The Paradise of the Fathersܦܪܕܝܣܐ ܕܐܒܗ̈ܬܐ
Begin with a saint

Written by hand

Manuscripts.

This room begins with catalogued witnesses. It names shelfmarks, dates, and limits openly, so that beauty never comes at the cost of historical clarity.

Opening the Syriac manuscript index…

Ways into a manuscript collection

Explore by what a book carries.

Open Syri.ac’s faceted search
  • ܟܬܒܐ ܩܕܝܫܐ

    Bible & Apocrypha

    Biblical books, lectionaries, commentaries, and related texts.

  • ܬܫܡܫܬܐ

    Liturgy

    Ḥudrā, anaphoras, prayers, canons, and offices for feasts.

  • ܬܫܥܝܬܐ ܕܩܕܝܫ̈ܐ

    Saints’ Lives

    Lives, martyr narratives, and monastic memory.

  • ܡܐܡܪ̈ܐ

    Homilies

    Verse and prose teaching for study, worship, and formation.

  • ܠܟܣܝܩܘܢ

    Lexica & Glossaries

    Tools for language, interpretation, and learned reading.

Three early witnesses

Catalogued manuscripts.

These records remain anchored in the catalogues of their holding libraries.

01
899Add MS 12138

Written at Harran

Peshitta readings

A Syriac biblical manuscript whose catalog record notes East Syriac diacritical dots—a modest but valuable witness to the scribal tradition.

Catalogue record
02
1203Add MS 7154

East Syriac tradition

Church of the East Psalter

A Psalter with Eastern Syriac vocalization and line illustrations, preserving the visual discipline of an East Syriac sacred book.

Catalogue record
03
1499Add MS 7174

Church of the East

Gospel Lectionary

A liturgical Gospel book noted for intricate geometric illumination—evidence that the East Syriac page could be both disciplined and richly adorned.

Catalogue record

Open a witness

Manuscripts connected to these lives.

Syri.ac brings dispersed catalogue data into one searchable gateway. These four records are especially close to the saints and liturgical memory gathered in this archive.

c. 700
Harvard MS Syr 93 · Harvard University Library

A fragment of the Doctrine of Addai

A composite Syriac manuscript preserving a fragment of the Doctrine of Addai alongside apocalypses, canons, and other short works.

View record1830
CCM 00136 · Chaldean Cathedral, Mardin

Ḥudrā and the Anaphora of Addai and Mari

A liturgical manuscript containing prayers, the Ḥudrā, anaphoras, feast-day canons, and a Kaškūl.

View record1881
ACK 00078 · Chaldean Archdiocese of Kirkuk

Twenty-nine liturgical homilies of Narsai

A Syriac witness to twenty-nine homilies attributed to Narsai and appointed for reading in the liturgy.

View recordUndated
ACK 00045 · Chaldean Archdiocese of Kirkuk

Isaac and the Rogation of the Ninevites

A manuscript record for homilies of Isaac of Nineveh associated with the Rogation of the Ninevites.

View record

Continue your research

Three doors into Syri.ac.

Syri.ac is an annotated bibliography of open-access resources hosted by the University of Oklahoma. We point into it rather than reproduce its database.

01

Search digitised manuscripts

Search freely available Syriac and Garshuni witnesses by shelfmark, language, date, author, genre, and contents.

02

Find manuscript catalogues

Move from a known author or library to historic catalogues from London, Rome, Birmingham, Paris, Sinai, and beyond.

03

Learn the manuscript world

Begin with bibliography on dated and illuminated manuscripts, script, cataloguing, and the work of the scribe.

Words of the scribe

Five small words for entering the page.

ܕܦܐ
dappāpage
ܟܘܪܣܐ
kurrāsāquire or gathering
ܢܘܟܣܐ
nuskāmanuscript
ܦܬܚܐ
ptāḥāopening
ܨܚܚܐ
ṣḥāḥāmanuscript or textual division
Terminology source: Syri.ac