The Hidden Pearl
Volume 2 of Syriac Treasures includes vocalized Syriac texts, introductions, and English translations of works by:
For more information, email Armando Elkhoury elkhoury@thehiddenpearl.press
Introduction to Syriac Spirituality: A Thematic Approach is an introduction to Syriac spirituality by presenting the themes and insights of a selection of major Syriac writers who lived from the fourth to the eighth centuries. Its approach is not to devote separate chapters to each writer, but to present a synthesis of the Syriac writers of this period according to the principal themes found in their body of work. Since many of the authors cited do not write in a systematic and analytical fashion, this work strives to give an orderly presentation of how Syriac spirituality progressed in those early centuries.
To provide a context for better understanding the approach of these writers, the first chapter of this work presents a theological context within which Syriac spirituality developed.
Besides Syriac writers, the teachings of Evagrius of Pontus have been included because they had a significant influence on many of the writers cited. Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite is also included because some of his ideas were incorporated by Isaac of Nineveh and other later Syriac writers.
Chorbishop Seely Beggiani is former rector of Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Seminary and former Adjunct Associate Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at The Catholic University of America.
Para mayor información escribir a Alberto Meouchi (informacion@icharbel.org) o Armando Elkhoury (elkhoury@thehiddenpearl.press).
It is sometimes asked, “Where does the term ‘hidden pearl’ come from? What does it signify? And why, specifically, a pearl?” An answer to such questions is best given in two parts, starting with the last, “Why a pearl?”
In the ancient Middle East, pearls came mainly from the Gulf and were highly prized; since not all oysters contain pearls, there arose various theories about how a pearl that did turn up inside the bivalve of an oyster had originated. Speculation gave rise to various theories, two of which were current in the early centuries of the Christian era. According to one theory, a pearl was “born” when a drop of dew fell on an oyster’s opened bivalve when it periodically came up to the surface. This theory was already known to the Latin author Pliny in his work on Natural History, toward the end of the first century A.D., and this was the explanation favored in the Medieval West, where symbolism surrounding the pearl flourished, above all in poetry.
For more information, email Armando Elkhoury elkhoury@thehiddenpearl.org
