Jacob of Sarug’s Homilies on Women Whom Jesus Met

296 Pages·2016·1.621 MB·English

by  Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Sebastian P. Brock, Reyhan Durmaz, Rebecca Stephens Falcasantos, Michael Payne, Daniel Picus

Jacob of Sarug’s Homilies on Women
Whom Jesus Met
Texts from Christian Late Antiquity
44
Series Editor
George Anton Kiraz
TeCLA (Texts from Christian Late Antiquity) is a series presenting
ancient Christian texts both in their original languages and with
accompanying contemporary English translations.
Jacob of Sarug’s Homilies on Women
Whom Jesus Met
Fascicle 37
Edited and Translated by
Susan Ashbrook Harvey
Sebastian P. Brock
Reyhan Durmaz
Rebecca Stephens Falcasantos
Michael Payne
Daniel Picus
9
34
2016
Gorgias Press LLC, 954 River Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA
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Copyright © 2 0 1 6 by Gorgias Press LLC
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retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
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prior written permission of Gorgias Press LLC.
2016 ܙ 9
ISBN 978-1-4632-0580-5 ISSN 1935-6846
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Jacob, of Serug, 451-521, author. | Harvey,
Susan Ashbrook, editor, translator. | Brock,
Sebastian P., editor, translator. | Jacob, of
Serug, 451-521. Sermons. Selections. | Jacob, of
Serug, 451-521. Sermons. Selections. English.
Title: Jacob of Sarug’s Homilies on women whom
Jesus met / edited and translated by Susan Harvey
and Sebastian Brock.
Other titles: Homilies on women whom Jesus met
Description: Piscataway, NJ : Gorgias Press,
2016. | Series: Texts from Christian late
antiquity, ISSN 1935-6846 ; 44 | In English and
Syriac; English text translated from Syriac. |
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016025915 | ISBN 9781463205805
Subjects: LCSH: Jesus Christ--Views on
Women--Sermons. | Women in the Bible--Sermons.
Classification: LCC BT590.W6 J336 2016 | DDC
252/.014--dc23
LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2016025915
Printed in the United States of America
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of Contents ..................................................................................... v
Abbreviations .......................................................................................... vii
Preface ....................................................................................................... ix
Note on the translations ................................................................ xi
Homily 17: On the Canaanite Woman.................................................. 1
Outline............................................................................................... 6
Text and Translation ....................................................................... 8
Homily 46: On the Samaritan Woman ............................................... 51
Outline............................................................................................. 55
Text and Translation ..................................................................... 58
Homily 169: On the Woman Hunched Over .................................. 125
Outline ........................................................................................... 128
Text and Translation ................................................................... 130
Homily 170: On the Afflicted Woman with the Flow of Blood .. 171
Outline........................................................................................... 173
Text and Translation ................................................................... 178
Homily 91: On Jairus’ Daughter ........................................................ 235
Outline........................................................................................... 235
Text and Translation ................................................................... 240
Bibliography .......................................................................................... 273
Index of Names and Terms ................................................................ 277
Index of Biblical References ............................................................... 281
v
ABBREVIATIONS
CSCO Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium
MHMJS The Metrical Homilies of Mar Jacob of Sarug
OCA Orientalia Christiana Analecta
OCP Orientalia Christiana Periodica
par parallels
PO Patrologia Orientalis
PdeO Parole de l’Orient
RSV Revised Standard Version
SEERI Saint Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute

vii
PREFACE
Jacob of Sarug’s homilies on biblical stories are filled with exuber-
antly drawn portraits of biblical characters, often women. While the
Virgin Mary and the Sinful Woman are perhaps the best known,
the present anthology brings together Jacob’s accounts of those we
might consider “minor” female characters of the New Testament:
the Canaanite Woman of Matthew 15:21–8 and Mark 7:24–30,
where she is called a Syrophoenician (Hom. 17); the Samaritan
Woman of John 4:1–42 (Hom. 46); the Woman Hunched Over for
Eighteen Years in Luke 13:10–17 (Hom. 169); the Woman with the
Flow of Blood from Matthew 9:18–22, Mark 5:24–34, and Luke
8:42–8 (Hom. 170); and Jairus’ daughter, from Matthew 9:18, 23–6,
Mark 5:21–4, 35–43, and Luke 8:40–2, 49–56 (Hom. 91).
Jacob preached from within a lively Syriac tradition of narra-
tive poetry that re-told biblical stories in dramatic form, enhanced
by the addition of extensive speech and dialogue.1 Jacob did so
with rare skill, as the present collection demonstrates. To rich nar-
rative imagination, dialogic exchange, dramatic affect, and homilet-
ic reflection, he added invocations, doxologies, prayers, and exhor-
tations, all articulated with lyrical grace in sermons that were chant-
ed or intoned in performance. The results yielded liturgical poetry
that taught and interpreted the Bible in an engaging, thought-
provoking style.
The literary form of the memra allowed Jacob to shine a spot-
light on characters barely glimpsed in their biblical accounts. He
expanded their narrative contexts, suggesting fuller plots with more

1 Sebastian P. Brock, “Poetry and Hymnography (3): Syriac”, in The
Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies, ed. S. A. Harvey and D. G.
Hunter (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 657–71, at pp. 662–4.
ix