Ishoyahb III

For the near-contemporary patriarch Ishoʿyahb II of Gdala (62845), see Ishoyahb II.

Ishoʿyahb III of Adiabene was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 649 to 659.

Sources

Brief accounts of Ishoʿyahb's patriarchate are given in the Ecclesiastical Chronicle of the Jacobite writer Bar Hebraeus (thirteenth-century), and the ecclesiastical histories of the Church of the East writers Mari (twelfth-century), ʿAmr (fourteenth-century) and Sliba (fourteenth-century). There are also the works he penned himself.

Early career

Ishoʿyahb was the son of a wealthy Persian Christian named Bastomagh, of Kuphlana in Adiabene, who was a frequent visitor to the monastery of Beth ʿAbe.[1] He was educated at the School of Nisibis, became bishop of Nineveh, and was afterwards appointed metropolitan of Adiabene. As metropolitan of Adiabene he hindered the Jacobites from building a church in Mosul, despite the fact that they were supported by all the weight and influence of the Tagritians from Tikrit. Bar Hebraeus declares that he bribed right and left to effect this. He was one of the members of the delegation of the Church of the East which met the Roman emperor Heraclius in Aleppo in 630, and took away a very costly and beautiful casket, containing relics of the apostles, from a church at Antioch. Many argue the casket was stolen similar to how relics were often stolen during the Crusades. He donated the casket to the monastery of Beth ʿAbe.[1]

Ishoyahb's patriarchate

On Maremmeh's death in 647, the Church of the East in what is now Iraq elevated Ishoʿyahb to the Catholicate. However Metropolitan Shemʿon of Rev Ardashir did not recognise this.

Ishoʿyahb maintained good relations with the Arabs - whom he called variously Tayy, Muhajirs, and Hanifs - but never did heal the schism in his own Church.

Ishoʿyahb died in 659.

Works

Ishoʿyahb wrote a Refutation Of Opinions on behalf of John, Metropolitan of Beth Lapat, several other tracts and sermons, some hymns, a vita of the martyr Isho-sabhran, and an exhortation to novices. He is also known for making substantial improvements to the liturgy of the Church for the daily office and for various sacraments.[1] The Chronicle of Seert, Pt.1.1, pg.85 (295), also credits him with choosing the three eucharistic anaphoras that are currently in use in the Assyrian Church of the East.

Ishoʿyahb is chiefly studied today for his letters during his catholicate; because these open a glimpse into a critical time in history of the Church of the East, and also witness to their relations with the Arabs under the caliphates of ʿUthman and ʿAli (although the Arab leaders are not named).

In a letter addressed to the schismatic Shemʿon:

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 William Wright (1894). A short history of Syriac literature. London: Adam and Charles Black. pp. 171–174.
  2. Robert G. Hoyland (1998). Seeing Islam as Others Saw It. Darwin Press. pp. 174–82., 179. Quoting Ep. 48B, 97.
  3. Hoyland, 181-2 quoting Ep. 14C, 51

See also

References

External links

Preceded by
Maremmeh
(646649)
Catholicus-Patriarch of the East
649659
Succeeded by
Giwargis I
(661680)
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