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C h A P T e r 1 2 Paul of Aleppo ‫سلوب‬ ‫يبلحلا‬ Ioana Feodorov Born in 1627, the fourth generation of Christian clerics in the al-Zaʿim family , Paul of Aleppo (Bulus Ibn al-Zaʿim al-Halabi) was an outstanding Arab Christian ecclesiastical writer. He was brought up in the Arab Orthodox spirit by his father Yuhanna Ibn al-Zaʿim, future metropolitan of Aleppo (as Meletius), afterwards enthroned patriarch of Antioch and All the East (as Macarius III, 1647–72)* in Damascus, the seat of the patriarchate since 1366. Ordained deacon in 1647, Paul was soon thereafter made archdeacon of Aleppo, Damascus, and the entire patriarchate, which was predominantly Arab in its hierarchy and liturgy. After a first journey to Eastern Europe and Russia in 1652–59, Paul accompanied his father yet another time to Moscow and on the way back became ill and died in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, in 1669. His first son was to become another patriarch of Antioch: Cyril V Ibn al-Zaʿim. Invited by his friend the deacon Jibraʾil ibn Qustantin al-Sayegh to keep a journal of his first journey, Paul wrote a firsthand account of the events and places in the Levant and Eastern Europe that he encountered during his seven years of absence from home. Conversant with Orthodox culture and ritual and an inquisitive and accurate writer,1 he provided, in minute detail, a wealth of information about the geography, history, politics, ethnicity , habits, architecture, and other aspects of the populations and lands with which he became acquainted. As Paul himself reports, he completed his journal after his return to Syria, refining some of his written observations and completing others from memory. He recorded the similarities and variations in liturgical practice and service books, which he explained as the European Christians’ closer adherence to the Greek liturgical practice.2 The * On Patriarch Macarius III Ibn al-Zaʿim, see chapter 11 above. 253 Paul of Aleppo linguistic particularities of the countries he visited, the foreign words that he borrowed, and the Greek influence on the Syrian Middle Arabic reflected in Paul’s literary style offer new, untapped data for future research. Patriarch Macarius’s aims in undertaking his first journey to Europe were primarily connected with his duties as shepherd to his diocese. The economic situation that he had inherited was alarming: churches and schools were gradually falling apart, while the excessive taxes and exorbitant interest rates imposed by the Ottoman officials on long-unpaid debts shrank the budget of the patriarchate to a level that was not viable.3 Moreover, in order properly to preserve their religious and social standing, Syrian Christians were in critical need of liturgical books in Arabic. They therefore required printing capacities, as well as political help in their relationship with the Ottoman state and with the patriarch of Constantinople. Although in the seventeenth century Syrian Christians “had arrived at something of a nondoctrinally based modus vivendi,”4 allowing the Arab Orthodox and the Maronite Catholics to face the Muslim authorities as a united front, patriarchs of Antioch traditionally turned for help to their Orthodox brethren-infaith , whose common Byzantine heritage warranted a proper understanding of their affairs and a prompt fulfillment of their needs.5 The resolution to depart on this long, unpredictable journey was encouraged by the European Orthodox rulers’ well-known attachment to Orthodox culture and their genuine concern with the situation of Middle Eastern Christians. Still ruled by a local prince, the Romanian Principalities had established a special relationship with the Ottoman state, granting them the status of ahl al-ʿahd, “people of the Covenant,” superior to that of the dhimmis.6 Thus, Romanians were allowed to preserve their national state, a certain degree of autonomy in political affairs, their Christian faith, judicial authority, and ancient customs.7 Since the mid-fourteenth century Romanian princes had granted financial aid, revenues of metochia,* estates,8 relics, and works of art to the monasteries of the Holy Mountain (Mount Athos in Greece), Trebizond, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Saint Catherine’s on Mount Sinai.9 In 1575 Peter the Lame of Moldavia (r. 1574–77) covered the taxes required by the Ottoman authorities of all the monasteries on Mount Athos. As Paul of Aleppo mentions in his journal, Vasile Lupu of Moldavia (r. 1634–53), wishing to emulate the Byzantine emperors, sent his aide Iane the “Sluger”† to pay the enormous debts of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.10 According to...

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