The Christian Sogdian manuscripts in Syriac script which were found at a
Central Asian outpost of the Church of the East, the monastery at
Bulayiq in the Turfan oasis, and are now preserved in the Berlin Turfan
collection, include a large number of fragments in a distinctive
handwriting which have been catalogued under the designation E28.
Through his choice of texts to translate or to copy the scribe
demonstrates his interest in the practice and traditions of monasticism,
originating with St Anthony and the other Desert Fathers, the solitaries
and monks of the Egyptian desert, and transplanted to Mesopotamia and
Iran, according to legend, by Mar Awgen (Eugenius). In addition to works
whose Syriac sources have been identified, such as passages from the
spiritual writings of Sem'on d-Taibuteh, Isaac of Nineveh and Dadiso
Qatraya, as well as from the life of Mar Awgen, E28 contains a number of
unidentified texts, also no doubt translated from Syriac, many of which
deal with aspects of the ascetic life. This volume contains an edition
and translation of all the texts, most of them previously unpublished,
together with a commentary, glossary and 35 plates. An appendix contains
critical editions of some of the parallel Syriac passages.