The fragment is cut from a larger piece of paper. Recto: liturgical excerpt of Psalm 1:1-2 from the Syriac Peshitta, though the beginning of each line is cut off. Verso: there is no text but a horizontal and a vertical line are drawn. Ca. 16th-17th century.Condition: CutLayout: 5 lines (recto); intersecting lines (verso)
Syriac homily on Palm Sunday, covering the restoration of sight to the blind, the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and the cleansing of the temple. Heading in Garshuni. Ca. 16th-17th century.Condition: Torn, stainedLayout: 17 lines (recto; verso is blank)
Recto: opening of a petition with a blessing on al-Hāfiẓ. Verso: unidentified Arabic.Condition: torn, holes, stainedLayout: 5 lines (recto); 3 lines (verso)
Book of Anaphora, pre-Anaphora preparatory rite and Liturgy of the Word (with a Gospel reading from Mt, Ch. 1). Ca. 16th-17th century.Condition: Torn, stainedLayout: 8-11 lines
F. 1r: writing exercise consisting of a Syriac hymn ‘The pure and exalted one’. The hymn can be found in the Book of Beth Gazo under the genre ‘Supplications of Rabula’, melody no. 2. The melody of this hymn is now presumed to be lost. F. 1v: writing exercise of a Syriac hymn ‘The Virgin gave birth to a wonder’. The hymn is copied on f. 1v, and again on f. 2r. This hymn is found in the Book of Beth Gazo and falls under the Qolo ‘I have examined everything,’ melody no. 1. The hymn occurs during the Nativity liturgy and is particularly practised at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem during Christmas celebrations. Ca. 16th-17th century.Condition: Torn, holes, rubbedLayout: 11 lines (f. 2v is blank)
Palimpsest, with the Palestinian Talmud, Pesaḥim 37c-d, written over an unidentified Syriac text.Condition: Torn, holes, badly faded, stainedLayout: 27-29 lines
Palimpsest, with Palestinian Talmud, ʿEruvin 20d-21d, written over a Syriac version of Hosea 14:4-10; Joel 1:1-2:20.Condition: Torn, holes, stainedLayout: 30-31 lines
A palimpsest consisting of the Palestinian Talmud, Peʾa 18d and 20b-c, written over a Syriac text, The Life of St Anthony by Athanasius of Alexandria. Edited in Lewis (1902: 146-149) as text XXXV.Condition: Badly torn, holes, stainedLayout: 24 lines
Palimpsest, with Palestinian Talmud, Šeqalim, 44a-b; 46b, written over a Syriac text, The Life of St Anthony by Athanasius of Alexandria. Edited in Lewis (1900: 98-105) as text XXIX.Condition: Torn, holes, stainedLayout: 32-34 lines
Palimpsest, Sifra 11d-12c, with 2 Kings 2:4 written in the lower margins in a different hand, over an unidentified Syriac text containing a quotation from the Gospel of Luke 5:27.Condition: Torn, holes, faded, stainedLayout: 25-27 lines
Garshuni Palm Sunday sermon titled ܬܪܓܐܡ ܥܝܕ ܐܠܣܥܐܢܝܢ / ترجام عيد السعانين beginning with ܐܠܚܡܕ ܠܠܗ / الحمد لله. A box is drawn at the bottom of recto, under ‘In the name of the Father...’. Ca. 16th-17th century.Condition: Torn, stainedLayout: 8 lines (recto); 15 lines (verso)
Alphabet writing exercise in Syriac and Garshuni, as well as exercises with phrases such as (on f. 1r) ‘from the Lord’, ‘from the Lord God’, ‘in the name of God the Father, ‘have mercy upon us, O Lord’, ‘from the Israelites’, and ‘bless my Lord’; (on f. 1v) two exercises of the start of the Lord’s Prayer (the first stops at ‘forgive us our debts’, and the second ‘as on earth’) according to the Peshitta (Matthew 6:9–13); (on f. 2r): ‘God’ and ‘Christ’; (on f. 2v) ‘from God’, ‘to come’, ‘Luke’, ‘his name’, ‘Jesus’, ‘bless my Lord’, ‘the glorified saints’, ‘our God’, ‘the saints’, and ‘heaven and earth’. Ca. 16th-17th century.Condition: Torn, stainedLayout: various lines
Small Garshuni fragment with barely any text preserved apart from the words ‘the Lord’ and ‘all the countries’ on recto. The rest of the recto and verso is blank apart from ink transfer. Ca. 16th-17th century.Condition: Cut, tornLayout: various lines
Recto: portion of the beginning of a Syriac hymn ‘My bones shall cry out’. This hymn is also found in the Book of Beth Gazo. It belongs to the Qolo ‘The father has written a letter,’ melody no. 2. While the rest of the Syriac fragments at the classmark Or.1081 2.75 are clearly Syriac-Orthodox based on content, this hymn is particularly anti-Nestorian, as it starts, ‘my bones shall cry out from the tomb, “The Virgin gave birth to God”.’ The hymn then goes on to state that ‘if I have any doubt’ about this, may I be thrown into Gehenna with Nestorius’. Verso: alphabetical writing exercise in Syriac, repeating ‘in the name of the Father, the Son and the Living Holy Spirit’. Ca. 16th-17th century.Condition: Torn, cutLayout: 7 lines
F. 1r: liturgical excerpt from Psalms 1:6-2:3 from the Syriac Peshitta, though with several variants that suggest it was copied from a recitation or from memory rather than from a written text. F. 1v: alphabet is written with a mnemonic in a grid (ʾabgad hawwaz ḥaṭṭī kalaman saʿfaṣ qaršat; i.e. using each letter in sequence), though an extra yūdh is written after lāmadh. F. 2r: alphabet exercise in which the letters ālaph to ṭēth are written with the vowel pthaha (a) and then mīm is repeated 22 times. Ca. 16th-17th century.Condition: Torn, stainedLayout: 7-8 lines (f. 2v is blank)
Recto: alphabet writing exercise in Syriac and Garshuni, with two sets of the alphabet letters in their isolated forms, each followed by ‘bless my Lord’. Each line is separated by a row of decorative symbols. Verso: liturgical excerpt of Psalm 8:1 from the Syriac Peshitta, with ll. 4-7 ‘and praise is due to you or God; bless my Lord’, a liturgical phrase to be recited at the end of a Psalm in the received liturgical tradition. Ca. 16th-17th century.Condition: Holes, stainedLayout: 7 lines (recto); 10 lines (verso)