Jacob of Sarug’s Homilies on Women Whom Jesus Met PDF
Preview Jacob of Sarug’s Homilies on Women Whom Jesus Met
Jacob of Sarug’s Homilies on Women Whom Jesus Met Texts from Christian Late Antiquity 44 Series Editor George Anton Kiraz TeCLA (Texts from Christian Late Antiquity) is a series presenting ancient Christian texts both in their original languages and with accompanying contemporary English translations. Jacob of Sarug’s Homilies on Women Whom Jesus Met Fascicle 37 Edited and Translated by Susan Ashbrook Harvey Sebastian P. Brock Reyhan Durmaz Rebecca Stephens Falcasantos Michael Payne Daniel Picus 9 34 2016 Gorgias Press LLC, 954 River Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA www.gorgiaspress.com Copyright © 2 0 1 6 by Gorgias Press LLC All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the prior written permission of Gorgias Press LLC. 2016 ܙ 9 ISBN 978-1-4632-0580-5 ISSN 1935-6846 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Jacob, of Serug, 451-521, author. | Harvey, Susan Ashbrook, editor, translator. | Brock, Sebastian P., editor, translator. | Jacob, of Serug, 451-521. Sermons. Selections. | Jacob, of Serug, 451-521. Sermons. Selections. English. Title: Jacob of Sarug’s Homilies on women whom Jesus met / edited and translated by Susan Harvey and Sebastian Brock. Other titles: Homilies on women whom Jesus met Description: Piscataway, NJ : Gorgias Press, 2016. | Series: Texts from Christian late antiquity, ISSN 1935-6846 ; 44 | In English and Syriac; English text translated from Syriac. | Includes bibliographical references and indexes. Identifiers: LCCN 2016025915 | ISBN 9781463205805 Subjects: LCSH: Jesus Christ--Views on Women--Sermons. | Women in the Bible--Sermons. Classification: LCC BT590.W6 J336 2016 | DDC 252/.014--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016025915 Printed in the United States of America Title of the Book Do not delete the following information about this document. Version 1.0 Document Template: Template book.dot. Document Word Count: 12772 Document Page Count: 293 Published with the assistance of the Royce Family Professorships for Teaching Excellence at Brown University TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents ..................................................................................... v Abbreviations .......................................................................................... vii Preface ....................................................................................................... ix Note on the translations ................................................................ xi Homily 17: On the Canaanite Woman.................................................. 1 Outline............................................................................................... 6 Text and Translation ....................................................................... 8 Homily 46: On the Samaritan Woman ............................................... 51 Outline............................................................................................. 55 Text and Translation ..................................................................... 58 Homily 169: On the Woman Hunched Over .................................. 125 Outline ........................................................................................... 128 Text and Translation ................................................................... 130 Homily 170: On the Afflicted Woman with the Flow of Blood .. 171 Outline........................................................................................... 173 Text and Translation ................................................................... 178 Homily 91: On Jairus’ Daughter ........................................................ 235 Outline........................................................................................... 235 Text and Translation ................................................................... 240 Bibliography .......................................................................................... 273 Index of Names and Terms ................................................................ 277 Index of Biblical References ............................................................... 281 v ABBREVIATIONS CSCO Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium MHMJS The Metrical Homilies of Mar Jacob of Sarug OCA Orientalia Christiana Analecta OCP Orientalia Christiana Periodica par parallels PO Patrologia Orientalis PdeO Parole de l’Orient RSV Revised Standard Version SEERI Saint Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute vii PREFACE Jacob of Sarug’s homilies on biblical stories are filled with exuber- antly drawn portraits of biblical characters, often women. While the Virgin Mary and the Sinful Woman are perhaps the best known, the present anthology brings together Jacob’s accounts of those we might consider “minor” female characters of the New Testament: the Canaanite Woman of Matthew 15:21–8 and Mark 7:24–30, where she is called a Syrophoenician (Hom. 17); the Samaritan Woman of John 4:1–42 (Hom. 46); the Woman Hunched Over for Eighteen Years in Luke 13:10–17 (Hom. 169); the Woman with the Flow of Blood from Matthew 9:18–22, Mark 5:24–34, and Luke 8:42–8 (Hom. 170); and Jairus’ daughter, from Matthew 9:18, 23–6, Mark 5:21–4, 35–43, and Luke 8:40–2, 49–56 (Hom. 91). Jacob preached from within a lively Syriac tradition of narra- tive poetry that re-told biblical stories in dramatic form, enhanced by the addition of extensive speech and dialogue.1 Jacob did so with rare skill, as the present collection demonstrates. To rich nar- rative imagination, dialogic exchange, dramatic affect, and homilet- ic reflection, he added invocations, doxologies, prayers, and exhor- tations, all articulated with lyrical grace in sermons that were chant- ed or intoned in performance. The results yielded liturgical poetry that taught and interpreted the Bible in an engaging, thought- provoking style. The literary form of the memra allowed Jacob to shine a spot- light on characters barely glimpsed in their biblical accounts. He expanded their narrative contexts, suggesting fuller plots with more 1 Sebastian P. Brock, “Poetry and Hymnography (3): Syriac”, in The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies, ed. S. A. Harvey and D. G. Hunter (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 657–71, at pp. 662–4. ix
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