A Syriac service-book from Turfan
Subtitle: Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Berlin MIK III 45
By: Erica C.D. Hunter & J.F. Coakley
Series: Berliner Turfantexte -- XXXIX; Berliner Turfantexte -- 39
Publisher: Brepols
Published: 2017
Place of publication: Turnhout, Belgium
Language: syc; eng
Translated from: syc
Number of pages: 307
ISBN-13: 9782503574714
Copyright date: 2017
Subjects: Syriac Manuscripts; Liturgy; Texts; Syriac Hymns; History and criticism; Church of the East; Turfansammlung; Staatliche Museen zu Berlin--Preussischer Kulturbesitz. Museum für Asiatische Kunst
Other titles: Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Berlin MIK III 45
Description: "An edition and study of an 8th-9th century Syriac manuscript from Bulayïq near Turfan, the earliest extant witness of the Penqita or ḥudra. In 1905, a substantial Syriac manuscript of 60 leaves, containing a Christian service-book, was discovered by the second German Turfan Expedition at the monastery site of Bulayïq. Since then, although the existence of this manuscript (which has received the signature of MIK III 45) has been mentioned from time to time in the scholarly literature, its text has never been published. The present volume offers for the first time an edition of the Syriac text, English translation and critical introduction to MIK III 45. The Syriac text is of the Penqita, the book later known as the ḥudra, containing the variable parts of the daily offices and Eucharist, to which have been appended some occasional services of the Church of the East, including the burial service. The 60 folios are the surviving part (about one quarter) of a manuscript datable to the eighth or ninth century and, on account of this dating, can be considered to be the earliest extant witness to the Penqita which was the project of the seventh-century patriarch Isho'yab III who drew up the outline for the ecclesiastical year that is still followed today in the Church of the East. The editors argue that MIK III 45 was probably written in Merv - it would be the only Syriac manuscript known from that Christian centre - for transport to the Christian church in distant Turfan."--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 61-65) and index.

Comprises a transcription of the Syriac text of the manuscript Berlin, Museum für Asiatische Kunst (formerly the Museum für Indische Kunst), MIK III 45, with an English translation following. Introduction and notes in English.