Ignatius Abdullah I | |
---|---|
Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East | |
Church | Syriac Orthodox Church |
See | Antioch |
Installed | 1521 |
Term ended | 1557 |
Predecessor | Ignatius David I |
Successor | Ignatius Ni'matallah |
Personal details | |
Died | 1557 |
Ignatius Abdullah I was the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1521 until his death in 1557. [1] [a]
Abdullah was born at Qalʿat Mara probably at the end of the fifteenth century. [8] He became patriarch of Antioch in 1521. [9] As patriarch, he temporarily moved the patriarchal see from the Mor Hananyo Monastery to Amid. [8] In 1521 (AG 1832), Abdullah issued a document to attest that the Shamsīyah adhered to Syriac Orthodox beliefs and practices. [10]
Abdullah convened a synod at the Mor Hananyo Monastery in 1523 to resolve a dispute between Yusuf al-Gurji, metropolitan of Jerusalem, Syria, ‘Ayn Ḥalyyā, ‘Ayn Ḥaūr, and half of Ṣadad, and Diyūsqūrūs ‘Īsā Ibn Ḥūriyyah, bishop of Dayr Mār Mūsā, Al-Nabek, Ṣālḥiyyah, and half of Ṣadad. [11] [b] The dispute concerned a marriage at Ṣadad in 1519 which had divided the villagers and the two bishops as ‘Īsā Ibn Ḥūriyyah approved of the wedding whereas Yusuf al-Gurji did not. [14] However, the controversy escalated after ‘Īsā Ibn Ḥūriyyah took control of the diocese of Syria from Yusuf al-Gurji with a decree that he had received from Janbirdi al-Ghazali, who he had given 400 ašrafī, and Yusuf al-Gurji responded by retaking the diocese after having paid 70 ašrafī. [14] The synod was attended by Basilius Habib, Maphrian of the East, Philoxenus Saliba, metropolitan of Cyprus, Timothy, bishop of the Patriarchal Office, Severus Bishara, metropolitan of Gargar, and Yusuf al-Gurji. [15] Yusuf al-Gurji attended the synod on 28 January 1523. [16] Abdullah issued canons in Arabic that allowed marriages up to the fifth degree. [17]
Abdullah, with Philoxenus Faraj Allah, metropolitan of Amid, authenticated a document issued by Basil Iiya’ I, Maphrian of the East, dated 6 October 1542 (AG 1853), to confirm again that the Shamsīyah had accepted and conformed to Syriac Orthodox beliefs and practices. [18] The monk priest Moses of Mardin was despatched by Abdullah with two copies of the Peshitta New Testament and a commendatory letter to Rome, where he arrived in or shortly before 1549, and was tasked with procuring printed Syriac Bibles or for the opportunity to produce them. [19] Abdullah may have sent Moses in response to an invitation to send a delegate to the Council of Trent. [3] It is debated as to whether Abdullah had directed Moses to negotiate union with the Catholic Church. [20] Upon Moses' return, Abdullah entrusted him with a letter to the pope, written at the Mor Hananyo Monastery and dated 28 May 1551 (AG 1862), and a profession of faith to take back to Rome. [21] Pope Julius III replied to Abdullah in a letter dated 26 May 1553. [21] The Syriac New Testament was eventually printed by Moses with Johann Albrecht Widmannstetter and Guillaume Postel at Vienna in 1555, in which Abdullah was mentioned in the colophons. [22] Abdullah served as patriarch until his death in 1557 and was buried in the mausoleum of the Mor Hananyo Monastery. [23]
As patriarch, Abdullah ordained the following bishops:
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