Doctrine of Addai

The Doctrine of Addai (Syriac: ܡܠܦܢܘܬܐ ܕܐܕܝ ܫܠܝܚܐ Malp̄ānūṯā d-Addai Šlīḥā) is a Syriac Christian text, written in the late 4th or early 5th century CE. It recounts the legend of the Image of Edessa as well as the legendary works of Addai and his disciple Mari in Mesopotamia.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lNAWAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA89|title=The A to Z of Prophets in Islam and Judaism|last1=Noegel|first1=Scott B.|last2=Wheeler|first2=Brannon M.|date=2010-04-01|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9781461718956|pages=89|language=en}}

Content

The story of how King Abgar and Jesus had corresponded was first recounted in the 4th century by the church historian Eusebius of Caesarea in his Ecclesiastical History (i.13 and iii.1) and it was retold in elaborated form by Ephrem the Syrian.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

Purpose

Helmut Koester regards the development of tradition of Thaddaeus' activity in Edessa as part of an effort to build the authority of the orthodox or Palutian{{efn|The group now understood as the orthodox faction was known as the Palutians in Syria at this time. {{harv|Koester|1965|p=305}}}} faction in Syria against the Manicheans and gnostics, who had an older and stronger presence in the area and traced their lineage to Thomas the Apostle.{{sfn|Koester|1965|p=296,305}}{{efn|Cf. {{cite book |last=Bauer |first=Walter |author-link=Walter Bauer |year=1909 |title=Das Leben Jesu im Zeitalter der neutestamentlichen Apokryphen |location=Tübingen, Germany |publisher=J. C. B. Mohr |language=de |pages=444–445}}}} He considers the Palutian faction to have come to Edessa around {{CE|200}} and only become significant in the fourth century.{{sfn|Koester|1965|p=305-306}}

Manuscripts

ms Saint-Petersburg, National Library of Russia Saltykov-Shchedrine, N.S. Syr. 4 (Pigulevskaya 48), f. 1v33
ms London, British Library, Add. 14654, f. 33r-v (fragment) + Add. 14644, f. 1-9v + Add. 14535, f. 1r (fragment) + Add. 12155, f. 53v + Add. 17193, f. 36v-37 (extrait)
ms Alqosh, Église paroissiale chaldéenne, cod. 87 ?
ms London, British Library, Add. 12161, f. 1v (fragment)
ms London, British Library, Add. 14612, f. 165r (fragment)
ms London, British Library, Add. 14644, f. 1-9v (mutilated from the beginning and in the middle)
ms Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, syr. 62, f. 102v-108 (extraits)
ms Birmingham, Selly Oak College Library, Coll. Mingana, Syr. 405, f. 1
ms Jerusalem, Couvent syrien orthodoxe Saint-Marc, cod. 153, p. 241-259{{sfn|Saint-Laurent|Michelson|Zanetti|Detienne|2015}}
Pseudo-Abdias (x. 1)
Nicephorus (H. E., ii. 7){{ws|{{cite book |first=Alexander |last=Walker |chapter=Translator's introductory notice to the apocryphal acts of the apostles |editor1-first=Alexander |editor-last1=Roberts |editor-first2=James |editor-last2=Donaldson |title=Ante-Nicene Christian Library |location=Edinburgh |publisher=T. & T. Clark |date=1885}}}} Note: Walker conflates the 'Acts of Thaddeus with the Doctrine of Addai''.{{better source needed|date=September 2017}}

Published editions

{{cite book |year=1876 |editor-first=George |editor-last=Phillips |title=The Doctrine of Addai, the apostle |location=London |publisher=Trübner & Co. |url=https://archive.org/stream/doctrineofaddaia00phil#page/106/mode/2up |pages=51–106 |language=syr }}
{{cite book |first=Elena Nikitična |last=Meščerskaja |title=Legenda ob Avgare — rannesirijskij literaturnyj pamjatnik: istoričeskie korni v ėvoljucii apokrifičeskoj legendy |trans-title=The Legend of Abgar — early Syrian literary monument: Historical roots and evolution of an apocryphal legend |location=Moscow |publisher=Nauka |year=1984 |pages=119–184 |oclc=715504370 |language=ru}}

Modern translations

= English =

{{cite book |last=Cureton |first=William |title=Ancient Syriac documents relative to earliest establishment of Christianity in Edessa and the neighbouring countries, from the year after our Lord's Ascension to the beginning of the fourth century |location=London, UK |publisher=Williams and Norgate |date=1864 |url=https://archive.org/details/ancientsyriacdo00wriggoog |page=[https://archive.org/details/ancientsyriacdo00wriggoog/page/n28 6]–23, 108–109}}
{{cite book |year=1876 |editor-first=George |editor-last=Phillips |title=The Doctrine of Addai, the apostle |location=London |publisher=Trübner & Co. |url=https://archive.org/stream/doctrineofaddaia00phil#page/n19/mode/2up |pages=1–50 |ref=none}} ([https://web.archive.org/web/20170904034555/http://www.ccel.org/ccel/pearse/morefathers/files/addai_2_text.htm HTML version])
{{cite book | last=Howard | first=George | title=The Teaching of Addai: Texts and translations |location=Chico, CA |publisher=Scholars Press | series=Early Christian literature series | year=1981 | isbn=978-0-89130-490-6}} Note: This includes a reprint of the Syriac edition of {{harvnb|Phillips|1876}}{{sfn|Saint-Laurent|Michelson|Zanetti|Detienne|2015}}
Lollar, Jacob A. (2023-11-10). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Doctrine_of_Addai_and_the_Letters_of/UGrjEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 The Doctrine of Addai and the Letters of Jesus and Abgar]. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 978-1-6667-5208-3.

= Other =

{{cite book |last=Desreumaux |first=Alain |title=Histoire du roi Abgar et de Jésus: présentation et trad. du texte syriaque intégral de "La doctrine d'Addaï" |trans-title=History of King Abgar and Jesus: Presentation and tradition Of the Syriac text of "The Doctrine of Addai" |publisher=Brepols |publication-place=Paris |year=1993 |isbn=978-2-503-50305-9 |pages=53–117 |language=fr}} This also contains an Ethiopian version.[http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb366840314 French national library]
Dutch: Jan Willem Drijvers, Helena Augusta, waarheid en legende ( Groningen: Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, 1989), pp: 153–157, Note: partielle
Russian: Elena Nikitična Meščerskaja, Legenda ob Avgare — rannesirijskij literaturnyj pamjatnik: (istoričeskie korni v ėvoljucii apokrifičeskoj legendy) ( Moskva: Nauka, 1984), pp: 185–203
Armenian: A Carrière, La légende d'Abgar dans l'Histoire d'Arménie de Moïse de Khoren ( Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1895), pp: 357–414
Ethiopic: Getatchew Haile, " The Legend of Abgar in Ethiopic Tradition," Orientalia christiana periodica vol. 55 ( 1989), pp: 375–410{{sfn|Saint-Laurent|Michelson|Zanetti|Detienne|2015}}

Notes

Citations

References

{{cite book |last=Bauer |first=Walter |author-link=Walter Bauer |title=Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity |orig-year=1934 |year=1991 |translator-first1=John E. |translator-last1=Steely |translator-first2=Robert A. |translator-last2=Kraft |url=http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~humm/Resources/Bauer/bauer01.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000818212534/http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~humm/Resources/Bauer/bauer01.htm |archive-date=18 August 2000 }}
{{cite journal |last=Koester |first=Helmut |title=ΓΝΩΜΑΙ ΔΙΑΦΟΡΟΙ: The Origin and Nature of Diversification in the History of Early Christianity |journal=Harvard Theological Review |volume=58 |issue=3 |date=July 1965 |pages=279–318 |doi=10.1017/S0017816000031400 |jstor=1508818 |s2cid=163149876 }}
{{cite encyclopedia |article=Addai (Teaching of) (text) |date=5 November 2015 |editor-first1=Jeanne-Nicole Mellon |editor-last1=Saint-Laurent |editor-first2=David A. |editor-last2=Michelson |editor-first3=Ugo |editor-last3=Zanetti |editor-first4=Claude |editor-last4=Detienne |title=Bibliotheca Hagiographica Syriaca |chapter-url=http://syriaca.org/work/921 |access-date=31 August 2017 }} {{CC-notice|cc=by3}}