Originally delivered as one of the St. Margaret’s Lectures for 1904, the contents of this booklet are focused on aspects of the Syriac-speaking Church. Extracted from Burkitt’s book Early Eastern Christianity, the first lecture concerns the early bishops of Edessa. Starting from the basic difference between Eastern and Western Christian outlooks, Burkitt briefly sketches the early history of documented Edessa. Christianity appeared in the city between its sacking by the Romans and its incorporation into the Roman Empire around the start of the third century A.D. The lone exemplar of a Syriac-speaking Christian center at the time, Edessa eagerly traced its Christian origins back to the work of Addai and reign of Abgar as narrated in the Doctrine of Addai. The sources for the bishop Barsamya present a somewhat confused account that can not be regarded as historical. Historically reliable bishops begin with Qona. The Persian War of the fourth century is a defining event in the church at Edessa. Teasing out history from tradition, Burkitt tries to reconstruct who the early bishops of Edessa were, based on the use of sources at the such great chroniclers as Michael the Syrian.

Francis Crawford Burkitt (1864-1935) began his academic career as a student of mathematics. While at Cambridge University he moved to Divinity, becoming the Norrisian Professor. His interest in the text of the New Testament led him to study Syriac manuscripts and to publish widely in the field. He was a fellow of the British Academy.