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A few years ago (2011), Alin Suciu pointed to some Coptic manuscripts of a homily for Holy Saturday attributed to Epiphanius of Salamis (see here). The Greek is at PG 43: 440-464 and some data is available for other versions at CPG 3768; Alin kindly provides PDFs for both of these in his post. I would like to add some more information on this homily — attributed elsewhere also to Anastasius of Sinai and even Cyril of Alexandria — in Gəʕəz, Georgian, Armenian, Syriac, and Arabic/Garšūnī; for all of these versions except Georgian and Armenian, there are manuscripts available through HMML.

(There are, of course, many pieces of art that cover the contents of this homily, from Joseph of Arimathea and the removal of Jesus’ body from the cross, his burial, and his descent into hell, even from the Brick Testament; there are, in fact, so many that I didn’t have time to choose any to include here, but for what it’s worth, here is a relatively unknown one from Sybil Andrews [d. 1992].)

Gəʕəz

There is no Gəʕəz in the CPG list, but there are at least four copies known to me; I have not, however, checked all the catalogs. In these four manuscripts, at least, it is attributed to Anastasius of Sinai, as in Vat. Syr. 369 (see below).

• BL Orient. 774 (15th cent.), ff. 91r-101r (Wright, Cat. Eth. BM, p. 228); in margin በዕርበተ ፡ ፀሓይ ፡ ፡ምንባብ። “Reading for the evening”
• BL Orient. 775 (18th cent.), ff. 108r-121v (Wright, Cat. Eth. BM, p. 229)
• EMML 2868 (late 18th cent., it seems), ff. 169r-end

ድርሳን ፡ ዘቅዱስ ፡ ወብዙዕ ፡ አንስጣስዮስ ፡ አቡነ ፡ ዘደብረ ፡ ሲና ፡ በእንተ ፡ ዘከመ ፡ ተቀብረ ፡ … ወርደቶ ፡ ውስተ ፡ ሲኦል ፡ ወበእንተ ፡ ዮሴፍ ፡ ዘአርማትያስ ፡ ረድኡ ፡ ለኢየሱስ።

Homily of Saint Anastasius of Mt. Sinai on how [Jesus] was buried and his descent into hell, and on Joseph of Arimathea, Jesus’ disciple.

Incipit: ይቤ ፡ ምንት ፡ ይእቲ ፡ ዛቲ ፡ አርምሞ ፡ He said: What is this silence…?

• EMML 4967 (20th cent.), ff. 141v-146v

Georgian

The information given at CPG 3768 for Georgian is very spare, so I’ll fill it out here. Only Michel Van Esbroeck’s book Les plus anciens homéliaires géorgiens (1975) is cited, yet without page numbers: the relevant ones are pp. 85-86. The title (with my ET) is

დიდსა შაფათსა. საკითხავი. თქუმული წმიდისა მამისა ჩუენისა ეპიფანე კჳპრელ მთავარებისკოპოსისაჲ დაფლვისა თჳს უფლისა ჩუენისა იესუ ქრისტჱსა და იოსების თჳს მართლისა.

Great [i.e. Holy] Saturday, reading: Homily of our father, Saint Epiphanius of Cyprus, archbishop, on the burial of our Lord Jesus Christ and on Joseph the Just.

The title in Borg. Geo. 4, where the homily occupies ff. 14v-28r (see Van Lantschoot, “Le ms. Borgia géorgien 4,” Le Muséon 61 [1948], here 80-81), is different and fuller:

წმიდათა შოვრის მამისა ჩუენისა ეპიფანე კჳპრელ მთავარებისკოპოსისაჲ. საღმრთოთა ჴორცთა ოჳფლისა ჩუენისა იესოჳ ქრისტჱსთა დაფლვისათჳს: და იოსიფ და ნიკოდიმოსისთჳს: და ჯოჯოხეთს შთასლვისათჳს ოჳფლისა შემდგომად განმაცხოველებელისა ვნებისა მისისა რომელი ესე იკითხვების დიდსა შაბათსა: მამაო გუაკურთხენ:

[Homily] of our father among the saints, Epiphanius of Cyprus, archbishop, on the burial of the divine body of our Lord Jesus Christ, on Joseph and Nicodemus, and on the Lord’s descent into hell after his life-giving Passion, which is read on Great Saturday. Bless us, father!

The incipit (from Van Esbroeck) reads

რაჲ არს ესე დღეს დუმილი მრავალი ქუეყანასა ზედა რაჲ არს ესე დუმილი

What is this thorough silence today on the earth? What is this silence?

“La tradition géorgienne est surabondante,” he says, citing eleven manuscripts in addition to Athos 11.

Armenian

For Armenian, too, CPG points to Van Esbroeck’s study, again with no page references. At the end of the section on this homily, he lists Venice 201 and 227, and Matenadaran 993, № 106, where the homily is attributed to Cyril of Alexandria.

Syriac

In Vat. Syr. 369, № 37 (see Sauget’s art. cited in CPG: OCP 27 [1961], p. 420), it is attributed to Anastasius of Sinai. It is not clear how the text referred to by Sauget corresponds with the following two late copies:

• MGMT 33 (d. 1969), pp. 1-8
• SOAH 16 (d. 1969), pp. 537-540 (The text here corr. to PG 43: 444c-452c.)

Arabic (see Garšūnī below)

In addition to the note in CPG, with reference to GCAL I 357 (see lines 11-23), we mention these:

• Monastery of St. George, Homeira, Syria (HMIR) 16 (d. 1682/3), ff. 53v-67r
• DIYR 121 (18th/19th cent.), ff. 332r-340v
• BzAr 118 (d. 1820), ff. 139v-151r

 

HMIR 16, f. 53v

Garšūnī

• SMMJ 170 (d. 1596), ff. 279r-282v
• CCM 345 (d. 1678/9), ff. 34v-44r
• CFMM 286 (16th/17th cent.), pp. 95-109
• SMMJ 169 (18th cent.), ff. 111r-118v
• CFMM 292 (18th/19th cent.), pp. 88-97

SMMJ 170, f. 279r

_____________________________________________

Others have noted that this homily, whoever wrote it, was obviously popular in several languages. There is, I think, no English translation from the Greek or any of the versions, so a monograph on one or more of these versions, with English translation, is an obvious desideratum.

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A guest post by Ted Erho, Research Fellow in Ethiopian Manuscript Studies at HMML.

One of the lesser known facts in EMML history is that the project microfilmed nearly 500 manuscripts from libraries of the important churches and monasteries of Lake Tana during the 1980s.  This is due in part to the fact that copies of these microfilms were never sent to HMML, largely on account of the prevailing geopolitical conditions of that era.  However, in 2005, HMML was able to visit the National Archives and Library of Ethiopia and scan a number of the EMML negatives missing from our collections.  While technical problems and the increasingly deteriorating state of the films unfortunately prevented the majority of the Lake Tana items from being scanned at that time, a handful are now available at HMML.  The available scans vary greatly in quality.

More recently, HMML has obtained a complete set of scans of the microfilming project of Ernst Hammerschmidt at Lake Tana in the late 1960s.  Like the EMML scans, Hammerschmidt’s films vary in quality, often on account of poor image sizing, focusing, and lighting.  However, in cases where the two overlap, i.e. the same manuscript has been microfilmed twice, it is often possible to create a most legible copy through a combination of the copies.

Below is a list of the available overlapping items:

Kebran Gabriel (x6)
Tana/Kebran 2 = EMML 7603 (mf)
Tana/Kebran 8 = EMML 8594
Tana/Kebran 11 = EMML 8598
Tana/Kebran 16 = EMML 7605 (mf)
Tana/Kebran 37 = EMML 7596 (mf)
Tana/Kebran 48 = EMML 8612

The three microfilms (EMML 7596, 7603, and 7605) are of far superior quality to Hammerschmidt’s copies.  HMML also possesses copies of the following mss from Kebran Gabriel which were not microfilmed by Hammerschmidt: EMML 8595, 8596, 8625, 8626, 8627, 8679, and 8683.

A total of 124 mss from the monastery of Kebran Gabriel are recorded as having been microfilmed by the EMML project: EMML 7596, 7603, 7605, 8262-8346, 8594-96, 8598, 8600, 8603, 8606-07, 8612, 8614-15, 8625-27, 8632, 8634-35, 8644, 8646-48, 8651, 8658, 8663, 8668, 8670-71, 8674-79, 8683, 8687, and 8689.  These include (as with Dabra Maryam and Daga Estifanos below) further known duplicates, such as Tana/Kebran 4 = EMML 8274, Tana/Kebran 9 = EMML 8292, and Tana/Kebran 21 = EMML 8307.

Dabra Maryam (x5)
Tana 62/Dabra Maryam 4 = EMML 8613
Tana 66/Dabra Maryam 8 = EMML 8623
Tana 72/Dabra Maryam 14 = EMML 8621
Tana 73/Dabra Maryam 15 = EMML 8610
Tana 77/Dabra Maryam 19 = EMML 8597

Six further manuscripts were microfilmed by the EMML project at this monastery: EMML 8631, 8636, 8640, 8645, 8657, and 8659.

EMML 8753, ff. 31v-32r

Daga Estifanos (x6)
Tana 115/Daga Estifanos 4 = EMML 8734
Tana 144/Daga Estifanos 33 = EMML 8754
Tana 151/Daga Estifanos 40 = EMML 8748
Tana 156/Daga Estifanos 45 = EMML 8755
Tana 175/Daga Estifanos 64 = EMML 8753
Tana 177/Daga Estifanos 66 = EMML 8744

Thirty further items from the significant holdings found at Daga Estifanos are found as EMML 8352, 8354, 8364, 8367-70, 8372, 8377-78, 8382, 8384, 8392, 8394, 8397, 8399-8400, 8402, 8404, 8411-14, 8416, 8420, 8425, 8694-95, 8709, and 8719.

The Tana 177/Daga Estifanos 66/EMML 8744 manuscript serves to illustrate the importance of manuscript microfilming and digitization projects both in the past (such as EMML) and the present in Ethiopia.  At the time that Hammerschmidt microfilmed this item in the late 1960s, it contained 112 ff., with the final portion of the text (ff. 97-112) containing the then unique, and nearly complete, gadl of St. Yasay, the orthodox king of Rome.  (A second, complete copy of this text is now known from EMML 7602 ff. 74r-82r.)  However, when the EMML project encountered it, on 15 May 1987, the manuscript contained only 72 ff., indicating the probable loss of the Daga copy of this rare text in the intervening years.

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Today and tomorrow at HMML there will be a small conference to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the EMML project. Here is the program:

EMML @ 40: The Life and Legacy of the Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library
Hill Museum & Manuscript Library, Saint John’s University

Thursday, July 25
9:30-10:15
Fr. Columba Stewart, OSB, Hill Museum & Manuscript Library
EMML: A Brief History and a Look Ahead

10:15-10:45
Getatchew Haile, Hill Museum & Manuscript Library
A Fragment of the Aksumite Period of a Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew

10:45-11:45
Claire Bosc-Tiessé and Marie-Laure Derat, Centre national de la recherche scientifique
Towards an Archaeology of Manuscript Libraries around Lalibela (Begwena – Lasta, 12th – 21st cent.): Inventories of Books, History of Texts and Differential Preservation of Manuscripts

1:30-2:15
Adam C. McCollum, Hill Museum & Manuscript Library
A Mass of Texts: The Witness of the EMML Project to Hagiographic Material in Gǝʿǝz

2:15-3:00
Amsalu Tefera, Addis Ababa University
Gädlä Sarabamon: The Case of the Ethiopic Version

3:00-3:30
Sophia Dege, Ethio-SPARE, Universität Hamburg
The Aksimaros among EMML Manuscripts

3:30-4:00
Concluding discussion

Friday, July 26
9:00-9:45
Curt Niccum, Abilene Christian University, Abilene, Texas
What has Athens to do with Addis Alem? Greek Biblical Scholarship’s Renewed Interest in Ethiopic

9:45-10:30
Ted Erho, Hill Museum & Manuscript Library and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Demographic Trends in the Manuscript Tradition of Ethiopic Enoch

10:30-11:00
Concluding discussion

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I have often enough here referred to colophons in Syriac and Arabic, but here is a simple example of one in Gǝʿǝz, from The Beheading of John the Baptist in EMML 2514 (written in the 1380s CE), f. 43r.

EMML 2514, f. 43r

In English:

Finished is the Combat [gädl] of the holy and elect John. May his prayer and blessing protect us forever and ever, amen!

May Christ have mercy in the kingdom of heaven on the one who has copied it, the one who has commissioned its copying, the one who has read it, and the one who has heard its words, through the prayer of the holy virgin, Mary, John the Baptist, and all the saints and martyrs, forever and ever, amen.

The operative vocabulary here is:

• täfäṣṣämä to be completed
• ṣäḥafä to write
• aṣḥafä to have someone write
• anbäbä to read
• sämʿa to hear

And, as usual, there is a wish that this or that saint’s prayer (ṣälot) and blessing (bäräkät) protect (ʿaqäbä) the scribe, etc.

A typological study of colophons in eastern Christian manuscripts from all the languages has, as far as I know, yet to be written, but it would be a worthwhile topic of investigation.

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Results of the EMML project, begun in 1973 to photograph mss in Ethiopia, include the availability at HMML of several thousand microfilmed manuscripts in Gǝʿǝz (and Amharic). The first catalog appeared in 1975 at the hands of William Macomber, and he and Getatchew Haile would go on individually or together to produce ten more, with vol. 10 appearing in 1993 and vol. 11 now essentially finished but not yet published. Data from these catalogs are available in Oliver, though in less detail than in the printed catalogs. Later this summer a small conference will take place at HMML to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the project.

EMML 141, f. 143v. Barsoma.

With that many mss together one place, it is natural to consider the makeup of this meta-collection made up of many smaller collections throughout Ethiopia in terms of genre. Hagiography being one of my interests, that’s where I’m focusing. Gǝʿǝz hagiography shares features with hagiography in other language traditions of eastern Christianity, and there are very many texts found in Gǝʿǝz hagiography that are known in Coptic, Syriac, Arabic, Armenian, etc., and, of course, Greek. Ethiopian Christian literature also has its own saints, too, that are wholly unknown in other traditions. Traditions and stories associated with these saints are recounted briefly in the synaxarion (sǝnkǝssar), but also in longer vitae and martyrdom texts (gädl, pl. gädlat; sämaʿt or sǝmǝʿ), as well as texts dedicated to a saint’s miracles (täʾammǝr). Angels and prophets also figure as saints in Gǝʿǝz hagiography, and homilies (dǝrsan, pl. dǝrsanat) are dedicated to particular saints. With this little prelude given, let’s turn to the EMML collection itself. (See the bibliography below for basic surveys of topics in Gǝʿǝz hagiography.)

Based on the printed catalogs of vols. 1-10, here is a list of the manuscripts containing hagiographic materials by sub-genre of hagiography. Many manuscripts are hagiographic collections and thus contain a number, sometimes a great number, of hagiographic texts, while a few of the manuscripts have only an isolated hagiographic work or two. There is naturally some overlap of sub-genre: for example, a martyrdom text may well contain miracles. The counts for each volume given below are based on these separate categories, that is, a few mss are counted more than once if they have texts in more than one category. I have combined the categories of the catalog indices “Acts of Martyrs and Saints” and “Miracles” under one heading here: “Vitae, Martyrdoms, and Miracles”. As mentioned above, the printed catalogs have more detail, but basic information about the hitherto cataloged EMML mss will be found in the online catalog, searchable by EMML no. here.

VOL. 1 (64 mss)

• Vitae, Martyrdoms, and Miracles (34 mss) 2 4 5 11 22 24 54 63 64 69 76 79 80 87 88 119 141 142 144 150 167 168 193 206 208 213 217 227 228 229 246 247 296 297
• Homilies for Angels (9 mss) 28 41 44 54 60 70 79 144 273
• Synaxaria (21 mss) 7 8 18 37 82 90 118 121 132 146 149 165 197 210 241 272 280 283 288 289 295

VOL. 2 (99 mss)

• Vitae, Martyrdoms, and Miracles (52 mss) 303 319 327 329 332 382 384 392 402 412 415 426 430 453 463 486 492 499 501 513 519 529 537 544 547 551 568 578 583 593 598 604 606 607 612 613 615 617 621 623 633 642 644 653 654 665 666 672 676 682 683 700
• Homilies for Angels (17 mss) 301 308 314 317 327 367 381 421 424 428 445 530 531 569 570 645 646
• Homilies for Christ and the Virgin Mary (9 mss) 353 357 516 519 537 543 555 571 621
• Synaxaria (21 mss) 365 383 385 408 409 410 439 462 465 487 489 506 560 561 564 577 579 601 663 681 684

VOL. 3 (77 mss)

• Vitae, Martyrdoms, and Miracles (49 mss) 701 709 712 722 728 730 748 758 760 766 774 776 777 782 793 797 805 806 813 814 818 820 836 839 863 867 873 875 876 885 887 890 891 894 896 901 903 912 920 921 929 932 933 936 962 981 1052 1088 1095
• Homilies for Angels (6 mss) 702 763 815 865 957 1029
• Homilies for Christ and the Virgin Mary (6 mss) 670 744 766 771 785 871
• Synaxaria (16 mss) 713 715 740 741 742 743 754 770 809 811 854 855 878 879 944 997

EMML 1479, f. 84v, Gädl of Sergius and Bacchus.

VOL. 4 (54 mss)

• Vitae, Martyrdoms, and Miracles (31 mss) 1122 1126 1140 1156 1180 1208 1211 1218 1220 1302 1303 1304 1305 1323 1325 1326 1338 1344 1356 1363 1366 1371 1385 1433 1440 1453 1479 1482 1487 1496 1497
• Homilies for Angels (10 mss) 1129 1133 1143 1299 1311 1333 1335 1433 1464 1480
• Homilies for God, Christ, and the Virgin Mary (6 mss) 1113 1120 1138 1194 1212 1451
• Synaxaria (7 mss) 1115 1117 1172 1175 1176 1317 1320

VOL. 5 (112 mss)

• Vitae, Martyrdoms, and Miracles (74 mss) 1512 1513 1526 1528 1553 1563 1569 1572 1573 1581 1584 1593 1606 1610 1611 1612 1614 1616 1617 1628 1630 1635 1636 1657 1673 1674 1688 1690 1692 1734 1735 1758 1763 1766 1767 1772 1773 1779 1782 1783 1790 1799 1824 1825 1826 1827 1833 1834 1837 1838 1840 1844 1857 1874 1877 1882 1885 1887 1920 1925 1931 1934 1939 1940 1946 1953 1960 1961 1963 1965 1974 1978 1992 1998
• Homilies for Angels (13 mss) 1609 1631 1719 1720 1724 1802 1829 1833 1835 1841 1896 1925 1942
• Homilies for God, Christ, and the Virgin Mary (13 mss) 1525 1553 1582 1779 1833 1840 1860 1882 1885 1914 1956 1974 1998
• Synaxaria (12 mss) 1615 1622 1623 1624 1852 1853 1854 1873 1875 1976 1977 1981

VOL. 6 (125 mss)

• Vitae, Martyrdoms, and Miracles (73 mss) 2007 2023 2034 2037 2039 2041 2048 2050 2052 2056 2058 2059 2060 2066 2084 2087 2107 2134 2137 2142 2151 2169 2171 2180 2189 2190 2196 2197 2208 2220 2221 2229 2233 2248 2249 2251 2255 2261 2266 2270 2275 2282 2297 2300 2303 2308 2319 2322 2325 2326 2337 2349 2353 2366 2371 2374 2378 2392 2406 2408 2409 2419 2424 2444 2445 2451 2454 2462 2463 2466 2485 2488 2495
• Homilies for Angels (24 mss) 2005 2007 2087 2089 2102 2107 2134 2196 2200 2229 2237 2254 2291 2293 2303 2308 2371 2373 2381 2389 2413 2486 2491 2495
• Homilies for God, Christ, and the Virgin Mary (16 mss) 2040 2041 2044 2205 2319 2323 2338 2345 2375 2444 2451 2454 2458 2459 2461 2484
• Synaxaria (12 mss) 2001 2013 2015 2022 2054 2141 2176 2347 2364 2365 2427 2428

VOL. 7 (137 mss)

• Vitae, Martyrdoms, and Miracles (103 mss) 2504 2513 2514 2524 2536 2550 2552 2563 2573 2577 2582 2593 2599 2601 2608 2610 2620 2621 2626 2628 2634 2639 2643 2646 2655 2660 2670 2672 2675 2682 2685 2686 2692 2698 2703 2710 2711 2715 2717 2719 2720 2730 2732 2733 2739 2740 2749 2752 2758 2764 2768 2774 2779 2782 2784 2795 2796 2800 2802 2804 2805 2807 2812 2828 2831 2834 2836 2846 2847 2859 2860 2861 2862 2865 2867 2869 2880 2891 2893 2894 2895 2898 2902 2903 2905 2911 2912 2913 2914 2919 2925 2928 2938 2949 2952 2954 2964 2967 2968 2970 2972 2995 2999
• Homilies for Angels (15 mss) 2506 2572 2639 2644 2656 2669 2701 2744 2779 2808 2865 2888 2904 2943 2958
• Homilies for God, Christ, and the Virgin Mary (10 mss) 2524 2584 2631 2655 2717 2814 2860 2902 2923 2998
• Synaxaria (9 mss) 2516 2530 2694 2824 2856 2951 2953 2997 3000

VOL. 8 (155 mss)

• Vitae, Martyrdoms, and Miracles (94 mss) 3005 3014 3016 3031 3034 3049 3051 3052 3058 3059 3061 3065 3076 3077 3079 3090 3093 3103 3109 3117 3125 3132 3133 3142 3143 3149 3153 3156 3165 3170 3172 3174 3194 3195 3202 3205 3210 3211 3219 3221 3225 3229 3248 3249 3275 3284 3288 3289 3290 3291 3293 3303 3305 3306 3309 3317 3321 3326 3329 3330 3337 3341 3345 3359 3368 3378  3388 3407 3410 3413 3417 3418 3419 3420 3421 3428 3430 3431 3436 3442 3445 3446 3447 3454 3455 3456 3469 3472 3474 3475 3479 3492 3496 3497
• Homilies for Angels, Christ, and the Virgin Mary (48 mss) 3005 3016 3022 3032 3034 3052 3058 3077 3125 3142 3156 3157 3186 3194 3196 3199 3200 3212 3215 3221 3239 3248 3249 3251 3284 3290 3301 3305 3314 3341 3359 3396 3409 3410 3412 3417 3418 3420 3428 3436 3442 3445 3446 3447 3456 3469 3472 3479
• Synaxaria (13 mss) 3008 3033 3035 3048 3062 3096 3101 3155 3376 3379 3380 3387 3416

VOL. 9 (110 mss)

• Vitae, Martyrdoms, and Miracles (65 mss)  3518 3525 3527 3536 3545 3552 3554 3563 3564 3572 3583 3585 3589 3607 3616 3623 3629 3629 3640 3642 3650 3652 3667 3685 3696 3698 3709 3711 3719 3729 3733 3737 3738 3785 3805 3820 3823 3824 3835 3841 3843 3852 3867 3872 3877 3889 3891 3899 3901 3910 3923 3931 3932 3938 3946 3961 3966 3968 3969 3972 3979 3986 3987 3990 3991
• Homilies for Angels, Christ, and the Virgin Mary (31 mss) 3916 3527 3529 3546 3580 3589 3591 3626 3627 3629 3639 3663 3711 3723 3731 3771 3774 3777 3816 3829 3836 3843 3873 3891 3899 3938 3962 3966 3972 3986 3998
• Synaxaria (13 mss) 3511 3512 3513 3616 3620 3621 3804 3891 3966 3982 3984 3985 3986

VOL. 10 (280 mss)

• Vitae, Martyrdoms, and Miracles (180 mss) 4001 4002 4007 4008 4010 4017 4030 4031 4036 4041 4045 4050 4054 4061 4068 4073 4074 4079 4086 4091 4092 4118 4119 4125 4130 4140 4144 4147 4164 4165 4166 4169 4172 4173 4176 4177 4182 4184 4196 4201 4202 4205 4206 4207 4209 4210 4211 4215 4231 4232 4237 4242 4245 4261 4262 4264 4265 4266 4267 4268 4278 4280 4282 4298 4299 4302 4303 4304 4309 4314 4315 4320 4329 4341 4343 4344 4346 4368 4373 4402 4412 4419 4420 4435 4442 4446 4463 4477 4478 4482 4484 4487 4490 4491 4492 4494 4496 4497 4502 4504 4505 4509 4513 4522 4527 4541 4545 4551 4553 4556 4562 4568 4569 4571 4572 4590 4606 4610 4613 4615 4618 4622 4633 4646 4658 4660 4661 4673 4675 4676 4679 4682 4683 4685 4688 4692 4696 4738 4740 4741 4758 4761 4766 4769 4772 4789 4790 4791 4793 4799 4800 4803 4810 4816 4817 4823 4829 4864 4867 4868 4869 4878 4886 4905 4907 4908 4912 4917 4922 4936 4937 4946 4966 4970 4977 4979 4981 4983 4984 4988
• Homilies for Angels, Christ, and the Virgin Mary (76 mss)  4002 4017 4048 4063 4074 4082 4086 4129 4130 4133 4138 4147 4169 4173 4184 4206 4209 4212 4231 4242 4268 4280 4285 4298 4314 4315 4320 4357 4362 4368 4400 4413 4420 4429 4481 4502 4504 4505 4510 4533 4534 4541 4545 4560 4601 4610 4633 4639 4646 4676 4685 4692 4702 4721 4726 4732 4734 4772 4773 4781 4800 4810 4811 4814 4817 4820 4842 4864 4868 4869 4872 4934 4937 4940 4979 4983
• Synaxaria (24 mss)  4022 4169 4176 4208 4272 4273 4274 4355 4398 4436 4445 4525 4652 4737 4785 4786 4900 4901 4910 4930 4956 4965 4972 4997

The total count comes to 1213. Again, this enumeration by hagiographic genre means that there is some duplication, but even allowing for that, there are around 1000 manuscripts with hagiographic content in the cataloged EMML collection. That’s manuscripts: the number of individual texts is, of course, much greater. With this list, there is no doubt as to the remarkable amount of hagiographic mss available within the EMML project; as to the makeup of these mss and the particular witness of the texts contained in them, it’s a case by case question that has so far been investigated only partly. Needless to say, for students of eastern Christian hagiography and of Gǝʿǝz language and literature, there is much work to do in these manuscripts.

Bibliography

See here for the EMML catalogs by Macomber and Getatchew. EA below = Encyclopaedia Aethiopica; in the EA articles full bibliographies will be found. Not listed here, but the articles in EA II on the various homilies (s.vv. “Dǝrsanä PN”) may also be mentioned.

Bausi, Alessandro. “Gädlä sämaʿǝtat.” EA II 644-646.

Colin, Gérard and Alessandro Bausi. “Sǝnkǝssar.” EA IV 621-623.

Getatchew Haile. “Gǝʿǝz literature.” EA II 736-741.

Habtemichael Kidane. “Mälkǝʾ.” EA III 700-702.

——–. “Mälkǝʾa gubaʾe.” EA III 704-705.

Huntingford, G.W.B. “The saints of mediaeval Ethiopia.” Abba Salama 10 (1979): 257-341.

Kaplan, Steven. “Gädl.” EA II 642-644.

——–. “Holy Men.” EA III 58-61.

Kinefe Rigb Zelleke. “Bibliography of the Ethiopic Hagiographical Tradition.” Journal of Ethiopian Studies 13 (1975): 57-102.

Mersha Alehegne. “Täzkar.” EA IV 881-882.

Nosnitsin, Denis. “Hagiography.” EA II 969-972.

——–. “Saints, Christian.” EA IV 476-480.

——–. “Sälam.” EA IV 484.

——–. “Täʾammǝr.” EA IV 787-788.

Samuel Yalew. “ʿArke.” EA I 342.

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Having something you want to share with others is pointless without the means whereby those others might find what you want to share. Hence the necessity of cataloging, and hence the importance of the catalog’s ease of use. In the previous post I highlighted that there are (digital) heaps and piles of manuscripts available at HMML that are still to be cataloged, and other catalogers and I are working to lessen their number, but in the meantime, especially since I have recently received some queries about how to use HMML’s online catalog to find manuscripts (enquirers, you know who you are!), here are a few tips about how to do it. (NB: The catalog name is written in all caps on HMML’s website, but I’ve just used “Oliver” here.)

If you go here (or click “Research / Search HMML Resources” from the banner of any HMML page), you will find three options for searching the catalog: Keyword Search, Traditional Search, and Text Search. I shall deal with each of these in turn, mainly with an eye toward eastern Christian manuscripts, but there are also on HMML’s site general remarks about using the catalog.

The Keyword Search is the newest way to get into Oliver. It’s a Google-like search that will go through all the text of the catalog database (yes, that’s a lot of data). First, note that there are a few guidelines: read them. It’s Unicode compliant, so try out some terms in Arabic, Armenian, Syriac, or Gǝʿǝz (but note that there is little in Fidäl in Oliver for now; see more on Ethiopian manuscripts below). The results appear as in the screen capture below, with individual manuscripts in their own clickable block. The search term appears in red on the results page and then with yellow highlighting once you click on a particular manuscript and come to the actual Oliver record. Don’t use the forward and back arrows on your browser to navigate between the search results and the individual records, but rather the navigation buttons at the top of the search page. I should point out, too, that the data available for this kind of search is somewhat behind the pace of the data available to the other searches.

The so-called Traditional Search, from the perspective of eastern Christian manuscripts, is probably most useful as a direct line to information about EMML manuscripts, which are generally cited and discussed by their EMML number, not by their location and shelfmark. So if I’m reading the latest issue of Aethiopica and see a reference to EMML 246, I can easily go here, enter 246 in the bottom section et voilà, there is the record. It should be pointed out that the Oliver records for EMML manuscripts are based on the printed catalogs by William Macomber and Getatchew Haile, but they often contain less information than is in those catalogs. (A desideratum is to re-enter the Gǝʿǝz names and titles in these EMML records in Fidäl, a mammoth undertaking very susceptible to typographic errors.)

This kind of search may also be used, however, to get a glimpse of all the manuscripts of a particular collection, if you know the city. For example, if we choose Istanbul from the City drop-down menu, and then choose Armenian Patriarchate of Istanbul, Balat from the Library drop-down menu, and leave Shelfmark blank, we get the following:

All the items in the list are, of course, clickable to go to the individual manuscript.

The Text Search can be very useful for going directly to particular manuscripts (other than EMML) or for doing broader searches for author or title; but in the latter case, the Keyword Search may also serve well. One of my own frequent uses of the Text Search is to enter the HMML Project Number, which in the case of the eastern Christian material photographed since 2003 consists of an acronym (some more perspicuous than others) and a five-digit number; this number sometimes, but certainly not always, equals the shelfmark. (These acronyms are handy to use and, since HMML is where most of these manuscripts are the easiest to access, this means of reference will perhaps become standard in some cases, as it has for the EMML collection.) If I see a reference to Mardin 130, for example, perhaps in Vööbus’ Handschriftliche Überlieferung der Mēmrē-Dichtung des Jaʿqōb von Serūg, and if I know that the manuscripts he cites as “Mardin” are in the Church of the Forty Martyrs (= CFMM) collection, I can enter CFMM 00130 in the Project Number box of this search page and go straight to the appropriate catalog record.

As with most digital projects, Oliver is ever-evolving (nice alliteration in that phrase with the liquids and v’s!), hence the caveat about it on the main search page: “Oliver is a work in progress and new records are added frequently. HMML welcomes corrections from users. Include the source number and the name of the field that needs correction and send to HMML.”

I hope these tips for using Oliver are helpful and lead to easier searching and researching. On any of these things comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome, either below or in an email to me, especially after some hands-on use of the catalog. (Obviously, use good sense in determining what kind of remarks or questions should go below and what kind should be sent privately.)

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As I’ve mentioned before, HMML has recently received the last of the images for the manuscript collection of Saint Mark’s Monastery in Jerusalem. The collection consists almost exclusively of Syriac and Arabic/Garšūnī manuscripts, but while surveying the whole of it I came across a late copy of the Gospels in Gǝʿǝz. Here is the colophon:

SMMJ 281, f. 181r

Mentioned in the colophon are then recently departed Emperor Menelik II, who reigned 1889-1913, his oldest daughter Zawditu, empress 1916-1930, and Haile Śǝlāse (Selassie), who was ras (the position just beneath the emperor or empress) at the time of the copy. Also named are Malʾaka Salām Walda Masqal, the ṣaḥafe tǝʾǝzāz (royal secretary), and Abbā Matewos. The seal in the left column is that of Saint Mark’s, and the one on the right is that of Walda Masqal, which can also be seen, for example in EMML 3094 (Walda Masqal is named a number of times in other EMML manuscripts, too); it has the motto, “He who has an ear to ear, let him hear” (cf. e.g. Rev 2:7, and with some variation from the wording here several places in the Gospels). In the Garšūnī note at the bottom of this page, it says that the copy was presented (to Saint Mark’s, presumably) from Empress Zawditu in 1916 by Gabra Śǝlāse “the minister (wazīr) of Ethiopia”. (It is notable that whoever penned this note used the etymological Arabic spelling with /θ/ to spell the name Śǝlāse, rather than a phonetic spelling.)

The manuscript is not particularly significant for its content or age, and, while colophons often supply us with otherwise unknown prosopographic details, that’s not the case here. It is, however, at least of mild interest because of the presence of a Garšūnī note in a Gǝʿǝz manuscript, for what that note says, and because of this copy’s peculiar place in an otherwise Syriac and Arabic collection.

If any other unusual settings of manuscripts within particular collections come to mind, feel free to point them out in the comments.