Some works of Barhebræus are still of great value, particularly his Sacred and Profane History, drawn from older Arabic, Syriac, and Persian works, and especially from the Syriac Church History of Michael, his fellow-townsman of Melatia, who was Jacobite patriarch from 1166 to 1199.[[114]] It is distinguished by an apt selection of materials, contains much that is not to be found elsewhere, and is an important authority for the author’s own period. In his very last days Barhebræus wrote at Merághá, at the request of some Moslems, an Arabic edition of the Profane History, which is shorter than the Syriac work, but contains some new matter. Next in importance to the History is his larger Syriac Grammar, in which he tries to combine the method not very happily borrowed by the older Syrians from the Greek grammarians with the Arabian system. Viewed in the light of modern philology the book shows great defects, but it is far ahead of the works that preceded it, and still very instructive. Further, his Scholia to the Bible, which are more philological than theological, are of value (especially for the history of the Syriac text); and so is his collection of Jacobite Canon Law.
Barhebræus wrote metrical pieces also. He has certainly none of the gifts of the heaven-born poet. These compositions have neither fancy nor passion. He writes them with his understanding, partly after the pattern of older Syrians, partly on Arabian and Persian models. The didactic wordiness of the Syrian poetry is often also apparent. But the skill and elegance with which he handles the unpromising materials of the ecclesiastical language is worthy of recognition, and he shows spirit and taste, especially in the short epigrammatic poems. He is further entitled to the credit of being almost entirely free from the verbal conceits which were so greatly affected in the poetry of that time. Generally speaking, he can fairly be put on a level with the average Arabic poets of his age, and certainly above most of the Syriac. Altogether he was one of the most eminent men of his Church and nation.
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[104]
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They derived the name from Jacobus Baradæus, who gave permanent
form to the Monophysite Church of Syria in the sixth century.
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[106]
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I am not sure of the exact pronunciation either of Gubos or of Lakabín.
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[108]
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In a little Syriac treatise, which, gross forgery though it is, seems to
have been popular, God says: “To every believer who gives of the earnings
of his hand to the holy Church, I make it good in this world, and repay him
thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold in the world to come, and write his name
in the book of life;” and again: “Honour God’s priests, who sacrifice the
living lamb, so that ye may find mercy in the world to come. He who
despises them shall fall under my wrath, for my priests are the salt of the
earth.” The Jews, who contribute handsomely to their synagogues, are cited
as patterns for Christians.
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[109]
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The Christians of the Sásánian empire originally had bishops only,
without any single head. Even after they had placed themselves under the
catholicus of Seleucia and Ctesiphon, the Church of Persia proper, for some
time, continued to maintain its independence. The statement that the
patriarchal authority of Antioch had been delegated from the earliest times
to the bishop of Seleucia and Ctesiphon is, of course, a mere fiction, resting
upon the later conception of the unity of the Church in its outward
organisation.
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[110]
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The relations of the Jacobites with the Monophysite Copts were better.
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