The city of Melitene (modern Malatya) was an archdiocese of the Syriac Orthodox Church, attested between the ninth and thirteenth centuries but probably founded as early as the seventh century. More than thirty Syriac Orthodox bishops or metropolitans of Melitene are mentioned either by Michael the Syrian or in other Syriac Orthodox narrative sources. The archdiocese is last mentioned towards the end of the twelfth century, and seems to have lapsed in the early decades of the thirteenth century.
The names of four early Jacobite bishops of Melitene are known. Michael the Syrian provided a cursory list of 28 undated bishops and metropolitans of Melitene, most of whom were Jacobite bishops consecrated between the ninth and twelfth centuries who featured in his regular lists. The first five names (Leontius, Otreius, Acacius, Mama and Domitian) were of bishops who flourished before the seventh century. According to Michael, these men were followed 'long afterwards' by the Jacobite bishops Thomas, Ezekiel, Gregory and Ahron, presumably to be dated to the seventh and eighth centuries. [1]
Twenty dated Jacobite metropolitans of Melitene between the ninth and the twelfth centuries are mentioned in the lists of Michael the Syrian. [2]
Name | From | Consecrated in the reign of | Place of consecration |
---|---|---|---|
Daniel | Mor Bar Sauma Monastery | Dionysius I Telmaharoyo (818–45) | not known |
Thomas | Mor Bar Sauma Monastery | Dionysius I Telmaharoyo (818–45) | not known |
Thomas | Unspecified | John III (846–73) | not known |
Ezekiel | Monastery of Mar Atonos | Ignatius II (878–83) | not known |
Eliya | Monastery of Beth Botin | Dionysius II (896–909) | not known |
Yohannan | Mor Bar Sauma Monastery | John IV Qurzahli (910–22) | not known |
Gregory | Unspecified | Basil I (923–35) | not known |
Iwanis | Unspecified | John V (936–53) | not known |
Eliya | Monastery of Zuqnin | Iwanis II (954–7) | not known |
Ezekiel | Unspecified | Dionysius III (958–61) | not known |
Ignatius | Unspecified | John VI Sarigta (965–86) | not known |
Iwanis | Monastery of Bārid | Athanasius IV Laʿzar (987–1003) | Not known |
Ignatius | Monastery of Qainan of Hadeth | John VII bar ʿAbdon (1004–30) | not known |
Yohannan | Monastery of Mar Shayna | Dionysius IV Heheh (1032–42) | Not known |
Ignatius | Not specified | Athanasius V Haya (1058–64) | not known |
Yohannan Saʿid bar Sabuni | Unspecified | Athanasius VI bar Khamara (1091–1129) | Not known |
Iwanis Elishaʿ | Unspecified | Athanasius VI bar Khamara (1091–1129) | Marʿash |
Ignatius | Unspecified | Athanasius VII bar Qutreh (1139–66) | not known |
Dionysius Gripas bar Samka | Patriarchal residence | Michael I (1166–99) | not known |
Iwanis bar Qanun | Unspecified | Michael I (1166–99) | not known |
Dionysius bar Salibi was Syriac Orthodox writer and bishop, who served as metropolitan of Amid, in Upper Mesopotamia, from 1166 to 1171. He was one of the most prominent and prolific writers within the Syriac Orthodox Church during the twelfth century.
Michael the Syrian ,(Classical Syriac: ܡܺܝܟ݂ܳܐܝܶܠ ܣܽܘܪܝܳܝܳܐ, romanized: Mīkhoʾēl Sūryoyo), died AD 1199, also known as Michael the Great or Michael Syrus or Michael the Elder, to distinguish him from his nephew, was a patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1166 to 1199. He is best known today as the author of the largest medieval Chronicle, which he wrote in the Syriac language. Some other works and fragments written by him have also survived.
The Catholicos of India, or Maphrian of the India, is the head of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, a Maphrianate of the Syriac Orthodox Church, functioning within the Church at an ecclesiastical-rank second to the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, and his name is commemorated in liturgy throughout the Syriac Orthodox Archdioceses in India and its diaspora. The position was renamed as Catholicos of India in 2002, in accordance with its actual jurisdiction.
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.
The Metropolitanate of Nisibis was an East Syriac metropolitan province of the Church of the East, between the fifth and seventeenth centuries. The ecclesiastical province of Nisibis had a number of suffragan dioceses at different periods in its history, including Arzun, Beth Rahimaï, Beth Qardu, Beth Zabdaï, Qube d’Arzun, Balad, Shigar (Sinjar), Armenia, Beth Tabyathe and the Kartawaye, Harran and Callinicus (Raqqa), Maiperqat, Resh[ʿ] Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script (help)aïna, Qarta and Adarma, Qaimar and Hesna d'Kifa. Aoustan d'Arzun and Beth Moksaye were also suffragan dioceses in the fifth century.
In the period of its greatest expansion, in the tenth century, the Syriac Orthodox Church had around 20 metropolitan dioceses and a little over a hundred suffragan dioceses. By the seventeenth century, only 20 dioceses remained, reduced in the twentieth century to 10. The seat of Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch was at Mardin before the First World War, and thereafter in Deir Zaʿfaran, from 1932 in Homs, and finally from 1959 in Damascus.
The Diocese of Tirhan was an East Syriac diocese of the Church of the East, within the central ecclesiastical Province of the Patriarch. The diocese is attested between the sixth and fourteenth centuries.
Hadath was a diocese of the Syriac Orthodox Church in the Malatya region of what is now Turkey, attested between the eighth and eleventh centuries. It was based in the town of Hadath.
Gubos was a diocese in the Syriac Orthodox metropolitan province of Melitene (Malatya), attested between the ninth and thirteenth centuries. Around a dozen Jacobite bishops of Gubos are mentioned either by Michael the Syrian or Bar Hebraeus, and Bar Hebraeus himself was bishop of Gubos from 1246 to 1255. By 1283, as a result of several decades of warfare and brigandage, the diocese of Gubos was ruined. It is not again mentioned, and seems to have lapsed before the end of the thirteenth century.
Zuptara was a Syriac Orthodox diocese in the Melitene region of eastern Turkey. The diocese of Zuptara is attested between the eighth and eleventh centuries, and twelve of its bishops are mentioned in the lists of Michael the Syrian. The diocese almost certainly lapsed during the twelfth century.
Qlisura was a diocese in the Syriac Orthodox metropolitan province of Melitene, attested between the ninth and thirteenth centuries. Eighteen Jacobite bishops of Qlisura are mentioned in the histories of Michael the Syrian and Bar Hebraeus, and in other West Syriac sources. By 1283, as a result of several decades of warfare and brigandage, the diocese of Qlisura was ruined, though it apparently still had a bishop several years later. The diocese is not again mentioned, and seems to have lapsed around the end of the thirteenth century.
Qlaudia was a diocese in the Syriac Orthodox metropolitan province of Melitene (Malatya), attested between the tenth and thirteenth centuries. Sixteen Jacobite bishops of Qlaudia are mentioned either by Michael the Syrian or Bar Hebraeus. By 1283, as a result of several decades of warfare and brigandage, the diocese of Qlaudia was ruined. The diocese is not again mentioned, and seems to have lapsed around the end of the thirteenth century.
The city of Tarsus was a Syriac Orthodox archdiocese, attested between the seventh and thirteenth centuries. Nearly twenty Syrian Orthodox metropolitans of Tarsus are mentioned either by Michael the Syrian or in other Syriac Orthodox narrative sources. The archdiocese is last mentioned towards the end of the thirteenth century, and seems to have lapsed during the fourteenth century.
The city of Anazarbus was an archdiocese of the Syriac Orthodox Church, attested between the sixth and twelfth centuries. Nearly thirty Syriac Orthodox bishops or metropolitans of Anazarbus are mentioned either by Michael the Syrian or in other Syriac Orthodox narrative sources. The archdiocese is last mentioned towards the end of the twelfth century, and seems to have lapsed in the early decades of the thirteenth century.
Tel Patriq was a diocese of the Syriac Orthodox Church near Melitene (Malatya), attested during the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
Laqabin was a diocese of the Syriac Orthodox Church, suffragan of the archdiocese of Melitene. The diocese, also known as Qarna and Tella d'Arsenias, is attested between the tenth and thirteenth centuries. Twenty-three bishops of Laqabin are mentioned in the histories of Michael the Syrian and Bar Hebraeus and in other West Syriac sources. The last-known bishop of Laqabin, Timothy, was consecrated by the patriarch Philoxenus Nemrud (1283–92), and the diocese seems to have lapsed in the early decades of the fourteenth century.
Simandu was an archdiocese of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Tzamandos, Cappadocia, attested between the tenth and twelfth centuries. Thirteen of its bishops are mentioned in the lists of Michael the Syriac and other Jacobite sources.
Kfar Tab was a diocese of the Syriac Orthodox Church near Apamea in Syria, attested in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Four of its bishops are mentioned in the lists of Michael the Syrian.
Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese of Baghdad is an archdiocese of the Syriac Orthodox Church, centered in Baghdad, capital city of Iraq. The diocese originated during the early medieval period. It is attested between the 9th and the 13th centuries, but later declined, to be renewed again, thus existing up to the modern times. The diocese was probably established soon after Baghdad became the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate in the 770s. Eight Syriac Orthodox bishops of Baghdad from the medieval period are mentioned in the narratives of Michael the Syrian, Bar Hebraeus and other sources. Current Archbishop is Severius Jamil Hawa.
Gumal was a diocese of the Syriac Orthodox Church. Bishops of Gumal are attested between the sixth and tenth centuries, but the diocese may have persisted into the thirteenth century.
The main primary source for the Syriac Orthodox metropolitans of Melitene is the record of episcopal consecrations appended to Volume III of the Chronicle of the Syriac Orthodox patriarch Michael the Syrian (1166–99). In this Appendix Michael listed most of the bishops consecrated by the Syriac Orthodox patriarchs of Antioch between the ninth and twelfth centuries. Twenty-eight Syriac Orthodox patriarchs sat during this period, and in many cases Michael was able to list the names of the bishops consecrated during their reigns, their monasteries of origin, and the place where they were consecrated. For the thirteenth century, Michael's lists are supplemented by several references in other Syriac Orthodox narrative sources.
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