Moses bar Kepha or Moses bar Cephas ( Syriac ''Mushe bar Kipho''; born in Balad in Nineveh, now in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

, about the year 813; died at the age of ninety, in 903) was a writer and one of the most celebrated bishops of the

Syriac Orthodox Church The Syriac Orthodox Church (), also informally known as the Jacobite Church, is an Oriental Orthodox Christian denomination, denomination that originates from the Church of Antioch. The church currently has around 4-5 million followers. The ch ...

of the ninth century. A biography of him, written by an anonymous Syriac writer, is preserved in one of the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

manuscripts, extracts from which are given by Asemani in his ''Bibliotheca Orientalis'' (II, 218f.). He was a monk and afterwards became bishop of three cities, Beth-Ramman, Beth-Kionaya and

Mosul Mosul ( ; , , ; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. It is the second largest city in Iraq overall after the capital Baghdad. Situated on the banks of Tigris, the city encloses the ruins of the ...

on the

Tigris The Tigris ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the eastern of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian Desert, Syrian and Arabia ...

, assuming the name of Severus. For ten years he was the patriarchal '' periodeutes'', or visitor, of the Diocese of Tagrit where he acquired a notable reputation and great fame among his fellow Christians. He was buried in the monastery of St. Sergius, situated on the Tigris, near his native city. __NOTOC__

Principal writings

*A Commentary on the Old and New Testaments, often quoted by Bar Hebraeus, and most of it still extant in manuscript form; *a treatise on

predestination Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, whereby Go ...

and

free will Free will is generally understood as the capacity or ability of people to (a) choice, choose between different possible courses of Action (philosophy), action, (b) exercise control over their actions in a way that is necessary for moral respon ...

, preserved in a manuscript in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

(Add MS 14731); *a commentary on

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

's ''Dialectics'', mentioned by Bar Hebraeus; *a commentary on the Hexameron in five books, preserved in the

Bibliothèque Nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

(Syr. 241), a passage of which is translated into French by François Nau in his ''Bardésane l'astrologue'' (Paris, 1899), p. 59; *a ''Tractatus de Paradiso'', in three parts, dedicated to his friend Ignatius. (The Syriac original of this work was thought lost, but a Latin version of it was published by Andreas Masius (Antwerp, 1569) under the title ''De Paradiso Commentarius''. However a Syriac manuscript has now been discovered at Yale) *A treatise on the soul, in forty chapters, with a supplementary essay on the utility of offering prayers and sacrifices for the dead. (This treatise is preserved in the

Vatican Library The Vatican Apostolic Library (, ), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City, and is the city-state's national library. It was formally established in 1475, alth ...

; a German translation of it is given by O. Braun in his ''Moses Bar-Kepha und sein Buch von der Seele'' (Freiburg, 1891).) *A ''Tractatus de sectis'', or, ''Liber disputationum adversus haereses'' (see Assemani, B.O. II, 57); *a treatise on the Sacraments; *a commentary on the Liturgy; *an ecclesiastical history. His other works comprise discourses, homilies, and a commentary on the writings of St

Gregory of Nazianzus Gregory of Nazianzus (; ''Liturgy of the Hours'' Volume I, Proper of Saints, 2 January. – 25 January 390), also known as Gregory the Theologian or Gregory Nazianzen, was an early Roman Christian theologian and prelate who served as Archbi ...

References

External links

Peshitta
in the

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

Classical Syriac Manuscripts at Yale University: A Checklist
in ''HUGOYE: JOURNAL OF SYRIAC STUDIES'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Bar-Kepha, Moses 810s births 903 deaths 9th-century Syriac Orthodox Church bishops Writers of the medieval Islamic world 9th-century writers

Principal writings

References

Further reading

External links