Collection of reports and canons of the synods of the Ch. of E. held between
the years 410 and 775/6. This collection of synods is only one part of a
much larger collection of canonical and juridical texts, which is
transmitted in a single 13th- or 14th-cent. ms. (Alqosh Syr. 169),
accessible to Western scholars in a number of later copies. The larger
collection has sometimes been called the ‘great Synodicon’ (‘Das grosse
Synodikon’ in Selb’s description, consisting of 80 items, see p. 59–63). The
more limited collection, the Synodicon Orientale proper, covers nos. 28–41
of Selb’s list. It is this more limited collection that has been edited by
Chabot and translated by both Braun (GT) and Chabot (FT) under the title
Synodicon Orientale. Within the ms. itself, the title ‘Book of synods’ (Ktābā d-swnhdw) is used a few times, either for the
collection of E.-Syr. synods or, as a pars pro toto,
for the entire collection. The collection of synods is specifically
introduced with the term swnhdyqw (plur.) ‘synodical
texts’ (Braun: ‘Synodalacten’; Chabot: ‘décisions synodales’).
Chabot divides the entire collection into three parts (covering 840 pages in
the Borgia ms.). The part edited by him, the Synodicon Orientale proper, is
the second (p. 242–561). The first part (p. 1–242; nos. 1–27 in Selb’s list)
contains texts attributed to the apostles along with canons and related
literature of the early Greek synods; it also includes the 73 pseudo-Nicene
canons attributed to [
Marutha of
Maypherqaṭ
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Marutha-of-Maypherqat) and some other texts relevant to the early history of
the Ch. of E., such as the correspondence related to [
Papa bar
ʿAggai
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Papa-bar-Aggai). The third part (p. 561–840; nos. 42–80 in Selb’s list)
contains additional materials pertaining to Cath. Mar [
Aba I
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Aba-I) and [
Ḥenanishoʿ II
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Henanisho-II); extracts from Greek theological writings; the
monastic canons of [
Abraham of
Kashkar
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Abraham-of-Kashkar) and his successor Dadishoʿ on Mount Izla; the canons of the
[School of
Nisibis](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Nisibis-School-of); several lawbooks associated with the names of
cath.
Cath.
[
Ḥenanishoʿ I
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Henanisho-I) (late 7th cent.),
cath.
Cath.
[
Timotheos I
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Timotheos-I)
(d. 823),
cath.
Cath.
[
Ishoʿ bar Nun
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Isho-bar-Nun)
(d. 828), [
ʿAbdishoʿ bar
Bahrīz
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Abdisho-bar-Bahriz) (early 9th cent.), [
Shemʿon of
Rev Ardashir
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Shemon-of-Rev-Ardashir) (7th or 8th cent.), and [
Ishoʿbokht
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Ishobokht-of-Rev-Ardashir) (8th cent.); the Syro-Roman Lawbook; letters of
cath.
Cath.
Timotheos I; a document concerning [
Nestorios of Beth Nuhadra
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Nestorios-of-Beth-Nuhadra); treatises on hereditary law by
cath.
Cath.
[
Eliya I
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Eliya-I-of-Tirhan) (d. 1049), [
Gewargis of
Arbela
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Gewargis-of-Arbela) (late 10th cent.), and [
Eliya of
Nisibis
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Eliya-of-Nisibis) (bar Shinaya, d. 1046). The presence, at the very end of
the collection, of a concluding note under the name of
cath.
Cath.
Eliya I, may
suggest that the collection received its final redaction during his tenure
(1028–49), even though the exact role of this note — in a damaged part of
the original ms. — and Eliya’s involvement in the collection have been
debated (Kaufhold 1983, 727–30). Several items of the collection remain
unpublished.
The second part of the collection, the Synodicon Orientale proper, contains
reports of the synods, along with the canons (and in some cases confessions
of faith, lists of signatures, and relevant letters), of the following
synods:
cath.
Cath.
[
Isḥaq
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Ishaq) (410);
cath.
Cath.
[
Yahbalaha
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Yahbalaha-I) (420);
cath.
Cath.
[
Dadishoʿ
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Dadisho-I) (424, no canons);
cath.
Cath.
[
Aqaq
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Aqaq) (486, followed by
a note on the 484 Synod of [
Barṣawma of
Nisibis
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Barsawma-of-Nisibis), with a reference to letters by Barṣawma provided in an
appendix);
cath.
Cath.
Babai (497, no canons);
cath.
Cath.
Aba I (544, followed by
several documents);
cath.
Cath.
[
Yawsep I
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Yawsep-I-of-Seleucia-Ctesiphon) (554);
cath.
Cath.
[
Ḥazqiel
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Hazqiel-I) (576);
Cath.
[
Ishoʿyahb
I
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Ishoyahb-I) (585);
cath.
Cath.
[
Sabrishoʿ I
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Sabrisho-I)
(596, no canons);
cath.
Cath.
[
Grigor I
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Grigor-I) (605);
cath.
Cath.
[
Gewargis I
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Gewargis-I) (676, followed by an important theological letter);
and
cath.
Cath.
Ḥenanishoʿ II (775). There is reason to assume that this
collection, focused on the synods between 410 and 775 (the Synodicon
Orientale in the narrower sense), originated independently from the other
documents of the larger collection. Given the time period covered, it is
likely that it was put together ca. 800, possibly under the instigation of
cath.
Cath.
Timotheos I, whose interest in matters of church legislation and canon
law is well attested. This collection then became one of the main components
of the larger collection, created at a later period in time. The Synodicon
Orientale is an extremely valuable source for the study of the history and
the theology (Brock) of the Ch. of E. in the Sasanian and early Islamic
period, even if the later redactors may occasionally have updated the
terminology or introduced minor changes, according to their perspective
(Fiey).
The textual transmission is based on a single ms.: Alqosh Syr. 169 (Vosté; or
no. 90 in an earlier checklist by A. Scher), the writing of which seemed to
Scher (who is followed by Vosté) to be ‘prior to the 14th cent.’. This ms.
presently is kept in the Monastery of the Chaldeans in [
Baghdad
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Baghdad) (Ms. 509;
cf. Kaufhold 2005, 230). Mgr. Joseph David brought a 19th-cent. copy to Rome
in 1869. This two-volume copy became ms. Museo Borgiano K. VI, 4 and 3, and
was later incorporated into the Vatican Library as Borg. Syr. 82 and 81.
Among the first scholars to study it was I. Guidi (1889), followed by O.
Braun. The latter prepared a German translation of the second part of the
collection (Synodicon Orientale), which appeared in 1900. J.-B. Chabot,
while he was planning an edition of the same part, was able to use a second
copy of the Alqosh ms., which subsequently became ms. Paris, Bibl. Nat. Syr.
332 (dated 1895). This contains the Synodicon Orientale only, not the larger
collection. A number of other copies, complete or incomplete, exist (Selb,
64–6 and Kaufhold 1983, 730–1). While for the Synodicon Orientale no other
mss. beyond ms. Alqosh Syr. 169 and its descendants are extant, for a number
of the sections of the larger collection additional mss. are available or a
parallel transmission exists in an Arabic collection under the name of
Īlīyā
al-Jawharī
Īlīyā
al-Jawharī
(ca. 900) and in [
Ibn
al-Ṭayyib
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Ibn-al-Tayyib)’s Fiqh al-Naṣrāniyya (Kaufhold 1976,
24–5).