Vestnik Pravoslavnogo Svâto-Tihonovskogo Gumanitarnogo Universiteta: Seriâ III. Filologiâ (Dec 2022)
Ğirmānūs Farhāt (1670–1732), maronite archbishop of Aleppo: life and selected works
Abstract
The article is devoted to a review of the life and literary heritage of Ğirmānūs Farḥāt (1670–1732), the Maronite archbishop of Aleppo, a significant figure in the history of Arabic literature. Living a century before the beginning of the Arab literary revival (the so-called Nahḍa), this scholar, writer and poet made a lot of efforts to make this revival possible. A large number of works on syntax, lexicology, morphology, stylistics, and rhetoric belong to the archbishop. Through his works, he sought to raise the educational background of the Christian population of the Middle East and destroy the idea that a Christian could not be fluent in the sacred language of the Koran. Ğirmānūs Farḥāt became famous for his zealous church service: he was the ideological encourager of the Lebanese monastic order and the archbishop of the one of the most important cities in Ottoman Syria. His dynamic educational and scientific activity resonated with many scientists and writers of that time. The interest in the figure of the archbishop appeared at the end of the 19th — beginning of the 20th century, and S. al-Šartūnī, J. Manash and I. Yu. Krachkovsky played an integral role in this process. In this paper, an attempt is made to give a comprehensive view of the figure of Ğirmānūs Farḥāt and to determine what caused the interest of scientists in his heritage.
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