John bar Penkaye's last five chapters turns out to be a second volume. Alphonse Mingana's first volume started with the Arbela Chronicle, now-called, which this ?editor ascribed to one Mšiḥa-zkha. This text has earned... a reputation. Roger Pearse has left most of this for later - probably, never. Be nice if that 1985 Króll translation ever gets out here for free, tho'.
Mingana followed up the Arbela, with this (my translation):
We desired to follow Mšiḥa-zkha’s text with a history in verse from the convent of Sabrisoʿ of Beth Koka. As this convent is located in Adiabene and its ruins can still be seen today very close to the great Zab, at seven hours west of Arbela, this second document will be a sort of complement to the first, by the frequent mention he makes of the bishops of that great metropolis.
As we prepared to deliver the manuscript to print, we have learned from the excellent analysis of Mgr. A. Scher that the same story existed in a manuscript from the convent of Our Lady of the Seeds; we hoped to collate our manuscript upon the latter, but the variants we have been able to identify are very few. Our manuscript which belongs to the church of Guessa (Kurdistan) is dated to the year 1928 of the Greeks (1617) and that of the convent of Alkoche is dated to the year 2007 (1696): “This book was completed by the help of Our Lord and of Our God and by the help of His strength, May 19, 2007 of the Greeks. It was copied by Ablahad, son of the deceased Hormizd, a native of Amed, a renowned city, and of the blessed village of Sarokhyé”. We have not taken into account the manuscript of Seert which only partially contains our document and arrives only as far as Rabban Prancé.
The document was composed in the very convent of Mar Sabrisoʿ, as the title and the frequently used phrases indicate: “came hither to our convent… this convent... he listened to us with benevolence.”
Our author was not inspired, in his composition, either by the monastic history of Thomas of Marga, nor by the Book of Chastity by Isoʿ-dnah of Basra; but these three authors drew, each on his own part, from ancient sources we no longer have today. Thus, for our part, how we would establish the chronology for these three historians: around 820 our anonymous author; from 832 to 850 Thomas of Marga; around 900 Isoʿ-dnah of Basra. The reasons which make us follow this order as well as the new data by which this document enriches our knowledge, are set forth in the footnotes we have placed at the bottom of the pages.
Nobody doubts this authenticity (like they don't doubt Bar Penkaye). It helps, of course, that other MSS exist, without Mingana's manhandling. Admittedly the document is ninth-century . . . but, what we may have here, is another Synoptic Problem. Maybe something of use for the early eighth-century!
We may end up disappointed. All three MSS are summarised, together, in Robert Hoyland's Seeing Islam, 209-11 / 211-13 / 213-15. Where each speaks of Arabs, each rarely speaks of the same Arabs. Mingana's text seems most descriptive until 'Abbasid times, when Thomas of Marga will step in. Mingana says much of a Maran'emmeh but this may not be the same Maran'emmeh - metropolitan of Salah - whose prophecy of Hatim bar Salih features in Thomas.
One exception. Isoʿ-dnah will speak (in #126) of Joseph called the Seer (ḥazzaya). Mingana p. 248 notes a "Jacques [Jacob] the Prophet" - offhand. The Seer is noted also by Thomas of Marga, it seems also offhand. As Hoyland noted, Joseph's work hasn't been entirely published as of yet; some of it is relevant for 'Abbasid studies and, perhaps, for Christian theology. Emiliano Fiori has been working toward the Questions And Answers (pdf).
Also noted here and there is Isaac of Nineveh.
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