Feodorov, Ioana. Arabic Printing for the Christians in Ottoman Lands: The East-European Connection. Early Arabic Printing in the East 1. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2023. xxiv, 466 pages ISBN 978-3-11-078684-2
Ioana Feodorov is a Senior Researcher at the Institute for South-East European Studies at the Romanian Academy in Bucharest. She is also the Principal Investigator of the TYPARABIC Project series devoted to researching the context and outcome of 18th century Arabic liturgical, theological, and polemical works printed for Arabic-speaking Catholics and Orthodox living in the Ottoman Levant. Arabic Printing for the Christians in Ottoman Lands is the first of six volumes in the series printed by De Gruyter.
The book tells the story of the Christian Arabic-speaking scholars of the 18th century who made great efforts to print and circulate books across their communities. Feodorov’s analysis of Romania’s role in the commencement of Arabic-type printing in Eastern Europe and the Ottoman Levant is central to this narrative. She explores the partnership of Antim the Iberian and Athanasios III Dabbas, twice patriarch of Aleppo, from 1701 to 1702 in Romania. She contends that their joint work and the subsequent establishment of printing presses in Levantine cities contributed to modernity’s arrival in the Middle East.
In Chapter 1, Feodorov offers a brief history of Arabic books printed in Western and Central Europe before 1700. She chronicles Rome’s efforts in the 16th century to print liturgical books for Arabic-speaking Christians in the Levant. Feodorov concludes the chapter with a survey of secondary research on Arabic book printing in Eastern Europe, stating that her book responds to the dearth of information on Romania’s connection with Arabic book printing in the Levant.
Chapter 2 shifts focus to Arabic book printing in Eastern Europe and the Ottoman Empire before 1700, noting hesitations and obstacles to the technology’s implementation. She expounds on the circulation of Catholic books in the Levant, explaining how this prompted a desire among the Orthodox to print books consistent with their traditions. Feodorov also notes instances of Christians printing Arabic books within the Ottoman Empire but clarifies that book printing using Arabic type did not occur until 1706 in Aleppo.
Chapter 3 provides the background leading up to the pivotal years of 1701–1702 when the collaborative work of Antim and Dabbas produced the first Arabic-type books in Eastern Europe. Feodorov describes the political and religious context that initiated Dabbas’s journey to Bucharest, where he acquired the tools, expertise, and financial support needed to establish the first Arabic-type press in the Ottoman Empire in 1706. She also captures the growing tension between Catholics and Orthodox to print and circulate their theological material, culminating in Antioch’s division in 1724.
Chapter 4 describes Catholic missionary efforts during the early decades of the 18th century to convince members of the Church of Antioch to align themselves with Rome. She chronicles the pioneering work in Lebanon of Dabbas’s apprentice, Abdallah Zahir, whose press she describes as a beacon for Greek Catholics in the Levant. As the distribution of Catholic liturgical and polemical books increased, Feodorov states that the Orthodox saw printing as a way to standardize their liturgical texts and combat the wave of Catholic books circulating in Antioch. She details Patriarch Sylvester’s efforts, Dabbas’s successor, to relaunch Arabic printing in the Romanian Principalities after the Aleppo press ceased its activities in 1711.
Chapter 5 traces the events that led to the second transfer of printing expertise to the Levant. Access to Arabic type enabled precise translations of Arabic books, improving the ability of Antiochian Church leaders to communicate and defend their theologies to Arabic-speaking Christians. The use of Bucharest-made Arabic type, Feodorov explains, demonstrates Romania’s continued connection to the Orthodox Church in the Levant. She concludes the chapter by narrating the journey of Yusuf Mark, a Syrian disciple of Patriarch Sylvester, tasked with learning from Bucharest printers in order to establish the first Arabic-type printing workshop for Orthodox books in Beirut.
Chapter 6 offers lists of Arabic books printed during different periods in Romania, coupled with descriptions of the books’ physical appearance and content. She begins with books printed in Wallachia from 1701 to 1702 by Antim and Dabbas. Then, she offers a list and description of the books printed by Dabbas in Aleppo from 1706 to 1711. The chapter’s third section highlights books printed by Patriarch Sylvester in Moldavia from 1745 to 1747. The last section concludes with books printed in Beirut after 1750.
Chapter 7 counters the view that the efforts of Antim and Dabbas to print theological books for Arabic-speaking Christians in the 18th century contributed little to modernity’s arrival in the Ottoman Levant. She re-emphasizes how Prince Constantin Brancoveanu’s financial generosity facilitated this movement and concludes the chapter with a summary of the book’s main points.
Chapter 8 offers an addendum about Mihail Stefan, an apprentice of Antim the Iberian. Like Antim, Stefan was Georgian and returned to his homeland to open a printing workshop. Feodorov explains that the workshop functioned until 1722, when the Ottoman conquest of the province suspended the work. After the conquest, she explains how Stefan and his apprentices spread across the Middle East, where they employed their printing skills, thereby conveying Antim’s continued and widespread impact.
While not the book’s objective, readers gain much insight into the Catholic-Orthodox tension and how they periodically requested Ottoman authorities to intervene on their behalf. Such tensions, understandably, are often depicted with scathing cynicism, but Feodorov’s gracious description of the conflict as the employment of printed material to offer spiritual guidance to their respective flocks is a refreshing approach.
Feodorov is thorough in her narration, though at times, her thoroughness expands beyond what her subsections’ titles indicate. Where this occurs, the flow of her narration, at least for someone outside the field, is challenging to follow. Nevertheless, she accomplishes her objective of narrating the efforts of Arabic-speaking Christians to print and circulate books in the Ottoman Levant. The numerous archival documents she uses demonstrate the Romanian Principalities’ central role in these efforts. This book is a must-read for those seeking to understand Romania’s contribution to Arabic printing in the Levant.
H. Morgan Nix
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary