The Testament of Our Lord Jesus Christ Concerning the Mongol invasions

Patrick Wing’s talk at the CMES “Mongols, Mamluks, And Others” conference last Saturday was centered on “The Testament of Our Lord Jesus Christ Concerning the Mongol invasions,” a 14th century Syriac Christian text that was produced in Egypt after the Mongol-Mamluk Wars.

Many Syriac Christians chose to flee to Egypt as the Mongols advanced towards them, and Egypt already had a thriving Coptic Christian community under Mamluk rule. This text is interesting, according to Wing, because it combines historical commentary with apocalyptic writing. The historical writing comes after the introduction, before the author dedicates the remainder of the work to prophetic, end-times commentary. The unknown author of this text was apparently quite familiar with the Coptic apocalyptic works because they largely followed convention.

The middle part of the document, the historical narrative, is largely concerned with the reign(s) of Al-Nasir Muhammad, although it does mention the Mamluk wars with the Crusader states and the Battle of Ayn Jalut. The unknown author also describes the Battle of Marj al-Saffar, and many other Mamluk victories, despite his critical stance towards the Mamluks overall and lamentation over the state of his co-religionists in this part of the world.

Throughout his talk, Wing referenced the work of Jos Van Lent, who wrote the short article below on The Testament.