Paul was briefly Patriarch of the Church of the East in 539. He is included in the traditional list of patriarchs of the Church of the East.
Brief accounts of Paul's reign are given in the Ecclesiastical Chronicle of the Jacobite writer Bar Hebraeus (floruit 1280) and in the ecclesiastical histories of the Nestorian writers Mari (twelfth-century), ʿAmr (fourteenth-century) and Sliba (fourteenth-century). His life is also covered in the Chronicle of Seert.
The following account of Paul's reign is given by Mari:
This father was the archdeacon of Mar Yozaq, bishop of al-Ahwaz, whom he succeeded on that throne, and was one of those men from whom the fathers had extracted an oath that they would take the part neither of Narsaï nor Elishaʿ. He is said to have been metropolitan of Jundishapur before he was elected patriarch. Anushirwan accepted his appointment because he had once, in the blazing heat of summer, brought up a train of mules carrying large amounts of water, which he offered to the soldiers to drink; and because he was grateful for the exceptional zeal he had shown on that occasion, he took this opportunity to repay his debt. Paul held the patriarchate for only two months, though some say it was a year. [1]
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Yahballaha I was bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, grand metropolitan and primate of the Church of the East from 415 to 420. He is included in the traditional list of patriarchs of the Church of the East.
Shila was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 503 to 523. He is included in the traditional list of patriarchs of the Church of the East.
Farbokht served briefly as bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, grand metropolitan and primate of the Church of the East in 421. He is included in the traditional list of patriarchs of the Church of the East.
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.
Aba II was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 741 to 751. He is included in the traditional list of patriarchs of the Church of the East.
Israel was Patriarch of the Church of the East in 961.
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Ishoʿyahb V Baladi was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 1149 to 1175.
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.
Bar Sawma was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 1134 to 1136.
Maremmeh was patriarch in the Church of the East from 646 to 649.
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.
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.
Yaʿqob II (b.699) was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 753 to 773. He is included in the traditional list of patriarchs of the Church of the East. He spent much of his reign in prison after offending the caliph al-Mansur.
Theodosius was Patriarch of the Church of the East between 853 and 858.
Eliya II Bar Moqli was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 1111 to 1132.
