Editor, translator Budge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir, 1857-1934<\/strong> Vol. I has added t.-p. in Syriac<\/p>\n History of the monastery of Beth Abhe and of Nestorianism for three centuries<\/p>\n I. The Syriac text, introduction, etc.–II. The English translation<\/p>\n The object of the present work is to give in a convenient form the complete Syriac text of the \u201cBook of Governors\u201d, together with an English translation and necessary notes.
\nPublication date 1893<\/strong>
\nTopics Beth Abbe (Nestorian monastery), Nestorian Church — History<\/strong>
\nPublisher London : K. Paul, Trench, Tru\u0308bner & co., ltd.<\/strong>
\nCollection majorityworldcollection; Princeton; americana
\nDigitizing sponsor Princeton Theological Seminary Library<\/strong>
\nContributor Princeton Theological Seminary Library<\/strong>
\nLanguage English
\nVolumes 1 & 2
\n2 volumes : 22 cm<\/p>\n\n
\nThe \u201cBook of Governors\u201d, better known as the \u201cHistoria Monastica of Thomas of Marg\u00e2\u201d, was written in the Syriac language in the first half of the ninth century of our era. Its author Thomas was originally a monk in the famous Nestorian Monastery of B\u00eath ‘\u00c2bh\u00ea, which was founded at the end of the sixth century by Jacob of L\u00e2sh\u00f4m, the modern Lasim near Kerk\u00fbk. B\u00eath ‘\u00c2bh\u00ea was practically an offshoot of the \u201cGreat Monastery\u201d of Mount \u00cezl\u00e2 near Nisibis, where the first Christian ascetics of Mesopotamia, under the direction of M\u00e2r Awg\u00een of Clysma near Suez, established themselves in the early part of the fourth century. It was a building half fortress, half monastery, and it stood in a forest (hence the name B\u00eath ‘\u00c2bh\u00ea, i. e., \u201chouse of the forest\u201d) upon a mountain peak between two valleys on the right bank of the Great Z\u00e2b river. This monastery had been endowed with large estates and many possessions by several Persian noblemen, and to it was given the proud title of the \u201cKing of Monasteries\u201d; its society generally contained several members of noble Persian families. The monks of B\u00eath ‘\u00c2bh\u00ea were renowned for their learning, and under the shadow of its walls the revision and re-arrangement of the \u201c\u1e24udhr\u00e2\u201d or Service-Book for all the Sundays of the Year were made, and the famous recension of the Syriac version of the \u201cParadise\u201d of Palladius was completed. Attached to the monastery was a fine ecclesiastical library in which were preserved copies of histories and other works which are no longer extant. Four, if not five, of the Patriarchs of the Nestorian Church were educated at B\u00eath ‘\u00c2bh\u00ea, and during the period of which we have any written record of its existence, i. e., A.D., 595\u2014850, at least one hundred of its sons became Bishops, Metropolitans, and Governors of Nestorian dioceses in Mesopotamia, Arabia, Persia, Armenia, Kurdistan and China.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n