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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: INV-JED |
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ISAAC OF ANTIOCH , " one of the stars of Syriac literature," l the reputed author of a large number of metrical homilies,2 many of which are distinguished by an originality and acumen rare among Syriac writers. As to the identity and history of the author considerable difficulty has arisen. The statements of ancient writers, Eastern and Western, were collected by Assemani (B.O. i. 207-214). According to these accounts Isaac flourished under Theodosius II. (408-450) ,3 and was a native either of Amid (Diarbekr) or of Edessa. Several writers identify him with Isaac, the disciple of S. Ephraim, who is mentioned in the anonymous Life of that father; but according to the patriarch Bar Shushan (d. 1073), who made a collection of his homilies, his master was Ephraim's disciple Zenobius. He is supposed to have migrated to Antioch, and to have become abbot of one of the convents in its neighbourhood. According to Zacharias Rhetor he visited Rome and other cities, and the chronicle of Pseudo-Dionysius of Tell-Mahre informs us that he composed poems on the secular games of 404, and wrote on the destruction of Rome by Alaric in 410. He also commemorated the destruction of Antioch by an earthquake in 4J9, so that he must have lived till about 46o. Unfortunately these poems have perished. He is of course to be W. Wright
2 The fullest list
' The trustworthy Chronicle of Edessa gives his date as 451-452 (Hallier, No. lxvii.); and the recently published Chronicle of Michael the Syrian makes him contemporary with Nonus, who became the 31st bishop of Edessa in 449. When we examine the collection of homilies attributed to Isaac, a difficulty arises on two grounds. (I) The author of some of the poems is fervently orthodox or Catholic (see especially Nos. 1-3 in Bickell's edition =62-64 in Bedjan), in other and more important homilies (such as Bickell 6, 8 = Bedjan 59, 61, and especially Bedjan 6o) the doctrine is monophysite, even though Eutyches and Nestorius are equally condemned. (2) One of the monophysite homilies, the famous poem of 2136 lines on the parrot which uttered the Trisagion in the streets of Antioch (Bickell, 8=Bedjan 61), appears to have been written at Antioch after Peter the Fuller (patriarch 471-488) raised the dispute about the addition to the doxology of the words qui crucifixes es pro nobis. It is therefore scarcely possible that the author of this homily should be the same who composed the lost poems on the secular games in 404 and on the sack of Rome. Moreover, Lamy (S. Ephraemi hymni et sermons, iv. 361-364) and Bedjan (Homiliae S. Isaaci, i. pp. iv-ix) have recently called attention to statements made by Jacob of Edessa (708) in a letter to John the Stylite. He says there were three Isaacs who wrote in Syriac--two orthodox (i.e. monophysite), and one a Chalcedonian heretic (i.e. orthodox or Catholic), (a) The first, he says, a native of Amid, and pupil of S. Ephraim, visited Rome in the time of Arcadius (395-408), on his return journey suffered imprisonment at Byzantium, and afterwards became a priest in the church of Amid. (b) The second was a priest of Edessa, and flourished in the reign of Zeno (474-491). He went up to Antioch in the time of Peter the Fuller. Jacob then tells the story of the parrot (see above). (c) The third was also an Edessene. At first in the days of Bishop Paul (510-522) he was orthodox (monophysite): but afterwards in the time of the Chalcedonian (Catholic) bishop Asclepius he became Nestorian (Catholic) and wrote poems setting forth Nestorian doctrine.With such conflicting evidence it is impossible to arrive at a certain result. But Jacob is an early witness: and on the whole it seems safe to conclude with Bedjan (p. ix) that works by at least two authors have been included in the collection attributed to Isaac of Antioch. Still the majority of the poems are the work of one handthe 5th-century monophysite who wrote the poem on the parrot.' A full list
The writer's main interest
illustration
Worship Him that He redeemed thee by His only Son: inquire not the manner of His birth."'Some of Isaac's works have an interest
The date of Isaac of Nineveh is now known from the Liber fundatorum of Isho'-d6nah, an 8th-century writer; see Bedjan's edition, and Chabot, Livre de la chastete, p. 63 Assemani (B.O. i. 445) had placed him late
' Lamy (op. cit. iv. 364-366) has pointed out that several of the poems are in certain MSS. attributed to Ephraim. Possibly the author of the orthodox poems was not named Isaac at all. Assemani's list of 104 poems (B.O. i. 214-234) is completely covered by Bickell's. ' From a really noble poem (Bedjan 6o) on the problem whether God suffered and died on the cross. iSABE"LLA--r-ISABE:LLA II city near Nisibis) by the Arabs. Although the historical allusions are far from clear, we gather that Beth-Hur, which in zealous paganism had been a successor to Haran, had been in earlier days devastated by the Persians:, but for the last 34 years the Persians had themselves suffered subjection? And now had come a flood of Arab invaders, " sons of Hagar," who had swept away the city and carried all its inhabitants captive. From these two poems, and from the 2nd homily on Fasting (Bickell 14=Bedjan 17) we gain a vivid picture of the miseries borne by the inhabitants of that frontier region during the wars between Persia and the Romano-Greek empire. There are also instructive references to the heathen practices and the worship of pagan
Chaldeans " and enchanters over women who were nominally Christians. The metre of all the published homilies is heptasyllabic. (N. M.) End of Article: ISAAC OF ANTIOCH If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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