List of patriarchs of the Church of the East

Last updated

The Patriarch of the Church of the East (also known as Patriarch of Babylon, Patriarch of the East, the Catholicos-Patriarch of the East or the Grand Metropolitan of the East) [1] [2] [3] is the patriarch, or leader and head bishop (sometimes referred to as Catholicos or universal leader) of the Church of the East. The position dates to the early centuries of Christianity within the Sassanid Empire, and the church has been known by a variety of names, including the Church of the East, Nestorian Church, the Persian Church, the Sassanid Church, or East Syrian. [4] In the 16th and 17th century the Church, by now restricted to its original Assyrian homeland in Upper Mesopotamia, experienced a series of splits, resulting in a series of competing patriarchs and lineages. Today, the three principal churches that emerged from these splits, the Assyrian Church of the East, Ancient Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church, each have their own patriarch – the Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, the Patriarch of the Ancient Church of the East and the Patriarch of Baghdad of the Chaldeans, respectively.

Contents

List of patriarchs until the schism of 1552

According to Church legend, the Apostleship of Edessa (Assyria) is alleged to have been founded by Shimun Keepa (Saint Peter) (33–64), [5] Thoma Shlikha, (Saint Thomas), Tulmay (St. Bartholomew the Apostle) and of course Mar Addai (St. Thaddeus) of the Seventy disciples. Saint Thaddeus was martyred c.66 AD.

Saint Thomas the Apostle Syro-Malabar icon of Throne of Mar Thoma.jpg
Saint Thomas the Apostle

Early bishops

Bishops of Seleucia-Ctesiphon

Around 280, visiting bishops consecrated Papa bar Aggai as Bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, thereby establishing the succession. [12] With him, heads of the church took the title Catholicos.

Metropolitans of Seleucia-Ctesiphon

Isaac was recognised as 'Grand Metropolitan' and Primate of the Church of the East at the Synod of Seleucia-Ctesiphon in 410. The acts of this Synod were later edited by the Patriarch Joseph (552–567) to grant him the title of Catholicos as well. This title for Patriarch Isaac in fact only came into use towards the end of the fifth century.

Catholicoi of Seleucia-Ctesiphon

With Dadisho, the significant disagreement on the dates of the Catholicoi in the sources start to converge. In 424, under Mar Dadisho I, the Church of the East declared itself independent of all the Church of the West (Emperor Justinian's Pentarchy); thereafter, its Catholicoi began to use the additional title of Patriarch. [12] During his reign, the Council of Ephesus in 431 denounced Nestorianism.

In 544 the Synod of Mar Aba I adopted the ordinances of the Council of Chalcedon. [14]

From 628, the Maphrian also began to use the title Catholicos. See the List of Maphrians for details.

In 775, the seat transferred from Seleucia-Ctesiphon to Baghdad, the recently established capital of the ʿAbbasid caliphs. [15]

Patriarchal lines from the schism of 1552 until 1830

By the Schism of 1552 the Church of the East was divided into many splinters but two main factions, of which one entered into full communion with the Catholic Church and the other remained independent. A split in the former line in 1681 resulted in a third faction.

The Eliya line (1) in Alqosh ended in 1804, having lost most of its followers to Yohannan VIII Hormizd, a member of the same family, who became a Catholic and in 1828, after the death of a rival candidate, a nephew of the last recognized patriarch of the Josephite line in Amid (3), was chosen as Catholic patriarch. Mosul then became the residence of the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church until the transfer to Baghdad in the mid-20th century. For subsequent Chaldean Catholic patriarchs, see List of Chaldean Catholic patriarchs of Baghdad.

The Shemʿon line (2) remained the only line not in communion with the Catholic Church. In 1976 it officially adopted the name "Assyrian Church of the East". [25] [26] For subsequent patriarchs in this line, see List of patriarchs of the Assyrian Church of the East.

Numeration of the Eliya line patriarchs

Since patriarchs of the Eliya line bore the same name (Syriac : ܐܠܝܐ / Elīyā) without using any pontifical numbers, later researchers were faced with several challenges, while trying to implement long standing historiographical practice of individual numeration. First attempts were made by early researchers during the 18th and 19th century, but their numeration was later (1931) revised by Eugène Tisserant, who also believed that during the period from 1558 to 1591 there were two successive Eliya patriarchs, numbered as VI (1558-1576) and VII (1576-1591), and in accordance with that he also assigned numbers (VIII-XIII) to their successors. [27] That numeration was accepted and maintained by several other scholars. [28] [29] In 1966 and 1969, the issue was reexamined by Albert Lampart and William Macomber, who concluded that in the period from 1558 to 1591 there was only one patriarch (Eliya VI), and in accordance with that appropriate numbers (VII-XII) were reassigned to his successors. [30] [31] In 1999, same conclusion was reached by Heleen Murre-van den Berg, who presented additional evidence in favor of the new numeration. [32] Revised numeration was accepted in modern scholarly works, [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] with one notable exception.

Tisserant′s numeration is still advocated by David Wilmshurst, who does acknowledge the existence of only one Eliya patriarch during the period from 1558 to 1591, but counts him as Eliya "VII" and his successors as "VIII" to "XIII", without having any existing patriarch designated as Eliya VI in his works, [40] [17] [41] an anomaly noticed by other scholars, [36] [38] [39] but left unexplained and uncorrected by Wilmshurst, even after the additional affirmation of proper numbering, by Samuel Burleson and Lucas van Rompay, in the "Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage" (2011). [37]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assyrian Church of the East</span> Eastern Christian denomination

The Assyrian Church of the East (ACOE), sometimes called the Church of the East and officially known as the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East (HACACE), is an Eastern Christian church that follows the traditional Christology and ecclesiology of the historical Church of the East. It belongs to the eastern branch of Syriac Christianity, and employs the Divine Liturgy of Saints Addai and Mari belonging to the East Syriac Rite. Its main liturgical language is Classical Syriac, a dialect of Eastern Aramaic, and the majority of its adherents are ethnic Assyrians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa</span> Head of the Chaldean Catholic Church from 1553 to 1555

Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa was the first Patriarch of what was to become the Shemʿon line of Chaldean Catholic Church, from 1553 to 1555, after it absorbed this Church of the East patriarchate into full communion with the Holy See and the Catholic Church.

The Metropolitanate of Maishan or Maysan was an East Syriac metropolitan province of the Church of the East between the fifth and thirteenth centuries. The historical region of Maishan or Maysan is situated in southern Iran. The metropolitans of Maishan sat at Prath d'Maishan, and for most of its history the province had three suffragan dioceses, at Karka d'Maishan, Rima and Nahargur. The last metropolitan of Maishan, the noted East Syriac author Shlemun (Solomon) of Basra, is attested in 1222, and it is not clear when the province ceased to exist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patriarchal Province of Seleucia-Ctesiphon</span>

The Patriarchal Province of Seleucia-Ctesiphon was an ecclesiastical province of the Church of the East, with see in Seleucia-Ctesiphon. It was attested between the fifth and thirteenth centuries. As its name entails, it was the province of the patriarch of the Church of the East. The province consisted of a number of dioceses in the region of Beth Aramaye, between Basra and Kirkuk, which were placed under the patriarch's direct supervision at the synod of Yahballaha I in 420.

Beth Huzaye or ʿIlam was an East Syriac metropolitan province of the Church of the East, between the fifth and fourteenth centuries. The metropolitan bishops of Beth Huzaye sat at Beth Lapat (Jundishapur). The metropolitan province of Beth Huzaye had a number of suffragan dioceses at different periods in its history, including Karka d'Ledan, Hormizd Ardashir, Shushter, Susa, Ispahan, Mihraganqadaq and Ram Hormizd. The diocese of Shahpur Khwast may also have been a suffragan diocese of the province of Beth Huzaye.

For much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the district of Salmas in northwest Iran was an archdiocese of the Chaldean Catholic Church, now a part of the Chaldean Catholic Archeparchy of Urmyā.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dioceses of the Church of the East after 1552</span>

Dioceses of the Church of the East after 1552 were dioceses of the Church of the East and its subsequent branches, both traditionalist and pro-Catholic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Amadiya</span> Former Eastern Catholic eparchy in Iraq (1785-2013)

Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Amadiya was a historical eparchy (diocese) of the Chaldean Catholic Church, until it was united with the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Zakho in 2013.

Diocese of Berwari was an East Syriac diocese of the Church of the East, existing between the 16th and 20th centuries and covering the region of Berwari.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Seert</span>

Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of Seert was a diocese of the Chaldean Catholic Church, centered in Seert. It existed during the eighteenth, nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. The diocese was ruined during the First World War.

Mardin was a diocese of the Chaldean Church from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. The diocese lapsed in 1941. Prior to this, it was a diocese of the Assyrian Church of the East, from which the Chaldean Catholic Church originated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of the East</span> Church of the East Syriac Rite of Christianity

The Church of the East or the East Syriac Church, also called the Church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the Persian Church, the Assyrian Church, the Babylonian Church or the Nestorian Church, was an Eastern Christian church of the East Syriac Rite, based in Mesopotamia. It was one of three major branches of Eastern Christianity that arose from the Christological controversies of the 5th and 6th centuries, alongside the Oriental Orthodox Churches and the Chalcedonian Church. During the early modern period, a series of schisms gave rise to rival patriarchates, sometimes two, sometimes three. Since the latter half of the 20th century, three churches in Iraq claim the heritage of the Church of the East. Meanwhile, the East Syriac churches in India claim the heritage of the Church of the East in India.

Diocese of Kashkar, sometimes called Kaskar, was the senior diocese in the Church of the East's Province of the Patriarch. It see was in the city of Kashkar. The diocese is attested between the fourth and the twelfth centuries. The bishops of Kashkar had the privilege of guarding the patriarchal throne during the interregnum between the death of a patriarch and the appointment of his successor. As a result, they are often mentioned by name in the standard histories of the Nestorian patriarchs, so that a relatively full list of the bishops of the diocese has survived.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patriarch of the Church of the East</span> Supreme head of the Church of the East

The patriarch of the Church of the East is the patriarch, or leader and head bishop of the Church of the East. The position dates to the early centuries of Christianity within the Sassanid Empire, and the Church has been known by a variety of names, including the Church of the East, Nestorian Church, the Persian Church, the Sassanid Church, or East Syrian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shemon VII Ishoyahb</span>

Mar Shemʿon VII Ishoʿyahb, born Īshōʿyahb bar Māmā, was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 1539 to 1558, with residence in Rabban Hormizd Monastery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">India (East Syriac ecclesiastical province)</span>

Metropolitanate of India was an East Syriac ecclesiastical province of the Church of the East, at least nominally, from the seventh to the sixteenth century. The Malabar region (Kerala) of India had long been home to a thriving Eastern Christian community, known as the Saint Thomas Christians. The community traces its origins to the evangelical activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. The Christian communities in India used the East Syriac Rite, the traditional liturgical rite of the Church of the East. They also adopted some aspects of Dyophysitism of Theodore of Mopsuestia, often inaccurately referred as Nestorianism, in accordance with theology of the Church of the East. It is unclear when the relation between Saint Thomas Christian and the Church of the East was established. Initially, they belonged to the metropolitan province of Fars, but were detached from that province in the 7th century, and again in the 8th, and given their own metropolitan bishop.

Shimun, also transliterated as Shemʿon or Shimon is the form of Simon used in Classical Syriac and other Aramaic languages.

Mar Shimun XVI Yohannan was Patriarch of the Shem'on line (Qodshanis) of the Church of the East, from 1780. In 1804, he became the sole Patriarch among traditionalist Christians of the East Syriac Rite, because the rival Patriarch Eliya XII (1778-1804) of the Eliya line died without successor. Shimun XVI remained patriarch until his death in 1820.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eliya XII</span>

Eliya XII was Patriarch of the Church of the East, from 1778 to 1804, with formal residence in Rabban Hormizd Monastery, near Alqosh, in modern Iraq. His birth name was Ishoyahb, and he was the elder son of priest Abraham, who was brother of the previous patriarch Eliya XI (1722-1778). In 1744, Ishoyahb was consecrated as metropolitan, and designated as presumptive successor by his paternal uncle, patriarch Eliya XI, who died in 1778, and Ishoyahb succeeded him, as patriarch Eliya XII. His tenure was marked by a prolonged rivalry with his pro-Catholic cousin Yohannan Hormizd, who also claimed the patriarchal throne. In 1804, Eliya XII died and was buried in the Rabban Hormizd Monastery, as the last patriarch of the senior Eliya line.

References

  1. ↑ Baum & Winkler (2003), p. 10.
  2. ↑ Coakley (1999), p. 65, 66: "Catholikos-Patriarchs of the East who served on the throne of the church of koke in Seleucia-Ktesiphon".
  3. ↑ Walker 1985, p. 172: "this church had as its head a "catholicos" who came to be styled "Patriarch of the East" and had his seat originally at Seleucia-Ctesiphon (after 775 it was shifted to Baghdad)".
  4. ↑ Wilmshurst 2000, p. 4.
  5. ↑ I Peter, 1:1 and 5:13
  6. ↑ Thomasine Church Patriarchs
  7. 1 2 3 4 Broadhead 2010, p. 123.
  8. ↑ Council.https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/entry/Church-East-Uniate-Continuation
  9. ↑ "Histoire nestorienne inédite: Chronique de Séert. Première partie."
  10. ↑ Council.https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/entry/Church-East-Uniate-Continuation
  11. ↑ Baumer, Christoph (2016). The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity. p. 330. ISBN   9781838609344.
  12. 1 2 Stewart 1928, p. 15.
  13. ↑ St. Sadoth, Bishop of Seleucia and Ctesiphon, with 128 Companions, Martyrs.
  14. ↑ Meyendorff 1989, p. 287-289.
  15. ↑ Vine 1937, p. 104.
  16. ↑ Murre van den Berg 1999, p. 243-244.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Wilmshurst 2011, p. 477.
  18. ↑ Murre van den Berg 1999, p. 244-245.
  19. ↑ Murre van den Berg 1999, p. 245.
  20. 1 2 Murre van den Berg 1999, p. 246.
  21. ↑ Murre van den Berg 1999, p. 247.
  22. ↑ Murre van den Berg 1999, p. 248.
  23. ↑ Wilmshurst 2000, p. 29-30.
  24. ↑ Baum & Winkler 2003, p. 120-122.
  25. ↑ Baum & Winkler 2003, p. 4.
  26. ↑ Butts 2017, p. 604.
  27. ↑ Tisserant 1931, p. 261-263.
  28. ↑ Mooken 1983, p. 21.
  29. ↑ Fiey 1993, p. 37.
  30. ↑ Lampart 1966, p. 53-54, 64.
  31. ↑ Macomber 1969, p. 263-273.
  32. ↑ Murre van den Berg 1999, p. 235–264.
  33. ↑ Coakley 2001, p. 122.
  34. ↑ Baum & Winkler 2003, p. 116, 174.
  35. ↑ Baum 2004, p. 232.
  36. 1 2 Hage 2007, p. 473.
  37. 1 2 Burleson & Rompay 2011, p. 481-491.
  38. 1 2 Jakob 2014, p. 96.
  39. 1 2 Borbone 2014, p. 224.
  40. ↑ Wilmshurst 2000, p. 3, 355.
  41. ↑ Wilmshurst 2019, p. 799, 804.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.