ʿAbdishoʿ bar Brikha (d. 1318) [Ch. of E.]

Bp. and scholar.brief

Bp. and scholar. ʿAbdishoʿ was bp. of Sinjar and Beth ʿArbaye , before becoming metropolitan bp. of Nisibis (Ṣoba) and Armenia (ca. 1291). He wrote in Syriac and in Arabic. Although in many ways his writings crowned the achievements of a highly productive era in E.-Syr. scholarship, many of them do not survive, e.g., a commentary on OT and NT, along with other works treating doctrine, canon law, philosophy, and science. His surviving works include: Margānitā ‘The Pearl’, an influential systematic explanation of E.-Syr. theology; the Nomocanon, a compilation of synodal decrees containing the most complete collection of E.-Syr. canon law, still authoritative in the Ch. of E.; a ‘Treatise on the Rule of Ecclesiastical Judgements’, for use as an ecclesiastical court manual; and a collection of theological poetry entitled ‘Paradise of Eden’ (also known as the Maqāmāt). His metrical ‘Catalogue of Books’ is an invaluable repository of information about the authors and works of the Syriac literary heritage, including many that are no longer extant. Published with a Latin translation by J.-S. Assemani in Rome in 1725, the ‘Catalogue’ helped clarify for western scholarship the breadth and basic contours of Syriac literature, providing stimulus and some direction for the nascent study of Syriac literary history in the West.