Simandu (West Syriac diocese)

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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.

Contents

Sources

The main primary source for the Syriac Orthodox metropolitans of Simandu 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.

Two twelfth-century bishops omitted from Michael's list are mentioned in the Chronicon Ecclesiasticum of the Jacobite maphrian Bar Hebraeus (ob.1286).

Location

Simandu was a district near Melitene, known in Greek as Tzamandos. During the twelfth century it was included in the territories of the Frankish County of Edessa. [1]

Bishops and metropolitans of Simandu

Eleven Jacobite metropolitans of Simandu are mentioned in the lists of Michael the Syrian. [2]

NameFromConsecrated in the reign ofPlace of consecration
YaʿqobUnspecifiedIwanis II (954–7)not known
BasilMonastery of the Mother of GodYohannan VI (965–86)not known
EliyaMonastery of Peter Athanasius IV Laʿzar (987–1003)Not known
Philoxenus Mor Bar Sauma Monastery, MeliteneDionysius IV Heheh (1032–42)Not known
Ignatius Monastery of Barid Athanasius V Haya (1058–64)not known
AthanasiusMonastery of Barid Yohannan VIII bar Shushan (1063–73)Harran
Yohannan ʿAbdonMonastery of Bar Gaghi, MeliteneBasil II (1074–5)Monastery of Mar Bar Sawma, Melitene
BasilMonastery of Barid Athanasius VI bar Khamoro (1091–1129)not known
MattaiMonastery of Beth Qenaya Yohannan X Maudiana (1129–37)not known
BasilMonastery of Mar Ahron, Shigar Athanasius VII bar Qutreh (1139–66)not known

Two twelfth-century bishops of Simandu omitted from the lists of Michael the Syrian are mentioned in the Chronicon Ecclesiasticum of Bar Hebraeus:

The diocese of Simandu seems to have lapsed around the end of the twelfth century, perhaps after the death of the bishop Basil (1139/1166).

Notes

  1. Fiey, POCN, 268
  2. Michael the Syrian, Chronicle, iii. 451–82 and 502
  3. Bar Hebraeus, Chronicon Ecclesiasticum, i. 520

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Gregory Bar Hebraeus, known by his Syriac ancestral surname as Barebraya or Barebroyo, in Arabic sources by his kunya Abu'l-Faraj, and his Latinized name Abulpharagius in the Latin West, was a Maphrian of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1264 to 1286. He was a prominent writer, who created various works in the fields of Christian theology, philosophy, history, linguistics, and poetry. For his contributions to the development of Syriac literature, has been praised as one of the most learned and versatile writers among Syriac Orthodox Christians.

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