An Ascetic Miscellany : The Christian Sogdian Manuscript E28

The Christian Sogdian manuscripts in Syriac script which were found at a Central Asian outpost of the "Church of the East", the monastery at Bulayiq in the Turfan oasis, and are now preserved in the Berlin Turfan collection, include a large number of fragments in a distinctive handwriting which have been catalogued under the designation "E28". Through his choice of texts to translate or to copy the scribe demonstrates his interest in the practice and traditions of monasticism, originating with St Anthony and the other "Desert Fathers", the solitaries and monks of the Egyptian desert, and transplanted to Mesopotamia and Iran, according to legend, by Mar Awgen (Eugenius). In addition to works whose Syriac sources have been identified, such as passages from the spiritual writings of Sem'on d-Taibuteh, Isaac of Nineveh and Dadiso Qatraya, as well as from the life of Mar Awgen, "E28" contains a number of unidentified texts, also no doubt translated from Syriac, many of which deal with aspects of the ascetic life. This volume contains an edition and translation of all the texts, most of them previously unpublished, together with a commentary, glossary and 35 plates. An appendix contains critical editions of some of the parallel Syriac passages.