A Syriac miniature Bible manuscript dated 1596 with a silver binding added in 1785.

It begins with readings for the first Sunday of Advent from the book of Isaiah where the prophet calls for repentance and preparation for the coming of His Son: “Christ has already come, at the first Christmas; but he is coming again at the end of time, we need to prepare our souls”

An inscription in Garshuni-Syriac runs along the sides of the box, it reads: “Every effort was made to accomplish this Bible (actually the cover) by Youssef Youhanna from (illegible) as veneration for the Christian word.

Finished by Qeryaqus in the year 2096 (Greek=A.D. 1785). Almost two hundred years had elapsed before the new owner commissioned the silver box to adorn and protect this Bible.

The colophon reads: “Finished and completed this adorable book, the Bible of Jesus our Lord, by the hand of the sinner, Michael Bar Barsoumo Garbishoyo, (of the Village of Garbish, Turkey) in the year 2026
1908″ (Greek=A.D. 1596).

The Syriac language:
It emerged during the first century AD from a local Eastern Aramaic dialect that was spoken in the ancient Neo-Assyrian kingdom and region of Osroene, centered in the city of Edessa (Urhai). During the Early Christian period, it became the main literary language of various Aramaic-speaking Christian communities in the historical regions of Ancient Syria, Assyria and throughout the Near East.

Classical Syriac is written in the Syriac alphabet, a derivation of the Aramaic alphabet. The language is preserved in a large body of Syriac literature, which comprises roughly 90% of the extant Aramaic literature. Along with Greek and Latin, Syriac became one of the three most important languages of Early Christianity.
As a liturgical language of Syriac Christianity, Classical Syriac spread throughout Asia as far as the Southwestern India (Malabar Coast), and Eastern China, and became the medium of communication and cultural dissemination for the later Arabs, and (to a lesser extent) the other peoples of Parthian and Sasanian empires. Primarily a Christian medium of expression, Syriac had a fundamental cultural and literary influence on the development of Arabic, which largely replaced it during the later medieval period. Syriac remains the sacred language of Syriac Christianity to this day.