ANDRÁS MÉRCZ
researcher (PhD)
DATE OF BIRTH: 1986
E-MAIL: mercz@avicenna-kkki.hu
ADDRESS: Hungary, 2081 Piliscsaba, Fő út 2/A
PHONE: + 36 26 375 329/413
FIELD OF STUDY
Fields of interest: Syriac and Christian Arabic literature, Eastern Christians in the early modern period, Christian-Muslim relations, history of the Syrian Orthodox Church, history of the Syriac studies in Europe.
During my university studies, the Syrian Orthodox Church stood in the centre of my interest. I wrote my MA dissertations about the history of Turabdin, which was for centuries the centre of this church, and about the dating problems of mass conversions of Christians in the Abbasid period. I also studied the Arabic Bible translations and the literature of the Christian-Muslim apologetic debates.
My dissertation focused on the beginnings of the Syriac studies in 16th-century Europe. The history of Syriac philology concentrated mainly on European scholars, although – especially in the early period ‒ there was an Eastern Christian monk behind every humanist. In my thesis, I studied the work of Moses of Mardin who taught Syriac for the first generation of European scholars, played an important role in the first printing of the Syriac New Testament and contributed largely to the foundation of the Syriac and Christian Arabic manuscript collection of the Vatican. I prepared the edition of an extremely valuable unpublished corpus: his Syriac correspondence with Andreas Masius.
EDUCATION
2012–2016: Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Doctoral School of Linguistics (supervisor: Dr. György Fodor)
2005–2013: Pázmány Péter Catholic University – Faculty of Humanities: History BA and MA
2005–2012: Pázmány Péter Catholic University – Faculty of Humanities: Arabic Studies BA and MA
SCHOLARSHIPS, STUDY TRIPS
2022: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (München) – Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv (Wiesbaden) – Plantin-Moretus Museum (Antwerpen) – 1 week
2022: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana – Archivio della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede (Rome) – 2 weeks
2019: Staatsbibliothek (Berlin, Germany) – 1 week
2019: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (München, Germany) – 2 weeks
2018: Cambridge University Library (Cambridge, UK) – 1 week
2018: Institut dominicain d’études orientales (Cairo, Egypt) – 1 month
2018: Österreichisches Staatsarchiv (Vienna, Austria) – 1 week
2017: Institut dominicain d’études orientales (Cairo, Egypt) – 1 month
2016: Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana (Rome, Italy) – 2 weeks
2016: Institut dominicain d’études orientales (Cairo, Egypt) – 1 month
2015: Institut dominicain d’études orientales (Cairo, Egypt) – 1 month
2014: Institut dominicain d’études orientales (Cairo, Egypt) – 1 month
2013: Leiden University Library – Special Collection (Leiden, Holland) – Campus Hungary scholarship, 1 month
2011: Institut Catholique de Paris (Paris, France) – Erasmus scholarship, 6 months
2010: Dayr Mor Gabriel (Midyat, Turkey) – Syriac language course, 1 month
2009: al-Qamishli (Syria) – Syriac language course, 1 month
2007–2008: The Arabic Teaching Institute for Non-Arabic Speakers (Damascus, Syria) – Hungarian State Grant, 10 months