First on the list is the British Library in London (BL), home to 10 of the surviving manuscripts, whose dates span the 6th–13th centuries. In fact, the BL has hundreds of very old Syriac manuscripts. This is thanks to Moses of Nisibis, a 10th-century monk who collected Syriac books when he was traveling to Baghdad in order to ask the caliph for tax breaks. He acquired many old manuscripts along the way, bringing them back to his monastery at Wadi al-Natrun (Scetis) in the Egyptian desert, where they stayed until most of them were relocated to European libraries in the 18th and 19th centuries. The BL ended up with the largest portion, by far. The oldest dated biblical manuscript in existence —in any language—is a Syriac manuscript of the Pentateuch from this collection, now residing in the BL.

I spent many hours poring over the Syriac Chrysostom in the Asian & African Studies reading room, taking breaks only to grab a quick lunch in the Library café with my friend and colleague, Bill Rankin. Bill was also conducting research in the BL, working on—appropriately enough—the history of the book. Alongside several long and fairly complete manuscripts that I needed at the BL, I was also able to look at a recently identified fragment that had originally been part of a larger manuscript at St. Catharine’s Monastery.

Jeff at the University of Birmingham, England

The other known piece of that same manuscript brought me to the second library on my list, that of the University of Birmingham. Though my time there was brief, it came with an extra treat: staying at a hotel adjacent to the Cadbury Chocolate factory in suburban Bournville. The aroma was caloric.

Naturally, I also spent time in Oxford. But although I was briefly in Oxford’s Bodleian Library—and in the world’s oldest continuously functioning Library at my own Merton College—my time at Oxford was dominated by the International Conference on Patristic Studies, where I read a paper about my recent work and sought feedback from other Syriacists and Chrysostom-specialists. Their input was very helpful.

Merton College Library, Mob Quad, Oxford

Since my alma mater had none of the manuscripts I needed, I left Oxford and went to The Other Place and the third library on my list, the resting place of two fairly late Syriac manuscripts awaiting my inspection. Although the manuscripts turned out not to be as useful as I hoped, the library staff were very helpful and quite nice.

Cambridge University Library

After several airplane flights and train journeys, I now have all the manuscript data I need to finish work on my project! Now I need only the time, the energy, and the focus. Somehow Sir Henry Savile, Warden of Merton College and Queen Elizabeth’s Greek tutor, was able to find time while translating the King James Version of the Bible to publish in 1610 a massive 8-volume folio edition of Chrysostom’s works in Greek, “the first major work of patristic scholarship to be published in England”[1] and “the one great work of Renaissance scholarship carried out in England.”[2] While I don’t expect the modest Chrysostom project of this Mertonian to have quite the same impact as Savile’s opus, his work inspires me to get it done!

As Chrysostom himself exhorts near the beginning of his Commentary on John, “Let us give diligent attention to the book that is laid open before us…” (Memra 2.11). His ancient meditations on John lay open before me, and as I read and translate them line-by-line, I am learning the truth of his insistence that the hard work of constant digging in the study of sacred things pays off in the discovery of pure gold for the soul (Memra 40.1).

Jeff in the British Library—relaxing, or happily shackled to the books?