When we think of Syriac Christianity, Syriac-speaking theologians such as Ephrem or Jacob of Serugh usually come to mind. However, we need to remember that a central part of the curriculum for these Christians after Chalcedon were the writings of Greek-speaking authors such as Pseudo Dionysius and Gregory of Nazianzus. Gregory, for instance, was known simply as “The Theologian” in Syriac Christianity, as in much of the West. His works were intensely studied in Syriac translation as an exemplar of pre-Chalcedonian theology and good rhetorical skills. This presentation will specifically look at the place of Gregory’s Orations as a teaching tool, studied by generations of Syriac-speaking Christians.
The speaker has previously examined the reception of Gregory’s work as a central part of so-called “Masora” teaching handbooks (CSCO 689, 2020) and in the marginal glosses of Oration manuscripts (IPM 96, 2024). Nonetheless, he is currently finishing a critical edition and translation of three remarkable early-medieval commentaries on Gregory’s Orations preserved in Syriac. These ninth through thirteenth-century manuscripts tell us much about how the Orations would have served as an access point for Classical learning in West Syriac (Miaphysite) schools. These commentaries also offer a glimpse into the development of Syriac lexicography, as the multiple translations of the Orations provided ancient readers with ready-made comparisons between the Greek and Syriac texts. Moreover, these commentaries also show how Gregory’s use of Scripture in the Orations came to influence how Syriac Christians read their own Bibles. In short, this presentation will share new findings regarding the place of the Corpus Nazianzenum as a teaching curriculum in the Christian East through these relatively early commentary manuscripts. Although these Syriac communities lived after the arrival of Islam—in a very different cultural and linguistic milieu from this fourth-century Church Father—Gregory’s Orations remained a foundational element of Syriac Christian education.