Narsai from Nisibis

Narsai von Nisibis (* after 410; † 503 ) was an important late antique church teacher in Edessa and Nisibis and is one of the "Syrian church fathers " of the " Nestorian " "Church of the East".

Probably Narsai of Nisibis was born after the year 410 and experienced the persecution of Christians in the Sassanid Empire around 420 as a student (see Bahram V ). When his parents died, his uncle Emmanuel, abbot of the Kefar Mari monastery in Bet Zabdai, took over the education of Narsai, Narsai worked as a teacher at the monastery and studied at the famous Persian theological school in Edessa. The school represented - despite the Alexandrian bishop Rabbalu of Edessa (412–435 / 36) - the Antioch church teaching of Theodor von Mopsuestia (* around 350; † 428). Under Rabbalus' successor Ibas von Edessa (437–457), the Narsais, trained in "Nestorian" fashion, became head of the theological school after 451, which he headed for at least twenty years. Under Bishop Qura (471-498) the Antiochian faith came again and further into disrepute in the Christian "Orthodoxy" in the Eastern Roman Empire , Narsai fled to Persia, to Nisibis, and was appointed by Bishop Barsauma of Nisibis to head the newly founded theological school there . The school in Nisibis took over the education of the theologians and priests of the East Syrian Church in reading, writing, liturgy , singing, rhetoric , philosophy and exegesis after the closure of the school in Edessa caused by Emperor Zenon (474–491) in 489 . Narsai's work in Nisibis was only interrupted by a dispute with Bishop Barsauma; Narsais returned to Kefar Mari monastery for six years, but then found himself again in Nisibis.

Narsai was the most important poet-theologian of the East Syrian Church. 360 Vershomilies , of which 80 have been preserved, are ascribed to him, including the Vershomilie to the Persian Empire, which Narsai wrote in 503 to show his loyalty to the Persian great king Kawad I (488-531). As a biblical exegete, Narsai prepared the biblical material in his poetry, thematized events from the Old Testament such as the Tower of Babel or from the Christian history of salvation such as the resurrection and ascension of Christ. In his homilies, Narsais continued to work as an important representative of the East Syrian Church for many centuries.

expenditure

• Alphonse Mingana: Narsai doctoris Syri Homiliae et carmina . 2 vols. Typis Fratrum Praedicatorum, Mausilii [Mosul] 1905.
• RH Connolly: The Liturgical Homilies of Narsai. Translated into English with an Introduction (Texts and Studies 8.1). Cambridge 1909.
• Paul Krüger: A mission document from early Christian times. Interpretation and translation of the Sermo de memoria Petri e Pauli by Narsai . In: Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft und Religionswissenschaft 42 (1958), pp. 271–291.

literature

• Wassilios Klein (Ed.): Syrian Church Fathers (= Urban Tb 587) . Stuttgart 2004, pp. 111-123.
• Sebastian P. Brock: A Guide to Narsai's Homilies . In: Hugoye 12.1 (2009) pp. 21-40.
• William Macomber: The Manuscripts of the Metrical Homilies of Narsai . In: Orientalia Christiana Periodica 39.2 (1973) pp. 275-306.

Web links

• List of works, editions and bibliography