Manuscript Transmission as Reception History: The Case of Ephrem the Syrian (d. 373)

In this article, I show how manuscript transmission can serve as a source for writing history and, more particularly, reception history. To illustrate this method, which falls within the broader approach of material, or new, philology, I have selected a case that involves the most important figure within Syriac Christianity, Ephrem the Syrian (d. 373). The manuscript transmission of Ephrem’s works follow a clear pattern: Works that are preserved in complete form are found in fifth- or sixth-century manuscripts, whereas later manuscripts contain only excerpts of his works. Focusing on the hymns by Ephrem, I argue that one reason for this distribution is that some Syriac Christians living in the aftermath of the Christological controversies ceased copying parts of Ephrem’s works due to their now problematic christological language. Thus, the picture of Ephrem that emerges in the later, liturgical manuscripts that include selections of Ephrem’s hymns is one that has been filtered through subsequent theological developments—and thereby sanitized. It is suggested that this case of Ephrem serves as a cautionary tale for the limits of our evidence for many ancient authors, since the texts that survive for any given author are often not a random sample but, instead, a deliberate selection.