Ecclesiastical history

Title(s):
  • Ecclesiastical history
  • ܐܩܠܝܣܝܣܛܝܩܝ
    (’eqlēsyasṭīqī, Ecclesiastical history)
  • ܬܫ̈ܥܝܬܐ ܕܥܕܬܐ
    (taš‘yātā d-‘idtā, Histories of the church)
Period covered:
Julius Caesar-author's time (1st c. B.C.-588)
Language:
Syriac
State of Preservation:
Partial
Genre:
  • Ecclesiastical history
Remarks:
Only the third part of John's Ecclesiastical history is entirely preserved. The first part is lost, whereas large sections of the second are quoted by the anonymous chronicler of Zuqnin.
The first two parts were composed ca. 565-566, the third part ca. 577-588.
Edition - Translation:
  • E.W. Brooks (1933) 'Iohannis Ephesini Historiae ecclesiasticae fragmenta quae e prima et secunda parte supersunt'. In: Incerti auctoris Chronicon pseudo-dionysianum vulgo dictum. Volume Two, ed. J.B. Chabot (Corpus scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, 104: Scriptores Syri, 53). Leuven: 402-420.
  • R. Hespel (1989) (tr.) 'Fragments subsistants des deux premières partie de l'Histoire ecclésiastique de Jean d'Éphèse'. In: Chronicon anonymum pseudo-dionysianum vulgo dictum. Volume Two, ed. R. Hespel (Corpus scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, 507: Scriptores Syri, 213). Leuven: 321-330.
  • E.W. Brooks (1935) (ed.) Iohannis Ephesini Historiae ecclesiasticae pars tertia (Corpus scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, 105: Scriptores Syri, 54). Leuven.
  • E.W. Brooks (1936) (tr.) Iohannis Ephesini Historiae ecclesiasticae pars tertia (Corpus scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, 106: Scriptores Syri, 55). Leuven.
Fragments:
Bibliography:
  • P. Bruns (2006) 'Kirchengeschichte als Hagiographie? Zur theologischen Konzeption des Johannes von Ephesus'. Studia Patristica 42: 65-72.
  • M. Debié (2015) L'écriture de l'histoire en syriaque: Transmissions interculturelles et constructions identitaires entre hellénisme et Islam (Late antique history and religion, 12). Leuven - Paris - Bristol: 536-538.
  • A. Dyakonov (1908) Иоаннъ Ефесскiй и его церковно-историческiе труды. Saint Petersburg. [reprinted in: Дьяконов, А.П., (2006) Иоанн Ефесский и его церковно-исторические труды (Библиотека христианской мысли: исследования). Saint Petersburg.]
  • A. Harrak (1999) The Chronicle of Zuqnīn. Parts III and IV: A.D. 488-775 (Medieval sources in translation, 36). Toronto.
  • V.-L. Menze (2008) Justinian and the making of the Syrian Orthodox Church. Oxford.
  • F. Nau (1897) 'Analyse de la seconde partie inédite de l'Histoire ecclésiastique de Jean d'Asie, patriarche jacobite de Constantinople († 585)'. Revue de l'Orient chrétien 1-2.4: 455-493.
  • A. Pauline (1979) 'A new date for the last recorded events in John of Ephesus' Historia ecclesiastica'. Orientalia Lovaniensia periodica 10: 251-254.
  • J.J. van Ginkel (1994) 'John of Ephesus on emperors: The perception of the Byzantine Empire by a Monophysite'. In: VI Symposium Syriacum, ed.R. Lavenant (Orientalia Christiana analecta, 247). Rome: 323-333.
  • J.J. van Ginkel (1995) John of Ephesus: A monophysite historian in sixth-century Byzantium. Diss. Groningen.
  • J.J. van Ginkel (1998) 'Making history: Michael the Syrian and his sixth-century sources'. In: Symposium Syriacum VII, ed. R. Lavenant (Orientalia Christiana analecta, 256). Rome: 351-358.
  • J.J. van Ginkel (2005) 'Monk, missionary, and martyr: John of Ephesus, a Syriac Orthodox historian in sixth-century Byzantium'. Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies 5: 35-50.
  • W. Witakowski (1991) 'Sources of Pseudo-Dionysius for the third part of his Chronicle'. Orientalia Suecana 40: 252-275.