Narsai

Narsai (sometimes spelt Narsay, Narseh or Narses; Classical Syriac: ܢܪܣܝ, Narsai, name derived from Pahlavi Narsēh from Avestan Nairyō.saȵhō, meaning 'potent utterance', the name of a yazata; c.399 – c.502) was one of the foremost of Assyrian/Syriac poet-theologians, perhaps equal in stature to Jacob of Serugh, both second only to Ephrem the Syrian. He is the most important writer of the Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Ancient Church of the East and Syro-Malabar Church, in which he is known as the 'Flute of the Holy Spirit'. Although many of his works are likely lost, around eighty of his mêmrê (ܡܐܡܖ̈ܐ), or verse homilies are extant.

Narsai of Nisibis
Bornc. 399
‘Ain Dulba (ܥܝܢ ܕܘܠܒܐ)
Diedc. 502
Nisibis, Sassanid Empire
Venerated inAssyrian Church of the East
Ancient Church of the East
Syro Malabar Church

Life

Narsai was born at ‘Ain Dulba (ܥܝܢ ܕܘܠܒܐ) in the district of Ma‘alta (ܡܥܠܬܐ) in the Sassanid Empire (today in Dahuk Governorate, Iraq). Being orphaned at an early age, he was raised by his uncle, who was head of the monastery of Kfar Mari (ܕܝܪܐ ܕܟܦܪ ܡܪܝ) near Beth Zabdai (ܒܝܬ ܙܒܕܝ). 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. 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 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 century and was buried in Nisibis in a church that was later named after him. Joseph Huzaya was one of his pupils.

All of Narsai's extant works belong to the distinctive Syriac literary genre of the mêmrâ, 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, and each one being an exposition of a particular religious theme. The later Syriac writer Abdisho bar Berika of Nisibis suggests that Narsai wrote 360 mêmrê 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 mêmrê remain, and none of his prose works.

Works

  • Major collection of Narsai's works, containing the full text of 47 memre and the incipits of 34 more — Mingana, Alphonse (1905). Narsai Doctoris Syri Homiliæ et Carmina (in Syriac and Latin). Mosul.

Works in modern translation

Further reading

  • Becker, Adam H (2006). Fear of God and the Beginning of Wisdom: The School of Nisibis and Christian Scholastic Culture in Late Antique Mesopotamia. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA: University of Pennsylvania. ISBN 978-0-8122-3934-8.
  • Brock, Sebastian P. (1997). A Brief Outline of Syriac Literature. Kottayam: St. Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Vööbus, Arthur (1965). History of the School of Nisibis. Corpus scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 266, subsidia 26. Louvain: Secrétariat du CSCO.
  • Wright, William (2001) [1894]. A Short History of Syriac Literature. Piscataway, New Jersey, USA: Gorgias. pp. 58–59. ISBN 0-9713097-5-2.
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