Giwargis Warda ( syc, ܓܝܘܪܓܝܣ ܘܪܕܐ, ''Giwargis'' being the equivalent of "

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

" and ''warda'' meaning "

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

") was a

Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...

poet of the

Church of the East The Church of the East ( syc, ܥܕܬܐ ܕܡܕܢܚܐ, ''ʿĒḏtā d-Maḏenḥā'') or the East Syriac Church, also called the Church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the Persian Church, the Assyrian Church, the Babylonian Church or the Nestorian C ...

who probably lived in the 13th century. He is named in several manuscripts as the author (or perhaps compiler) of ''The Book of the Rose'' ( syc, ܟܬܒܐ ܕܘܪܕܐ, Kṯāḇā d-Wardā), an anthology of Syriac hymns for various liturgical festivals. Not all of the poems contained in this anthology are authored by him, but establishing the authenticity of the poems is difficult given the high degree of variation between manuscripts.Alessandro Mengozzi
"Gewargis Warda"
in ''Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition'', edited by

Sebastian P. Brock Sebastian Paul Brock, FBA (born 1938, London) is a British scholar, university professor, and expert in the field of academic studies of Classical Syriac language and Classical Syriac literature. His research also encompasses various aspects of c ...

, Aaron M. Butts,

George A. Kiraz George Anton Kiraz ( syr, ܓܘܪܓܝ ܒܪ ܐܢܛܘܢ ܕܒܝܬ ܟܝܪܐܙ; born 1965) is a Syriac engineer and entrepreneur, best known for his contribution to modern Syriac studies. Biography George Kiraz was born in Bethlehem to a Syriac Ortho ...

and Lucas Van Rompay (Beth Mardutho, 2018; print edition Gorgias Press, 2011). Retrieved 26 February 2020. Only 34 out of 150 poems attributed to him have been published so far. Nothing of Giwargis's life or dates can be stated with confidence. According to one manuscript, Giwargis was originally from Arbela. This may be owing to confusion with the 10th-century author Giwargis of Arbela, but there is one poem in the collection that inveigles against a faithless deacon from the vicinity of Arbela. Several of the ''Wardā'' hymns are commemorative of historical events. One concerns a famine that struck northern Mesopotamia in 1223. One poem addresses the

Mongol raids The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member of ...

that plagued the region in 1235–1236. Giwargis may have been contemporary with these events, but this is not certain. One hymn attributed to Giwargis mentions the Patriarch Timothy II () and so must have been written a century later. That Giwargis is not listed in the catalogue of Syriac authors in the ''Paradise of Eden'' of

ʿAbdishoʿ bar Brikha Abdisho bar Berika or Ebedjesu ( syc, ܥܒܕܝܫܘܥ ܕܨܘܒܐ) (died 1318), also known as Mar Odisho or St. Odisho in English, was a Syriac writer. He was born in Nusaybin. Abdisho was first bishop of Shiggar (Sinjar) and the province of Bet 'Ar ...

(completed after 1315) also suggests that he lived in the 14th century. Giwargis was a significant poet of the Syriac renaissance of the 12th and 13th centuries and a number of his poems were incorporated into the liturgy of the Church of the East.

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