Jesus as the mariner (1)

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The Syrian Church father Ephrem gives a symbolic title of Jesus in his Hymns on Virginity 31.15 as “Mariner sailing in the ship of the Cross”, which figure is applied also to the faithful Christians. The Syriac word for ‘mariner’ is mallāḥâ, which comes through Akkadian malāhu from Sumerian má-lah₄ “the one who pulls the ship”. In the Babylonian mythology, malāhu is applied to the underworld gods and to Marduk, who is called in Enūma Eliš 7.76-77: “Sirsir they named secondly Malah, let it remain so, Tiamat is his vessel and he the boatman.”

Sources (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Enūma Eliš 7.76-77
Ephrem Syrus, Hymns on Virginity 31.15

Bibliography

Amar Annus

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