Thread by @salam_rassi

Ever felt stuck reading a difficult text? Sergius of Rēshʿaynā (d. 536) has the answer—and it involves storks!

From his #Syriac treatise on Aristotle's writings addressed to Theodore (unedited; from MS Paris 354, fol. 1v):

'The saying among the Ancients goes, O our brother Theodore, that a bird called the stork rejoices and is strengthened when it detaches itself from cultivated lands, departs for the wilderness, and comes to to know its original dwelling place until the ends of its life. +

'Likewise, it seems to me that no one can comprehend the opinions of the ancients, nor penetrate the mystery of understanding their books, unless he detaches himself from the world and its affairs, forsakes the body—in mind, not place—and casts off all his passions behind him. +

'[Only] then, when there is nothing preventing him from running such a course that opposes his swiftness by way of bodily inclination, is the mind free to turn to its essence, gaze upon itself, see clearly what was written and judge well what was said and affirmed correctly.'

In other words, the mind, like the stork, must return to its origin in order to perceive truths.

Note the Syriac wordplay here (ḥurḇā meaning stork and ḥurbā meaning wilderness). But where does the analogy come from? The answer has eluded scholars like Henri Hugonnard-Roche.

A number of things come to mind (some of which occurred to Hugonnard-Roche).

Aristotle's History of Animals discusses storks, but nothing along the lines of Sergius' allegory. Likewise Pliny's Natural History, which speaks of how the stork cares for its parents in old age.

Unable to find a source in philosophy, Hugonnard-Roche speculated that Sergius' account must derive from a Christian monastic source. After all, Sergius' stork is said to leave the comfort of cultivated lands for the barren wastes.

The Sayings of the Desert Fathers springs to mind, a collection of apothegms attributed to Egyptian monastics compiled ca. 5th century. Withdrawal to the desert is a common theme of course, but no mention of storks as far as I can tell.

Another possible source is gnomologia, i.e. collected maxims attributed to Greek philosophers like Pythagoras, Socrates, Apollonius of Tyana, and Stomathalassa. These were popular in Greek and Syriac monastic circles in Late Antiquity. But again, no mention of storks.

Hugonnard-Roche observed resonances of the Delphic maxim 'know thyself' in Sergius' account. Recall that the stork escapes to the wilds in order to know its origins just as the mind sheds matter in order to return to its essence and gaze upon itself (la-mḥār ba-qnōmeh).

Aside: my favourite occurrence of the 'know-thyself' topos is in #alchemy. A work preserved in #Syriac by Zosimus of Panoplis (fl. 300) describes an electrum mirror which Alexander the Great kept in his palace as a talismanic reminder to examine himself.

Further aside: the 'know-theyself' theme also brings to mind the German proverb 'sich an die eigene Nase fassen' ('take yourself by your nose', i.e. 'look who's talking'). As you can see, early modern depictions like this one look remarkably like storks! Is there a common source?

Another possible source for the stork analogy is the Physiologus, an early Christian didactic bestiary composed in Greek and later translated into several languages. In line with Pliny, it speaks of the stork's filial piety, but nothing along the lines of Sergius' account.

There are also parallels in neighbouring traditions. The Muslim philosopher Avicenna wrote a poetic allegory in which the descent of the soul is like a dove taken captive. But whereas in Avicenna the wilderness (kharāb) is the body, in Sergius it is the realm of the mind.

Anyway, this issue has led me down some interesting rabbit holes. I'm no closer to solving the mystery, though. If anyone on here has any insights, please feel free to share them!