Doctrine of Addai
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Content
The story of how King Abgar and Jesus had corresponded was first recounted in the 4th century by the church historian Eusebius of Caesarea in his Ecclesiastical History (i.13 and iii.1) and it was retold in elaborated form by Ephrem the Syrian.
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Purpose
Helmut Koester regards the development of tradition of Thaddaeus' activity in Edessa as part of an effort to build the authority of the orthodox or Palutian faction in Syria against the Manicheans and gnostics, who had an older and stronger presence in the area and traced their lineage to Thomas the Apostle. He considers the Palutian faction to have come to Edessa around 200 CE and only become significant in the fourth century.
Manuscripts
- ms Saint-Pétersbourg, Bibliothèque Publique Saltykov-Shchedrine, N.S. Syr. 4 (Pigulevskaya 48), f. 1v33
- ms Londres, British Library, Add. 14654, f. 33r-v (fgt) + Add. 14644, f. 1-9v + Add. 14535, f. 1r (fgt) + Add. 12155, f. 53v + Add. 17193, f. 36v-37 (extrait)
- ms Alqosh, Église paroissiale chaldéenne, cod. 87 ?
- ms Londres, British Library, Add. 12161, f. 1v (fgt)
- ms Londres, British Library, Add. 14612, f. 165r (fgt)
- ms Londres, British Library, Add. 14644, f. 1-9v (mutilé du début et au milieu)
- ms Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, syr. 62, f. 102v-108 (extraits)
- ms Birmingham, Selly Oak College Library, Coll. Mingana, Syr. 405, f. 1
- ms Jérusalem, Couvent syrien orthodoxe Saint-Marc, cod. 153, p. 241-259
- Pseudo-Abdias (x. 1)
- Nicephorus (H. E., ii. 7)
Published editions
- Phillips, George, ed. (1876). The Doctrine of Addai, the apostle (in Syriac). London: Trübner & Co. pp. 51–106.
- Meščerskaja, Elena Nikitična (1984). Legenda ob Avgare — rannesirijskij literaturnyj pamjatnik: istoričeskie korni v ėvoljucii apokrifičeskoj legendy [The Legend of Abgar — early Syrian literary monument: Historical roots and evolution of an apocryphal legend] (in Russian). Moscow: Nauka. pp. 119–184. OCLC 715504370.
Modern translations
English
- Cureton, William (1864). Ancient Syriac documents relative to earliest establishment of Christianity in Edessa and the neighbouring countries, from the year after our Lord's Ascension to the beginning of the fourth century. London, UK: Williams and Norgate. p. 6–23, 108–109.
- Phillips, George, ed. (1876). The Doctrine of Addai, the apostle. London: Trübner & Co. pp. 1–50. (HTML version)
- Howard, George (1981). The Teaching of Addai: Texts and translations. Early Christian literature series. Chico, CA: Scholars Press. ISBN 978-0-89130-490-6. Note: This includes a reprint of the Syriac edition of Phillips 1876
Other
- Desreumaux, Alain (1993). Histoire du roi Abgar et de Jésus: présentation et trad. du texte syriaque intégral de "La doctrine d'Addaï" [History of King Abgar and Jesus: Presentation and tradition Of the Syriac text of "The Doctrine of Addai"] (in French). Paris: Brepols. pp. 53–117. ISBN 978-2-503-50305-9. This also contains an Ethiopian version.
- Dutch: Jan Willem Drijvers, Helena Augusta, waarheid en legende ( Groningen: Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, 1989), pp: 153–157, Note: partielle
- Russian: Elena Nikitična Meščerskaja, Legenda ob Avgare — rannesirijskij literaturnyj pamjatnik: (istoričeskie korni v ėvoljucii apokrifičeskoj legendy) ( Moskva: Nauka, 1984), pp: 185–203
- Armenian: A Carrière, La légende d'Abgar dans l'Histoire d'Arménie de Moïse de Khoren ( Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1895), pp: 357–414
- Ethiopic: Getatchew Haile, " The Legend of Abgar in Ethiopic Tradition," Orientalia christiana periodica vol. 55 ( 1989), pp: 375–410