Doctrine of Addai

The Doctrine of Addai (Syriac: ܡܠܦܢܘܬܐ ܕܐܕܝ ܫܠܝܚܐ Malp̄ānūṯā d-Addai Šlīḥā) is a work of Christian Syriac literature, written in the late 4th or early 5th century CE. It recounts the legend of the Image of Edessa as well as the legendary works of Addai and his disciple Mari in Mesopotamia.

Content The document details how Addai went to Edessa and cured King Abgar — fulfilling the promise made to Abgar by Jesus. After the royal family had been healed and Addai preached for Abgar, the royal family and many of the citizens of Edessa became Christians. Abgar asked Addai to build a church in Edessa. Many people came to the church in order to pray and listen to reading daily from the Old Testament and the Ditonron - a reading that William Cureton purported was the Diatessaron of Tatian. Addai died in 45 AD just prior to Abgar, meaning that he was in Edessa for approximately ten or eleven years.

History

In his Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius of Caesarea provides the earliest reference to this text in which he describes an exchange between Jesus Christ and Abgar V in the "language of the Syrians." The Doctrine of Addai itself originated in Edessa, though its author is unknown. It was circulated far and wide, reaching as far as Spain.

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 and only become significant in the fourth century.

Manuscripts ms Saint-Petersburg, National Library of Russia Saltykov-Shchedrine, N.S. Syr. 4 (Pigulevskaya 48), f. 1v33 ms London, British Library, Add. 14654, f. 33r-v (fragment) + Add. 14644, f. 1-9v + Add. 14535, f. 1r (fragment) + Add. 12155, f. 53v + Add. 17193, f. 36v-37 (extrait) ms Alqosh, Église paroissiale chaldéenne, cod. 87 ? ms London, British Library, Add. 12161, f. 1v (fragment) ms London, British Library, Add. 14612, f. 165r (fragment) ms London, British Library, Add. 14644, f. 1-9v (mutilated from the beginning and in the middle) ms Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, syr. 62, f. 102v-108 (extraits) ms Birmingham, Selly Oak College Library, Coll. Mingana, Syr. 405, f. 1 ms Jerusalem, Couvent syrien orthodoxe Saint-Marc, cod. 153, p. 241-259 Pseudo-Abdias (x. 1) Nicephorus (H. E., ii. 7) Note: Walker conflates the Acts of Thaddeus with the Doctrine of Addai.

Published editions

Modern translations English

(HTML version) Note: This includes a reprint of the Syriac edition of Lollar, Jacob A. (2023-11-10). The Doctrine of Addai and the Letters of Jesus and Abgar. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 978-1-6667-5208-3.

Other

This also contains an Ethiopian version.French national library 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

See also Abgar Legend Holy Qurbana of Addai and Mari Early centers of Christianity

Notes

Citations

References

Doctrine of Addai

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