Mar Makkikha II | |
|---|---|
| Patriarch of All the East | |
| Church | Church of the East |
| See | Seleucia-Ctesiphon |
| Installed | 1257 |
| Term ended | 1265 |
| Predecessor | Sabrisho V |
| Successor | Denha I |
| Other post(s) | Metropolitan of Nisibis |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 13th century |
| Died | 1265 |
| Residence | Caliphal Palace, Baghdad |
Makkikha II (also written Makika II [1] ) was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 1257 until his death in 1265. He succeeded the patriarch Sabrisho V ibn al-Masihi and was followed by Denha I.
Brief accounts of Makkika's patriarchate are given in the Ecclesiastical Chronicle of the Jacobite writer Bar Hebraeus (fl. 1280) and in the ecclesiastical histories of the fourteenth-century Nestorian writers ʿAmr and Sliba.
Makkikha won the patriarchal election of 1257 by slandering his chief rival, the metropolitan and future patriarch Denha of Erbil, as a friend of the Mongol khans who was too dangerous to elect as patriarch. Bribery was commonplace in the patriarchal elections of the Church of the East at this period. The following account of Makkikha's election is given by Bar Hebraeus:
In the same year in which the Nestorian catholicus Sabrishoʿ Bar Masihi died, namely the year 654 of the Arabs [AD 1256/7], the bishops gathered together at Baghdad, and a quarrel arose between the men of Baghdad and the bishops over the election of the catholicus. Some men preferred Eliya, metropolitan of ʿIlam, others Makkikha, metropolitan of Nisibis, and others still Denha, metropolitan of Erbil. After wrangling amongst themselves for six months, they began to outbid one another in offering bribes to the caliph, so that the sum of money promised rose as high as 45,000 gold dinars. They were then told that the man who first raised this sum and handed it over would be made patriarch. Mar Denha of Erbil raised this sum and handed over 4,000 gold dinars as a down payment, but his enemies slandered him, saying, 'He is a friend of the Tartar kings, and any money you accept from him now he will soon take back from you twofold.' The caliph's advisers believed this slander, and the three metropolitans were accordingly summoned to the caliph's palace, where an edict was read out conferring the leadership on the elderly metropolitan of Nisibis instead of his younger colleague of Erbil. Then the firman was given to Makkikha and the mitre was placed on his head, and they made him ride around on a mule, accompanied by two noblemen who held the firman above his head. And so he went down to the church of the third ward, and the fathers accompanied him to Seleucia and consecrated him on the fifth Sunday of Lent. They gave Mar Denha back his gold, and the arrival of the Tartars in Baghdad not long afterwards freed the catholicus Makkikha from having to pay back the money he himself had borrowed. [2]
Makkikha is well known for his friendly relations with the Mongol Ilkhanate and his involvement in the Siege of Baghdad, where all Christians were spared at the intervention of the Mongol Hulagu's Nestorian Christian wife Dokuz Khatun. [3] [4] The year following the fall of Baghdad, the Mongol ruler Hulagu offered the royal palace to Makkikha, and ordered a cathedral to be built for him; for the next decade the palace became the patriarchal residence. [5] [6]
Yohannan II bar Narsai was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 884 to 891.
Abraham III Abraza was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 906 to 937. He was remembered as a patriarch who was well-versed in his ecclesiastical duties but was also hot-tempered and corrupt.
Joseph was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 552 to 567. He was immensely unpopular, and was eventually deposed by his bishops. He was notorious for having invented much of the early history of the Church of the East. Despite his deposition, his name is included in the traditional list of patriarchs of the Church of the East.
Sabrishoʿ II was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 831 to 835. He sat during the reigns of the caliphs al-Maʿmun (813–33) and al-Muʿtasim (833–41).
Ishoʿyahb V Baladi was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 1149 to 1175.
Sabrishoʿ V ibn al-Masihi was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 1226 to 1256.
Sabrishoʿ IV bar Qayyoma was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 1222 until his death in 1225.
Yahballaha II bar Qayyoma was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 1190 to 1222.
Eliya III Abu Halim was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 1176 to 1190.
Bar Sawma was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 1134 to 1136.
Mari bar Toba was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 987 to 999.
Yohannan V Bar Isa was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 1000 to 1011. Brief accounts of Yohannan's patriarchate are given in the Ecclesiastical Chronicle of the Jacobite writer Bar Hebraeus and in the ecclesiastical histories of the Nestorian writers Mari ibn Suleiman (twelfth-century), ʿAmr ibn Mattā (fourteenth-century) and Ṣalībā ibn Yūḥannā (fourteenth-century).
Sargis was Patriarch of the Church of the East between 860 and 872.
Abraham II was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 837 to 850. He was a monk at Beth Abe and was later appointed a bishop of Hdatta before being elected to the patriarchate. Brief accounts of Abraham's patriarchate are given in the Ecclesiastical Chronicle of the Jacobite writer Bar Hebraeus and in the ecclesiastical histories of the Nestorian writers Mari (twelfth-century), ʿAmr (fourteenth-century) and Sliba (fourteenth-century). The following account of Abraham's patriarchate is given by Bar Hebraeus:
Sabrishoʿ II was succeeded by Abraham II, from the monastery of Beth ʿAbe, who was a man pure and chaste in body but not learned, and not up to the task of governing the church. His nephew Ephrem, his sister's son, and another son by a concubine used their power perversely. During his time the Christians were in sore straits, as the Arabs demolished several churches in Basra.
Gregory of Prat was patriarch of the Church of the East from 605 to 609. His name is included in the traditional list of patriarchs of the Church of the East.
Narsai was Patriarch of the Church of the East during a period of schism from 524 to 537. Unlike his opponent Elishaʿ, who is included in the traditional list of patriarchs of the Church of the East, Narsai, has traditionally been considered an anti-patriarch.
Yohannan I bar Marta was patriarch of the Church of the East between 680 and 683.
Yohannan VII bar Targhal was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 1049 to 1057. He lived through the final years of the Buyid dynasty, and was present in Baghdad when Toghrul Beg, the first sultan of the Seljuq dynasty, entered the city in December 1055. His patriarchate was dominated by communal rioting in Baghdad between Shiite Moslems loyal to the Buyids and Sunni Moslems who supported the Seljuqs. During these riots the Greek Palace, the residence of the Nestorian patriarchs, was twice pillaged.
Makkikha I was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 1092 to 1110.
Theodosius was Patriarch of the Church of the East between 853 and 858.
