Arab Christian Studies

dans Bernard Heyberger, Zeljko Pasa et Ronney El Gemayel (dir.), La division de l'Eglise rum d' Antioche en 1724 et la construction des identités confessionnelles orthodoxe et catholique,  2024, Beyrouth , Université Saint-Joseph, CEDRAC, p. 329-384

Les deux premiers ordres religieux grecs-catholiques du Patriarcat d'Antioche, l'Ordre du Saint-Sauveur et l'Ordre basilien chouérite, ont joué un rôle fondamental dans la constitution de l'Église grecque-catholique, et par la suite, dans sa consolidation et son développement. Cette contribution interroge, sur la durée (du XVIII e à la fin du XIX e siècle) et dans une perspective comparatiste, la force du lien entre ces deux institutions et l'Église grecque-catholique, à travers l'observation de leurs fondations respectives, des grandes lignes de leur expansion géographique, de leur large participation au développement des paroisses grecquescatholiques et de la formation du corps épiscopal grec-catholique. Cette contribution vise de même à montrer qu'à côté de l'influence et de l'action notoires des missionnaires religieux occidentaux, trois autres facteurs jouent un rôle déterminant dans la fondation puis dans le développement de ces deux ordres fondés selon un modèle occidental, dotés d'une Règle et de Constitutions écrites : la géographie monastique des lieux où ils se sont implantés, le rang ecclésiastique de leurs fondateurs respectifs, et l'encouragement dont ont fait preuve à leur égard des autorités politiques officielles de la montagne libanaise. The initial Greek-Catholic religious orders within the Patriarchate of Antioch, specifically the Order of the Holy Savior and the Choueirite Basilian Order, played a pivotal role in shaping the Greek-Catholic Church's formation, consolidation, and development. This analysis spans from the 18 th to the late 19 th century, employing a comparative approach to explore the robust connection between these orders and the Greek-Catholic Church. The examination covers their founding, geographical expansion, contributions to Greek-Catholic parishes, and roles in shaping the Greek-Catholic episcopal body. This study argues that, beyond the recognized influence of Western missionaries, three factors significantly influenced these orders' establishment and growth: the monastic geography of their locales, the ecclesiastical standing of their founders, and the support from Lebanese mountain political authorities. In essence, this 330 contribution underscores the complex dynamics that drove the Greek-Catholic Church's formation and growth, analyzing the interactions between the Order of the Holy Savior, the Shwayrite Basilian Order, and the broader socio-political and ecclesiastical context during this critical historical period. Introduction .

This article examines theological positions by some of the most prominent Messianic Jewish and Palestinian Christian authors, who have contributed in significant ways to their respective communities’ theological understanding of the land most commonly referred to as Israel- Palestine. Based on selected representative works, the author’s goal is to assess the potential, or lack thereof, for fruitful dialogue and theological reconciliation that these theological positions have in themselves. The focus, therefore, is on moral and practical aspects of these theologies, particularly whether they create space for the “other” and relate to them as a brother/sister in Christ and as a legitimate neighbour in the land.

הנוצרים־הפלסטינים, המהווים מיעוט הן בחברה הישראלית הן בחברה הפלסטינית, פיתחו מאז האינתיפאדה הראשונה שיח תיאולוגי ייחודי השוכן בצומת שבין אמונה דתית לזהות לאומית. תיאולוגיה זו מהווה מענה לנרטיבים נוצריים דומיננטיים הקושרים בין ישראל המקראית למדינת ישראל המודרנית, ובד בבד היא מבקשת לבסס את הלגיטימיות הדתית וההיסטורית של הנוצרים־הפלסטינים עצמם. תוך התמודדות עם מציאות של דיכוי פוליטי, התיאולוגים הפלסטינים משתמשים בפרשנות המקרא ככלי לניסוחו של רצף עם הקהילה הנוצרית הקדומה ששורשיה בתקופתו של ישוע. מתוך עמדה שולית, אך רפלקסיבית ויצירתית, הם עושים שימוש במסגרת מחשבה פוסט־קולוניאלית כדי לפרק נרטיבים מקובלים שבהם מדינת ישראל המודרנית מוצגת כמימוש והמשך לישראל המקראית, ומציעים פרשנויות חלופיות המציבות את הצדק כמרכיב מהותי בבשורה הנוצרית וכמפתח פרשני להבנת הטקסט המקראי. עבודתם משקפת תביעה כפולה השוזרת יחד את הדתי והפוליטי ופונה לשני מישורים של זהות: ראשית, תביעה להכרה בזהותם הלאומית כפלסטינים החיים תחת כיבוש; ושנית, תביעה להכרה בזהותם הרוחנית כנוצרים ילידיים, צאצאי הקהילה הנוצרית הקדומה שמעולם לא עזבה את הארץ. באמצעות עיון בכתביהם מול תיאולוגיות השחרור מאמריקה הלטינית ואפריקה ומול התיאולוגיה המערבית שלאחר השואה, המאמר בוחן את הפונקציה הכפולה והמורכבת של השיח התיאולוגי, המבקש להגדיר מחדש את המסורת הנוצרית ואת הזהות הנוצרית־פלסטינית גם יחד.

This ancient liturgical service of the Enthronement of the Pope of Alexandria was translated into English by Fr. Athanasius Iskander and published in Coptic, Arabic and English by the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Southern USA. It was used for the enthronement of His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, the current Pope of Alexandria.

The author, Jessica Wong, pictured With Marc Ellis. I first met Marc Ellis as an undergraduate at Baylor University and, unlike his graduate students, had no idea who he was. I had no knowledge of his scholarship or his standing. I was too ignorant to be impressed or intimidated. To me, Ellis was simply my teacher and mentor. It was only later that I came to realize that this opinionated and somewhat peculiar Jewish man who rode a recumbent bike around his neighborhood and was a fixture of my life at Baylor was also a significant figure within the field of liberation theology. One common characteristic of liberation theologies is that they are born of particularity. Such theologies arise out of specific times and places to address the particular forms of oppression being experienced by particular people. It is a theology steeped in context. In 9/17/25, 3:52 PM Marc H. Ellis: A Life of Encounter | Contending Modernities 1/5

This essay examines a set of pentaglot manuscripts originating in the diverse monastic communities of Wādī al-Naṭrūn, Egypt, probably dating from the thirteenth century. These substantial paper codices feature biblical texts on parallel columns in five key languages of the non-Chalcedonian churches: Ethiopic, Syriac, Coptic, Arabic and Armenian. Despite their importance for understanding Christian multi-ethnic communities in Muslim-era Egypt, these manuscripts have been largely overlooked. This article explores the pentaglot manuscripts through a multidisciplinary and transcultural lens, integrating philology, history and cultural studies. It aims to shed new light on the origins, purposes and uses of these manuscripts, which reflect the cultural hybridity and communal life of Ethiopian, Syrian, Coptic and Armenian monks in Islamic Egypt, by investigating the migration and diaspora communities in the region.

Lebanon has always had a different track from the Arab
The countries surrounding it. Lebanon never witnessed coups
d’état or centralized economic systems. On the contrary,
Lebanon has been known for its open political and eco-
economic systems and for the periodic, peaceful transitions of
power. However, this model was one of the casualties of the
Civil War, suffering greatly during the past 15 years of the Syrian
Hegemony over Lebanon; the Lebanese became acquainted
with the continuous harassment of Syrian intelligence of-
Officers and the Lebanese “model” became threatened by the
increasing influence of the Syrian regime and its various
intelligence and military agencies.

The aim of this article is to address a manuscript containing the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great kept in the library of the Metochion of the Holy Sepulchre at Constantinople. The codex is bilingual, Greek-Romanian: the Romanian version, in Cyrillic script (as per norm), occupies the recto and mirrors the Greek text. However, the Greek text on the verso is written in Cyrillic script, too. Based on evidence provided by related archival materials, it seeks to explain the rationale behind this choice of diachronic digraphia (the formula is used here strictly to designate the writing of one language in the script of another).
The paper is part of a special section dedicated to frangochiotika (see https://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/historicalReview/issue/view/2196).
This research was funded by the European Research Council under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (ORTHPOL project; grant agreement no. 950287).

to modify their metaphysical system, and therefore, concepts like nature, substance, hypostasis, person, and property took on a new use and understanding, and the relationship between these metaphysical categories received a new definition. Following his Miaphysite tradition, Abū Rāʾiṭah accuses his opponents of holding a dualistic Christology and considers them Nestorians,39 since the content of their Christology is similar to that of Nestorius and his followers, but with a different use of terminology.40 According to his point of view, the Melkites could not affirm that in Christ there are two natures/substances and at the same time that he is one hypostasis, without in fact distinguishing between nature/substance and hypostasis/person, and considering them as two different metaphysical categories.41 Such remark, once applied to the Trinitarian doctrine, leads one to maintain that the three divine hypostases, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are something different from the divine nature and substance that they share.42 As a consequence, such a doctrine makes the Trinity become a quaternity (i.e. three hypostases and one substance).43 Abū Rāʾiṭah probably had in mind some Chalcedonian authors, who, in their attempt to polemicise against Tritheism, proposed a 'Tetradite' solution like, as Dirk Krausmüller has demonstrated, the one of Anastasius of Sinai, who came to the point of considering the common substance as a quasi-hypostasis added as fourth to the three hypostases of the Trinity.44 Abū Rāʾiṭah is well aware that Melkites could easily apply his same rational demonstration to the Trinitarian doctrine of his own Church, maintaining that, for Miaphysites, the three divine hypostases are three gods because of the Miaphysite identification of nature/substance and hypostasis.45 His solution is to confess and affirm that: 1) God is the three hypostases and the three hypostases are God; 2) the three hypostases share all the natural and substantial characteristics of the Godhead; 3) the three hypostases are distinguished, each through a property which cannot be shared neither with the other hypostases nor with the substance itself; and 4) the number three is not applied to the substance, which remains one, but to the hypostases and the properties.46 39 For this accusation against Nestorians by Miaphysites, like Severus of Antioch and Philoxenus of Mabbug, see Ebeid, Tunica, 279. 40 Abū Rāʾiṭah, The Writings, 106-108 (text). 41 Abū Rāʾiṭah, The Writings, 108 (text). 42 Abū Rāʾiṭah, The Writings, 108-111 (text). 43 Abū Rāʾiṭah, The Writings, 111-113 (text).

The study (in english and czech languages) is based on the reconstruction of a text engraved on a stone object from the Bratislava City Museum (a similar artifact is held by the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.). First, the stone object is described in detail, and with the help of Davide Righi and Pierre Masri, the Arabic text is reconstructed. It is identified as a variation of Psalm 122 (On the Joy of Pilgrimage to Jerusalem). This is followed by a presentation of the cultural heritage of Arab Christianity. The third step is to propose a hypothesis about the classification of this stone object in the Christian Arabic-speaking context of the second half of the 19th century in Jerusalem. At the same time, unanswered questions are raised about the meaning of this object (artistic or religious object), the absence of other similar artifacts (except for the Smithsonian...), and the quality of the engraved writing.

Studie je postavena na rekonstrukci textu vyrytého na kamenném artefaktu z Muzea mesta Bratislava (obdobný artefakt je ve Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History ve Washingtonu D. C.). Nejprve je kamenný artefakt podrobně popsán, a s pomocí Davide Righiho a Pierre Masriho rekonstruován arabský text. Ten je identifikován jako variace 122. žalmu (O radosti při pouti do Jeruzaléma). Následuje představení kulturního dědictví arabského křesťanství. Jako třetí krok je proslovena hypotéza o zařazení tohoto kamenného artefaktu do křesťanského arabofonního kontextu druhé poloviny 19. století v Jeruzalémě. Zároveň jsou zmíněny nezodpovězené otázky po smyslu tohoto artefaktu (umělecký, či religiózní předmět), absenci jiných obdobných artefaktů (kromě Smithsonian..), kvalitě vyrytého písma.

An analytical study (in czech language) entitled Melkite Arab Theology in Late 8th Century (The Shape of Orthodoxy in Theodore Abū Qurrah's Creed, 755-830) is based on a detailed analysis of the key text of the Confession of faith (ar. Amānah al-urthūdhuksīya) from the pen of the Melkite bishop of Harran, Theodore Abū Qurrah. A deeper analysis of this text, even in world languages, is still lacking. The study begins with an introduction to the Melkite Church and the life of Abū Qurrah. Subsequently, the text of the Confession of faith itself is presented in more detail. The very personal character of the whole text is traced, as well as some topics: the Christian trinity, Trinitarian heresiography, the mystery of the Incarnation, and Christological heresiography. Theodore wrote a short Confession of faith, which can be called a small theological summa. It is written very poetically. In content, the Confession of faith is in complete harmony with the key councils of Christian antiquity. The Confession not only shows the mature Christian theology of Theodore Abū Qurrah, and hence of the Melkite tradition of the time, but above all it points to a unique interpretation of orthodoxy in the Arabic language. Theodore proves in his Confession that the orthodoxy of the Melkite Church of the late eighth and early ninth centuries lived in deep harmony with all the ancient councils of Christianity. It is not just a repetition of the same thing, but a deeper form of interpretation

This study (in czech language) presents an analysis of a treatise by the Nestorian translator Ḥunayn b. Isḥāq (d. 873), which was conceived in response to an exhortation to convert to Islam written by Abū al-Hasan ʿAlī b. Yahyā b. al-Munajjim (d. 888), a renowned Muslim of Persian descent. The study presents the contents of the treatise, and, on the basis of direct quotations, notes the specifics and characteristics of Hunayn´s thought. It concludes by presenting the key idea that in this Christian-Muslim controversy, more than faith, it is about the proper use of reason and rational thought.

This study (in czech language) is concerned with a content analysis of the Introduction to the voluminous wisdom literature of Dafʿ al-hamm by the Nestorian metropolitan Elijah of Nisibis (975-1046). The study first introduces the life and work of the author under study, thanks to contemporary secondary literature. Next, it will present the entire treatise in its historical, substantive, and formal context. It then proceeds to a detailed analysis of the 88 sentences of the introduction, which present not only the meaning of the entire text but also the internal architecture of this interesting work. The study demonstrates that the Introduction constitutes the architecture of the entire work and explains the four key elements of Elijah's thought that he wove not only into the Introduction but into the entire treatise: ethics, spirituality, dialogue, and poimenics. Finally, the study reflects on the contemporary absence of historical analyses of poimenics among Arab Christians in the Middle Ages.

This article provides an English translation of the reply by the tenth-century West Syrian scholar ʿĪsā b. Isḥāq b. Zurʿa (d. 398/1008) to the refutation of the Christians that Abū al-Qāsim ʿAbd Allāh b. Aḥmad al-Balḫī (d. 319/931), the leading Muʿtazilite theologian of his day in Baghdad, included in his now lost Awāʾil al-adilla (Principles of Proofs). Written in the year 997, when he was 54 years of age, Ibn Zurʿa's reply responds to al-Balḫī's threefold critique of Christians on account of their trinitarian belief, their alleged anthropomorphism, and their refusal to acknowledge the prophet of Islam.

Cet article propose une traduction anglaise de la réponse du savant chrétien jacobite ʿĪsā b. Isḥāq b. Zurʿa (m. 398/1008) à la réfutation des chrétiens qu’Abū al-Qāsim ʿAbd Allāh b. Aḥmad al-Balḫī (m. 319/931), le principal théologien muʿtazilite de son temps à Bagdad, avait incluse dans son ouvrage Awāʾil al-adilla, aujourd’hui disparu. Rédigée en 997, alors qu’il était âgé de 54 ans, la réponse d’Ibn Zurʿa reprend la triple critique d’al-Balḫī à l’encontre des chrétiens en raison de leur croyance trinitaire, de leur prétendu anthropomorphisme et de leur refus de reconnaître le prophète de l’islam.

The research is an analytical historical study about financial confiscations in the reign of sultan al-Ashraf Qāytibāy. The reign of the Sultan Qāytibāy in the period of 872-901 H/ 1468-1496 A.D witnessed many financial confiscations to revitalize the Mamluk Treasur, as these confiscations were a prominent feature of the reign of Sultan Qāytibāy. The study focuses on the reasons and motives that contributed to the spread of the phenomenon of financial confiscations from various military and civilian personalities. Also the role of these confiscations and their impact on the Mamluk Sultanate and on the categories of society politically, socially, economically and administratively. Finally, what methods did the Mamluk authority use to confiscate these funds? What is the position of ulama on these confiscations? Exploring the causes, motives, and influence of Mamluk confiscations will shed light on how Sultan Qāytibāy managed power, and the most important difficulties and obstacles that he faced in ruling. Also it will also explore the financial crises that the Mamluk Treasury went through and how to compensate for the financial shortfall, and the main reasons that contributed to the financial crises.

This contribution presents the methodology and strategies employed by Francis C. Belfour in his English translation of Paul of Aleppo’s Journal (mid-17th century), published in London between 1829 and 1836 as The Travels of Macarius, Patriarch of Antioch, written by his attendant, Archdeacon Paul of Aleppo, in Arabic. The author has surveyed this version while preparing a new, annotated English translation for Brill Academic Publishers, accompanied by the edited Arabic text. The salient particularities of the first English translation are presented, with examples and commentaries as to the omissions, compressions, paraphrases, and inaccuracies of this text. The main purpose is to allow an assessment of the thoroughness and reliability of Belfour’s translation, while underlying its wide readership and continuous appeal to the English-speaking research into the history of the Middle East and Eastern Europe of the first
half of the 17th century.

Al‑Asʿad ibn al‑ʿAssāl (thirteenth century), a member of the intellectually and politically influential Coptic family Awlād al‑ʿAssāl, was renowned for his widely copied Arabic translation of the Gospels. He prefaced that translation with a comprehensive Introduction to the Four Holy Gospels and the Ten Canons. The Introduction preserves rich historical data that remain largely absent from New Testament scholarship. It also sheds light on apostolic traditions and on the use of the Eusebian canons to regulate the copying and interpretation of the text. Drawing on previously unstudied manuscripts, this article offers fresh evidence for the composition, reception, and transmission of the Introduction in Egypt, Ethiopia and Eritrea. We demonstrate that the text circulated independently, serving as a preface to other Arabic translations of the Gospels and to the Arabic Diatessaron. By comparing it with an Ethiopic Gospel introduction, we show that al‑Asʿad’s work is that text’s ultimate source, edited and translated through the efforts of the Coptic bishop Buṭrus ibn al-Khabbāz.

Οι κύριες μελέτες της Estelle Whelan περιλαμβάνουν την ανάλυση του Κορανικού κειμένου και τη χρήση επιγραφών στην πρώιμη Ισλαμική περίοδο. Το άρθρο της «Ξεχασμένος Μάρτυρας: Αποδείξεις για την Πρώιμη Κωδικοποίηση του Κορανίου - Forgotten Witness: Evidence for the Early Codification of the Qurʾān», που δημοσιεύτηκε στο Journal of the American Oriental Society το 1998, αποτελεί μία από τις πιο σημαντικές συνεισφορές στην ανάλυση της πρώιμης κωδικοποίησης του Κορανίου. Η παρούσα εργασία αποτελεί μια σύντομη ανάλυση του άρθρου.

Some medieval Muslim theologians considered Nicaea to be the cause of the corruption of the Christian faith, where the Trinitarian doctrine was invented and replaced the authentic monotheistic faith taught by Christ. The Commentary on the Nicene Creed, composed by Elias the East-Syrian Metropolitan of Nisibis (d. 1049), should be viewed not only as a polemic against non-East Syrian Christians but also as a Christian apology that addresses Muslim accusations against the Trinitarian and Christological dogmas. In this article, I analyze this aspect of Elias' Commentary on the Creed.

Elias von Nisibis (975-1046) war einer der bedeutendsten ostsyrischen Autoren des 11. Jahrhunderts. Seine umfangreichen Schriften zeugen von seinem profunden Wissen auf verschiedenen Gebieten, darunter Medizin, Mathematik, Philosophie, arabische und syrische Philologie, Ethik, christliche Theologie und islamische spekulative Theologie. In diesem Artikel sollen bestimmte Elemente des trinitarischen Abschnitts seines Kommen tars zum Glaubensbekenntnis analysiert werden, wobei das Werk nicht nur als Polemik gegen nicht-ostsyrische Christen, sondern auch als christliche apologetische Antwort auf muslimische Anschuldigungen gegen christliche Lehren betrachtet wird. 1

Elia di Nisibi (975-1046) fu uno degli autori siro-orientali più significativi dell'XI secolo. I suoi vasti scritti rivelano una profonda conoscenza in vari campi, tra cui medicina, matematica, filosofia, filologia araba e siriaca, etica, teologia cristiana e teologia speculativa islamica. Questo articolo desidera analizzare alcuni elementi della sezione trinitaria del suo Commenta- Professore associato di lingua e letteratura araba presso l'Università Ca' Foscari di Venezia. Specializzato in teologia e letteratura araba cristiana, ha pubblicato vari contributi in questo campo come la monografia La tunica di Al-Masi-h.

War on Gaza has vertically and horizontally ripped open the overall structure on which entire superstructures of Israel stands, including its processes, and modes. The 'other side' of Israel is getting exposed. This war has undoubtedly brought the hidden facts of Israel to the fore. The war is getting closer to two years. In these months the Zionists and Israelis kept saying that they have been fighting Hamas-governing the Gaza Strip in Palestine since its takeover of the territory from the rival Fatah-ruled Palestinian Authority (PA) on June 14 th 2007.

The paper is devoted to the "great transport revolution" in Russia. The author shows that the users of passenger carriages in the Moscow state of the late Middle Ages were mostly women from aristocratic families. Aristocratic men usually rode on horseback. They could be forced to take a carriage only by illness or old age. In the 16th century, the kolymaga, which differed little from the medieval European carriages, remained main wheeled means of transportation in Russia. Late in the 16th century, more advanced European coaches with the body suspended on leather straps began to get to Moscow. Lexemes of European origin-carretta and coach-began to penetrate into the Russian language along with them. From the end of Ivan the Terrible's reign, coaches began to be used in diplomatic practice, which gradually created an idea of them as an element of prestige. The "transport revolution" in Russia was delayed by the Time of Troubles. From the middle of the 17th century, the number of European-made equipages began to increase in Moscow. In the late 1660s-early 1670s, coaches became fashionable among the Russian aristocracy. In 1681, the first decree restricting their use in Moscow was issued. It led to the widespread use of buggies. The "transport revolution" ended late in the 17th century.

Al-Waǧīh Yūḥannā al-Qalyūbī gehört zu den hervorragenden koptischen Gelehrten des 13. Jahrhunderts, welche die kopto-arabische Literatur zu ihrem Höhepunkt brachten und ihre Namen durch meisterhafte Werke verewigten. Wie sein Name verrät, stammt die Familie unseres Autors aus Qalyūb, nördlich vom heutigen Kairo. Sein Titel "al-Waǧīh", d. h. "der Angesehene", weist auf seine prominente soziale Stellung hin. Darüber hinaus gehört al-Waǧīh al-Qalyūbī zu einer priesterlichen Familie, da sowohl sein Vater als auch sein Großvater mit dem Priesteramt bekleidet waren. Seinen vollständigen Namen verdanken wir seinem Zeitgenossen und Freund al-Muʾtaman ibn al-ʿAssāl, der ihn am Ende seines koptisch-arabischen Wörterbuches "as-Sullam al-Muqaffā" wie folgt erwähnt: "Der angesehene, gelehrte, ehrwürdige Scheich al-Waǧīh Yūḥannā, Sohn des Priesters Michael, des Sohnes des Priesters Ṣadaqa al-Qalyūbī." 1 Weder sein Geburtsdatum noch sein Todesdatum sind bekannt. Jedoch muss er den Tod des Patriarchen Gabriel III. im Jahr 1271 überlebt haben, da al-Qalyūbī eine Trauerrede auf diesen Patriarchen 2 verfasste. 3 Außer seinem Kommentar zum Römerbrief sind uns folgende Werke des al-Waǧīh al-Qalyūbī bekannt: a. Eine Einführung in die koptische (bohairische) Grammatik unter dem Titel "al-Kifāya". Er verfasste dieses Werk auf Wunsch des al-Muʾtaman ibn al-ʿAssāl, um die koptische Grammatik des Yūḥannā al-Samannūdī zu ersetzen, die nach der

The study focuses on a hidden classical allusion that has remained undetected in the biography of St. Hilarion. The young monk, tempted by carnal desire, tries to escape sin by fasting, praying and basket-weaving. Describing this last method, Jerome refers not only to the well-know monastic activity and the sentence of St. Paul -qui non operatur non manducet -but depicts basket-work as a remedy for love, an allusion to the erotic context of Virgil's Third Eclogue.

The study focuses on a hidden classical allusion that has remained undetected in the biography of St. Hilarion. The young monk, tempted by carnal desire, tries to escape sin by fasting, praying and basket-weaving. Describing this last method, Jerome refers not only to the well-know monastic activity and the sentence of St. Paul -qui non operatur non manducet -but depicts basket-work as a remedy for love, an allusion to the erotic context of Virgil's Third Eclogue.

In this chapter, I discuss the fact that for centuries, the Romanian Principalities had a special status in the Ottoman Empire: diplomacy, the periodical payment of taxes, and the Romanian voivods’ political ability offered them the privilege to enjoy essential liberties such as the continuity of their Orthodox culture and spirituality. Thus, initiatives came not only from the voivods and boyars, but also from the Orthodox Church, all trying to contribute, according to their possibilities, to many long term projects. In the middle of the 18th century, the printing activity was flourishing in the Romanian Principalities, with a long established tradition. The most important element was the support of the elites for the printing of books used in school, at the Church mass, for personal reading, but also for the dialogue or the polemic with forces that threatened Orthodoxy. As in the famous Western presses of Venice, Rome, Paris, etc., there was papal censure, moreover, printing costs were very high, the Greek and Arab scholars sought support for book-printing in their languages from the Romanian Principalities, in order to protect the clergy and the believers from the missionary pressure of the Catholics and Protestants, but also in order to assert their theological and doctrinal standpoint.
The Arabic books printed at Iași (Jassy) in the mid-18th century by Patriarch Sylvester of Antioch with the generous support of voivod Constantin Mavrocordat and many local assistants were much sought after in the Arabic-speaking provinces of the Ottoman Empire. Thus, copies disappeared almost entirely, destroyed for confessional reasons, through intense use, or the passing of time. Consequently, Patriarch Sylvestros’s Arabic books are extremely rare nowadays, their content remaining little known and surveyed, a circumstance that is revealed by their absence from the scientific bibliographies and studies around the world. It is therefore imperative to carefully research the Arabic books of Iași printed in support of the Orthodox Arabic-speaking Christians, to discover the historical background that generated a need for polemical works printed in Arabic, and the efforts of the Orthodox clergy and the Romanian voivods towards the consolidation of Orthodoxy in the Levant. This survey demonstrates that these genuinely missionary projects placed the Romanian, Greek, Arabic, and Ottoman societies in a fascinating interdependence. This paper presents the results of our research dedicated to the Arabic printing in Moldavia in the days of Patriarch Sylvestros of Antioch in support of his Orthodox Arabic-speaking flock.

The present paper discusses the editorial program of the first Arabic printing press of Aleppo (1706–1711), established with the assistance from Wallachia, and it aims at clarifying if it was influenced by the editorial program of the Bucharest printing press in the early 18th century. A key actor is the renowned Patriarch of Antioch, Athanasios III Dabbās, who travelled to Wallachia and learned the art of printing from Antim the Iberian, hegumen of Snagov monastery and later the Metropolitan of Ungrovlahia. Thanks to the patronage of Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu, Athanasios was able to establish his printing press in Aleppo and develop his own editorial program aimed at serving the needs of the Arabic-speaking Christians of the Patriarchate of Antioch in the larger context of the contacts between Rome and the Ottoman Levant.
Keywords Athanasios III Dabbās, Antim the Iberian, Arabic printing, Arabic-speaking Christians, Catholic missionaries in the Levant.

The book offers a comprehensive anthropological study of lived Christianity in Jerusalem’s Old City, with a special focus on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre or the Church of the Anastasis. Based on in-depth ethnographic fieldwork, the study explores the experiences of the Rum Orthodox community, examining their internal dynamics and relationships with other Christian groups. Within the Church of the Anastasis, complex interplays emerge, as fragile legal agreements intermingle with ethnic and theological considerations, resulting in a complex reality of shared spaces and coexistence. A materialist lens is employed to study these dynamics, suggesting that the material aspects of religious practices play a crucial role in shaping borders and influencing perceptions of similarities and differences across them. Outside the Church's confines, in the Old City of Jerusalem, lay Christians, especially the local Palestinian Orthodox, engage in 'border-crossing practices', which often deviate from the Orthodox Church's approved practice. These practices reflect the flexible strategies local Christians adopt in their everyday lives in Israel, challenging established norms and boundaries. By capturing these dynamics, the book provides valuable insights into shared sacred spaces and offers a significant contribution to debates in the anthropology of Christianity and its material culture.

This article examines Al-burhān al-ṣarīḥ (The Evident Proof), a theological treatise written in 1721 by ʿAbd Allāh Zākhir, a key figure in the 18th-century Melkite Church. Composed in Arabic at the request of a Muslim jurist and later printed at Shuwayr in 1764, the work stands as a rare and significant example of systematic theology articulated in the Arabic Christian tradition during a period marked by both Islamic dominance and rising Catholic influence. While Zākhir adopts the vocabulary and tone of Eastern Arabic Christian theology, his method reveals a distinctly scholastic orientation, particularly through the use of Aristotelian logic and Thomistic structure. This paper argues that Al-burhān al-ṣarīḥ is more than an apologetic defense: it is a catechetical synthesis that bridges the Antiochian theological heritage with early modern Catholic intellectual currents. By boldly reasserting the notion of taʾalluh (deification) within a context where such language was often suppressed to avoid Islamic accusations of shirk, Zākhir revives a core Eastern doctrine and marks a turning point in the history of Arabic Christian thought. This study thus reassesses Zākhir’s work as a foundational moment in the Melkite theological resurgence following the 1724 split, and as theological synthesis across traditions and contexts.

This essay shows how the Ḥanbalī scholar Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328) extends to Christianity what is essentially an intra-Islamic controversy about qurʾanic hermeneutics, itself part of a wider debate on the conflict between reason and revelation. The essay argues that in order to grasp Ibn Taymiyya’s critique of Christianity, one must understand his position on three key issues: (1) his redefinition of qurʾanic exegesis from an open-ended scholarly enterprise into a part of the body of prophetic knowledge, transmitted by the pious ancestors; (2) his views on the agreement of reason and revelation, which he sees as complementary paths to the same truth; and (3) his denunciation of a hermeneutical approach that deflects the intended meaning of the sacred text in order to justify unorthodox views or simply to sow doubt and division, a practice he then attributes to Christians.

In this original study, which is within the scope of the paper that examines the icons in the Cathedral of Saint Paul and Apostle Peter in Antakya, in the light of some examples of forty five icons on the iconostasis of the cathedral in question, the history of the icons, place of production, current status, iconography, painting program, style, material and technical features will be evaluated in a holistic manner and the data obtained will be examined and introduced.

The text has been published in the 9th volume of the journal Tsaytshrift, a project of the European Humanities University in Vilnius (Lithuania). It is a brief literature review with some methodological reflections on two books released at the beginning of the 2020s on the topic of 'Imagining Palestine.'

In recent decades, many scholars in the humanities and social sciences have turned their attention to the ways massacres are expressed. Beyond the challenges of defining, apprehending, or recognizing massacres lies a deeper difficulty: that of speaking about them. How, then, are memorial narratives of massacre constructed? How do they articulate the massacre — or avoid doing so? This raises the complex issue of word choice and the various ways in which mass violence is euphemized, particularly in the context of civil war.

As part of a broader effort to decode the ambiguities underpinning Druze-Christian relations in Lebanon, this article draws on more than one hundred interviews conducted between 2004 and 2010. It focuses on the anecdotes and sayings circulated among Christians and Druze in southern Mount Lebanon, which serve as mnemonic tools and vehicles for articulating overlapping memories and representations of neighborly killings and massacres in times of peace. The aim here is to examine how these acts of violence are expressed, rather than the violence itself, by foregrounding how the communities of the Mountain perceived and continue to perceive them.

This edited volume collects the proceedings of the second of two conferences organized by the Typarabic project. It presents the research results of the project, with a focus in this second volume on decorative features of Christian Arabic manuscripts from the 18th century.