MS 17202 and then John may have been the first Westerners to write church-history in Syriac, as opposed to translating Eusebius and such.
Yes yes, MS 17202 had adapted Zacharias the Rhetor - infamously. Hey man, jury's still out on whether John's own first volume was Eusebian pastiche...
Recently argued elsewhere is a lively Syriac historiography under the later Sasanians. This political divide rendered literary contact, difficult. The confessional divides made friendly contact even more difficult.
Accordingly for John's third book, the only Oriental information I find is the Armenian Catholicos-in-exile's report from the late sixth century which, I assume, was delivered to the court in Greek. For the second book I do read Zuqnîn dropping a lot of names about this or that Easterner who'd been "famous". Although: is that John, or is it a collection of library-notes from the Syriana newly re-united under Islam?
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