An East-Syriac Scholar in Ninth-Century Damascus

Abstract

Abstract The ninth-century Damascene Christian scholar, priest, and monk Bišr ibn al-Sirrī (fl. ca. 870) is known as the author of Arabic biblical translations and commentaries and Arabic festal homilies. The present contribution demonstrates that the homilies contained in Sinai ar. 431 without attribution are to be ascribed to Bišr ibn al-Sirrī. It also examines new evidence for Bišr ibn al-Sirrī’s Christology and proves that Bišr ibn al-Sirrī was an East-Syriac Christian.