Dr Sebastian Brock on the Syriac tradition in Christianity
Transcript:
Interviewer: You research Syriac Fathers. What are their beliefs? Many, many fathers that lived in Byzantine, in Rome, what were the beliefs of these fathers, Syriac Fathers?
Sebastian Brock: I like to see Christian tradition as having not just Greek-East, Latin-West which is how most people see it, but having three different elements. The third would be what I call the “Syriac Orient”. Each of these traditions has its own particular quality or emphasis which the others don’t always have. Each particular emphasis in each of these three traditions is a value to all the others.
That’s why I think the Syriac tradition is particularly important. If you can put in very simplistic terms, the Latin tradition is very good on the legal side, the cannon law side, the Greek tradition on the more philosophical side. I would say the Syriac tradition is much more on the symbolic and especially the poetic side. Of course, you find in Greek and Latin poetry wonderful things which are equally fine.
I think as a way the predominance of poetry as a vehicle for theology is something that the Syriac tradition, especially with Saint Ephrem, who besides being a first-class poet is also a really important theologian. It’s that aspect that I think is absent from or forgotten in the other traditions, that theology can be expressed in poetry just as validly as in prose.
Interviewer: Can you tell us about a difference between Byzantine Christology, Orthodox Christology and modern Syriac Christology or ordinary Christology?
Sebastian Brock: As Syriac Christology there’s no single tradition. Anyone could say that it’s historically the case that the Syriac tradition has three different transmitters, three different Christological traditions. The Calcedonian tradition which of course is the same as the Byzantine tradition and until the 17th century Syriac was one of the languages of patrichiate, Calcedonian Patrichiate of Antioch. That’s often forgotten.
Syriac has a Calcedonian tradition, but then you have the Eastern tradition of the Church of the East and the tradition of the Syrian Orthodox and the other Oriental Orthodox Churches. Simply because I’ve had to read texts from all these three traditions, I have what I suppose what you could say the privilege of realizing that once you get underneath what they say of the surface and the verbal conflict, two nature, one nature and so on, they are all trying to express the same thing but with different starting points.
Each tradition is afraid of one particular heretical position and so reacts in a certain way. Also, in particular one could say they belong to a particular theological understanding of certain terms and in particular term hypotheses and theses, these are terms which are clearly understood in different ways.
Once you realize this, you can see how the conflict has arisen and also how it should be resolved. Indeed has been resolved by theologians in modern dialogue, but unfortunately that hasn’t as a way gone further. When you solve the theological problems you find that the key theological problems … (Laughs) As I see it, basically the Christological problems and the differences are soluble and indeed have been solved in modern dialogue.
Interviewer: Yes, in the world. Maybe still into your research, can you get the best education, the best of experience of studying Syriac Fathers?
Sebastian Brock: That’s a difficult question. (Laughs) At any one point it may be different. At the moment I’m … (Laughs) Here’s my chauvinism. I would say Oxford is a very good place, and not because I’m here but because my successor David Taylor is very good. He was one of my best students. He has very wide knowledge, he’s very good scholar, he’s very open. I think he will go far.
In a way, the trouble is Western Academic World is in such a difficult position at the moment in the humanities that there’s great uncertainty. Whole universities don’t know what’s going to happen to the humanities. In this country it’s if you ask the Vice-Chancellor he says, “We don’t know. The Government should tell us what they are going to do. We don’t know!”
Everything is uncertain. It’s a matter of finding where there are good people, sympathetic people at a particular time. France is quite strong at the moment, Italy is quite strong at the moment in certain places, Holland, but different people have different aspects of interest. It’s a matter of exploring to find, “Where is the best?”
What I can say is that Oxford has the only taught Masters Course in Syriac Studies. I started this off about 20 years ago and found it extremely useful for getting people really into the subject. We have very intensive reading throughout the year. There’s no thesis but four exam papers with essays. You get, at least I hope (laughs) people get a good basic knowledge of the tradition so that they can move on to do research in one particular field or author that they choose for.
There are very few places where you can study Syriac as an undergraduate and it’s always as a subsidiary subject, so you’re doing it with other things. This course, the semi-course, Masters Studies in Syriac Studies it’s unique outside India. India has in Kerala there’s a good place. It’s much cheaper than Oxford! (Laughing) The standard isn’t of course quite the same. That is another possibility. They have good classes, good people, good library, the Saint Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute in Kottayam in Kerala. These are (laughs) the only two places in the world at the moment that have the Syriac not at an elementary level.
Interviewer: What can the searching of Syriac Fathers give to modern Orthodox researcher?
Sebastian Brock: I would put it in two ways. Personally, the two great Syriac writers that I have learned so much from one is Saint Ephrem whom I’ve mentioned, a poet of the fourth century. His theology is I think very meaningful for modern humanity. He is very ecological in his approach to the relationship between humanity and the world. That’s obviously something very important. He sees it not just on the physical basis of the physical world. It’s also he sees as the essential link between humanity and the spiritual ecosphere, one could say.
Then, the other great Syriac writer whom I’ve learned a great deal from is Saint Isaac the Syrian, Saint Isaac of Ninenveh. He is a totally different writer from the monastic tradition. Of course he got into Greek quite early on, so he has influenced the Byzantine tradition very profoundly. Of course he’s widely read today.
What seems to as a way separate Isaac out from at least many Greek Byzantine monastic writers is that he is writing in a tradition that’s not … This is too strong a word, not “fatted” by the Greek rhetorical tradition. He is writing much more as a way from the Biblical style, even though you will find that Isaac, if you compare him to the Septuagint it’s very different.
What I’m trying to say is that his approach and the way he puts things is much more pictorial in a way and he works by images rather than concepts. The images as a way are vehicles for concepts. I think that’s something that’s very much present in Ephrem too, but I would say this applies to both of them.
Interviewer: Nowadays we can see essentially a resurrection of patristic styles in Russia.
Sebastian Brock: Yes.
Interviewer: What can you wish to our researchers, what mistakes they should avoid on their ways?
Sebastian Brock: That’s a difficult question! (Laughs)
Interviewer: From your experience.
Sebastian Brock: I think it’s very important to let the church fathers speak to the researchers and to us today, rather than imposing what we think they should say. That’s the first most important thing. It’s a responsibility that we have to them. They can’t answer back and say that, “You’re wrong,” or, “We are wrong!” (Laughs) That I think is one of the most important things.
I think such an artist written about the church fathers today in the West I would say it’s perhaps more important to read the church fathers than to read the secondary literature. Be selective in what you read and select as secondary literature! Some of it’s extremely good. Some of it’s very illuminating, but one can be bogged down, one can be drowned by so much of it.
Another thing I think, and this is a great opportunity, there are a lot of important texts which are unpublished. Here is a wonderful chance for make them available. Also very important is to make these texts available to ordinary people. It’s not something just for the scholars. What I think is one of the wonderful things are some Vladimir’s Seminary Press stuff. They have this Popular Patristic Series. These are accessible translations with introductions that aren’t too technical. They give the essential information and as a way act a bridge from today to the ancient writers.
I think this is a very important role for all academics who work on patristics because these are not private ancient documents just for us. They are for everyone! Maybe in the form of anthologies or translations of singular works, it’s a matter of choosing things that again to speak to a much wider public. There are plenty of things. That I think would be what I’d suggest.
Interviewer: Thank you very much.
Sebastian Brock: Not at all. Thank you!
Interviewer: It was very nice.
