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Document Details : Title: 'Your Death, O God' Subtitle: Christological and Other Adaptions of Šubḥalmaran's End Time Book in the Syriac Manuscript M20N from Mount Sinai Author(s): BINDER, Matthias Journal: Journal of Eastern Christian Studies Volume: 66 Issue: 1-2 Date: 2014 Pages: 1-35 DOI: 10.2143/JECS.66.1.3064555 Abstract : Šubḥalmaran of Kirkuk (early 7th century) is known as the author of six books with monastic content, preserved in BL Or ms. 6714 and edited by David J. Lane in 2004. The sixth book of this corpus, however, focuses on eschatology, as well as Christology, rather than monasticism. On these grounds it will be named End Time Book here. It is the only one for which a second witness has been identified; it is found among the ‘New Finds’ from St. Catherine’s Monastery of Mt. Sinai (ms. M20N). A comparison of the two manuscripts shows that the Christology of the End Time Book was subtly rewritten in a second recension. While Šubḥalmaran asserts in BL Or ms. 6714 that God cannot suffer death, some passages are changed to the contrary in ms. M20N. These variants help to sharpen our understanding of Šubḥalmaran’s own theology as genuinely East Syrian, probably displaying knowledge of the Liber Heraclidis. Apart from this, the present paper considers the overall intention and the historical setting of the End Time Book. A text-critical apparatus to Lane’s edited text is appended. |
