An Armenian Invocational Prayer of a Now Lost Homily of Jacob of Serugh on Jonah and the Ninevites

Abstract

This article offers the editio princeps and translation of the Armenian invocational prayer of a homily on Jonah and the Ninevites that was probably translated from Syriac. The homily was likely written by Jacob of Serugh and as such the prayer is the only remnant of what was once a full Armenian translation of a full Syriac text, both of which have been lost. In the prayer Jacob compares Jonah’s conversation with the sailors to Pilate’s trial of Christ. This critical edition takes into account five witnesses that are extant in four manuscripts. One other manuscript was inaccessible. A sixth manuscript, which may have contained the full text, is lost and presumed destroyed.