The Life and Homilies of Jacob of Serugh in a Manuscript in the OIM, lecture by Fr. Dr. Iskandar Bcheiry (Alta), The Oriental Institute via Zoom, November 4, 2021, 5:00–6:00 pm

The story of this identification goes back to the year 1911, when the Syriac orthodox monk Afrem Barṣawm (1887–1957), who later became the patriarch of his church, visited the region of Ṭūrʿabdīn, nowadays in southeast Turkey, and examined the manuscripts that were preserved in its churches and monasteries. Among the sources that Barṣawm examined, there was a Syriac manuscript copied in 12th or 13th century that contains numerous homilies composed by early church fathers, and mainly by Jacob of Seruj, a famous Syriac poet (451–29 November 521), whose 1500 anniversary is celebrated this year. Barṣawm claimed that this manuscript was lost with other Syriac manuscripts during the World War I, however it was only recently identified in the OI Museum collection. 

Fr. Dr. Iskandar Bcheiry is Metadata Editor at Atla and the recipient of an OI Museum Collections Research Grant. 

Advance registration required.