On October 5, 200t a defence of the PhD Dissertation by Natalia S. Smelova will be held. The Dissertation is entitled Melkite Syriac Hymnography to the Virgin Mary from the 9th to 13th Century as a Source for the History of Oriental Christianity (Based upon the Syriac MS New Series 11 from the National Library of Russia). 

Advisor
Prof Dr Elena N. Mescherskaya

Official Opponents:
Dr Aly I. Kolesnikov (Saint Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies, the Russian Academy of Sciences)
Dr Irina N. Lebedeva (Russian National Library)

A Third Organization:
the State Hermitage

The synopsis of the thesis (in Russian) is available as a *.PDF file (Download...).