Sultan Sahak: Founder of the Ahl-i Haqq Dr. Matti Moosa
Matti Moosa’s Sultan Sahak: Founder of the Ahl-i Haqq* [Page 214] 18 Sultan Sahak, believed by the Ahl-i Haqq to be the fourth of seven incarnations of the deity, is perhaps their most prominent leader. He appears to be founder of the sect in its present form, as well as the reformer who revived its ancient law. It was he who instituted the covenant of Benyamin, regulated the different offices of his “angels,” or associates, and organized the rituals of initiation and sacrifice. Indeed, many Ahl-i Haqq sayyids (leaders) trace their genealogy to his sons, the Haft-tavana. The...
Read MoreThe Gospel of Thomas and Early Stages in the Development of the Christian Wisdom Literature / Alexei Siverstev
Abstract: This work addresses the theological background of the Gospel of Thomas and its relationship to personified wisdom tradition on the one hand, and to the Syriac Christian tradition of the divine redeemer on the other. The Gospel of Thomas shares a number of unique characteristics with the Syriac literature of the second and third centuries C.E., such as interest in personal asceticism as a means to attain divine wisdom, personal deification, and view of Christ as a state of being most clearly expressed in the man Jesus, but also accessible to his followers. All of these...
Read MoreSt. Severus of Antioch (d. 538) / (History of Syriac Literature and Sciences) by Patriarch Ignatius Aphram Barsoum Translated By Dr. Matti Moosa
Severus was a great church dignitary, the luminary of scholars, an outstanding authority and the unique erudite of his generation. He was also a great theologian, a profound and prolific writer and an eloquent orator who had a great control of the pulpit. To him flocked eminent jurists and men of good conscience seeking solution to problems and interpretation of complex matters. What a man he was, a man who built up and upheld the edifice of religion, and supported and explained the authority of the Orthodox faith. He was pure in heart, soul and character, a possessor of the keys of wisdom...
Read MoreSpecial An interview with novelist Henriette Aboudi about her latest novel “Farewell Mardin”, written in Arabic. / Azad-Hye
The novel is about Seyfo (the Genocide of Syriac, Assyrian and Chaldean population in the Ottoman Empire during WWI), which coincided with the Armenian Genocide. Due to the importance of the subject to the Armenians we addressed author Henriette Aboudi and asked her about her book. The Swedish parliament has already recognized the Armenian genocide and mentioned the Assyrian genocide in the known pronouncement. The publishing of your novel coincides with a time when there’s a growing interest in the fate of the nations that were part of the Ottoman Empire before the Genocide of 1915-1918....
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