National Library of Russia, Codex Syriac 1, designated by siglum A, is a manuscript of Syriac version of the Eusebian Ecclesiastical History. It is dated by a Colophon to the year 462. The manuscript is lacunose.

Description The codex contains the text of the Ecclesiastical History, arranged in large quarto (4 leaves in quire), on 123 parchment leaves. The leaves measure is about . The first leaf is a flyleaf taken from another volume. The original number of quires was 29. It has a large lacuna after folio 84 and several smaller defects elsewhere.

The writing is in two columns per page, in 29-34 lines per column, in fine, large, and bold estrangela letters, with a few diacritical points. The colour of ink is brownish black.Hatch, W. (1946). An album of dated Syriac manuscripts. Boston: The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, reprinted in 2002 by Gorgias Press. p. 54. . The leaves were numbered by a later hand, but inaccurately. The text is divided into chapters.

It is one of the two extant ancient Syriac manuscripts of the Eusebian Ecclesiastical History.W. Wright, The Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius in Syriac, Cambridge 1898, p. VW. Wright, A short history of Syriac Literature (London 1894). pp. 61-62 There are also some fragments in other manuscripts. Curiously the text of the later manuscript is better.

History According to the colophon, on folio 123 verso, the manuscript was written in the year 773 of the Seleucid era (462/1 A.D.) and the name of scribe was Isaac. The name of the place where the manuscript was written has been erased.W. Wright, The Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius in Syriac, Cambridge 1898, p. VI According to the note on folio 1 recto the manuscript was presented to the convent of St. Mary Deipara by one Sahlun, a priest of Harran.

The manuscript was examined and described by William WrightW. Wright, The Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius in Syriac, Cambridge 1898, pp. V-VII and by William Hatch in 1934.

It is currently housed at the National Library of Russia (Cod. Syr. 1) in Saint Petersburg.

See also

British Library, Add. Ms. 12150

References

Further reading Hatch, William (1946). An album of dated Syriac manuscripts. Boston: The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, reprinted in 2002 by Gorgias Press. p. 54. . William Wright, The Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius in Syriac, Cambridge 1898, pp. V-VII