John Psaltes was the abbot of Qenneshre in the late 6th century. He wrote hymns in

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

that were translated by

Paul of Edessa Paul of Edessa (also Pawla of Edessa; died 30 October 526) was the Syriac Orthodox bishop of Edessa from 510 until his death with the exception of two periods of exile in 519 and 522–526. Paul was consecrated in 510, succeeding Peter. In the fir ...

into Syriac, probably while Paul was on Cyprus in the 620s. The Syriac translation was revised in 675 by

Jacob of Edessa Jacob of Edessa (or James of Edessa) () (c. 640 – 5 June 708) was Bishop of Edessa and prominent Syriac Christian writer in Classical Syriac language, also known as one of earliest Syriac grammarians. In various works, he treated theologica ...

. Around 600, John wrote a hymn in honour of the martyrs of Najran. He may have relied on the Syriac '' Book of the Himyarites'', since the hymn's brief introduction gives the name of Dhū Nuwās, the persecutor of Najran, as Masrūq, a name otherwise only attested in the ''Book''. The hymn has been translated into English by

Ernest Walter Brooks Ernest Walter Brooks, FBA (30 August 1863 – 26 March 1955) was an English ancient historian and scholar of Syriac. The son of a priest, he was educated at Eton College (as a King's Scholar) and then at King's College, Cambridge, where he read ...

Notes

Works cited

* * *{{cite book , first=Jack B. , last=Tannous , title=The Making of the Medieval Middle East: Religion, Society, and Simple Believers , year=2018 , publisher=Princeton University Press 5th-century Byzantine monks Syrian Christian monks Oriental Orthodox monks 6th-century Christian abbots Christian hymnwriters