Passover, Annunciation and Epiclesis: Some Remarks on the Term Aggen in the Syriac

Versions of Lk. 1:35

Author(s): Sebastian Brock
Source: Novum Testamentum, Vol. 24, Fasc. 3 (Jul., 1982), pp. 222-233
Published by: BRILL
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1560826
Accessed: 26/02/2009 04:47

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless
you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you
may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=bap.

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the
scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that
promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

BRILL is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Novum Testamentum.

http://www.jstor.org
 Novum Testamentum XXIV, 3 (1982)

PASSOVER, ANNUNCIATION AND EPICLESIS:

SOME REMARKS ON THE TERM AGGEN
IN THE SYRIAC VERSIONS OF LK. 1:35

by

SEBASTIAN BROCK
Oxford

ProfessorDuncanDerrettshareswith the bestpatristiccommen-

tatorson the Bible the ability to elicit significancefrom pointsof
detailin the biblicaltext whichtend to escapethe attentionof most
moderncommentators.It is a pleasureto offerhim this shortstudy
of the term aggenused in the Syriac versions of Lk. 1:351 to render
e7taxtcatL,where the discussion may be introducednot inap-
propriatelyby a quotationfrom the most outstandingof early
Syriac commentators.In his Commentaryon Exodus2Ephrem
offersthe followingpiece of typologicalexegesis:
The (paschal) lamb is a symbol of our Lord who came to the womb on the tenth
of Nisan. For, from the tenth of the seventh month, when Zechariahwas told about
the birth of John, up to the tenth of the first month (i.e. Nisan), when the an-
nouncement was made to Mary by the angel, constitute six months. That was why
the angel said to her "This is the sixth month for her who had been called barren"
(Lk. 1:36).
On the tenth, therefore, when the (paschal) lamb was confined (Ex. 12:3), our
Lord was conceived, and on the fourteenth, when it was slaughtered, he whom the
lamb symbolized was crucified.

Although,as we shallquicklysee, the ingeniousbasisforEphrem's

datingof the Annunciationto 10 Nisan is historicallyunsound,his
associationof Passoverand Annunciationdoes, curiouslyenough,
find some support in the Jewish Aramaic background of aggen;but
beforeturningto this we shouldexaminebrieflythe thinkingthat
lies behindEphrem'schronologicalschema.

Including Christian Palestinian Aramaic. The Old Syriac is missing at this

point, but it is likely that both it and the Diatessaron read naggenCal;for the latter,
see Ephrem, Comm.Diat.1.25.
2 Comm. Ex. XII.2-3 (C.S.C.O. 152), p. 141.
 AGGEN IN THE SYRIAC VERSIONS OF LK 1:35 223

The Annunciationon 10 Nisan

The date of the Annunciation familiar to later Christian tradi-

tion3 is very obviously tied to the Nativity fixed to 25 December, a
date probably of Roman origin which in the East did not replace the
earlier commemoration of Nativity and Baptism on 6 January until
well after Ephrem's death (373).4 Ephrem allocates the Annuncia-
tion to 10 Nisan in a number of different passages,5 and, as
intimated in the extract already quoted, the date was arrived at by
supposing that the date of Zechariah's vision in the Temple was 10
Tishri (I), Zechariah being (mistakenly, of course) identified as the
High Priest who entered the Holy of Holies only once a year, on the
Day of Atonement.6 This identification of Zechariah as High
Priest, thus providing an otherwise missing fixed point in the
chronological data of the Lucan infancy narrative, is probably
already to be found in the Protoevangeliumof James.7 Although
Ephrem himself never calls Zechariah "high priest" he nevertheless
implies this when he speaks of the vision having taken place in the
Holy of Holies,8 rather than at the altar of incense (Lk. 1:11). It
might be noted that Zechariah perhaps independently gained the
status of high priest thanks to the early fusion of his martyrdom
legend with that of Zechariah son ofJehoiada (2 Chron. 24:17-22).9

3
The earliest evidence for the feast on 25 March appears to belong to the first
half of the sixth century; see R. Fletcher in Byzantinische 51 (1958), p. 58.
Zeitschrift
See also the recent survey of the evidence by A. Scheer, "Aux origines de la fete de
l'annonciation", Questions Liturgiques 294 (1977), pp. 97-169.
4 See B.
Botte, Les origines de la Noel et de l'Epiphanie (Louvain, 1932) and J.
Mossay, Lesftes de Noel et d'Epiphanie d'apres les sourceslitterairescappadociennesdu IVe
siecle(Louvain, 1965).
5 Most notably Comm.Diat.1.29, but also H. de Nativ.
(C.S.C.O. 186), IV.34,
V.14, XVII.2-3, and H. de Resurr.(C.S.C.O. 248), IV.13.2. This dating is also
known to several later writers: see G. J. Reinink, Studienzur Quellen-undTraditions-
geschichtedes Evangelienkommentars
der GannatBussame (C.S.C.O. 414; 1979), pp. 205,
222-6, to whose referencescould be added Narsai (PatrologiaOrientalis 40), pp. 50
(line 199), 184 (lines 357-8); Theodore bar Koni (C.S.C.O. 55) I, p. 154; Fenqitho
(Mosul, 1886) II, pp. 167a, 484b. The date 6 Nisan, given in Bar Bahlul's Lexicon
s.v. "Adam", is a retroversion from the Nativity on 6 Kanun II (January).
6 The rationale is
very clearly set out by Moshe bar Kepha in his (unpublished)
Homily on the Annunciation.
7 Although the oldest manuscripts at Protoevang.Jacobi VIII.3 call Zechariah
"priest", not "high priest", the implication of the narrative is that he was indeed
high priest: see H. R. Smid, ProtevangeliumJacobi (Assen, 1965), p. 68.
8 Comm.Diat. I. 14.
9 In the
targum here (2 Chron. 24:20), and in targum Lam. 2:20, his death is
placed on the Day of Atonement; in the latter (where he is identified as Zechariah
224 SEBASTIAN BROCK

The backgroundof aggen in Lk. 1.35

All the Syriac versions chose to translate 7taxtLa:at in the annun-
ciation narrative of Lk. 1:35 by naggen Cal (afel of gnn, "cover
over", "overshadow"). That the verb was already established at a
very early date in Syriac tradition as a technical term for a specific
type of salvific activity on the part of God is shown by the fact that it
is used in a number of other important New Testament passages,
translating quite different Greek verbs: most notably we have Jn.
1:14 (axnrv6o, the Logos as subject), Acts 10:44 and 11:15
(&TLtxtzo , the Spirit as subject), and 2 Cor. 12:9 (itaxTrvOv6, the
power of Christ as subject).'0
In the Peshitta Old Testament aggen Caloccurs a number of times
with God as subject (2 Kgs. 19:34; 20:6; Is. 31:5; Jer. 17:17; Zech.
9:15, 12:8; Job 3:23; Wis. 5:16 (17); Sir. 31 (34): 16 (19); Apoc.
Bar. 48:18, 71:1), sometimes with "hand" as direct object (so Ex.
33:22; Job 1:10; Ps. 138:8). In all these passages the idea of divine
protection is uppermost. At Wis. 19:8 God's hand is subject of the
verb, while at Sir. 23:18 the subject is "shade", and at 4 Ezra 7:122
it is "the glory of the Most High" which "will overshadow (d-taggen
Cal)those who have lived in chastity".
Rather more intriguing parallels to aggen in Lk. 1:35 will,
however, be found by turning to the targumim where it appears
that, especially in the Palestinian targum tradition (in which the
Peshitta Pentateuch would seem ultimately to have some of its
roots),"1 aggenwas an important term for certain types of divine in-
tervention. Of particular interest in connection with Ephrem's link-
ing of the Annunciation with Passover is the text of the Neofiti
targum manuscript at Ex. 12:23: w-yipsah w-yaggen memrehd-Y Cal
traCabahatadi-bne Yisrael, "and the Memra of the Lord shall psh and
overshadow the door of the fathers of the children of Israel". Here
we have a double translation of the Hebrew verb pasah (of uncertain

the prophet) he is specifically called high priest. For these traditions, besides A.
Berendts' basic study, Studien iber Zacharias-apokryphenund Zacharias-legenden(Leip-
zig, 1895), see A. A. Barb, "St. Zacharias the prophet and martyr", Journal of the
Warburgand CourtauldInstitute 11 (1948), pp. 35-67 and J. D. Dubois, Etudes sur
I'Apocryphede Zacharieet sur les traditionsconcernantla mort de Zacharie(Oxford D.Phil.
thesis, 1978).
10 Also used at Acts 2:26 and 5:15.
11 See
my "Jewish traditions in Syriac sources", Journal of Jewish Studies 30
(1979), pp. 212-8 and the literature there cited.
 AGGEN IN THE SYRIAC VERSIONS OF LK 1:35 225

meaning) in the form of a transliteration (as in the Peshitta, 'psh),12

coupled with an interpretation.13 The context, of course, is that of
salvific protection.
It is interesting to find that aggen is also used in the context of
other instances of divine intervention and theophanies in the
targumim. Thus at Gen. 7:16 Neofiti and Onkelos have "the Lord
in his good mercies covered over (aggen Cal) him" (i.e. Noah in the
Ark), where the Hebrew has wayyisgoryhwh bacado.14At Gen. 15:1
aggen is employed in Neofiti and the Fragment Targum in connec-
tion with the covenant with Abraham (here prompted by magen,
"shield", in the Hebrew), while in the Sinai theophany at Ex.
33:22 Onkelos, Ps. Jonathan and Peshitta all translate Hebrew
w-sakkoti (kappi Caleka)by w-aggen. Likewise at Num. 10:34 in
Neofiti it is "the cloud of the glory of the Shekhina of the Lord"
which is "overshadowing (maggen) by day".'5
It is not easy to know how best to translate aggen: "protect"
would seem to make too much of the Hebrew cognate magen,
"shield", and I have preferred "cover over" or "overshadow";
confirmation for the latter comes from within the targum tradition
itself, for attel (denominative from tlala, "shade", "shadow") is
found as a variant to aggen at Ex. 33:22 and Num. 10:34.16 Signifi-
cant too in this context is targum Jonathan's rendering of hissil at
Jon. 4:6 by l-aggana, presupposing an analysis of the form as hif il of
sll (similarly LXX), rather than of nsl. It would thus appear that the
Syriac rendering of 7rtcaxta'co at Lk. 1:35 was entirely
appropriate.'7

12 For the sadhesee C. Brockelmann, SyrischeGrammatik

(Leipzig, 1955), ? 20.
13 For this
interpretationand for aggenas a technical term in the targumim see
further my "An early interpretationof pasah:aggenin the Palestinian targum", in
the Festschrift for E. I. J. Rosenthal (ed. J. A. Emerton and S. C. Reif; Cam-
bridge, 1982), forthcoming.
14 In the light of aggenat Lk. 1:35 and the later
typological identificationof Mary
as the "closed door" (Ez. 44:1-2) it is intriguing, but not historically significant,
that aggenis used in connection with "door" at both Gen. 7:16 and Ex. 12:23 in the
Palestinian targum.
15 Although the Peshitta does not have a verb here, note that H. de
Epiphania1.5,
attributed to Ephrem (C.S.C.O. 186), employs aggenin this context.
16 For details see the article cited in note 13.
17 In a
marginal note perhaps by Jacob of Edessa to Severus' Homily 115
(Patrologia Orientalis 26, p. 312) it is stated that, on the basis of the Greek, aggenin
Jn. has the sense of 'mar("dwell"; so the Christian Palestinian Aramaic version
there), while in Lk. that of attelor sken("overshadow" and "tabernacle").
226 SEBASTIAN BROCK

Two passages in the targumim would seem to connect aggenwith

its cognate gnona, "bridal chamber". In view of aoTxcajet,at-
tributed to Aquila and Symmachus at Dt. 33:12, it is likely that
Neofiti and Ps. Jonathan's rendering of hopep Calawhere byyehwe
maggen Caloiimplies an understanding of hapap as a denominative
from huppah, "bridal chamber, canopy", duly rendered by aggenas
a denominative from gnona. Such a connection between aggen and
gnona is indeed explicitly made in targumJonathan at Is. 4:5: skinteh
the maggna Calohik-ginun, "his Shekhina shall be covering over him
like a bridal canopy".
While it would be foolish to suppose that the Syriac translator
who first rendered 7taxti&aet at Lk. 1:35 by naggenCalwas aware of
any of these particular passages in the targumim, these same
passages nevertheless do provide some idea of the connotations
which lie behind the Aramaic verb - and indeed it is quite possi-
ble, though of course not capable of demonstration, that aggenwas
also the Semitic verb underlying ta7cxta&co at Lk. 1:35 (if this verse
has a Semitic background).'8

Subsequentdevelopmentsin Syriac tradition

As a technical term denoting divine intervention aggen was to
have an important future in Syriac tradition. Here there is space
only to consider briefly four aspects: the subsequent understanding
of aggen in Lk. 1:35, the extension of the term to other key episodes
of the New Testament narrative, and its employment as a technical
term in both liturgical texts and in monastic literature.'9
(1) The subject of aggen in Lk. 1:35, "the power of the Most
High" can be understood either as being identical with the Holy
Spirit (so most modern commentators) or as a term for the Logos.
Syriac tradition knows both interpretations, the second being found
already in Ephrem:20
18
Although aggenis not recorded from Qumran Aramaic, gnonadoes occur in
GenesisApocryphon XX.6; the verb is probably to be found in a fifth-centuryB.C.
Aramaic inscription from Cilicia (H. Donner and W. R6llig, Kanaandische und
AramdischeInschriften(Wiesbaden, 1966-9), no 258). The mysterious 'gn in
Palmyrene is probably unconnected.
19 As
examples of the less, and of non-, technical uses of aggenI single out aggen
Calayhonburkatak,"cause your blessings to overshadow them" (FenqithoV, p. 43b),
and haydenmeltaaggen,"there the matter rested" (Chronica MinoraII, C.S.C.O. 3,
p. 22415).
20 Memra on the Prologue of
John (ed. T. Lamy, S. EphraemiSyriHymniet Ser-
mones(Malines, 1886), II, col. 515).
 AGGEN IN THE SYRIAC VERSIONS OF LK 1:35 227

By her ear did Mary behold the Hidden One who had come in the utterance
(qala); the Power who had come to embodiment was thus conceived in her womb.

The identification of the Power as the Logos subsequently became

more or less the norm among Syrian Orthodox writers,21 and it is
occasionally found in East Syrian writers as well.22 Such an
interpretation was encouraged by the fact that the Logos and the
Power of Christ are subjects of aggen at Jn. 1:14 and 2 Cor. 12:9
respectively.
Ephrem's allusion to the characteristically Syriac idea of concep-
tion through the ear23 perhaps reflects an early polemic against the
supposition that Mary was inseminated by the Holy Spirit
(feminine in early Syriac literature), a polemic that is already found
in a second-century document with a Syrian background, the Gospel
of Philip (? 17):
Some have said that Mary conceived of the Holy Spirit. They are wrong, and
they do not realize what they are saying, for when did a woman ever conceive of a
woman?

It is interesting to note that, wherever the Power is identified as the

Logos, the ensuing preposition may be altered (under the influence
ofJn. 1:14, aggenban) to b- "in",24 with a consequent shift in mean-
ing from "overshadow" to "reside in", "indwell". Thus Philox-
enus (t523), for example, writes25 "The Word, who belongs to the
realm of the spirit, dwelt in the virgin (aggen ba-btulta), became a
man in and from her, and was born having a body". This shift in
meaning is well illustrated by the many passages paraphrasing Lk.
1:35 where sra b-, "dwell in", has been substituted for aggen Cal,
such as the following, from an anonymous madrasha of the late fifth
century:26 "The Watcher ('ira) who came down to the virgin
announced to her 'the Power of the Most High is going to dwell
in your womb (sare b-Cubbek(y))' ".

21
In some writers there is an anti-Nestorian polemic underlying this.
E.g. BreviariumChaldaicum(Rome, 1938), I, p. 59.
22

23 The theme occurs, for example, in the Syriac Acts of John, Ephrem, Narsai
and Jacob of Serugh; I hope to discuss it on another occasion.
24 There is no exact
parallel to this construction in the targumim.
25
Philoxenus, Comm. Prol. John (C.S.C.O. 380), p. 3920-1. Numerous examples
can be found in the Syrian Orthodox Fenqitho.
26 Oriens Christianus64
(1980), p. 50 (stanza 2). Among early texts sra is used in
the context of the Incarnation in Acts ofJohn (ed. Wright), pp. 1616, 2913, 376, and
Ephrem, H. de Nativ. XVI. 11.1. (It might be noted that sra, too, is something of a
technical term for divine activity in the targumim: see, for example, Neofiti at
Num. 11:20 (Shekhina), 11:25 (spirit).
228 SEBASTIAN BROCK

In view of the link made in targum Is. 4:5 between aggen and
gnona it is perhaps surprising to discover that even in the florid sym-
bolism of liturgical poetry this etymological association is extremely
rare in Syriac tradition. In the Gospel of Philip (? 82) we do indeed
find Mary described as a "bridal chamber", but the only instance
of the use of gnona in connection with Mary that I have come across
in the liturgical books is in the following prayer (Feast of the
Theotokos, 26 December):27
Blessed and glorious is the Mother of God, the pure Virgin who received the
Most High, the glorious tabernacle of the divinity, the radiant place of the
Shekhina of the Maker of All, the pure temple of the Word God, the bridal
chamber (bethgnona)of the heavenly Bride...

A passage in Ephrem, however, is also of interest as it too indirectly

points us to the context of a gnona:
Blessed is the Child, whose mother is the bride of the Holy One (kallatqudsa)
(H. de Nativitate VIII. 18.2-3).

Now the "Holy One" (qudsa) himself 'resided (sra) in her womb in
bodily fashion' (H. de Nativitate IV. 130), and at this point the reader
may feel sympathy with Mary's own perplexity, as expressed by
Ephrem:
Should I call you "Son", or should I call you "Brother", or should it be
"Betrothed", or "Lord"? You yourself give your own mother second birth from
the baptismal water (H. de NativitateXVI.9).

It is the reference to baptism that illuminates the symbolic thought

process here: Christ's own baptism was seen as the betrothal of the
Church, the "Bride of Light", to Christ the Bridegroom, with bap-
tism itself described as a gnona, a "bridal chamber".28 Since the
presence of Christ in Mary's own womb serves as her baptism (so
explicitly H. de Nativitate XVI. 11), she herself can be described as
the "Bride of Light",29 where of course Christ is the Light.
27
Fenqitho II, p. 512b.
Although the first clear expression of this mis en scene,with baptism as a
28

spiritual hierosgamos,occurs only in SughithaV (C.S.C.O. 186), probably not by

Ephrem, the theme is certainly old and is implied by the genuine H. de Ieiunio
(C.S.C.O. 246) V. 1, where baptism is referred to as the gnon nuhra, "bridal
chamber of light", a term common in the Manichaean Psalms (G. Widengren,
Mesopotamian Elements in Manichaeism (Uppsala/Leipzig, 1946), pp. 109-22). The
imagery, but without specific reference to baptism, is also found in the first of the
two archaic hymns in the Actsof Thomas.Later the whole theme is taken up notably
by Jacob of Serugh in his homilies 7-9, on baptism, and subsequently it dominates
the liturgical poetry for Epiphany in both East and West Syrian traditions.
29
Memra attributed to Ephrem (C.S.C.O. 363), p. 36 (line 774); FenqithoII, p.
 AGGEN IN THE SYRIAC VERSIONS OF LK 1:35 229

(2) Just as in Judaism of the early centuries of the Christian era

the site of the Temple tended to attract to itself certain salvific
events not originally connected with it (Adam's creation, Noah's
sacrifice, the Aqedah, etc.), so too, mutatis mutandis, aggen, once
established as a technical term for divine activity and intervention,
was extended to yet other key episodes in the divine economy.
Three examples to illustrate this process will suffice. In the Syrian
Orthodox liturgical book known as the Fenqithoa prayer for the first
Sunday after Epiphany concludes:30 "...the Father cried out from
his supernal abode with that voice, revealing that Jesus is the Ra-
diance of his glory, and sending, in the form of a dove, the Spirit
who overshadowed his head" (w-aggen 'al riseh; qawwi, "remain",
is the verb used in Mt. 3:16 and Jn. 1:32).
The verb employed in the Old Syriac and Peshitta accounts of
the Transfiguration is attel, "shade, overshadow", but here once
again the liturgical books occasionally substitute aggen, e.g. "the
Father sent the cloud of light from on high and it overshadowed (ag-
gnat Cal) mount Tabor''.3 It is interesting to find that the cloud here
can also be described as agnona; thus "the Father made the cloud of
light into a bridal chamber (gnona) for his Son".32
Pentecost is another context into which the term aggentends to get
introduced. Thus in the East Syrian Hudra at the feast of Pentecost
we encounter the wording33 "In great wonder there appeared the
Holy Spirit, who was sent and who, in the likeness of tongues of
fire, overshadowed (aggnat 'al) the heads of the disciples' (Peshitta:
"...divided tongues, as it were of fire, dwelt on...").

98a-b, 254b. For the reversal of linear time here see my remarksin EasternChurches
Review7 (1975), pp. 140-1.
30
FenqithoIII, p. 70a, compare 253b, 282a, etc. Likewise the noun maggnanuta is
used of the Baptism by Philoxenus, Comm.Lk.(C.S.C.O. 392), p. 822. Much more
frequently, however, rahhep,another technical term for the activity of of the Holy
Spirit, is employed by Syriac writers in the context of the baptism of Jesus; on this
see my TheHoly Spiritin theSyrianBaptismalTradition(Syrian Churches Series 9;
1979), pp. 6, 81-3. Possibly rhpmay lie behind tirirtci in Justin, Dial.c. Tryph.88
(for parallelsto which see A. Resch, Aussercanonische Paralleltexte
zu denEvangelien III,
Lucas(T.U. X.2; 1895), pp. 15-19).
31 Fenqitho VII, p. 323b.
32
Fenqitho VII, p. 336a.
33
Hudra(Trichur, 1962) III, p. 130 (a section not included in the Breviarium
Chaldaicum for the feast); in the Fenqitho,e.g. V, p. 214a. The use of aggenis in fact
appropriate in that the liturgical texts link Pentecost with the Sinai theophany,
where Peshitta employs aggenat Ex. 33:22. John of Dara (9th cent.) quotes Acts 2:3
with aggen:see A. V66bus, O.C. 64 (1980), pp. 32-5.
230 SEBASTIAN BROCK

(3) In a large number of Syriac anaphoras aggen(and the derived

noun maggnanuta)have become technical terms in the context of the
eucharistic epiclesis. In the East Syrian anaphora attributed to
Theodore the invocation opens "and may the grace of the Holy
Spirit come upon us and upon this offering and reside (in) and over-
shadow (tesrew-taggen 'al) this bread...". It is, however, in the West
Syrian anaphoras that aggenis above all to be found, occurring in at
least 28 anaphoras at this point.
The popularity of aggen in Syriac epicleses can for the most part
be attributed to the influence of the Greek anaphora of James,
whose ktLcpotfioaav at that point is translated into Syriac as kad mag-
gen. Here it is significant that the fourth-century Syriac writers do
not use aggen in a eucharistic context, but prefer svra;34 by the end of
the fifth century, however, we find aggen thus employed in both
Narsai and Jacob of Serugh.35 What at present remains unclear is
whether aggen had already become a Syriac term used at the
epiclesis by the time the Greek anaphora of James came to be
translated into Syriac (fifth century), or not.36 If this was in fact the
case, one might then well ask whether the non-biblical birtLotxao at
the epiclesis37 might not itself be a reflex of Aramaic aggen, with its
excellent biblical ancestry; in this case it could indeed be that the
introduction there of aggen, with its resonances of Lk. 1:35, was
deliberately indended to bring out and underscore the links
between the annunciation and the eucharistic epiclesis,38 links
which subsequent Syriac writers were to make quite explicitly.39 It
34
E.g. Acts of Thomas(ed. Wright), p. 3028; Ephrem, H. de Fide (C.S.C.O. 154)
X. 12.
35
Narsai, Homily 21 (ed. Mingana) I, p. 353; Jacob of Serugh, Homily 95 (ed.
Bedjan) III, p. 657. In Narsai, Homily 17 (of doubtful authenticity) rhp is used
instead.
36 Much will
depend here on whether one assumes that taggen (future) in the
anaphora of Theodore is dependent on the anaphora of James (so B. Botte in Sacris
Erudiri 6 (1954), pp. 601). In the West Syrian anaphora we find both the future
(taggen/naggen) and the participle (kad maggen):while the latter is clearly based on the
anaphora of James, the former could (together with the anaphora of Theodore) be
independent. The whole matter requires further investigation.
37 It is
already thus used by John Chrysostom, P.G. 59, 253A.
38
Ephrem, as we have seen, already employs sra for both contexts. 'EntcpotLao
was likewise used of the Annunciation as well as for the epiclesis (see Lampe, A
Patristic GreekLexicon, s.v.).
39
E.g. Dionysius bar Salibi, Comm.Liturg. (C.S.C.O. 13), p. 68, "by the in-
vocation of the Holy Spirit the priest symbolizes Gabriel's standing before the
Virgin and announcing the holy conception". See further W. de Vries,
Sakramententheologie bei den syrischenMonophysiten (O.C.A. 125; 1940); pp. 146-55;
 AGGEN IN THE SYRIAC VERSIONS OF LK 1:35 231

would thus be of interest to investigate whether, behind the various

views which were being formulated in the late fourth and early fifth
century concerning the transformative effect of the coming of the
Holy Spirit upon the eucharistic elements, there was a conscious ef-
fort to draw parallels between the epiclesis and the annunciation.40
In this connection it is of significance that the term aggen is very
rarely found in baptismal epicleses.41
(4) Finally attention should be drawn to the use of aggenand mag-
gnanuta in later monastic literature on the spiritual life. Here, for
reasons of space, only a few brief indications can be given. It would
appear that it was especially among the seventh- and eighth-century
East Syrian mystics that these terms came to take on the
characteristics of technical terms for the activity of the Holy Spirit
upon the soul, although the beginnings of this usage can be found in
earlier literature.42 Since Isaac of Nineveh provides a detailed
exposition it will suffice here to give a fairly extended extract to
illustrate what was understood by these terms:43
Maggnanutais a term designating help and protection (nuttara),and also the
receiving of a heavenly gift. (Lk. 1:35, Ps. 138:7 and 2 Kgs. 19:34 are then
quoted). Thus we understand two kinds of action in the maggnanuta over mankind
which comes from God: one is symbolic and spiritual, the other practical. The
former consists of the sanctificationwhich is received through divine grace; in other
words when, through the operation of the Holy Spirit, someone is sanctified in his
body and in his soul, as was the case with Elisha, John the Baptist and the holy
Mary, blessed among women-although in her case it was unique, going beyond
the case of other created beings. But turning to the partial maggnanuta which occurs
with other holy men and women-like limbs in the body-, the symbolic variety of
maggnanuta, such as takes place with any holy person, is an active force (hayla)which
overshadows (maggenCal)the mind, and when someone is held worthy of this mag-

also my "Mary and the Eucharist", SobornostincorporatingEastern ChurchesReview

1:2 (1979), pp. 50-59.
40 This is an
aspect surprisinglyneglected in discussions of the origins of the con-
secratory epiclesis. For the importance attached in the various anaphoras to the
role of the Holy Spirit at the Annunciation, Baptism and Pentecost, see B.
Schultze, "Die dreifache Herabkunft des Heiligen Geistes in den 6stlichen
Hochgebeten", Ostkirchliche Studien26 (1977), pp. 105-43.
41 See
my "The epiklesis in the Antiochene Baptismal Ordines", O.C.A. 197
(1974), pp. 202-3.
42 E.g.
Cyrus of Edessa (sixth century), (C.S.C.O. 355), p. 1848, "Thus the
grace of the Holy Spirit, when it dwells in (maggnab-) the soul that proves suitable
for it to inhabit, exalts that soul". The term is a favourite one in Cyrus' works(pp.
157, 164, 172, 177-80 etc.).
43 Ed.
Bedjan, pp. 390-2. Among other East Syrian writersof this period, see A.
Mingana, Early ChristianMystics (Woodbrooke Studies 7; 1934), pp. 208, 243
(Dadishoc), 315 (Shemcon d-Taybutheh); John of Dalyatha, Letters(Patrologia
Orientalis 39) V.1, XV.6.
232 SEBASTIAN BROCK

gnanutathe mind is seized and dilated with a sense of wonder, in a sort of divine
revelation. As long as this divine activity overshadows the mind, that person is
raised above the emotions brought about by the thoughts in his soul, thanks to the
participation of the Holy Spirit. (Eph. 1:17 is quoted as an example of this).
The other maggnanuta,whose working is experienced in practical terms, is a
spiritual power which protects and hovers over (da-msattarwa-mrahhep Cal)someone
continuously, driving from him anything harmful which may happen to approach
his body or his soul. This is something which is not perceived by the mind in any
visible way, but it is manifestly evident to the eye of faith, and it has been
experienced often by the saints.

Conclusions
From the above sketch we can see that aggenin the Syriac versions
of Lk. 1:35 has an intriguing subsequent history as well as ancestry.
The earliest translators of the Syriac New Testament evidently took
over the word from Jewish Aramaic where it had already become
something of a technical term for divine action. Although neither of
the two great fourth-century Syriac authors, Aphrahat and
Ephrem, exploits the term outside its biblical contexts, from the
fifth century onwards its use was extended to the context of the
eucharistic epiclesis, and subsequently, especially among East
Syrian monastic writers of the seventh and eighth centuries, to the
workings of the Holy Spirit in the spiritual life. All three contexts
are concerned with the dynamic interaction between the spiritual
and the material world, in each case resulting in some dramatic
form of transformation, what happens when (to use the imagery
beloved by all early Syriac writers) spirit clothes itself in body and
what is created puts on the spirit.
Looking back over the evidence, in order to explain the lack of in-
terest in the term aggen among third and fourth century Syriac
writers, we may form the following hypothesis: The evidence of the
targumim points to aggenhaving its origin, probably in Palestine, as
an Aramaic term denoting divine intervention of a salvific nature,
and one may suppose that it was awareness of this Jewish Aramaic
usage that led the earliest Syriac translators of the New Testament
to adopt aggen as a technical term to translate a number of different
Greek words. Third and fourth-century Syriac writers of northern
Mesopotamia, however, were no longer directly aware of the
background to the term, and instead preferred to use the (equally
Semitic) terms sra (for both Incarnation and Eucharist) and rahhep
(for Baptism). It was only with the influence of Jerusalem and its
liturgy from the mid fourth century onwards that the term aggen
 AGGEN IN THE SYRIAC VERSIONS OF LK 1:35 233

regained life, in a new context, when 7<tcpotaroin the epiclesis of

the anaphora of James (perhaps itself reflecting Palestinian
Aramaic aggen) was translated into Syriac by aggen. Subsequently
Syriac liturgical theology was to exploit the parallelism, hinted at by
the term aggen held in common, between Annunciation and
Epiclesis. Once employed in connection with the eucharistic
epiclesis it was but a natural step to extend aggen to the context of
the spiritual life.44

44
Obviously this hypothesis requires testing in the light of a more detailed study
of the early technical use of itFcotLa&o (already an important word for Philo) and its
connections with aggen.