A new Arabic fragment of Jacob of Serugh’s homily On Epiphany

Abstract

This contribution presents a new Arabic fragment of Jacob of Serugh’s homily On the Baptism of Our Saviour in the Jordan (On Epiphany). It has been preserved through secondary use in the back cover of MS Sinai, St Catherine's Monastery, Ar. 516 and can be attributed palaeographically to the Sinaitic scribe Thomas of Fustat. The translation belongs to the oldest translations of Jacob's works into Arabic. The text was previously only known from two other short fragments. The new fragment doubles the amount of known text of this translation. It is contextualised in detail here and the text is reproduced in a diplomatic edition and English translation.