apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

2
30 EPISTLES OF S. IGNATIUS.
Ephrem Syrus, who was patriarch for three years about A.D. 975, and that he took
a prominent part in a disputation against the Jews before the Kbalif al Moezz, who
died A.D. 975. (3) Sevevus is mentioned (fol. 52 b; comp. Renaudot p. 377) as the
intimate friend of Wadih ibn Raja, a convert from Islamism who died under the
Khalif al Halvim (A.D. 996
— 1020). For references to this Severus see Assem. Bibl.
Orient. II. pp. 70 sq, 143, III. p. 543, Fabric. Bibl. Grace, x. p. 623, Lequien Oriens
C/nist. II. p. 596, Cave Hist. Lit. 11. p. 106, as also in the several Catalogues of the
Arabic and Ethiopic MSS in the British Museum, Bodleian, and Paris Libraries.
The work from which the above extract is taken is a treatise On ' the First Four
Councils and the causes of Schisms' in refutation of Eutychius ibn al-Batrik (see
Zotenberg Catal. des mss Syriaques de la Bibl. Nation, p. 190; comp, Assem. Bibl.
Orient, in. p. 543). It is preserved in four Paris mss, three Arabic {Ancieu Fo7ids 90,
Supplement 55, 79) and one Carshunic {Ancien Fonds 154; see Zotenberg 1. c).
The extract here given belongs to the beginning of the fourth book, and is taken from
the MSS, Ancien Fonds 90 fol. 19 sq, and Suppl. 55 fol. 94, designated A, B,
respectively in the collation.
Pearson {Vind. Ign. p. 90, ed. Churton), after speaking of Ignatian quotations in
'
Greek and Latin authors, continues ;
Est et aliud [testimonium] ex Arabico
depromptum ;
cujus cum nee auctor satis certo nee aetas mihi hactenus innotuit, illud
postremo loco adjungendum putavi, quemadmodum a viro
docto Bernardo Oxoniensi
e codice MS D. Thevenoti, qui numero octavus est in Catalogo Verlanii, exscriptum
mihique communicatum est. Ita igitur Ibn Zorha Jacobita (si bene meminit amicus
noster) libri sui adversus Eutychen cap. quarto; Dicit Ignatius etc': after which
Pearson gives in Latin the Ignatian extracts which I have printed above in the Arabic.
Through the kindness of M. Zotenberg, who has investigated the matter for me, I
have been able to trace the quotation to its proper source. The Paris MS Ancien
Fonds 90 (mentioned above), which wants some leaves at the beginning, contains a
number of miscellaneous theological treatises by Ibn Zorha, Johannes Saba, Abul-
Farag, and others. Among these is the above-mentioned work ' On the Councils,'
which contains the extract. This Isa ibn Zorha was a famous Jacobite writer (Ann.
— Heg. 331 398), but he is not the author of the work in question. In a title
however added by a later hand the treatises in the volume generally are ascribed
to him ;
and in this way Pearson's informant was misled.
This extract has been edited for me from M. Zotenberg's transcript and collations
by Dr Wright,
to whom also I am indebted for the translation.
Liber Apis.
59.
Solomon of Bassora [c.
a.d. 1220].
(i) 'John the son of Zebedee, he also was from Bethsaida of the
tribe of Zabulon. He preached in Asia at first, and afterwards he
was sent into banishment to tlie island of Patmos by Tiberius Cassar,
and then he went up to Ephesus and built a church there. Now there
went up with him three disciples ; Ignatius who was afterwards bishop
of Antioch and was thrown to beasts at Rome, and Polycarp who was
bishop in Syria [Smyrna] and received the crown [of martyrdom] by