Available From UC Press

The Life of the Syrian Saint Barsauma

Eulogy of a Hero of the Resistance to the Council of Chalcedon

Andrew N. Palmer’s vivid translation of the Syriac Life of Barsauma opens a fascinating window onto the ancient Middle East, seen through the life and actions of one of its most dramatic and ambiguous characters: the monk Barsauma, ascetic hero to some, religious terrorist to others. The Life takes us into the eye of the storm that raged around Christian attempts to define the nature of Christ in the great Council of Chalcedon, the effect of which was to split the growing Church irrevocably, with the Oriental Orthodox on one side and Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic on the other. Previously known only in extracts, this ancient text is now finally brought to readers in its entirety, casting dramatic new light on the relations among pagans, Jews, and Christians in the Holy Land and on the role of religious violence, real or imagined, in the mental world of a Middle East as shot through with conflict as it is today.

Andrew N. Palmer studied Syriac at Mor Gabriel in Tur Abdin before writing his doctoral thesis on that monastery. He is the author of Monk and Mason on the Tigris Frontier: The Early History of Tur Abdin.

“Andrew N. Palmer brings the acts of a controversial and polarizing figure to an English-speaking audience. In an age when holy men undertook extravagant acts of physical denial, Barsauma stands out (literally) for refusing to sit or lie down for fifty-four years. His actions were often odious, but his Life contains some of the best miracle stories I have ever read.”—H. A. Drake, author of A Century of Miracles: Christians, Pagans, Jews and the Supernatural, 312–410

“Here is a text that historians have long awaited: a sprawling epic of biblically thundering tone. In its pages are found important narratives of evolving monasticism, village fears, religious difference, imperial fluctuations, gendered contestation, and theological competition.”—Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Willard Prescott and Annie McClelland Smith Professor of History and Religion, Brown University

156 pp.5 x 7.75Illus: 2 maps

9780520304161$95.00|£80.00Hardcover

Sep 2020