Book of Mary’s Repose

Liber Requiei

Standard abbreviation:

Other titles:

Clavis numbers: ECCA 299; CANT 120; CANT 154; CANT 171

VIAF: 190144782963256229918

Category: Dormition Accounts

Related literature: Dormition of the Version Transitus Greek R, Dormition of the Virgin Transitus Latin W, Homily on the Dormition of the Virgin by John of Thessalonica,  Story of Peter and Paul in Rome

In progress by Tony Burke

Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Book of Mary’s Repose.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/book-of-marys-repose/.

Posted June 2019

1. SUMMARY

Named historical figures and characters:

Geographical locations:

2. RESOURCES

2.1 Art and Iconography

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 Manuscripts and Editions

3.1.1 Coptic

Sellew, Philip. “An Early Coptic Witness to the Dormitio Mariae at Yale: P. CtYBR inv. 1788 Revisisted.” BASP 37 (2000): 37–69.

MacCoull, Leslie S. B. “More Coptic Papyri from the Beinecke Collection.” APF 35 (1989): 25–35 and pl. 4 (preliminary edition).

3.1.2 Ethiopic

Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. eth. 268, fols. 64^r–72^v (14th cent.) ~ portion of chs. 105–31

Arras, V. De Transitu Mariae Aethiopice. 1. CSCO 342–43. Leuven: Secrétariat du CorpusSCO, 1973 (CSCO 342 Ethiopic text, pp. 1–84; CSCO 343 Latin trans., pp. 1–54)

Lantschoot, A. van. “Contribution aux Actes de S. Pierre et de S. Paul.” Mus 68 (1955): 17–46 (text based on Vat. eth. 268, pp. 22–35; French translation, pp. 35–46).

3.1.3 Georgian

Esbroeck, Michel van. “Apocryphes géorgiens de la Dormition.” AnBoll 92 (1973): 55–75

3.1.4 Syriac (=Obsequies of the Virgin; CANT 120; BHO p. 142, n. 6)

London, British Library, Add. 14484, fols. 1^r–8^v (10th/11th cent.)

London, British Library, Add. 14665, fols. 21–24

London, British Library, Add. 17137, fols. 6 (top), 7 (bottom), 9 (underwriting ca. 5th/6th cent. overwriting ca. 12th cent.)

Two folios mentioned in Wright 1865 (London, British Library, Add. 14669, fol. 39 and London, British Library, Add. 17216, fol. 17) as possible witnesses actually do not contain the text. The folios have been rebound; their present shelf numbers are not known (via Christa Müller-Kessler, email correspondence, 13 March 2020)

Müller-Kessler, Christa. “Obsequies of My Lady Mary (1): Unpublished Early Syriac Palimpsest Fragments from the British Library (BL, Add 17.137, no. 2).” Hugoye 23 (2020): 31–59 (edition and English translation of all three fols., pp. 43–57).

__________. “Obsequies of My Lady Mary (II): A Fragmentary Syriac Palimpsest Manuscript from Deir al-Suryan (BL, Add 14.665, no. 2).” Collectanea Christiana Orientalia 19 (2022): 45–70.

Shoemaker, Stephen. “New Syriac Dormition Fragments from Palimpsests in the Schøyen Collection and the British Library.” Mus 124 (2011): 259–78 (Syriac and English translation of fol. 9^r from BL 17137 side-by-side, p. 267).

Wright, William. Contributions to the Apocryphal Literature of the New Testament. London: Williams & Norgate, 1865 (edition of BL 14484, pp. 55–65 [Syriac numbering], and English translation, pp. 42–51; readings from BL 14669 and 17216, pp. 11–13).

3.1.5 Christian Palestinian Aramaic

CP 1  Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, Taylor-Schechter Collection, T-S 16.327, fols. 1–2 + AS 78.401 (underwriting 5th/6th cent.)

CP 2 Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, Georgan NF 19, fols. 8–9 (underwriting 5th/6th cent.)

CP 3  Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, Georgan NF 19, fols. 4–5 (underwriting 5th/6th cent.)

Washington (D.C.), Museum of the Bible, MS.000149.1–86, fols. 9, 12 (=CCR 4) + Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, Sin. syr. NF M38N (underwriting 5th/6th cent.) (=Codex Climaci Rescriptus) ~ MOB

Lewis, Agnes Smith, ed. Codex Climaci rescriptus. Horae Semiticae 8. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1909 (pp. 190–93) ~ from the Washington manuscript, fols. 9 and 12 (comprising portion of the text on Peter and Paul).

Müller-Kessler, Christa. “An Overlooked Christian Palestinian Aramaic Witness of the Dormition of Mary in Codex Climaci Rescriptus (CCR IV).” Collectanea Christiana Orientalia 16 (2019): 81–98 (transliteration and English translation pp. 89–98).

__________. “Three Early Witnesses of the «Dormition of Mary» in Christian Palestinian Aramaic. Palimpsests from the Cairo Genizah (Taylor-Schechter Collection) and the New Finds in St Catherine’s Monastery.” Apocrypha 29 (2018): 69–95 (transliterations and English translations of CP 1, CP 2, and CP 3, pp. 77–95).

3.2 Modern Translations

3.2.1 English

Müller-Kessler, Christa. “Obsequies of My Lady Mary (1): Unpublished Early Syriac Palimpsest Fragments from the British Library (BL, Add 17.137, no. 2).” Hugoye 23 (2020): 31–59 (edition and English translation of all three fols., pp. 43–57).

Shoemaker, Stephen J. Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and Assumption. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002 (Ethiopic with Georgian and Syriac, pp. 290–350; does not include the section paralleled in the Story of Peter and Paul in Rome).

__________, trans. The Dormition and Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Apocryphes 17. Turnhout: Brepols, 2023 (Ethiopic with readings from Georgian, Syriac, Coptic, and Christian Palestinian Aramaic, pp. 55–174; includes also the section paralleled in the Story of Peter and Paul in Rome).

Wright, William. Contributions to the Apocryphal Literature of the New Testament. London: Williams & Norgate, 1865 (edition of BL 14484, pp. 27–33 [Syriac numbering], and English translation, pp. 18–41).

3.2.2 French

Wenger, Antoine. L’Assomption de la T.S. Vierge dans la tradition byzantine du VI^e au X^e siècle. Études et documents. Archives de l’Orient chrétien 5. Paris: Institut français d’études byzantines, 1955 (partial translation of Wright’s text, pp. 63–64 and 260–61).

3.2.3 Italian

Erbetta, Mario. Gli apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 3 vols. Italy: Marietti, 1975–1981 (translation of Ethiopic, 1.2:421–56; Syriac, vol. 1.2: 457–62).

3.3 General Works

Esbroeck, Michel-Jean van. “Les textes litteraires sur l’Assomption avant le X^e  siècle.” Pages 265–85 in Les actes apocryphes des apôtres. Edited by François Bovon. Publications de la faculte de theologie de l’Universite de Geneve 4. Geneva: Labor et Fides, 1981.

Meshcherskaya, Elena. “Apocryphal Stories in Ancient Syriac Manuscripts” (in Russian). Pages 94–108 in Albo dies notanda lapillo. Edited by V. Yakubsky. Kollegi i ucheniki G. E. Lebedevoy. St. Petersburg, 2005 (includes a reordering of the Syriac Obsequies fragments).

__________. “The Seasons of the Year and the Marian Feasts in the Syriac Apocryphon ‘Dormition of Mary’” (in Russian). Pages 168–86 in Bible Studies, Slavonic Studies and Russian Studies in Honour of the 70th Birthday of Professor A. Alekseev. St. Petersburg, 2011.

__________. “Apocrypha about Moses and Mary’s Dormition” (in Russian). Pages 124–38 in Jewish Studies and Bible Studies. Materials of the Second Conference on Jewish and Oriental Studies. Edited by K. Bitner and L. Lukincova. St. Petersburg, 2013.

__________. “Solomon and the the Theotokos. Formation of the Prototype Traditions” (in Russian). Pages 174–86 in Jewish Studies and Bible Studies. Materials of the Second Conference on Jewish and Oriental Studies. Edited by K. Bitner and L. Lukincova. St. Petersburg, 2013.

Mimouni, Simon. Dormition et assumption de Marie: Histoire des traditions anciennnes. Paris: Beauchesne, 1995 (pp. 87–88).

Shoemaker, Stephen J. Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and Assumption. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002 (pp. 32–33).