The title of Ascetical Homily 70 is shown at left as it appears in:

Vatican Syriac 124 (lighter ink)

Sinai Greek 406 and Sinai Greek 409 (red ink)

The 1770 Theotokis text

Bedjan’s printed Syriac

Our second edition

Translations of it:

Vatican Syriac 124: The sense of this chapter; on the significance of the things that were said.

The Greek MSS: The sense of this chapter and the significance of the things said in it.

The Theotokis 1770: The sense of this chapter, and on prayer.

The Bedjan text: The concise sense of this chapter, with the significance of the things that were said.

In all the manuscripts, this title abuts the text that goes before it, and visually “this chapter” in the title can refer not only to Homily 70 itself, but just as well to the preceding homily, next to which it is packed like sardines in a tin.

This is evident in the manuscripts more than in the printed texts. Since a chapter is rarely said to be about its own meaning, we have accordingly corrected the title, while also including “and on prayer” from Theotokis and “concise” from Bedjan, to The concise sense of [the previous] chapter, with the significance of the things that were said; and on prayer.

The title of Homily 70 in Sinai Greek manuscript 406

The images of Sinai Greek MSS 406 (above) and 409 (below), are used by permission of Saint Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai, Egypt.

The title of Homily 70 in Sinai Greek manuscript 409

The title of Homily 70 in Theotokis's Greek printed text of 1770

Nikephoros Theotokis’s 1770 Greek printed edition.

Bedjan’s Syriac printed text.

Photo of page with the title of Homily 70 in our monastery's second edition of the Ascetical Homilies

Holy Transfiguration Monastery Publications, Inside our Books and the Sources behind them, is a companion site to www.thehtm.org.

Textual Questions: 8. Homily Seventy • Epilogue