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
Saint Mark's Monastery, Jerusalem MS 248 (SMMJ 00248) 1,475 CE Garshuni, Syriac

See entry at CPART and in Macomber ([Macomber A]; [Macomber B]) (St. Mark's Convent, Jerusalem 2-13; SMC 2-13). Filoksinos Yohanna Dolabany, Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts in St. Mark’s Monastery (1994).

  • Part A (20th Century) (Garshuni, Syriac)
    • Syrian Orthodox collection of miscellaneous liturgical pieces
      • f. 1r-2r Rite for the reconciliation of a penitent sinner
      • f. 2v-3v Order of the prayers of the hymns of the canon
      • f. 3v-4v Acrostic alphabetic hymn without title
      • f. 4v-5r A song on drinking; It is sung on the alphabet
  • ​​Part B (1474/5 CE) (Garshuni, Syriac)
    • Syrian Orthodox collection of miscellaneous liturgical pieces
      • f. 1r-42r Miscellaneous Liturgical Pieces
        • f. 1r-9r Shumlaya that the deacon proclaims in the offering of the Eucharist according to the modern revision of Melitene. This is a diaconal for the Mass.
        • f. 9r-10r Communion hymns for the Thursday of the Mysteries
        • f. 1r-23r Prayers, proemia, sedre, 'etre, and huttame that are learned by heart by a new priest when he is ordained.
          • f. 10r-11r Order of the Mother of God
          • f. 11r-12r Order of the Apostles
          • f. 12r-13r Order of the martyrs
          • f. 13r-14r Order of the Patron Saint
          • f. 14r-15r Communion order
          • f. 15r-16r Order of penitance
          • f. 16v-17v Order of the departed
          • f. 17v-19r Oder of the Cross
          • f. 19rv Order of the Resurrection
          • f. 19v-20r Order of Vespers
          • f. 20r-21r Order of Compline
          • f. 21r-22r Order of the night office
          • f. 22r-23r Order of Matins
          • f. 23rv Huttame of the other offices
        • f. 26r-32v Ordinary of the mass
        • f. 32v-33r Prayer for blessing of bread. A table grace.
        • f. 33r-39v Prayers of every kind
          • f. 33r-34r Prayers of vespers
          • f. 34r-35r Prayers of the "hymns of the Greek canon"
          • f. 35r-38v Miscellaneous prayers
          • f. 38v-39v Table prayers (Garshuni)
        • f. 39v-42r Two rhymed homilies for feasts (in Garshuni)
          • f. 39v-40v Homily on the feast of the Nativity
          • f. 40v-42r Homily on the Epiphany
        • f. 42r-45r Two questions of the Fathers
          • f. 42r Question that Bishop Severus asked of Bishop Jacob of Edessa: "How is God above all and below all, inside all and outside all and in all?"
          • f. 42v-45r Bishop John (?), Question concerning the dead after burial while he is doing penance (Garshuni)
        • f. 45v-48v Miracle that our Lady Mary, the Mother of God, worked
        • f. 48v A few epigrams
        • f. 49r-58r Four more rhymed homilies
          • f. 49r-52r Turjām of the blessed Fast
          • f. 52r-54r A pretty homily on the venerable crucifixion
          • f. 54r-56r Turjām of Ninevah and lections (?) of the prophet Jonah. A single rhymed composition
          • f. 56v-58r Turjām on the Resurrection
        • f. 58rv Two prayers: One for the patriarch and one for the sultan
        • f. 59r-61r Another rhymed homily: Turjām on the Dormition of our Lady the Virgin Mary
        • f. 61v-69r
        • f. 69v-73v Homily delivered by St. Jacob which he delivered on the thief of the right hand; read on the Friday of the Crucifixion
        • f. 73v-88v An abridged discouse on the true faith and on the hymns of the spiritual Church.
        • f. 89r-96r The questions of St. Basil and St. Gregory
        • f. 96r-112r Ten questions concerning which a certain disciple asked his master
          • f. 96rv Contents
          • f. 96v-112r Text
        • f. 112r-118r Homily delivered by Bishop Gregory (Pseudo-Gregory Nazianzus), on the destruction of this world and the departure of the soul from the body
    • f. 118v-148r The Apocalypse of Paul (Garshuni)
      • f. 148v Beginning of an unidentified item
BnF syr. 63 1,644 CE Garshuni, Syriac

See catalog entry here

  • f. 1-195 Apocalypse of Peter
  • f. 195v-203 History of Sibyl
  • f. 203-234 Office of Marriage (in Garshuni and Syriac)
  • f. 234v-243 Prescriptions for the months of the year
Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana: Orientali 47 1,600 CE Syriac

See entry for Assemani 8; [Bibliographic Record]; [Data Record]

  • f. Iv-IIr Eusebius of Cesarea, Epistle to Carpianus, I
  • f. 1v-2r Eusebius of Cesarea, Genealogy of Christ I
  • f. 2v Eusebius of Cesarea, Genealogy of Christ II
  • f. 3v-4v Eusebius of Cesarea, Epistle to Carpianus II
  • f. 5v-14v Eusebian Canons
  • f. 15r-16r The doctrine which the blessed Theophilus, the virtuous child, received, which was written before the acts of the apostles
Harvard MS Syr 93 700 CE Syriac

Catalog Entry

  • A collection of short works including a "Gospel of the Twelve Apostles" (ff. 47r-51v)
  • Apocalypses of Simon Kepha, James, John the little (51v-57v)
  • A fragment of the Doctrina Addai (57v)
  • Various responsa and canons (1r-46v, 59r ff.) including replies of Jacob of Edessa.
Borg. sir. 148 1,576 CE Syriac

See catalog entry here

  • Didascalia Apostolorum
  • Testament of our Lord
  • Some extracts from the Doctrina Addai
  • Apostolic Canons
  • Canons of the council of Nicaea
  • Canons of the council of Ancyra
  • Canons of the council of Neocaesarea
  • Canons of the synod of Gangres
  • Canons of the council of Antioch
  • Canons of the synod of Laodicea
  • Canons of the council of Constantinople
  • Canons of the council of Ephesus against Nestorius
  • Canons of the council of St. Cyprian of Carthage
  • Extracts from a synodal letter sent from Italy to the Bishops gathered in Antioch
  • Extracts of the letters of Ignatius, disciple of the apostles
  • Extracts of the councils of St. Peter of Alexandria on the subject of apostates
  • Questions posed to Timothy, pope of Alexandria
  • Synod of Sardica
  • Letter of Athanasius of Alexandria to Ammonius, Abbot of the monastery
  • Five letters of St. Basil addressed to the priest ܦܐܪܝܓܘܪܝܘܣ (Gregory?), to a chorbishop, to the priest Diodore at Amphilochius of Iconium
  • Canons of the council of Chalcedon
  • Extracts of the letters of certain Doctors and from St. Celestine, Bishop of Rome, against Nestorius
  • Various canons
  • Letters of St. Anthimus, bishop of Constantinople, of Basil, etc.
Vat. sir. 180 1,318 CE Syriac

Catalog entry in Assemani

  • The Apology before the Apocalypse of Paul the Apostle
  • The Apocalypse of Paul the Apostle
  • Gabriel Qamṣa, 'Onyatha
Harvard Ms Syr 99 1,889 CE Syriac

Catalog entry

  • ff. 1v-76v Didascalia apostolorum
  • ff. 76-92v First epistle of Clement to the Corinthians
  • ff. 92v-93v Letter of James of Jerusalem to Quadratus
  • ff. 93v-96v Letters of Herod and Pilate 
  • ff. 96v-103v Hypomnemata of our Lord
  • ff. 103v-106v The teaching of Peter in Rome
  • ff. 107r-111v Letter of Dionysius of Athens to Timothy on the deaths of Peter and Paul
  • ff. 111v-117r Extracts from various Fathers
  • ff. 117r-120r Severus on the synods
  • ff. 120r-120v Letter that the Jews wrote to the emperor Marcion about the Synod of Chalcedon
  • ff. 120v-122v Short texts by Philoxenus
  • ff. 122v Creed of orthodox Christians
  • ff. 122v-124v Letter of John bar Shushan against Chalcedon
  • ff. 124v-126v Easy questions against the Chalcedonians
  • ff. 126v-128r Diagrams explaining theology and christology
  • ff. 128v-131v Disputation against the Nestorians
  • ff. 131v Cyril against anyone who keeps a book from a reader
  • ff. 132r-146v Prophecies of the pagan philosophers 
  • ff. 147r-148r 6 questions of Jacob of Edessa
  • ff. 148r-150v Riddles from the Old Testament
  • ff. 150v-151r Under which kings each of the prophets prophesied
  • ff. 151r-154r On the foundation of the true faith which we have received from the apostles etc.
  • ff. 154r On what the Jews wrote above the cross of Christ
  • ff. 154r-155r From the story of Peter the Iberian, that one should not give up hope of God's mercy
  • ff. 155r-157r Severus, from a letter to Thomas of Germanica on the Epistle of Jude
  • ff. 157r-160r Short sections on the eucharist, baptism, etc.
  • ff. 160r-162r On the prophets
  • ff. 162r-163r Jacob of Edessa on the seven spirits of Isaiah 11.2
  • ff. 163 r/v Ephrem on the dove that Noah sent out from the ark
  • ff. 163v-174r Answers to questions, including extracts from various Fathers
  • ff. 174v Diagram of the ten commandments
  • ff. 174v-178r Various other short sections on Old Testament exegesis
  • ff. 178r-181v Jacob of Edessa on the heavenly powers
  • ff. 181v-188v The orthodox teachers on the souls of human beings, and other short extracts
  • ff. 188v-190r Letter of Cyril of Jerusalem on the rebuilding of the temple by the Jews
  • ff. 190r-191r Extracts from Puman, John, Cyril and Basil
  • ff. 191r-201r Explanations of Ephrem on various matters from the Law
  • ff. 201r Colophon 
Harvard Ms Syr 151 Unknown Syriac

Catalog entry

  • Canon law and admonition (3 vellum leaves, 29 cm., probably from the same ms. of the ca. 11th cent.), in 2 columns, ca. 40 lines per column, written in an old serto
  • Acrostic hymn of Elia Abuḥalim (8 paper leaves in 1 quire, written in a good E. Syriac hand, ca. 17th cent.)
  • End of a memra on the love of poverty, letter of Abgar to Jesus, beginning of the reply of Jesus (1 vellum leaf, estrangela, ca. 9th century)
  • Lectionary containing Mt 18.17-20, Lk 14.1-6, Lk 16.19-24, with a quire signature decorated in color (1 leaf, 38 cm., large bold estrangela, ca. 13th cent.)
  • W. Syriac qale for festivals, including a rubric for the evening service of Palm Sunday (2 vellum leaves in 1 bifolium, 40 cm. written in a very large estrangela script in 1 column, ca. 12th cent.)
  • Fenqitho, part of the services for a group of priests (1 vellum leaf, estrangela in 2 columns, 37 cm., ca. 13th cent.)
  • A homiliary, with a rubric for Mar Yuannis [Chrysostom] for the Monday of the Passion and the "entry into port" (part of 1 vellum leaf in 3 columns, estrangela, 37 cm. wide, ca. 12th cent.)
  • Anaphora (2 paper leaves, serto, ca. 18th cent.)
  • Hymns (2 paper leaves in 1 bifoium, poor serto, ca. 18th cent.)
  • Service book naming a number of saints (part of 1 paper leaf, good late serto)
Harvard Ms Syr 166 1,885 CE Syriac

Catalog entry

  • Pp. 1-15, Story of Moses
  • 15-27, The letter of holy Sunday that descended from heaven
  • 27-49, Story of Mar Giwargis the martyr
  • 49-55, Story of Arsanis king of Egypt, how our Lord resurrected him
  • 55-58 Qanone for festivals and saints' days
  • 58-60, Divination concerning the sick
  • 60-62, Other prayers
  • 62, Colophon 
Saint Mark's Monastery, Jerusalem MS 177 (SMMJ 00177) 1,861 CE Garshuni, Syriac

Filoksinos Yohanna Dolabany, Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts in St. Mark’s Monastery (1994).

  • fol. 6v-196v Homilies for Sundays and the dominical feasts (Garshuni, Syriac)
  • fol. 201r-210v Liturgical proclamation for Ascension (Syriac)
  • fol. 210v-215v Story of Peter the Apostle (Garshuni)
  • fol. 226v-260r Shem'ūn II, commentary on the Lord's Prayer (Garshuni)
  • fol. 260r-262v Homily on Love (Garshuni)

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