Work to date has focused primarily on the fifth case study: the Ethiopic reception of Syriac literature. Already at the application stage, this case study was identified as that of the largest magnitude and scope, and this preconception has been confirmed during the first years of the project. Among the vast amount of material, the project has focused so far on Ethiopic homilies attributed to major Syriac authors. Inventories are nearing completion for the most widely attested figures in Ethiopic: Aphrahat, Ephrem, Jacob of Serugh, Philoxenos, and Simeon the Stylite. These inventories provide for each text not only a full listing of the extant Ethiopic manuscript witnesses but also, when relevant, the precise identification of the ultimate Syriac source. In addition, particular attention is paid to the Arabic intermediaries, which have for the most part been neglected in previous scholarship.
Work on the other case studies is mostly slated for the second half of the project. Nevertheless, some results can already be reported. As part of the third case study, new research is in progress on the Ethiopic Abba Gärima Gospels, including the all-important question of their dating, which has long vexed scholars. In addition, preliminary results have been presented on a new reading of the hagiographies of the Nine Saints, as a historical source not for Late Antiquity but rather for the Medieval period, when the texts were written and promulgated.
In addition to these achievements, which were planned at the application stage, the BeInf project has pursued several unanticipated trajectories. A couple of examples will suffice to illustrate. First is a turn to Egypt. In trying to identify actual points of contact between Ethiopic and Syriac Christians, Egypt has emerged as a primary location. In Spring of 2024, two team members and a future team member carried out a research trip to Egypt, visiting various churches and monasteries in the Wadi al-Natrun, in Cairo, and along the Red Sea. The project can now leverage previously undocumented inscriptions and graffiti to establish that Ethiopic and Syriac Christians were at some of the same places at the same time—a crucial element, though until now entirely overlooked, in the connected histories of Ethiopic and Syriac Christians. In a similar vein, the project has explored other places of direct contact between Ethiopic and Syriac Christians. A programmatic article that recently appeared, for instances, looks to a single line of Syriac written in an Ethiopic manuscript—evidence that has never been considered—to highlight the fact that Ethiopic and Syriac Christians were living together in Santo Stefano degli Abissini (or dei Mori), the well-known Ethiopic pilgrim hostel-cum-monastery, in Rome in the mid sixteenth century. (see
https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/article/hv27n1butts(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre))
