Theresia Hainthaler: Colossians 1:15 in the Christological reflection of East Syrian authors

As R. Cantalamessa has shown in his research on the Patristic tradition on Col. 1:15 (Cristo “immagine di Dio”, in: Rivista di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa 16 (1980) 181-212. 345-380), there are two lines of interpretation, one from Irenaeus, Tertullian, Marcel of Ancyra, Theodore of Mopsuestia, and the other from Origen, Athanasius, Cappadocian fathers, Hilary and John Chrysostom. Especially with Babai the Great in the 7th century, but also already in Ishoyahb I and Henana, or later in Timothy I, this Biblical passage has a specific significance in the Christology of East Syrian authors. The paper analyzes how Col 1:15, crucial for Christology, is interpreted in the East Syrian tradition and in the symbol (Antiochenum) and whether it follows the line of Theodore of Mopsuestia.