Armenia (East Syrian Diocese)

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Armenia was an East Syriac diocese (and briefly a metropolitan province) of the Church of the East between the fifth and fourteenth centuries. The diocese served members of the Church of the East in Armenia, and its bishops sat at Halat. The diocese is last mentioned in 1281, and probably lapsed in the fourteenth century during the disorders that attended the fragmentation of the Mongol empire.

East Syriac Rite

The East Syriac Rite or East Syrian Rite, also called Assyrian Rite, Persian Rite, Chaldean Rite, or Syro-Oriental Rite is an Eastern Christian liturgical rite that uses the East Syriac dialect as its liturgical language. It is one of two main liturgical rites of Syriac Christianity.

Church of the East an Eastern Christian Church that in 410 organised itself within the Sasanid Empire and in 424 declared its leader independent of other Christian leaders; from the Persian Empire it spread to other parts of Asia in late antiquity and the Middle Ages

The Church of the East, also known as the Nestorian Church and the Persian Church, was an Eastern Christian denomination that in 410 organised itself within the Sasanian Empire and in 424 declared its leader independent of other Christian leaders. From the Persian Empire it spread to other parts of Asia in late antiquity and the Middle Ages.

Armenia Republic in South Caucasus in West Asia

Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located in Western Asia on the Armenian Highlands, it is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north, the de facto independent Republic of Artsakh and Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran and Azerbaijan's exclave of Nakhchivan to the south.

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Background

The East Syrian diocese of Armenia, whose bishops sat in the town of Halat on the northern shore of Lake Van, is attested between the fifth and fourteenth centuries. In the fifth century the diocese of Halat was not assigned to a metropolitan province, but was later included in the province of Nisibis, probably shortly after the Arab conquest of Persia. The patriarch Timothy I created a short-lived metropolitan province for Armenia, presumably by raising the status of the diocese of Halat. By the second half of the eleventh century Halat was once again a suffragan diocese of the province of Nisibis. By the thirteenth century the jurisdiction of the bishops of Halat included the towns of Van and Wastan. The thirteenth-century Nestorian metropolitan Shlemun of Basra, author of the Book of the Bee (c.1222), was a native of Halat. [1]

Ahlat Place in Bitlis, Turkey

Ahlat, is a historic town and district in Turkey's Bitlis Province in Eastern Anatolia Region. From 1929-1936, it had been included as a district of Van Province. The town of Ahlat is situated on the northwestern shore of Lake Van. The mayor is Abdulalim Mümtaz Çoban (AKP).

Van, Turkey Metropolitan municipality in Eastern Anatolia, Turkey

Van is a city in eastern Turkey's Van Province, located on the eastern shore of Lake Van. The city has a long history as a major urban area. It has been a large city since the first millennium BC, initially as Tushpa, the capital of the kingdom of Urartu from the 9th century BC to the 6th century BC, and later as the center of the Armenian kingdom of Vaspurakan. Today, Van has a Kurdish majority and a sizeable Turkish minority.

Bishops of Armenia

Lake Van viewed from space. The town of Halat can be clearly seen towards the left of the picture, on the northern shore of the lake Lake Van, Turkey from STS-41G.jpg
Lake Van viewed from space. The town of Halat can be clearly seen towards the left of the picture, on the northern shore of the lake

The bishop Artashahr of Armenia was among the signatories of the acts of the synod of Dadishoʿ in 424. At this period the diocese, probably based on Halat, was not assigned to a metropolitan province. [2]

The bishop Yaʿqob of Halat, a writer mentioned in the list of Syriac authors compiled in the fourteenth century by ʿAbdishoʿ Bar Brikha, flourished during the reign of the patriarch Pethion (731–40).

Pethion was patriarch of the Church of the East from 731 to 740.

An unnamed bishop of Armenia was present at the consecration of the patriarch ʿAbdishoʿ II in 1074. [3]

A note of 1137 by the copyist of the Mukhtasar mentions the recent suppression of the metropolitan province of Bardaʿa (in Azerbaijan) and the attribution of responsibility for the remaining Christians in the province to Eliya, bishop of Halat. [4]

The bishop Yuwanis of Halat was appointed metropolitan of Kashgar and Nevaketh by the patriarch Eliya III (1176–90). [5]

The bishop Sliba-zkha of Halat was present at the consecration of the patriarch Denha I in 1265. [6]

The bishop Hnanishoʿ of Halat was present at the consecration of the patriarch Yahballaha III in 1281. [7]

Notes

  1. ↑ Fiey, POCN, 47–8, 53 and 58–9
  2. ↑ Chabot, 285
  3. ↑ Mari, 128 (Arabic), 112 (Latin)
  4. ↑ Fiey, POCN, 59
  5. ↑ Sliba, 122 (Arabic)
  6. ↑ Sliba, 121–2 (Arabic)
  7. ↑ Sliba, 124 (Arabic)

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References

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