GIORGIO degli ARABI. — Bishop of the nomadic tribes on the margins of Syria and Mesopotamia, consecrated in 686, died in 724. He was a Monophysite and Giacomo di Edessa (v.), whose Hexaemeron he completed.
His principal work is a Syriac version of Aristotle’s Organon. His letters are of interest, especially that to the recluse 180'. G. was the first among the Syrian Monophysites to write a study on the Sacraments, entitled Spiegazione dei Misteri della Chiesa, in which he discusses Baptism (and Confirmation), the Eucharist, and the consecration of the “myron.”
BIBL.: V. Ryssel, G. des Araberbischofs Gedichte und Briefe, Lipsia 1891; id., Poemi siriani di G. vescovo degli Arabi, Roma 1892; A. Baumstark, Geschichte der syrischen Literatur, Bonn 1922, p. 257 ff.; J. B. Chabot, Littérature syriaque, Parigi 1934, pp. 22, 25, 88. Guglielmo de Vries