Narsai

Narsai the Harp of the Holy Spirit (, ) was one of the most important poet-theologians of the early Church of the East. His homilies belong to the same late antique Syriac preaching culture as those of Jacob of Serugh and Isaac of Antioch, but they reflect the traditions associated with the School of Edessa, the School of Nisibis, and the writings of Theodore of Mopsuestia. His stature in Syriac literature is seen as on par with Jacob's, both only second to Ephrem the Syrian.

Narsai is venerated as a saint in all the modern descendants of the Church of the East; the Chaldean Catholic Church, Assyrian Church of the East, Ancient Church of the East, and Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. Saint Narsai is known as the 'Flute of the Holy Spirit.'

Although many of his works seem to have been lost, eighty-one of his mēmrē (), or verse homilies survive.

Etymology The name Narsai is believed to be derived from Middle Persian Narsēh, which in turn is from Avestan Nairyō.saȵhō, meaning 'potent utterance'.

Life

Narsai was born at ‘Ain Dulba ( "Plane Tree Spring") in the district of Ma‘alləta () in the Sasanian Empire (now in Duhok Governorate, Iraq). Being orphaned at an early age, he was raised by his uncle, who was head of the monastery of Kfar Mari () near Beth Zabdai (). Narsai spent ten years as a student at the School of Edessa and later returned there to teach (c. 437), eventually becoming head of the school.

Narsai was a follower of the work of Theodore of Mopsuestia. Perhaps in 471, Narsai left Edessa after disagreeing with the city's bishop Cyrus (471–498). With the help of his friend Barsauma, who was bishop of Nisibis (although Narsai and Barsauma's wife do not seem to have seen eye-to-eye), Narsai re-established the School of Nisibis. When his former school was ordered closed by Byzantine emperor Zeno in 489, it seems that many of his faithful staff and students came to join Narsai in Nisibis. Evidence from the first Statutes of the School of Nisibis, drafted in 496, shows that Narsai was still alive, and he must have been a venerable old teacher in his nineties. Narsai died sometime early in the sixth centuryLucas Van Rompay, "Narsai", Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage Electronic Edition, edited by Sebastian P. Brock, Aaron M. Butts, George A. Kiraz and Lucas Van Rompay (Gorgias Press, 2011; online ed. Beth Mardutho, 2018) and was buried in Nisibis in a church that was later named after him. Joseph Huzaya was one of his pupils.

Narsai's extant works belong to the distinctive Syriac literary genre of the mēmrā, or homily in verse. He employs two different metres - one with couplets of seven syllables per line, the other with twelve. The mêmrê were designed to be recited in church or religious school, each an exposition of a particular theme. The later Syriac writer Abdisho bar Berika of Nisibis suggests that Narsai wrote 360 mēmrē in twelve volumes along with prose commentaries on large sections of the Old Testament and a book entitled On the Corruption of Morals. However, only eighty mēmrē remain, and none of his prose works.

Theology and preaching Several of Narsai's festal homilies, including those on the Nativity, Epiphany, Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension, contain extended Christological reflection. Philip Michael Forness notes that these homilies suggest that, in the mid- to late fifth century, Narsai was presenting detailed Christological teaching in sermons that may have been delivered before broad liturgical audiences. His Christology is usually read within the Dyophysite tradition of the Church of the East, in contrast to the Miaphysite Christology associated with Jacob of Serugh and later Syriac Orthodox writers.

Late antique sources also remembered Narsai's homilies as instruments of doctrinal controversy. According to Barhadbshabba Arbaya, Jacob of Serugh composed attractive metrical homilies that drew ordinary people away from Narsai's teaching, and Narsai responded by composing his own "orthodox" homilies in the same poetic medium. Forness cautions that this account should not be taken as a straightforward historical report, but argues that it preserves the perception that Syriac metrical homilies were understood as media through which theological conflict could and the transmission of doctrine could take place.

Works and transmission The corpus attributed to Narsai consists primarily of metrical homilies, or mēmrē, on biblical, liturgical, doctrinal, and moral subjects. The major Syriac edition by Alphonse Mingana contains the full text of forty-seven homilies and the incipits of thirty-four others. Later tradition credited Narsai with composing a homily for each day of the year and arranging them into twelve volumes. Forness treats this tradition cautiously, but notes that it reflects the importance attached to Narsai's homilies as a collected body of teaching.

Homilies Hundreds of works have been attributed to Narsai, but only 81 of his homilies (mēmrē) have survived. The corpus attributed to Narsai consists primarily of metrical homilies, or mēmrē, on biblical, liturgical, doctrinal, and moral subjects. His extraordinary literary production was written about by the next generation of Syriac authors, such as Barhadbshabba Arbaya, who wrote:For each day in the year, he [Narsai] composed one homily. He divided them into twelve volumes, of which each had two prophets [i.e., divisions], which all amounted to twenty-four prophets.”Narsai's surviving homilies cover a wide range of subjects. Some expound major feasts of the liturgical year, while others treat biblical figures and episodes such as Adam and Eve, Noah, the Tower of Babel, Joseph, Moses, Samson, and the Three Youths in the furnace. Others address sacramental and ecclesiastical themes, including baptism, the Eucharist, priesthood, the church, and the sanctification of the altar. The range of the corpus shows Narsai's importance not only as a controversial theologian, but also as an exegete, liturgical interpreter, and moral teacher within the East Syriac tradition.

Some surviving sogitha are also attributed to Narsai, but they are considered spurious.

The homilies are all poetry, and most use 12-syllable metre, with a minority using 7-syllable meter. Most, if not all, of Narsai's homilies involve biblical exegesis across liturgical, moral, and theological subjects.

Editions and translations In 1905, Alphonse Mingana published a two-volume work with the Syriac text of 47 of these homilies. In 1970, a photographic reproduction of a manuscript with 72 of Narsai's homilies was published by Patriarchal Press. Two numbering systems are used for Narsai's homilies: one by Mingana, and a second by Macomber, in his 1970 inventory of Narsai's manuscripts.

Narsai’s work continues to be published and translated in the 2020s.

List of Narsai's homilies Name Number (Macomber) Number (Mingana) TranslationsAdditional notes On Revelations to Patriarchs and Prophets (I) 1 1 English On Revelations to Patriarchs and Prophets (II) 2 2 On Revelations to Abraham 3 3 English On the Nativity 4 -English On Mary (On the Incarnation) 5 - English On Epiphany 6 -English On John the Baptist 7 -English On Peter and Paul 8 4 English German On the Four Evangelists 9 - On Stephen 10 5 English On the Three Doctors 11 - French On the Iniquity of the World 12 6 English On Supplication (On Prayer) 13 7English On Jonah 14 8 English On Reproof 15 9 On Human Nature 16 16 English For Any Saints Day 17 - On the Departed and the Resurrection 18 -French On Works 19 - On Lent I 20 10English On the Temptation of Christ (1) 21 -English On the Temptation of Christ (2) 22 - On Lent III 23 11English On Lent IV 24 12English On Reproof 25 13English On Lent V 26 14English On the Parable of the Ten Virgins 27 15French On the Raising of Lazarus 28 - On Palm Sunday (1) 29 - On Palm Sunday (2) 30 - Against the Jews 31 18Italian On the Canaanite Women 32 -English On the Prodigal Son 33 -French On Holy Week 34 19 On the Mysteries 35 17 English FrenchProbable forgery On the Passion 36 -McLeod On the Repentant Thief 37 20English On Mysteries and Baptism 38 21 English French On Baptism 39 22 English French On the Resurrection 40 -McLeod On the Confessors 41 24 On the Martyrs (1) 42 25 On the Martyrs (2) 43 -Probable forgery On New Sunday (On the New Creation) 44 26 English On the Ascension 45 -McLeod On Pentecost 46 27 On the Workers in the Vineyard 47 28French On the Rich Man and Lazarus 48 28French On Creation IV (On the Forming of Adam and Eve) 49 29English French On Humility 50 - On the Antichrist 51 23 On the Second Coming 52 23French On the Wheat and the Tares 53 -French On the Finding of the Cross 54 30 On the Bronze Serpent 55 -English On the Dedication of the Church 56 - On the Tabernacle 57 -English On Isaiah's Vision 58 31English On the Church and the Priesthood 59 32 English On the Dedication of the Church 60 33English German On Creation II 61 34French On Creation III 62 35 English French On Creation I 63 36French On Creation V 64 37French On Creation VI 65 38French German On the Soul 66 39 German On the Blessing of Noah 67 -English On the Tower of Babel 68 -English On Job 69 40 On Joseph 70 41 On the Flood 71 -English On the Miracles of Moses 72 42 On Samson 73 43 On David and Saul 74 - On Solomon 75 - On Enoch and Elijah 76 -English On the Three Children 77 44 On Reproof of the Clergy 78 45English On Reproof 79 46English On Reproof of Women 80 47English On John 1:14 (On Christology) 81 - English On the Feast of the Victorious Cross 82 (Title Unknown) 83 (Title Unknown) 84

Syriac editions

Major collection of Narsai's works, containing the full text of 47 memre and the incipits of 34 more -

Published translations

English

Four mēmrē on baptism and eucharist

Five mēmrē on dominical feasts - Christmas, Epiphany, Passion of Jesus, Easter, and Ascension of Jesus - these show Narsai's christological opposition to Cyril of Alexandria in a few places

French

Six mēmrē on Old Testament topics - on Enoch and Elijah, the Genesis flood narrative, Blessings of Noah, the Tower of Babel, the Tabernacle, and the Nehushtan

Memra on the Three Doctors (Diodorus of Tarsus, Nestorius, and Theodore of Mopsuestia)

Six mēmrē on creation

Five mēmrē on Parables of Jesus - of the Ten Virgins, of the Prodigal Son, of the rich man and Lazarus, of the Workers in the Vineyard, and of the Tares

German

Italian

Narsai

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