, Esther, Judith, and Susanna are grouped as the Book of Women. The Psalter is commonly found divided into twenty sections. Several manuscripts also contain a variety of pseudepigraphic works. As for the New Testament, the process of producing the Peshitta version from the Old Syriac probably began before the end of the fourth century and seems to have been completed no later than the time of Rabbula, bishop of Edessa (A.D. 411–35). Since the Syrian church did not (and does not) accept as canonical the four lesser General Epistles (2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, and Jude) and the Book of Revelation, the Peshitta New Testament contains only twenty-two books. The Peshitta remains the authoritative biblical text of Syriac-speaking churches: Syrian Orthodox, Church of the East (or Chaldean Christians), Syrian Catholics, Malabar (or St. Thomas) Christians, and the Syro-Malankarese Church. Following the completion of the Peshitta in the fourth or fifth century, two other Syriac versions of the New Testament were made. At the beginning of the sixth century, Philoxenus, the Jacobite bishop of Mabbug (Hierapolis) in eastern Syria, commissioned Polycarp, a chorepiscopus (rural assistant to a bishop), to revise the Peshitta version on the basis of Greek manuscripts. Now, seemingly for the first time in Syriac, to the twenty-two books included in the Peshitta New Testament, the other five books were added. This work was completed in 508. Since the Philoxenian version had been sponsored by Jacobite ecclesiastics, it was used only by the Monophysite branch of Syriac-speaking Christendom. In the year 616, the Philoxenian version of the New Testament was drastically revised throughout by Thomas of Harkel. He made use of readings derived from Greek manuscripts in the library of the Enaton near Alexandria. The chief characteristic of the Harclean version is its slavish adaptation to the Greek, to such an extent that here and there even clarity is sacrificed. Occasionally, instead of a native Syriac word, the Harclean uses a Greek loanword transliterated into Syriac. About the same time, Paul, the Jacobite bishop of Tella in Mesopotamia, made a Syriac translation of the Greek text of the Septuagint as contained in the fifth column of Origen’s Hexapla (see p. 19 above). Produced with great care and accuracy, it is an important witness to the text of the Old Testament because it preserves Origen’s critical symbols, which have disappeared from nearly all the Greek manuscripts copied from the original Hexapla. Finally, to round out this account of Syriac versions, reference should be made to yet another Syriac version, more properly designated the Christian Palestinian Aramaic version. The language of this version is the Aramaic dialect used in Palestine during early Christian centuries. Its only claim to be called Syriac rests upon the script in which it is written, which resembles somewhat the Estrangela Syriac script. The language came to be used by Melchite Christians in Palestine and Egypt during the sixth, seventh, and following centuries. From the foregoing sketch of half a dozen ancient Syriac translations, one can recognize the vitality and scholarship of Syrian church leaders in antiquity. The significance of these Syriac versions can also be appreciated from the circumstance that they became the basis, at least in part, of translations in other languages. The early Armenian rendering of the Gospels, made in the fifth century, shows influence from the Old Syriac text, while the Old Testament, as would be expected, generally follows the Hexaplaric recension of the Septuagint. The Georgian Bible, completed, it seems, by the end of the sixth century, had an Armenian-Syriac foundation. The Peshitta Syriac version was also the basis of the Sogdian and some of the Arabic versions.[5]

Diatessaron

This is the earliest translation of the gospels into Syriac. The earliest translation of any New Testament text from Greek seems to have been the Diatessaron, a harmony of the four canonical gospels (perhaps with a now lost fifth text) prepared about AD 170 by Tatian[6] in Rome. Although no original text of the Diatessaron survives, its foremost witness is a prose commentary on it by Ephrem the Syrian.[7] Although there are many so-called manuscript witnesses to the Diatessaron, they all differ, and ultimately only witness to the enduring popularity of such harmonies. Rescensions appeared in later centuries as translation of originals. Many medieval European harmonies draw on the Codex Fuldensis.[8]

Old Syriac Version

The Old Syriac version translation of the four gospels or Vetus Syra[9] is preserved today in only two manuscripts, both with a large number of gaps. The Curetonian Gospels[10] consist of fragments of the four Gospels. The text was brought in 1842 from the Nitrian Desert in Egypt and is now held in the British Library. These fragments were examined by William Cureton[11] and edited by him in 1858. The manuscript is dated paleographically to the 5th century. It is called Curetonian Syriac and is designated by Syrc.[12]

The second manuscript is a palimpsest[13] discovered by Agnes Smith Lewis[14] at Saint Catherine’s Monastery[15] in 1892 at Mount Sinai(Egypt), called Sinaitic Syriac,[16] and designated by Syrs. This version was known and cited by Ephrem the Syrian, It is a representative of the Western text-type.[17]

These two manuscripts represent only the Gospels. The text of Acts and the Pauline Epistles has not survived to the present. It is known only from citations made by Eastern fathers. The text of Acts was reconstructed by F. C. Conybeare,[18] and the text of the Pauline Epistles by J. Molitor. They used Ephrem’s commentaries.[19]

Peshitta

The Peshitta (Classical Syriac: ܦܫܺܝܛܬܳܐ or ܦܫܝܼܛܬܵܐ pšīṭta) is the standard version of the Bible for churches in the Syriac tradition, including the Maronite Church, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Malabar Independent Syrian Church (Thozhiyoor Church), the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, the Mar Thoma Syrian Church, the Assyrian Church of the East and the Syro-Malabar Church.

The consensus within biblical scholarship, although not universal, is that the Old Testament of the Peshitta was translated into Syriac from Biblical Hebrew, probably in the 2nd century AD, and that the New Testament of the Peshitta was translated from the Greek, probably in the early 5th century. This New Testament, originally excluding certain disputed books (2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, Revelation), had become a standard by the early 5th century. The five excluded books were added in the Harklean Version (AD 616) of Thomas of Harqel.

The term Peshitta was used by Moses bar Kepha in 903 and means “simple” (in analogy to the Latin Vulgate). It is the oldest Syriac version which has survived to the present day in its entirety. It contains the entire Old Testament, most (?) of the deuterocanonical books, as well as 22 books of the New Testament, lacking the shorter Catholic Epistles (2-3 John, 2 Peter, Jude, as well as John 7:53-8:11). It was made in the beginning of the 5th century. Its authorship was ascribed to Rabbula,[20] bishop of Edessa[21] (411-435). The Syriac church still uses it to the present day.

More than 350 manuscripts survived, several of which date from the 5th and 6th centuries. In the Gospels it is closer to the Byzantine text-type,[22] but in Acts to the Western text-type. It is designated by Syr^p.

The earliest manuscript of the Peshitta is a Pentateuch dated AD 464. There are two New Testament manuscripts of the 5th century (Codex Phillipps 1388).[23]

Some Manuscripts

British Library, Add. 14479[24] — the earliest dated Peshitta Apostolos.

British Library, Add. 14459[25] — the oldest dated Syriac manuscript of the two Gospels

British Library, Add. 14470[26] — the whole Peshitta text from the fifth/sixth century

British Library, Add. 14448[27] — the major part of Peshitta from the 699/700

Syro-Hexaplar Version

The Syro-Hexaplar version (or Syro-Hexapla) is the Syrian Aramaic (Syriac) translation of the Greek of the Septuagint[28] as found in the fifth column of Origen’s Hexapla. The translation was made by Bishop Paul of Tella at the monastery of the Enaton in Egypt around 617.

The Syro-Hexapla was more popular in the West Syrian church than in the Church of the East. Jacob of Edessa used it in his revision of the Peshitta. It was used by the East Syriac scholar Ishodad of Merv in his commentaries.

The Syro-Hexapla is important for the study of the Septuagint, for Henry Swete believed that it often includes the symbols Origen used to mark the differences he observed between the Septuagint text and the Hebrew text. Since many later copies of the Septuagint dropped Origen’s symbols, the Syro-Hexapla is one of the primary ways that textual critics can identify Hexaplaric material in the Septuagint.

Being a direct translation from the Septuagint into Syriac, the Syro-Hexapla should be distinguished from the Peshitta, which is a Syriac translation directly from the Hebrew.

Later Syriac Versions

The Philoxenian was probably produced in 508 for Philoxenus, Bishop of Mabbug in eastern Syria. This translation contains the five books not found in the Peshitta: 2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, and the Apocalypse. This translation survived only in short fragments. It is designated by syr^ph. Harclensis is designated by syr^h. It is represented by some 35 manuscripts dating from the 7th century and later; they show kinship with the Western text-type.

According to some scholars, the Philoxenian and Harclensis[29] are only recensions of Peshitta, but according to others, they are independent new translations.[30]

Other Early Eastern Translations

• Coptic Versions of the Bible
• Bible Translations into Sogdian
• Bible Translations into Nubian
• Bible Translations into Persian

Manuscripts housed at the British Library, Additional Manuscripts

Note: Click the linked title above to go to the page that lists and describes these manuscripts.

#	Date	Contents
BL Add. 7157	767/768	Pauline epistles †
BL Add. 7163	8th/9th	Gospels †
BL Add. 12137	6th/7th	Gospels †
BL Add. 12138
BL Add. 12140	6th	Gospels †
BL Add. 12141	8th	Gospels †
BL Add. 12177	1189	Gospels
BL Add. 14425[1]	463/464	Gospels †
BL Add. 14445	532	Gospels †
BL Add. 14448	13th	New Testament
BL Add. 14449	6th/7th	Gospels †
BL Add. 14450	7th	Gospels †
BL Add. 14451	10th	Gospels †
BL Add. 14452	8th	Gospels †
BL Add. 14453	6th	Gospels †
BL Add. 14454	6th/7th	Gospels †
BL Add. 14455	6th	Gospels †
BL Add. 14456	8th	Gospels †
BL Add. 14457	6th/7th	Gospels †
BL Add. 14458	6th/7th	Gospels †
BL Add. 14459 (folios 1-66)	6th	Gospels †
BL Add. 14459 (fol. 67–169)	6th	Gospel of Luke-Gospel of John †
BL Add. 14460	600	Gospels
BL Add. 14461	6th	Gospel of Matthew-Gospel of Mark †
BL Add. 14461 (fol. 108–212)	6th	Gospel of Luke-Gospel of John †
BL Add. 14462	6th	Gospel of Matthew-Gospel of Mark
BL Add. 14463	823	Gospels †
BL Add. 14464		Gospels †
BL Add. 14465	12th	Gospels †
BL Add. 14466 (fol. 11–17)	10th/11th	Gospel of Mark Gospel of Luke †
BL Add. 14467	10th	Gospel of Matthew-Gospel of John †
BL Add. 14469	936	Gospels
BL Add. 14470	5th/6th	New Testament
BL Add. 14471	615	Gospels
BL Add. 14472	6th/7th	Acts, James, 1 Peter, 1 John
BL Add. 14473 (fol. 1–139)	6th	Acts, James, 1 Peter, 1 John
BL Add. 14473 (fol. 140–148)	11th	2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, Jude
BL Add. 14474	11th/12th	New Testament (Except Gospels and Revelation)
BL Add. 14475	6th	Pauline epistles
BL Add. 14476	5th/6th	Pauline epistles
BL Add. 14477	6th/7th	Pauline epistles
BL Add. 14478	621h/622	Pauline epistles
BL Add. 14479	534	Pauline epistles
BL Add. 14480	5th/6th	Pauline epistles †
BL Add. 14481	6th/7th	Pauline epistles †
BL Add. 14666 (fol. 1–10)	12th	Gospel of Matthew 1:1-6:20
BL Add. 14666 (fol. 47)	12th	Gospel of Matthew 1:1-11
BL Add. 14666 (fol. 48)	10th	Gospel of Matthew 1:1-16
BL Add. 14669 (fol. 26)	12th	Gospel of Matthew 1:1-13
BL Add. 14669 (fol. 27–28)	7th	Gospel of Matthew 1:12-2:6; 4:4-24
BL Add. 14669 (fol. 29–33)	6th/7th	Gospel of Matthew †
BL Add. 14669 (fol. 34–36)	6th	Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Luke †
BL Add. 14669 (fol. 38–56)	9th	Gospels †
BL MS Add. 14680	12th/13th	Acts, Cath., Pauline epistles †
BL Add. 14681	12th/13th	Acts, Cath., Pauline epistles
BL MS Add. 14706	13th	Lectionary (Evangelistarion, Apostolarion, Old Testament)
BL Add. 14738 (fol. 6–7)	13th	Acts 12:20-13:5
BL Add. 17113	6th/7th	Gospels
BL Add. 17114	6th/7th	Gospels †
BL Add. 17115	9th/10th	New Testament †
BL Add. 17116	9th/10th	Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of Mark †
BL Add. 17117	5th/6th	Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of Mark †
BL Add. 17118	8th	Gospels †
BL Add. 17120	6th	Acts, Cath., Pauline epistles †
BL Add. 17121	6th	Acts, Cath., Pauline epistles †
BL Add. 17122	6th	Pauline epistles
BL Add. 17124	1234	New Testament
BL Add. 17157	767/768	Pauline epistles
BL Add. 17224	13th	Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of Mark †
BL Add. 17224 (fol. 37–42)	13th	Gospel of Matthew 10:16-12:11; 12:44-14:3
BL Add. 17224 (fol. 43–57)	1173	Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of John †
BL Add. 17226	13th/14th	Catholic epistles †
BL Add. 17228 (fol. 38–64)	13th	James, 1 Peter, 1 John
BL Add. 17922	1222	Gospels
BL Add. 17983	1438	Gospels †
BL MS Add. 14717	13th	Lectionary (Evangelistarion, Apostolarion, Old Testament)
BL Add. 18812	6th/7th	Acts, James, 1 Peter, 1 John

Manuscripts Housed in the Bodleian Library

• Dawkins 27,
• Huntington MS 133 — Bodleian Library
• Huntington MS 587, Bodleian Library
• Marsh 699, Bodleian Library

Manuscripts Housed in the Vatican Library

• Codex Vaticanus Syriac 12
• Codex Vaticanus Syriac 19
• Codex Vaticanus Syriac 267
• Codex Vaticanus Syriac 268
• Manuscripts Housed in Other Collections
• Egerton 704 — Old Testament, 17th century
• Codex Phillipps 1388 — the four Gospels, 5th/6th century
• Khaburis Codex — 22 books of the New Testament, 12th century
• Rabbula Gospels — the four Gospels, 586
• Morgan MS 783
• Morgan MS 784
• Paris syr. MS 296, I^o
• Schøyen Ms. 2080 — 1 Corinthians-2 Corinthians
• Schøyen Ms. 2530
• Ms. Sinai syr. 3
• StL München syr. 8

References

•  Bruce M. Metzger (1977). The Early Versions of the New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 4–5.
•  Bruce M. Metzger (1977). The Early Versions of the New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 3.
•  Bruce M. Metzger (1977). The Early Versions of the New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 10–36.
•  Juckel, Andreas. “Old Syriac Version”. Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition.
•  Bruce M. Metzger (1977). The Early Versions of the New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 36–37.
•  Bruce M. Metzger (1977). The Early Versions of the New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 37–39.
•  Bruce M. Metzger, Bart D. Ehrman (2005). The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration. New York — Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 97-98.
•  The Scattered Pearls: A History of Syriac Literature and Sciences, by Ighnāṭyūs Afrām I (Patriarch of Antioch). p.313.
•  A Short Commentary on the Book of Daniel by A. A. Bevan. ISBN 9781107669949. p.43.
•  http://sor.cua.edu/Bible/Philoxenian.html Philoxenian – Syriac Orthodox Resources George Kiraz, 2001]

Bibliography

• Kurt Aland, and Barbara Aland (1995). The Text of the New Testament: An Introduction to the Critical Editions and to the Theory and Practice of Modern Textual Criticism. Grand Rapids, Michigan. ISBN 978-0-8028-4098-1.
• M. Black, K. Aland (1972). Die alten Übersetzungen des Neuen Testaments, die Kirchenväterzitate und Lektionare: der gegenwärtige Stand ihrer Erforschung und ihre Bedeutung für die griechische Textgeschichte. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
• Brock, Sebastian P. (1967). “Greek Words in the Syriac Gospels (Vet. and Pe.)”. Le Muséon. 80: 389–426.
• Brock, Sebastian P. (2008). “The Use of the New Testament in the Writings of Mor Ephrem.” Bringing Light to the World: Syriac Tradition Re-visited. Tiruvalla: Christava Sahitya Samithy. pp. 103–118.
• Bruce M. Metzger (1977). The Early Versions of the New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 3–98.
• Wright, Catalogue of the Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum, Gorgias Press LLC 2002.
• “The Syriac Version”. Studia Biblica et Ecclesiastica. Oxford: 195–208. 1891.
• Syriac Versions of the Bible at the Bible Research
• At the Encyclopedia of Textual Criticism
• The New Testament with full western vocalization at syriacbible.nl
• Peshitta with Analytical Lexicon and English translation

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[1] The Syriac language, also known as Syriac Aramaic and Classical Syriac ܠܫܢܐ ܥܬܝܩܐ, is an Aramaic dialect that emerged during the first century AD from a local Aramaic dialect that was spoken by Assyrians in the ancient region of Osroene, centered in the city of Edessa. During the Early Christian period, it became the main literary language of various Aramaic-speaking Christian communities in the historical region of Ancient Syria and throughout the Near East. As a liturgical language of Syriac Christianity, it gained a prominent role among Eastern Christian communities that used both Eastern Syriac and Western Syriac rites. Following the spread of Syriac Christianity, it also became a liturgical language of eastern Christian communities as far as India and China. It flourished from the 4th to the 8th century, and continued to have an important role during the next centuries, but by the end of the Middle Ages it was gradually reduced to liturgical use, since several emerging Neo-Aramaic dialects overtook the role of vernacular language among its native speakers.

[2] Aramaic is a Semitic language that originated among the Arameans in the ancient region of Syria. For over three thousand years, Aramaic served as a language of public life and administration of ancient kingdoms and empires and also as a language of divine worship and religious study. Several dialects are still spoken in the 21st century: the Neo-Aramaic languages.

[3] Bruce M. Metzger (1977). The Early Versions of the New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 4–5.

[4] Bruce M. Metzger (1977). The Early Versions of the New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 3.

[5] Bruce Manning Metzger, The Bible in Translation: Ancient and English Versions (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2001), 25–29.

[6] Tatian of Adiabene, or Tatian the Syrian or Tatian the Assyrian, was an Assyrian Christian writer and theologian of the 2nd century.

[7] Ephrem the Syrian (Classical Syriac: ܡܪܝ ܐܦܪܝܡ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ, romanized: Mār ʾAp̄rêm Sūryāyā, Classical Syriac pronunciation: [mɑr ʔafˈrem surˈjɑjɑ]; Koinē Greek: Ἐφραὶμ ὁ Σῦρος, romanized: Efrém o Sýros; Latin: Ephraem Syrus; c. 306 – 373), also known as Saint Ephrem, Saint Ephraim, Ephrem of Edessa or Aprem of Nisibis, was a prominent Christian theologian and writer, who is revered as one of the most notable hymnographers of Eastern Christianity. He was born in Nisibis, served as a deacon and later lived in Edessa.Ephrem is venerated as a saint by all traditional Churches.

[8] Bruce M. Metzger (1977). The Early Versions of the New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 10–36.

The Codex Fuldensis, also known as the Victor Codex, designated by F, is a New Testament manuscript based on the Latin Vulgate made between 541 and 546. The codex is considered the second most important witness to the Vulgate text; and is also the oldest

[9] Juckel, Andreas. “Old Syriac Version”. Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition.

[10] The Curetonian Gospels, designated by the siglum syrcur, are contained in a manuscript of the four gospels of the New Testament in Old Syriac. Together with the Sinaiticus Palimpsest the Curetonian Gospels form the Old Syriac Version and are known as the Evangelion Dampharshe (“Separated Gospels”) in the Syriac Orthodox Church.The Gospels are commonly named after William Cureton who maintained that they represented an Aramaic Gospel and had not been translated from Greek (1858) and differed considerably from the canonical Greek texts, with which they had been collated and “corrected.”

[11] William Cureton (1808 – 17 June 1864) was an English Orientalist.

[12] Bruce M. Metzger (1977). The Early Versions of the New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 36–37.

[13] In textual studies, a palimpsest () is a manuscript page, either from a scroll or a book, from which the text has been scraped or washed off so that the page can be reused for another document. Parchment was made of lamb, calf, or goat kid skin and was expensive and not readily available, so, in the interest of economy, a page was often re-used by scraping off the previous writing.

[14] Agnes Smith Lewis (1843–1926) and Margaret Dunlop Gibson (1843–1920), nées Agnes and Margaret Smith (sometimes referred to as the Westminster Sisters) born on 11 January were Arabic, Christian Palestinian Aramaic, and Syriac language scholars and travelers. As the twin daughters of John Smith of Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, they learned more than 12 languages between them and became acclaimed scholars in their academic fields and benefactors to the Presbyterian Church of England, especially to Westminster College, Cambridge.

[15] Saint Catherine’s Monastery (Arabic: دير القدّيسة كاترين; Greek: Μονὴ τῆς Ἁγίας Αἰκατερίνης), officially the Sacred Autonomous Royal Monastery of Saint Katherine of the Holy and God-Trodden Mount Sinai, is an Eastern Orthodox monastery located on the Sinai Peninsula. It lies at the mouth of a gorge at the foot of Mount Sinai, near the town of Saint Catherine, in Egypt.

[16] The Syriac Sinaiticus or Codex Sinaiticus Syriacus (syrs), known also as the Sinaitic Palimpsest, of Saint Catherine’s Monastery (Sinai, Syr. 30), or Old Syriac Gospels is a late-4th- or early-5th-century manuscript of 179 folios, containing a nearly complete translation of the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament into Syriac, which have been overwritten by a vita (biography) of female saints and martyrs with a date corresponding to AD 697.

[17] Bruce M. Metzger (1977). The Early Versions of the New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 37–39.

In textual criticism of the New Testament, the Western text-type is one of the main text types. It is the predominant form of the New Testament text witnessed in the Old Latin and Syriac Peshitta translations from the Greek, and also in quotations from certain 2nd and 3rd-century Christian writers, including Cyprian, Tertullian and Irenaeus.

[18] Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare, (14 September 1856 – 9 January 1924) was a British orientalist, Fellow of University College, Oxford, and Professor of Theology at the University of Oxford.

[19] Bruce M. Metzger, Bart D. Ehrman (2005). The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration. New York — Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 97-98.

[20] Rabbula (Latin: Rabula) was a bishop of Edessa from 411 to August 435 AD, noteworthy for his opposition to the views of Theodore of Mopsuestia and Nestorius. However, his successor Ibas, who was in charge of the school of Edessa, reversed the official stance of that bishopric.

[21] Edessa (; Ancient Greek: Ἔδεσσα, romanized: Édessa) was an ancient city (polis) in Upper Mesopotamia, founded during the Hellenistic period by King Seleucus I Nicator (r. 305–281 BC), founder of the Seleucid Empire.

[22] In the textual criticism of the New Testament, the Byzantine text-type (also called Majority Text, Traditional Text, Ecclesiastical Text, Constantinopolitan Text, Antiocheian Text, or Syrian Text) is one of the main text types. It is the form found in the largest number of surviving manuscripts of the Greek New Testament.

[23] Codex Phillipps 1388, Syriac manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. It contains the text of the four Gospels.

[24] British Library, Add MS 14479, is a Syriac manuscript of the New Testament on parchment. It is dated by a colophon to the year 534.

[25] British Library, Add MS 14459, Syriac manuscript of the New Testament, on a parchment. It is dated by a colophon to the year 528-529 or 537-538 (partially illegible colophon).

[26] British Library, Add MS 14470, Syriac manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 5th or 6th century.

[27] British Library, Add MS 14448, designated by number 64 on the list of Wright, is a Syriac manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment, according to the Peshitta version. It is dated by a Colophon to the year 699 or 700.

[28] The Scattered Pearls: A History of Syriac Literature and Sciences, by Ighnāṭyūs Afrām I (Patriarch of Antioch). p.313.

A Short Commentary on the Book of Daniel by A. A. Bevan. p.43.

[29] The Harklean version, designated by syrh, is a Syriac language bible translation by Thomas of Harqel completed in 616 AD at the Enaton in Egypt.The version is partly based on the earlier Philoxenian version, partly a new and very literal translation from the Greek New Testament.

[30] http://sor.cua.edu/Bible/Philoxenian.html Philoxenian – Syriac Orthodox Resources George Kiraz, 2001]