GEORGE OF THE ARABS. – Bishop of the nomadic tribes on the margins of Syria and Mesopotamia, consecrated in 686, d. 724. He was Monophysite and Edessa (v.), whose Hexaemeron he completed.
His principal work is a Syriac version of Aristotle’s Organon. Notable are his letters, especially the one to the recluse Išo’. G. was the first among the Syriac Monophysites to write a study on the Sacraments under the title *Explanation of the Mysteries of the Church*, in which he treats of Baptism (and Confirmation), the Eucharist, and the consecration of the myron.
BIBL.: V. Ryssol, *G. des Araberbischofs Gedichte und Briefe*, Leipzig 1891; id., *Poemi siriaci di G. vescovo degli Arabi*, Rome 1892; A. Baumstark, *Geschichte der syrischen Literatur*, Bonn 1923, pp. 257 ff.; J. B. Chabot, *Littérature syriaque*, Paris 1934, pp. 22, 25, 28.