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 49 (SMMJ 00049) 1,600 CE Garshuni

See entry at CPART and in Macomber (St. Mark's Convent, Jerusalem 2-9; SMC 2-9); Catalog entry in Baumstark 18*. Filoksinos Yohanna Dolabany, Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts in St. Mark’s Monastery (1994).

  • f. 1v-139v Anonymous, Lections gathered from the four gospels with commentaries. 
  • f. 140r-171v Pragsha, that is, a book that is a sort of collection of commentaries and discourses and canons of the Fathers 
    • f. 140r-144r Chapter 1, That God is eternal, pre-existent, invisible and omnipotent
    • f. 144rv Chapter 2, On the construction of the earthly church
    • f. 144v-145r Chapter 3, Concerning the eucharistic bread and wine
    • f. 145r-156r Chapter 4, Explanation of the office and the mass
    • f. 156r-157v Chapter 5, Concerning the priesthood
    • f. 157v-162r Chapter 6, On priests, deacons and penance
    • f. 162r-164r Chapter 7, concerning prayer
    • f. 164r-170r Translation of what has been mentioned in this chapter from Syriac and Arabic. A translation of the Sanctus and Trisagion, with commentary of the Fathers
    • f. 170r-171r On first fruits, votive offerings and tithes
  • f. 171r-197r A miscellany of stories, homilies, and short treatises 
    • f. 171r-172v The story of a merchant. This is an edifying tale of a God-fearing merchant who had a very beautiful wife.
    • f. 172v-174v A delightful portrayal from one of the authorities
    • f. 174v-177v A parable that the doctors of the Church set forth on the interpretation of the gospel. It is a story about a certain jeweler
    • f. 177v-183v St. Jacob of Sarug, Homily on charity
    • f. 183v-192v Anonymous, Discourse on Sunday
    • f. 193r-195v The commandments that our Lord ordered in his holy Gospel, there are 99
    • f. 195v-197r Seven prayers that are prescribed for us
  • f. 197r-222r Book of homilies delivered by Severus, more commonly known as Moshe bar Kepha 
    • f. 197r-201r First homily, on the consecration of the Church and her renewal
    • f. 201r-207r Second homily, On when the angel brought the good news to the priest Zechariah about the birth of John (the Baptist)
    • f. 207r-212r Third homily, On the annunciation of the angel Gabriel to the holy and pure St. Mary
    • f. 212r-217v Homily on the temptation by Satan of our Lord Jesus Christ
    • f. 217v-221r Homily on the leper whom our Lord cured of the affliction of leprosy
    • f. 221r-222r Homily read on the first Sunday of the blessed Fast

Diyarbakir, Turkey Meryem Ana Kilisesi 3/2 (DIYR 00037) 1,700 CE Garshuni
  • Moshe bar Kepha
    • Treatise on the Soul
    • Treatise on the Resurrection of the body
    • Treatise on the creation of the angels
    • Treatise on the hierarchy of the angels
  • John of Dara, Treatise on Devils
  • Moshe bar Kepha, Treatise on Paradise

Harvard Ms Syr 118 1,753 CE Arabic, Garshuni, Syriac

Catalog entry

  • ff. 2v-81v Moshe bar Kepha, On the soul, in 65 chapters
  • ff. 82r-125r Moshe bar Kepha, On the resurrection of bodies, in 34 chapters but ch. 25 is white space only
  • ff. 125v-148r Moshe bar Kepha, On the creation of angels, in 54 chapters
  • ff. 148v-164v Moshe bar Kepha, On the order of angels, in 16 chapters
  • ff. 165r-174r John of Dara, Chapters on demons, in 23 chapters, but breaking off in the middle of ch. 22
  • ff. 174v-236r, 236r-253r On paradise, in 2 memre of 28 and 7 chapters
  • ff. 253r Short colophon partly in Karshuni and Arabic

Mosul, Iraq, Syrian Orthodox Archdiocese of Mosul MS 74 (ASOM 00074) 1,890 CE Garshuni, Syriac
  • fol. 2v-73v Selected Memrē
    • Title NS: ܡܐܡܪ̈ܐ ܡܓܒܝ̈ܐ
    • A Memra in the meter of Mar Jacob <of Sarug>
    • Jacob of Sarug, On the chariot which Ezekiel saw
    • Isaac of Nineveh, Memra in the meter of Mar Ephrem
    • Isaac of Nineveh, On Silence and Stillness, and on Love
    • Isaac the Teacher <of Antioch>, On the Perfection of the Brethren
    • Isaac the Teacher <of Antioch>, On solitaries and guides and the humble and the Nazirites and the poor and the mourners and the aliens  and the perfect and those like them
    • Isaac the Teacher <of Antioch>, On the Perfection of the Brethren
    • Isaac the Teacher <of Antioch>, On the natural division of natural thought
    • Ephrem Syrus, Demonstration on Paradise
    • Mar Jacob, Memra on the moment of the departure of good and bad people, how each receives his repayment and his labor
    • Moshe bar Kepha, Examination about the resurrection of the body

Saint Mark's Monastery, Jerusalem MS 130 (SMMJ 00130) 1,801 CE Garshuni

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

  • fol. 1v-82v Moshe bar Kiphō, On the Soul
  • fol. 82v-115r Moshe bar Kiphō, On the resurrection of bodies
  • fol. 115v-150r Moshe bar Kiphō, On the creation of angels and on the angelic hierarchy
  • fol. 150v-158r John of Dara, On demons
  • fol. 158r-216r Moshe bar Kiphō, On Paradise