Doctrine of Addai

The Doctrine of Addai is a Syriac Christian text, perhaps written about 400, which recites the Legend of the Image of Edessa as well as the legendary works of Addai and his disciple Mari in Mesopotamia.

Content

The story of how King Abgar and Jesus had corresponded was first recounted in the 4th century by the church historian Eusebius of Caesarea in his Ecclesiastical History (i.13 and iii.1) and it was retold in elaborated form by Ephrem the Syrian.

Purpose

Helmut Koester regards the development of tradition of Thaddaeus' activity in Edessa as part of an effort to build the authority of the orthodox or Palutian^[a] faction in Syria against the Manicheans and gnostics, who had an older and stronger presence in the area and traced their lineage to Thomas the Apostle.^[1]^[b] He considers the Palutian faction to have come to Edessa around 200 CE and only become significant in the fourth century.^[2]

Manuscripts

ms Saint-Pétersbourg, Bibliothèque Publique Saltykov-Shchedrine, N.S. Syr. 4 (Pigulevskaya 48), , f. 1v33
ms Londres, British Library, Add. 14654, f. 33r-v (fgt) + Add. 14644, f. 1-9v + Add. 14535, f. 1r (fgt) + Add. 12155, f. 53v + Add. 17193, f. 36v-37 (extrait)
ms Alqosh, Église paroissiale chaldéenne, cod. 87 ?
ms Londres, British Library, Add. 12161, f. 1v (fgt)
ms Londres, British Library, Add. 14612, f. 165r (fgt)
ms Londres, British Library, Add. 14644, f. 1-9v (mutilé du début et au milieu)
ms Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, syr. 62, f. 102v-108 (extraits)
ms Birmingham, Selly Oak College Library, Coll. Mingana, Syr. 405, f. 1
ms Jérusalem, Couvent syrien orthodoxe Saint-Marc, cod. 153, p. 241-259^[3]

Published editions

Geo Phillips (ed.), The Doctrine of Addai, the apostle ( London, 1876), : London, 1876, p. 1-53 (syr.)
William Cureton, Ancient Syriac documents relative to earliest establishment of christianity in Edessa and the neighbouring countries, from the year after our Lord's Ascension to the beginning of the fourth century ( Amsterdam: Oriental Press, 1967), : p. 5-23 (syr.) et 108-110 (syr.)
Elena Nikitična Meščerskaja, Legenda ob Avgare — rannesirijskij literaturnyj pamjatnik: (istoričeskie korni v ėvoljucii apokrifičeskoj legendy) ( Moskva: Nauka, 1984), : Moscou, 1984, p. 119-184

Modern translations

English

Howard, George (1981). The Teaching of Addai. Early Christian literature series. Scholars Press. ISBN 978-0-89130-490-6. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

Other

French: Alain Desreumaux (ed.), Histoire du roi Abgar et de Jésus ( Paris: Brepols, 1993), pp: 53-117 (Coll. “Apocryphes”), ( 1993)
English: George Howard (ed.), The teaching of Addai, Texts and translations, vol. 16 ( Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1981), vol. 16vol. 4, pp: 3-107, ( 1981) Note: avec réimpression de l’édition de G. Phillips
Dutch: Jan Willem Drijvers, Helena Augusta, waarheid en legende ( Groningen: Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, 1989), pp: 153-157, Note: partielle
Russian: Elena Nikitična Meščerskaja, Legenda ob Avgare — rannesirijskij literaturnyj pamjatnik: (istoričeskie korni v ėvoljucii apokrifičeskoj legendy) ( Moskva: Nauka, 1984), pp: 185-203
Armenian: A Carrière, La légende d'Abgar dans l'Histoire d'Arménie de Moïse de Khoren ( Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1895), pp: 357-414
Ethiopic: Getatchew Haile, " The Legend of Abgar in Ethiopic Tradition," Orientalia christiana periodica vol. 55 ( 1989), pp: 375-410

External links

Notes

^ The group now understood as the orthodox faction was known as the Palutians in Syria at this time. (Koester 1965, p. 305)
^ Cf. Bauer, Walter (1909). Das Leben Jesu im Zeitalter der neutestamentlichen Apokryphen (in German). Tübingen, Germany: J. C. B. Mohr. p. 444-445.

Citations

^ Koester 1965, p. 296,305.
^ Koester 1965, p. 305-306.
^ Mellon et al, 2005

References

Walter Bauer, Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity, 1934, (in English 1971) (On-line text)
Koester, Helmut (July 1965). "ΓNΩMAI ΔIAΦOPOI: The Origin and Nature of Diversification in the History of Early Christianity". Harvard Theological Review. 58 (3): 279-318. JSTOR 1508818. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
Saint-Laurent, Jeanne-Nicole Mellon; Michelson, David A.; Zanetti, Ugo; Detienne, Claude, eds. (5 November 2015). "Addai (Teaching of) (text)". Bibliotheca Hagiographica Syriaca. Retrieved 31 August 2017. This page contains text copied from this freely licensed work

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[1] The group now understood as the orthodox faction was known as the Palutians in Syria at this time. (Koester 1965, p. 305)

[3] Cf. Bauer, Walter (1909). Das Leben Jesu im Zeitalter der neutestamentlichen Apokryphen (in German). Tübingen, Germany: J. C. B. Mohr. p. 444-445.

[FOOTNOTEKoester1965296,305-2] Koester 1965, p. 296,305.

[FOOTNOTEKoester1965305-306-4] Koester 1965, p. 305-306.

[5] Mellon et al, 2005

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