Narsai

Quality 0.50 · 2 views · Updated 2 months ago

6th-century Syriac poet

title: "Narsai" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["assyrian-church-of-the-east-saints", "christians-in-the-sasanian-empire", "syrian-christian-saints", "syriac-writers", "writers-of-late-antiquity"] description: "6th-century Syriac poet" topic_path: "society/religion" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narsai" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary 6th-century Syriac poet ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox saint"]

FieldValue
honorific_prefixSaint
nameNarsai
venerated_inRoman Catholic Church
Assyrian Church of the East
Ancient Church of the East
Syro Malabar Church
Chaldean Catholic Church
birth_datec. 399
birth_place‘Ain Dulba (ܥܝܢ ܕܘܠܒܐ)
(modern-day Iraq)
death_datec. 502
death_placeNisibis, Sassanid Empire
(modern-day Nusaybin, Mardin, Turkey)
::

| honorific_prefix = Saint | name = Narsai | venerated_in =Roman Catholic Church Assyrian Church of the East Ancient Church of the East Syro Malabar Church Chaldean Catholic Church | feast_day = | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | other_names = | birth_name = | birth_date = c. 399 | birth_place = ‘Ain Dulba (ܥܝܢ ܕܘܠܒܐ) (modern-day Iraq) | death_date = c. 502 | death_place = Nisibis, Sassanid Empire (modern-day Nusaybin, Mardin, Turkey) | nationality = | citizenship = | education = | residence = | occupation = | employer = | title = | denomination= | spouse = | partner = | children = | website = Narsai (sometimes spelt Narsay, Narseh or Narses; , name derived from Pahlavi Narsēh from Avestan Nairyō.saȵhō, meaning 'potent utterance'; ) was one of the foremost of the poet-theologians of the early Church of the East, perhaps equal in stature to Jacob of Serugh, both second only to Ephrem the Syrian. He is venerated as a saint in all the modern descendants of the Church of the East; the Chaldean Catholic Church, Assyrian Church of the East, Ancient Church of the East, and Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. Saint Narsai is known as the 'Flute of the Holy Spirit.'

Although many of his works seem to have been lost, around eighty of his mēmrē (ܡܐܡܖ̈ܐ), or verse homilies are extant.

Life

Narsai was born at ‘Ain Dulba (ܥܝܢ ܕܘܠܒܐ "Plane Tree Spring") in the district of Ma‘alləta (ܡܥܠܬܐ) in the Sasanian Empire (now in Duhok 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 Byzantine emperor 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.

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

Homilies

Hundreds of works have been attributed to Narsai, but only just over 80 of his homilies (mēmrē) have survived. Some surviving sogitha are also attributed to Narsai, but they are considered spurious. The homilies are all poetry, and most use 12-syllable metre, with a minority using 7-syllable meter. Most, if not all, of Narsai's homilies involve biblical exegesis across liturgical, moral, and theological subjects.

In 1905, Alphonse Mingana published a two-volume work with the Syriac text of 47 of these homilies. In 1970, a photographic reproduction of a manuscript with 72 of Narsai's homilies was published by Patriarchal Press. Two numbering systems are used for Narsai's homilies: one by Mingana, and a second by Macomber, in his 1970 inventory of Narsai's manuscripts.

List of Narsai's homilies

::data[format=table]

NameNumber (Macomber)Number (Mingana)TranslationsAdditional notes
On Revelations to Patriarchs and Prophets (I)11English
On Revelations to Patriarchs and Prophets (II)22
On Revelations to Abraham33English
On the Nativity4-English
On Mary5-English
On Epiphany6-English
On John the Baptist7-English
On Peter and Paul84English
On the Four Evangelists9-
On Stephen105English
On the Three Doctors11-French
On the Iniquity of the World126English
On Supplication137English
On Jonah148English
On Reproof159
On Human Nature1616English
For Any Saints Day17-
On the Departed and the Resurrection18-French
On Works19-
On Lent I2010
On the Temptation of Christ (1)21-English
On the Temptation of Christ (2)22-
On Lent III2311
On Lent IV2412
On Reproof2513
On Lent V2614
On the Parable of the Ten Virgins2715French
On the Raising of Lazarus28-
On Palm Sunday (1)29-
On Palm Sunday (2)30-
Against the Jews3118Italian
On the Canaanite Women32-English
On the Prodigal Son33-French
On Holy Week3419
On the Mysteries3517EnglishProbable forgery
On the Passion36-McLeod
On the Repentant Thief3720English****
On Mysteries and Baptism3821English
On Baptism3922English
On the Resurrection40-McLeod
On the Confessors4124
On the Martyrs (1)4225
On the Martyrs (2)43-Probable forgery
On New Sunday4426English
On the Ascension45-McLeod
On Pentecost4627
On the Workers in the Vineyard4728French
On the Rich Man and Lazarus4828French
On Creation IV4929English
On Humility50-
On the Antichrist5123
On the Second Coming5223French
On the Wheat and the Tares53-French
On the Finding of the Cross5430
On the Bronze Serpent55-English
On the Dedication of the Church56-
On the Tabernacle57-English
On Isaiah's Vision5831English
On the Church and the Priesthood5932English
On the Dedication of the Church6033English
On Creation II6134French
On Creation III6235English
On Creation I6336French
On Creation V6437French
On Creation VI6538French
On the Soul6639German
On the Blessing of Noah67-English
On the Tower of Babel68-English
On Job6940
On Joseph7041
On the Flood71-English
On the Miracles of Moses7242
On Samson7343
On David and Saul74-
On Solomon75-
On Enoch and Elijah76-English
On the Three Children7744
On Reproof of the Clergy7845
On Reproof7946
On Reproof of Women8047English
On John 1:1481-English
On the Feast of the Victorious Cross82
(Title Unknown)83
(Title Unknown)84
::

Syriac editions

  • Major collection of Narsai's works, containing the full text of 47 memre and the incipits of 34 more —

Published translations

English

French

German

Italian

References

Citations

Bibliography

References

  1. Butts, Aaron Michael. (2020). "Narsai: Rethinking His Work and His World". Mohr Siebeck.
  2. [https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/entry/Narsai Lucas Van Rompay , "Narsai", ''Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage''] Electronic Edition, edited by Sebastian P. Brock, Aaron M. Butts, George A. Kiraz and Lucas Van Rompay (Gorgias Press, 2011; online ed. Beth Mardutho, 2018)

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

assyrian-church-of-the-east-saintschristians-in-the-sasanian-empiresyrian-christian-saintssyriac-writerswriters-of-late-antiquity