Moses of Mardin (Syriac: ܡܘܫܐ ܕܡܪܕܝܢ, romanized: Mūše d-Mārdīn; d. 1592), also called Moses al-Ṣawri, was a Syriac Orthodox cleric, scribe, teacher, and emissary. He is best known for his role in bringing Syriac Christian literature to the attention of European scholars, and producing the first printed edition of the Syriac New Testament (Peshitta) in Europe. During his travels across Europe, Moses taught Syriac, translated and copied numerous religious and philosophical texts, and engaged with prominent humanists and orientalists such as Johann Albrecht Widmanstetter, Andreas Masius and Guillaume Postel. His manuscripts and printed works laid the foundation for the study of Syriac literature in Europe and preserved key historical and liturgical texts of the Syriac Orthodox tradition.

Moses was born to an Assyrian family in Qaluq, a village in the region of Ṣawro near Mardin, the son of a priest named Isaac. At the age of eight, he was bitten by a snake, which caused the loss of his right thumb and left his index finger permanently crooked.

Patriarch Ignatius Abdullah I bar Stephanos sent Moses to Europe with Syriac New Testament manuscripts and letters of recommendation, likely due to the patriarch's open attitudes toward communion, or at least positive ecumenical dialogue, with the Catholic Church. He arrived in Rome sometime before 1549 and was granted an audience with Pope Paul III. Paul sent him back to Mardin with a letter to the patriarch who then dispatched Moses again to Rome, this time with his confession of faith. By then Paul had died, so Moses presented the confession to his successor, Pope Julius III.

While in Rome, Moses stayed at the Ethiopian monastery of San Stefano near the Vatican, where he befriended the monk Taṣfa Ṣejon (Petrus Aethiops) and worked on a Syriac translation of the Latin liturgy. He studied Latin and Italian while teaching Syriac, and came into contact with prominent orientalists including Guillaume Postel, Andreas Masius, and Johann Albrecht Widmanstetter. Moses also demonstrated a basic knowledge of Ethiopic. He reports that when he was in Rome, he saw with his own eyes "the mandila which was sent by our Lord to Abgar", specifying that it was located in the Church of the Apostles Peter and Paul; this is in reference to the Doctrine of Addai.

Moses sought to establish a Syriac printing press in Rome, securing partial financial backing from then-Cardinal and Vatican librarian Marcello Cervini, who gave him 13 gold scudi; however, the support proved inadequate to fully realize the printing project. In addition to his priestly status being doubted, Moses left Rome, arriving in northern Germany with one of the NT Syriac manuscripts where he partnered with Widmanstetter, who had long been interested in Syriac studies. Widmanstetter, who had been charged by Teseo Ambrogio to study Syriac, "the language hallowed by the blessed lips of Christ", managed to get Moses an audience with Ferdinand, King of Hungary and Bohemia, who supported the projected and led the two to produce the first printed Syriac New Testament in Vienna in 1555. In Austria, Emperor Ferdinand granted him a coat of arms, a gift Moses excitedly reported to Masius. He also expressed hope that Europe would defeat the Ottoman Empire, which he saw as divine justice against Turkish domination. Moses resided in the Jesuit hall at Am Hof Square [de] in Vienna.

Moses provided models for the type, drawing each Serṭo character in his elegant handwriting for the engravers, who engraved the typeface for the press based on his handwriting. The colophon is dated September 27, 1555. About 1,000 copies were printed: 500 for Europe, 300 for the Syriac Orthodox and Maronite patriarchs, and 200 for Moses, who distributed them to various Eastern churches, including the patriarch of the Church of the East. While Dolabani later claimed that copies were kept at the Mor Hananyo Monastery near Mardin, none have been found; they may have been moved to the Church of the Forty Martyrs nearby.

The edition circulated widely. Azariah dei Rossi utilized this works for clarifying what he perceived as corrupt or obscure passages in the New Testament Vulgate, particularly those containing Aramaic expressions. To support his argument, he analyzed seventeen Gospel passages with Aramaic words, presenting each first in the Latin Vulgate, then in Syriac (using Serṭo script and cursive Hebrew and Latin transcription), and finally in his own Italian translation. Dei Rossi primarily used Teseo Ambrogio degli Albonesi’s Introductio as a resource for learning Syriac, which he viewed as merely a different alphabet for writing Aramaic, while also referencing Widmanstetter’s Elementa.

Some editions included the entire New Testament, while others contained only the Gospels, sometimes accompanied by Widmanstetter’s Elementa (1555–56), a Syriac primer. On his return journey to Mardin, Moses sold copies along the way, including in Famagusta, Cyprus, in October 1556.