Life of Mary (West Syriac)

Vita Virginis Iacobita

Standard abbreviation: Life Mary

Other titles: none

Clavis numbers: ECCA 184; CANT 95

Category: Infancy Gospels, Hagiographa

Compiled by Tony Burke, York University

Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Life of Mary (West Syriac).” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/life-of-mary-west-syriac/.

Posted October 2016. Current as of January 2024.

1. SUMMARY

The West Syrian Life of Mary is a compilation of four texts divided into six books: 1. On her parents and her annunciation by an angel, 2. The birth of our Lord in the flesh, 3. The flight and vision revealed to Theophilus, 4. The childhood and education of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5. The story of the decease of the Theotokos Mary, 6. The departure of the Theotokos Mary from this world, and an epilogue entitled The departure of the Theotokos Mary to the life in Paradise. Books one and two are derived from the Protevangelium of James (book 1=Prot. Jas. 1–16; book 2=Prot. Jas. 17–26), book three details the activities of the Holy Family in Egypt as communicated in the Vision of Theophilus, book four is the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, and books five and six comprise the Six Books Dormition of Mary (book 5=6 Bks. Dorm. books 1–3; book 6 and the epilogue=6 Bks. Dorm. 4–6). Consult the entries for each of the individual texts for details about their contents.

Named Historical Figures and Characters: see the entries for the individual texts of the compilation.

Geographical Locations: see the entries for the individual texts of the compilation.

2. RESOURCES

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 Manuscripts and Editions

3.1.1 Garšūnī

Cambridge, Trinity College, R.13.49 (date undetermined)

Charfet, Syrian-Catholic Patriarchate, Fonds Rahmani 48 (15th/16th cent.)

Charfet, Syrian-Catholic Patriarchate, Fonds Rahmani 52 (17th cent.)

Charfet, Syrian-Catholic Patriarchate, Fonds Rahmani 53 (date undetermined)

Edgbaston, University of Birmingham, Mingana Syr. 39, fols. 56^v–97^v (1462) ~ books 3–6 only

Edgbaston, University of Birmingham, Mingana Syr. 114, fols. 1^r–65^v, 67^r–129^v, 152^r–124^r (1901) ~ book 1 missing

Edgbaston, University of Birmingham, Mingana Syr. 315, fols. 2^r–101^v (14th/15th cent.) ~ books 5 and 6

Homs, Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese, 385, fols. 132^r–201^v (18th cent.)

Mosul, Mar Behnam Monastery, MBM 172 (olim 409), fols. 1^r–35^v (16th cent.) ~ books 5 and 6 only

Mosul, Mar Behnam Monastery, 207 (olim 14), fols. 1^r–39^r(17th cent.) ~ books 2, 3, 5, and 6 only; portions missing

Mosul, Syrian Orthodox Archdiocese, 264: see the description in 3.1.2.4 above

Oxford, Bodleian Library, Hunt. donat. 32, fols. 22^r–94^v (1549)

Qarah Qūsh, Mar Sarkis and Bakhos Syrian Orthodox Church, 59, fols. 2^r–50^v (18th/19th cent.) ~ books 5 and 6 only

Vatican, Biblioteca apostolica Vaticana, Vat. syr. 561, fols. 1^v–56^v (1683)

Another two Garšūnī MSS are listed among the Ancien fonds of Charfet: 11/16 (dated 1693 and 1818), and 11/25 (16th cent.).

3.1.2 Syriac

Burke’s edition of Life Mary’s book four (Infancy Gospel of Thomas) is based on three groups of manuscripts:

3.1.2.1 Group a

A Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, Add. 2001, fols. 1^r–142^r (1481)

A₁ Diyarbakir, Meryem Ana Syriac Orthodox Church, 130; 7/12, fols. 1^r–124^r (15th cent.)

B Mardin, Church of the Forty Martyrs, 263 (Dolabani 115), pp. 5–238 (17th/18th cent.?)

C Edgbaston, University of Birmingham, Mingana Syr. 560, fols. 2^r–142^v (1491)

D Mardin, Church of the Forty Martyrs, 265, pp. 1–280 (16th/17th cent.?)

E Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. sir. 537, fols. 2^v–158^v (16th cent.)

F Cambridge Mass., Harvard Houghton Library, Syr. 129 (formerly SMH 128, access 4063), fols. 67^r–83^v (ca. 17th cent.)

G Charfet, Syrian-Catholic Patriarchate, Fonds Rahmani 42, fols. 1^r–5^v, 13^v–137^v (1495)

Additional ‘group a’ manuscripts:

Diyarbakir, Meryem Ana Syriac Orthodox Church, 130; 7/12, fols. 1^r–124^r (15th cent.)

Mardin, Chaldean Cathedral, 5, fols. 1^r–136^v (16th cent.) ~ books 1, 3, 5, 6 only

3.1.2.2 Group b

H Edgbaston, University of Birmingham, Mingana Syr. 5, fols. 1^r–101^r (1479) ~ books 3–6

I Cambridge Mass., Harvard Houghton Library, Syr. 82, fols. 1^v–188^v (formerly SMH 73, access 4010) (17th/18th cent.)

J Cambridge Mass., Harvard Houghton Library, Syr. 35 (formerly SMH 23, access 3961), fols. 2^v–136^v, 142^r–148^v (16th/17th cent.)

K Mardin, Dayr al-Zaʿfarān, 393, pp. 1–125 (20th cent.)

L Mardin, Church of the Forty Martyrs, 281 (olim 114), fols. 1^r–170^r (1474/1475)

O Edgbaston, University of Birmingham, Mingana Syr. 48, fols. 1^r–71^v (1906, but based in part on a MS from 1757)

3.1.2.3 Group c

S Cambridge Mass., Harvard Houghton Library, Syr. 59 (formerly SMH 47, access 3985), fols. 86^r–94^r (1856) ~ book 4 only

T Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, syr. 377, fols. 145^r–154^v (1854/1855) ~ book 4 only

V Cambridge Mass., Harvard Houghton Library, Syr. 39 (formerly SMH 27, access 3965), fols. 96^r–237^r(1856)

3.1.2.4 Additional Syriac Manuscripts

Aleppo, Syriac-Orthodox Archdiocese, 7077, fols. 1^v–11^v, 23^r–180^v(1567/1568)

Cambridge Mass., Houghton Library, Syr. 36 (formerly SMH 24, access 3962), fols. 10, 12^r–61^r (16th/17th cent.) ~ books 5 and 6 only

Edgbaston, University of Birmingham, Mingana Syr. 184, fol. 122^r (1637) ~ end of book 6 only

Charfet, Syrian-Catholic Patriarchate, Fonds Rahmani 60, fols. 11^r–48^v (19th cent.) ~ book 5 only

Diyarbakir, Meryem Ana Syriac Orthodox Church, 99 (1728–1731) (listed as missing, perhaps identical to Mardin, Chaldean Bishopric, 80; both perhaps identical to manuscript D above)

Glane (Netherlands), Dayro d-Mor Ephrem (1567)

Mardin, Chaldean Bishopric, 80 (1728-1731) (listed as missing, perhaps identical to Diyarbakir, Meryem Ana Syriac Orthodox Church, 99; both perhaps identical to manuscript D above)

Mosul, Syrian Orthodox Archdiocese, 264, fols. 46^r–110^v, 133^r–148^r (17th/18th cent.) ~ books 2, 5, and 6 in Garšūnī; books 1 and 2, beginning only, in Syriac

Pampakuda, Konat Collection, 121, fols. 4^r–136^v(18th cent.)

Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Borg. Sir. 128, fols. 10^r–82^v (1720) (books 1–3, 5, 6; book 4 explicit only)

Udayagiri (Kerala), Malankara Syrian Orthodox Theological Seminary, 6, fols. 2^r–101^r (1841) ~ missing book 3; HMML

Burke, Tony. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas in the Syriac Tradition. Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies 48. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2017 (edition of Inf. Gos. Thom. portion of the compendium based on all the manuscripts assigned sigla above).

Çiçek, Julius Y. Die heilige Meryem/Tad’itho d’yoldath aloho Maryam. Glane/Losser: Bar Hebraeus Verlag, 2001 (diplomatic edition based on unnumbered Glane manuscript and Mingana Syr. 560).

3.2 Modern Translations

For editions and translations of individual texts within the compilation see their respective entries.

3.2.1 English

Knight, Sarah, trans. Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Translated from the Malayalam translation by Kuriyakos Pallikkapparambil. Texts from Christian Late Antiquity 68. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias, 2021 (translated by Pallikkapparambil in 1924 from a Syriac text similar to the edition of Çiçek).

3.3 General Works

Baumstark, Anton. Geschichte der syrischen Literatur mit Ausschluss der christlich-palästinensischen Texte. Bonn: A. Marcus & E. Webers Verlag, 1922 (discussion and manuscript listing pp. 69–70 and 99).

Burke, Tony. “An Unpublished Syriac Manuscript of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas: Introduction, Text, Translation, and Notes.” Hugoye 16.2 (2013): 225–99 (discussion and manuscript listing pp. 234–37).

Burke, Tony. “The Infancy Gospel of Thomas (Syriac).” Pages 52–68 in New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures. Vol. 1. Edited by Tony Burke and Brent Landau. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2016.

Graf, George. Geschichte der christlichen Arabischen Literatur, vol. 1. Vatican: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1944 (discussion and manuscript listing p. 226, and p. 246).

Hochstedler, Andrew. “The Late Antique Syriac Book of Mary and a New Witness to the Departure of Mary in Six Books from Sinai Arabic 588.” Apocrypha 33 (2022): 91–166.

Horn, Cornelia B. and Robert R. Phenix. “Apocryphal Gospels in Syriac and Related Texts Offering Traditions about Jesus.” Pages 527–55 in Jesus in apokryphen Evangelienüberlieferungen. Edited by Jörg Frey and Jens Schröter. WUNT 254. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2010.

Mimouni, Simon Claude. “Vies de la Vierge. État de la question.” Apocrypha 5 (1994): 211–48. Reprinted in Simon Claude Mimouni, Les traditions anciennes sur la Dormition et l’Assomption de Marie : études littéraires, historiques et doctrinales. VCSupp 104. Leiden and Boston : Brill, 2011.

Naffah, Charles. “Les ‘histoires’ syriaques de la Vierge: traditions apocryphes anciennes et récentes.” Apocrypha 20 (2009): 137–88.