of the translators and of their courage in breaking away from the Greek tradition. However that may be, the Peshitta is in itself an unanswerable demonstration that the earliest Syriac Church contained a large Jewish element. This is quite in accordance with the early traditions in the Doctrine of Addai[1], and harmonises (as we shall see) with what is found in Aphraates. Thus the independent civilisation of Edessa made a vernacular translation necessary, while the presence of an influential Jewish factor in the infant Church secured that the translation of the Old Testament should be made from the original Hebrew.
The earliest N.T. Canon of the Syriac-speaking Church consisted of the Gospel, the Epistles of S. Paul, and the Acts. "The Law and the Prophets and the Gospel from which ye read every day before the people, and the Epistles of Paul which Simon Cephas sent us from the city of Rome, and the Acts of the Twelve Apostles which
- ↑ Phillips, E. tr. pp. 32, 33.
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