[3] According to Jacob of Edessa, Paul fled to Egypt with many other bishops to escape the Sasanian invasion and occupation of Mesopotamia precipitated by the defection and rebellion of Narses, governor of Mesopotamia, who seized Edessa with Sasanian support in 602–03.
[a] A scribal notation in a manuscript dated to 675, refers to a Syriac version of the Gloria in excelsis of Athanasius of Alexandria as "translated by Paul, according to the tradition of Qenneshre".
[4] In 623 or 624, during his time on Cyprus, Paul revised an earlier translation of the complete Discourses of Gregory of Nazianzus and the Commentaries of Pseudo-Nonnos.
[1][2][3][5] This translation, made between 619 and 629, was revised by Jacob of Edessa in 675 to make it more literal.
[3] According to Jacob's note of explanation, the hymns were "translated from the Greek tongue into the Edessene or Syriac speech by the saintly Mar Paul who was bishop of the city of Edessa, while he was in the island of Cyprus, in flight from the Persians"[6] Paul may also be the translator of the famous pericope in the Gospel of John (7:50–8:12) concerning the woman taken in adultery, which is not found in the earliest Syriac New Testament manuscripts of the Peshitta and Ḥarqlean versions.