Digitized Manuscripts: Faceted Search

About This Table

This table searches all collections of Syriac and Garshuni manuscripts that are freely available online by key terms. Click any of the categorized menu items to narrow down your search. If you would like to sort the manuscripts by shelf-mark or date, or search by general keyword, see our other table here, which includes all the same manuscript data.

*The Approximate Date column is derived from the best available information for the manuscript. This is not asserted as a scholarly position on the dating of the manuscript. Instead, it is merely used here for the convenience of being able to sort all manuscripts by numerical date. The user should keep in mind that there may be considerable debate over the precise dating of the manuscript and should consult the manuscript repository and relevant scholarly literature for details.

Manuscript Name / Shelf Mark / Project Number Approximate Date Language The main body text Link to Digitized Manuscript
Vat. sir. 51 pt. 1 1,100 CE Syriac

See entry in Assemani

  • Binding
  • West Syrian Pontifical of Michael the Patriarch
  • Binding
Vat. sir. 51 pt. 2 1,100 CE Syriac

See entry in Assemani

  • Binding
  • West Syrian Pontifical of Michael the Patriarch
  • Binding
St. Mark's Convent, Jerusalem 2-11 1,554 CE Syriac

See entry at CPART and in Macomber

  • Church of the East (Chaldean) Pontifical Ritual
    • f. 1v-137v Pontifical Ritual
      • f. 1v-2r Gospel lection for the ordination of a bishop or of a catholicos
      • f. 3r Instruction concerning the wood from the which the tablitha is made
      • f. 3v-26r Catholicos Mar Isho'yahb of Adiabene, Consecration of the altar place with oil
      • f. 26v-28r Consecration of the altar place without oil
      • f. 28v Signing of the chalice before it goes up to the altar, when they are compelled to consecrate an additional chalice) on a day of great concourse.
      • f. 29rv Instruction concerning ordinations
      • f. 29v-38r Ordinations of lectors, subdeacons, and deacons
      • f. 38v-44v Rite of the ordination of priests
      • f. 44v-46v Rite of the clothing of monks
      • f. 46v-66v Rite of the tonsure of monks
      • f. 66v-77r Rite of the tonsure of women who are nuns
      • f. 77r-78v Rite of the institution of abbots
      • f. 79v-89v Rite of the ordination of bishops
      • f. 90r-93r The rite of the perfection of bishops by catholicoi. In the Church of the East (Nestorian), a bishop could be ordained by a metropolitan, but he could not exercise his full powers until he had gone to the catholicos and been perfected
      • f. 93r-106r Rite of the ordination of catholicoi
      • f. 106r-107r Rite of the ordination of the archdeacon
      • f. 107r-108r Rite when a chorbishop is appointed for a district to act like the archdeacon, who is the visitor of the villages
      • f. 108r-109v Rite of the ordination of women deaconesses
      • f. 110r-111r Rite of the ordination of a Shaharā priest
      • f. 111r-113r Mar 'Abdisho', Catholicos, Prayer that is recited, likewise a prayer of inclination, over a bishop that is translated from one see to another see
      • f. 113rv Summary of the contents of the manuscript
      • f. 115v-137r Mar Isho'yahb of Nisibis, also known as Bar Malkon, Canons of ordination
      • f. 137rv Four prayers for the reconciliation of penitent excommunicated persons: 1) For a bishop who has been degraded, 2) for seculars, 3 and 4) For anyone
Vat. sir. 66 1,545 CE Syriac

Catalog entry in Assemani

Chaldean ordinal translated from Latin into Syriac

  • Ordination of the door-keepers
  • Ordination of the Lectors
  • Ordination of exorcists
  • Ordination of acolytes
  • Ordination of subdeacons
  • Ordination of Deacons
  • Ordination of Presbyters
  • Order of Absolution
  • Prayers
  • On the wood (of the table)
  • Consecration of the altar
  • Consecration when the altar was desecrated
  • Consecration of the altar without chrism
  • Blessing over the chalice
  • Diaconal ordination
  • Ordination of a presbyter
  • Service of the habit of a monk
  • Service of the tonsure of a monk
  • Service of the tonsure of holy women
  • Admonition on temporal ordination
  • 'Onyatha during the tonsure of monks
  • Benediction for when the Bishop departs a city
  • Benediction for when a Bishop enters a monastery
  • Benediction for when a bishop leaves a monastery
  • Prayer for an abbot 
  • Ḥutāmē at the end of a liturgy
  • A form of consecration for the bread and wine (from Latin into Syriac)
  • The Liturgy of the Blessed Apostles
  • The Liturgy of Theodore the commentator of the Divine Books
  • 12-syllable verses for common days during the liturgy
  • Absolution
Vat. sir. 303 1,608 CE Syriac

Catalog entry in Assemani

  • Book of Priests (East Syrian Rite)
    • Order of presbyters (obligations and absolutions found for the presbyter in the office)
    • Liturgy of the blessed apostles
    • Liturgy of Theodore of Mopsuestia
    • Liturgy of Nestorius
    • Order of Baptism (composed by Isho'yahb of Adiabene)
    • Order of the consecration of waters
    • Order of the renewal of the dough
    • Absolutions at the end of the mass recited at the door of the chancel (by 'Abdisho' bar Brīkā)
    • Sanctifying polluted water
    • Order of indulgences or absolutions, composed by Isho'yahb Catholicos
    • Prayers for Dominical feasts
    • Prayers for the dedication of a church by Abul-Azar
    • Absolution at the end of the Mass
    • Other absolutions at the door of the chancel, by Mar Gabriel
    • History of martyrs
Vat. sir. 427 1,600 CE Garshuni, Syriac

Catalog entry in Assemani

  • Rite of the blessing of the waters for Epiphany
  • On the Ordination of presbyters and chorbishops
  • On the consecration of an archbishop and bishop
  • Rite of the great Schema of the monks, or cucullus
  • Prayers recited in confession and before the Priest celebrates the mass, with the formula of absolution (Syriac)
  • On the blessing of the cup
  • Office of St. John the Evangelist, with a Garshuni narrative of his life
  • Life of St. Marinus (Syriac)