Syriac Patrology, Volume 3: The Book of Steps

Add. 14,621 A.D. 802. Contains:
Fol. 134ᵃ Sermon XVIII On the tears of prayer,
— 136ᵃ — XX On the arduous steps on the way to the city of the Lord,
— 144ᵃ — XXIX On the chastisement of the body.

Furthermore, on fol. 112ᵃ, Sermon XIV On the just and the perfect appears, placed among the works of Evagrius Ponticus, whose text so closely agrees with manuscript A that it seems to have flowed directly from that praised manuscript. The scribe does not seem to have had the complete Book of Steps at hand; otherwise, it would not have escaped him that Sermon XIV is not a product of Evagrius. See Wright, CBM No. DCCLXIX, 4, p. 757.

Add. 14,613 9th–10th century. Contains copious excerpts, which comprise eighteen sermons; of these, however, only Sermons VIII, XI, XII, XVIII, XXIV, and XXVI are complete. Sermons X, XIX, and XXIX, with a few omissions, were copied by the scribe almost in their entirety. The others exhibit excerpts, sometimes smaller and sometimes larger, which, if they are not placed at the beginning of a sermon, are introduced with the words in red ink paulo infra a little below mšrʾ?. I conclude that the scribe of this manuscript had a complete copy of the entire work at hand, based on the end of Sermon XXI, no. 4, where the excerpt ends with the word mšlm? meaning "completed" or "finished", contrary to the intention of the scribe, it seems, who, deceived by a slip of the eye, added the beginning of a new sentence which, however, he did not wish to copy in full. The text of β is very similar to the text of α; it also includes the scribe's preface concerning the anonymous author of the work, reduced to a summary, and very often shares readings with α against the older London examples. The script of the manuscript is neat and easily legible, though sometimes—I do not know whether due to changes in the weather or for some other reason—the writing on entire folios has faded to such an extent that traces of letters are barely present, and these can only be deciphered with the greatest strain to the eyes. Folios of this kind are 1ᵇ, 3ᵇ (near the end), 8ᵃ, 9ᵃ, 13ᵃ, 16ᵃ, 18ᵃ, 28ᵇ, 41ᵃ, 43ᵃ, 45ᵃ, 49ᵇ, 56ᵃ, 58ᵃ, 64ᵇ, 65ᵃ, 66ᵃ, 67ᵃ, 68ᵃ, 69ᵃ, 72ᵇ, 76ᵇ, 77ᵃ, 81ᵃ, 82ᵃ, 83ᵇ, 85ᵇ, 87ᵇ, 88ᵇ, 89ᵃ, 90ᵃᵇ, 91ᵃ, 92ᵃ, 94ᵃ, 95ᵇ, 96ᵇ, 97ᵇ, 98ᵇ, 99ᵇ, 100ᵇ. The sermons and excerpts contained in the manuscript are as follows:
Fol. 1ᵃ The scribe's preface, reduced to a summary.
— 26ᵃ Sermon III On spiritual and bodily ministry, nn. 1-5; n. 7 from v. mdynʾ mn? to n. 13 ʾw ʾn npšʾ?. ib. mn hʾy dmthzyʾ? to v. lhw dmthzyʾ? dmthzyʾ?.
— 33ᵇ Sermon IV On the herb of the infirm, nn. 1-5.
— 36ᵇ Sermon V On the milk of the little ones, nn. 10-14; n. 17 from v. ʾn dyn zʿwrʾ? to n. 19 lhw dmštmlʾ?.
— 40ᵇ Sermon VIII On him who makes the poor eat all that he has.
— 21ᵇ Sermon X On the benefit we have when we suffer evils while performing good works, nn. 1-9 to v. ʿdmʾ lhʾy dnqbl?.

Fol. 43ᵇ Sermon XI On the hearing of the Scriptures.
— 47ᵇ Sermon XII On the manifest and occult ministry of the Church.
— 53ᵇ Sermon XIII On the conversation of the just, nn. 6-8.
— 12ᵃ Sermon XV On the instinct of intercourse, how it was in Adam, nn. 1-5; 7-10 to v. dnḥzyhy lʾlhʾ?; nn. 18 to the end.
— 79ᵃ Sermon XVI How a man makes progress with the help of the great commandments, nn. 1-6; n. 8 from the words ʾn ʾnt gyr? to the end.
— 55ᵃ Sermon XVIII On the tears of prayer.
— 58ᵇ Sermon XIX On the exposition of the way of perfection, nn. 1-38 to the words mdm mnh?.
— 2ᵃ Sermon XXI On the tree of Adam, nn. 1-4 to v. ʾylnʾ?; n. 7 to v. ʾtpšṭt lh?; nn. 8-11 to v. nplwhy byd ḥṭytʾ?.
— 85ᵇ Sermon XXIV On repentance.
— 9ᵃ Sermon XXVI On the second Law, which the Lord placed for Adam.
— 96ᵃ Sermon XXIX On the chastisement of the body, nn. 1-2; 4-8; 11-19 to v. wlḥyʾ dʾytyh?.
— 106ᵃ Sermon XXX On the precepts of faith and love for the solitary, n. 17; nn. 24-25 to v. lhw dpqd?.

The excerpts themselves are arbitrary and disposed without order, yet the number of each sermon is correctly noted in the margin of the manuscript. See Wright, CBM No. DCCCVI, 1, p. 810.

Add. 17,178 11th–12th century, parchment, except (as far as our subject is concerned) for fol. 81, which is silk-paper and seems to have been added by some other scribe. Contains:
Fol. 87ᵇ A brief excerpt from the first sermon, n. 2, from the words wʾylyn dmštwtpyn? to the words wmštwtpyn ʾnwn?.
— 82ᵇ Sermon II On those who wish to be made perfect.
— 86ᵇ Sermon XIII On the conversation of the just, nn. 7-9.
— 87ᵇ Sermon XIV On the just and the perfect.
— 72ᵇ Sermon XIX On the exposition of the perfect way, nn. 1-2 to v. ʾn gyr ʾnt?, after which one folio is lost; n. 5 from v. ʾyk Nʾ dnhwʾ? to n. 14; n. 16-20 to v. dḥyʾ ʾnwn?; n. 24-31 to v. wmštwtpyn ʾnwn?, after which a folio is likewise missing; n. 34 from v. wmštwtpyn lʾlhʾ? to n. 35 wmtgnyyn lh?; n. 39 wmštwtpyn lhw dʾytwh? to n. 38 ʾyk Nʾ dnṣlʾ ṣlwth? with wmn btr hlyn? prefixed; n. 40 wmn btr hlyn? to v. wmn btr hlyn?. See Wright, CBM No. DCCCXXVIII, 13, p. 856.

Add. 14,611 10th century. Fol. 9ᵃ exhibits Sermon XXIX On the chastisement