The Book of the Dove

Of originally Syriac authors the following are mentioned: Hierotheos, whose book was sought in the Syriac libraries and found A. D. 1268 and on which Bar Hebraeus wrote a commentary, is quoted two times only; once in the Ethikon 1) p. 449., where he is called Rūḥānā spiritual; and once in the Book of the Dove, where he has the epithet of Initiated 2) p. 568.. Frequently we find Mar Isaac, 'the excellent Mar Isaac' 3) Ethikon, p. 29., 'the chaste Mar Isaac' 4) Ethikon, pp. 99, 249. — Further he is mentioned e. g.: Ethikon, pp. 8, 14, 19 sq., 27, 34; 102, 255, 279, 306, 321 sq., 332, 354, 377, 419, 448, 468 sq., 475, 490.. That this is Isaac of Ninive appears from the quotation in the Book of the Dove 5) p. 527., which is to be found in the works of Isaac in Bedjan's edition 6) p. 499..

Finally another author is to be mentioned whose identity is, as yet, not easily to be stated. I mean John de Dalyata 7) Ethikon, pp. 272, 305, 312, 332, 441, 448, 475, 490., also called Saba de Dalyateh. In Syriac and Arabic manuscripts he is often called Sābā d-Dalyātā Elder of the Vine-branches/Dalyata, ash-Shaykh ar-Rūḥānī the spiritual Shaikh, so that Wright e.g. always calls him John Saba. The works of John Saba are preserved in the libraries of Cambridge, London, Paris and Rome in Syriac, Karshuni and Arabic. Now the question is: whether the 'spiritual Shaikh' is to be identified with John de Dalyata, as is done in some mss.; or with John bar Pinkāyē as is done in other mss.; it seems to me that this question cannot yet be answered.

A recension of the authors quoted by Bar Hebraeus would be incomplete, without a class of persons who are not authors in the literal sense of the word, but whose sayings and lives were of an enormous influence upon Syriac asceticism: viz. the Fathers of Scete, who are mentioned in every chapter of the Ethikon. Their influence appears prominently in the ascetic parts of Bar Hebraeus' works, but asceticism and mysticism cannot be separated in mystics like Bar Hebraeus. His system