Joseph Busnaya, in

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 ...

Yawsip or Yawsep Būsnāyā (?869–979), was an

East Syriac The East Syriac Rite or East Syrian Rite, also called the Edessan Rite, Assyrian Rite, Persian Rite, Chaldean Rite, Nestorian Rite, Babylonian Rite or Syro-Oriental Rite, is an Eastern Christian liturgical rite that employs the Divine Liturgy ...

monk and mystic in

Upper Mesopotamia Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the Upland and lowland, uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. Since the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century, ...

. His disciple, John (Yoḥannan) bar Kaldun, wrote his biography and incorporated a chapter on his spiritual teachings. It is an important source for the Christian geography of the

Sapna valley Sapna is a town and municipality located in Tuzla Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. History People have lived in the Sapna region since the earliest days. In the Middle Ages, Sapna was an im ...

in the tenth century and contains a wealth of detail about the lifestyle of East Syriac monks of the period. Joseph was active in the first half of the tenth century. A native of Beth ʿEdraye, near

Mosul Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second large ...

, he entered the

monastery of Rabban Hormizd Rabban Hormizd Monastery ( syr , ܪܒܢ ܗܘܪܡܝܙܕ ܥܓ̰ܡܝܐ) is an important monastery of the Chaldean Catholic Church, founded about 640 AD, carved out in the mountains about 2 miles from Alqosh, Iraq, 28 miles north of Mosul. It was the ...

and later moved to that of Abraham of Beth Ṣayyare in the ʿAmadiyya district. He founded his own monastery in the village of Inishk, which later had to be moved to the top of a hill to protect it from

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

raids. Joseph became a critic of the bookish learning traditions of the East Syriac church. He was a skilled copyist of Scripture but in his old age he gave up all writing. John took care of his correspondence (in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

). Joseph focused on memorizing. According to John, he memorized all of both the

Old Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...

and

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

s and the thirty-three volumes of

Theodore of Mopsuestia Theodore of Mopsuestia (c. 350 – 428) was a Christian theologian, and Bishop of Mopsuestia (as Theodore II) from 392 to 428 AD. He is also known as Theodore of Antioch, from the place of his birth and presbyterate. He is the best known ...

. He claimed to be able to recite a text after reading it five times. Joseph was reputedly 110 years old when he died on 4 September 979, which would put his birth in 869. Joseph's

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...

is celebrated on the sixth Friday of liturgical summer (thirteenth after

Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 50th day (the seventh Sunday) after Easter Sunday. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles in the Ne ...

) in the East Syriac calendar. His biography is known from a copy made at the monastery of Mar Eliya in 1055, although copies were also known among the

Saint Thomas Christians The Saint Thomas Christians, also called Syrian Christians of India, ''Marthoma Suriyani Nasrani'', ''Malankara Nasrani'', or ''Nasrani Mappila'', are an ethno-religious An ethnoreligious group (or an ethno-religious group) is a grouping of ...

of India in the 16th century. In the West it was known only from its mention in the catalogue of

Abdisho of Nisibis 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 ...

, but in the 19th century it was translated into French by

Jean-Baptiste Chabot Jean-Baptiste Chabot (16 February 1860 – 7 January 1948) was a Roman Catholic secular priest and the leading French Syriac scholar in the first half of the twentieth century. Life Born into a viticultural family at Vouvray-sur-Loire, Chabot ...

from a copy of the Mar Eliya manuscript made by

Samuel Giamil Samuel Giamil (1847–1917) ( ar, شموئيل جميل, Shmuʾel Jamīl) was an Assyrian scholar, polyglot and a Chaldean Catholic monk. He joined the Monastery of Rabban Hormizd in 1866. In 1869, he accompanied his Abbot and Patriarch Mar Ya ...

.Chabot 1897, pp. 357–358.

Hagiography

(ed.), "Vie du moine Rabban Youssef Bousnaya", ''Revue de l'Orient chrétien'' 2 (1897)
357–405
3 (1898)
77–121168–190292–327
an
458–480
4 (1899)
380–415
and 5 (1900)
118–143
an
182–200

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Joseph Busnaya 869 births 979 deaths Year of birth uncertain 10th-century Christian monks 10th-century Christian mystics Nestorians in the Abbasid Caliphate Syrian Christian monks Syrian Christian mystics Longevity claims