72
in the Christian quarter of Baghdad, when Ch'ang-an and its glories were only a distant memory, and the Nestorian church in China proper was virtually extinct.
Its tone is one of elegiac regret for an illustrious past, when the leaders of the Nestorian church had enjoyed access to the emperors of China; when Fang Hsüan-ling and Wei-cheng, two of the most powerful men in T'ai-tsung's court, had welcomed the first Nestorian missionary to China, and when the emperor Te-tsung had summoned a Nestorian archbishop to the imperial palace to translate the Christian scriptures into Chinese. The term 'brilliant teaching' does not appear either in the text of the Book of Praise or in the explanatory note, although there is a single reference in the note to our religion of Ta-ch'in'. The text of the Book of Praise lists, as we have seen, a number of books brought by Reuben to China in 635, including the Book of the Secret of Peace and Joy, the Book of the Origin of Origins, the Hymn in Adoration of the Holy Trinity, and the Hymn in Adoration of the Transfiguration of Our Lord. The manuscripts of the last three documents which have survived contain the term 'Syrian Brilliant Teaching' in their titles, but the phrase is omitted from the titles as given in the Book of Praise. Also, the term ching-feng (pure wind) is no longer used for Holy Spirit: instead we find a transliteration of the Syriac Ruha de Kudsha. The man who wrote the Book of Praise did so on a manuscript which contained a text of the Hymn in Adoration of the Holy Trinity with 'Syrian Brilliant Teaching' prominently displayed in the hymn's title. He nevertheless felt able to ignore this example of 'correct' usage in the Book of Praise.
There are a number of stylistic similarities between the Book of Praise and the Book of the Secret of Peace and Joy, which suggest that our manuscript of the latter, although deriving from a seventh century Syriac original translated into Chinese by Adam, was copied in the tenth century. Firstly, its title is exactly as given in the text of the Book of Praise, and does not contain the expression 'Syrian brilliant teaching', found in the other late eighth-century manuscripts. Secondly, as in the Book of Praise, a transliteration of the Syriac Ruha de Kudsha is used instead of the term ching feng to denote the Holy Spirit. Thirdly, both texts use an obscure transliteration of the Sogdian word for 'rock' in the proper name 'Simon Peter' (Chang-wan Chang-jia, 'Simon the Rock'), instead of adopting a straightforward Chinese equivalent. Fourthly, both texts use one only of the two
72
in the Christian quarter of Baghdad, when Ch'ang-an and its glories were only a distant memory, and the Nestorian church in China proper was virtually extinct.
Its tone is one of elegiac regret for an illustrious past, when the leaders of the Nestorian church had enjoyed access to the emperors of China; when Fang Hsüan-iing and Wei-cheng, two of the most powerful men in T'ai-tsung's court, had welcomed the first Nestorian missionary to China, and when the emperor Te-tsung had summoned a Nestorian archbishop to the imperial palace to translate the Christian scriptures into Chinese. The term 'brilliant teaching' does not appear either in the text of the Book of Praise or in the explanatory note, although there is a single reference in the note to our religion of Ta-ch'in'. The text of the Book of Praise lists, as we have seen, a number of books brought by Reuben to China in 635, including the Book of the Secret of Peace and Joy, the Book of the Origin of Origins, the Hymn in Adoration of the Holy Trinity, and the Hymn in Adoration of the Transfiguration of Our Lord. The manuscripts of the last three documents which have survived contain the term 'Syrian Brilliant Teaching' in their titles, but the phrase is omitted from the titles as given in the Book of Praise. Also, the term ching-feng (pure wind) is no longer used for Holy Spirit: instead we find a transliteration of the Syriac Ruha de Kudsha. The man who wrote the Book of Praise did so on a manuscript which contained a text of the Hymn in Adoration of the Holy Trinity with 'Syrian Brilliant Teaching' prominently displayed in the hymn's title. He nevertheless felt able to ignore this example of 'correct' usage in the Book of Praise.
There are a number of stylistic similarities between the Book of Praise and the Book of the Secret of Peace and Joy, which suggest that our manuscript of the latter, although deriving from a seventh century Syriac original translated into Chinese by Adam, was copied in the tenth century. Firstly, its title is exactly as given in the text of the Book of Praise, and does not contain the expression 'Syrian brilliant teaching', found in the other late eighth-century manuscripts. Seondly, as in the Book of Praise, a transliteration of the Syriac Ruha de Kudsha is used instead of the term ching feng to denote the Holy Spirit. Thirdly, both texts use an obscure transliteration of the Sogdian word for 'rock' in the proper name 'Simon Peter' (Chang-wan Chang-jia, 'Simon the Rock'), instead of adopting a straightforward Chinese equivalent. Fourthly, both texts use one only of the two
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.