I hope that I may be forgiven for a small announcement. Nestorius wrote in exile in his own defence. Since his books were ordered to be burned, and his name used in much the same way as moderns use accusations of ‘racist’ — to shut down discussion — he was obliged to circulate it under the name of Heracleides of Damas. It’s quite hard going, but since it has survived to our own day, people may like to know that the English translation is now online here. I have also translated some material about the manuscript find from the French edition and translation.
In some ways the story is familiar. A single manuscript had survived. A copy was taken “in secret”, since the owner clearly didn’t want copies made. The single manuscript was, it turns out, destroyed in WW1. Fortunately the owner’s wish to prevent copying did not lead to the loss of the text. Other texts extant in Syriac in 1914 were not so lucky, as I have remarked before. But what is it about people who own manuscripts that makes them so desperate to prevent the text circulating?
There’s a book, 190 pages, a translation of the sermons of Nestorius by Floyd Lewis Battles:
http://www.worldcat.org/title/sermons-of-nestorius/oclc/22025900
I have been trying to get my hands on this book through library loans, but to no avail. Do you think since it is no longer being published it can be made available online?
Roger,
According to Wiki, Driver and Hodgson’s 1925 translation of the “Bazaar of Heraclides” is said to be “notoriously inaccurate.” If it is inaccurate, do you know if the inaccuracies are in critical places in Nestorius’ theology? What’s your thought on all of this?
I wouldn’t trust Wikipedia. Best to find out. I never heard this allegation, although perhaps I would not.
Hello there.
Can you please tell me who discovered the Bazaar of Heraclides, and how? I seem to remember from long ago that a member of the Anglican Society of the Sacred Mission (SSM) was involved, but I can’t be sure.
With thanks for your help,
Alan Cooke
I had long forgotten, to be quite honest, but luckily I’d put notes online here:
https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/nestorius_bazaar_0_eintro.htm
In the late 19th century the Nestorian Patriarch was based at Kotchanes in the mountains of Kurdistan, where the Turks couldn’t get at him. The manuscript was found in his library, and secretly copied, and the copy taken to Urmiah where the American missionaries and their Syriac printing press were based. (The Turks favoured Americans because they needed to modernise, and America was hostile to England and France, and too far away and unimportant to be a threat.) Bedjan is vague, I see, about who did what – I expect because he didn’t want to get anyone into trouble. No doubt it was found by people from Urmiah. But always glad to know more.