# Ignatius David II Shah

Ignatius David II Shah (Syriac ܕܘܕ ܫܐܗ was the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1576 until his death in 1591.

## Biography

Ignatius David II Shah is the third person to from the family of Sa’ad Al-Din to became a patriarch after his great uncle Ignatius John XIV bar Shay Allah (1483-1493) and his brother Ignatius Ni'matallah (1557-1576). He also had 4 other brothers, Timothy Thomas, Bishop of Mardin, Mina, bishop of Mor Abay monastery in Tur-Abdin, Costantine, and Basha. He was first ordained as a Maphrian of the East for the Syriac Orthodox Church but he became the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch when his brother Ignatius Niʿmatallah resigned his position as a patriarch and travelled to Rome in 1576 His family is originally from Bartella, near Mosul, but moved to Mardin in the 13th or 14th century and there were 4 patriarchs and 3 metropolitans and bishops from this family. Ignatius David II Shah built and renovated many church and monasteries during his time as a Patriarch. He built churches in Amid, Qatrabil, Alqadyia village, Medras, Garuheya, Masquq, Kliben, Monastery of Mor Abay, Mor Hananyo, Monastery of Mor Abhay in Gargar and gifted all these churches valuables like crosses, bibles, and rugs and he worked hard to activate his community. In 1579 he presided over a Synod meeting in a monastery near Hatakh in Tur-Abdin and one of the decisions from that Synod was no marriage was allowed between cousins up to the 5th degree.

## Contacts with Rome

As we have two different sources for Ignatius David II Shah contacts with Rome. One sources is the Syriac orthodox source and the second source are the writings of the Roman Catholic church sources who were in contact with the former Patriarch Ignatius Ni'matallah when he was living in Rome. The only thing that both sources agree on is that the papal envoy, Leonardo Abel, who travelled to Tur Abdin hoping to meet the Patriarch and convince him to declare his union with Rome and carrying with him a letter from his brother, the former Patriarch Ignatius Niʿmatallah, and carrying a pallium with him. When Abel arrived to Dyarbaker, he couldn’t meet the Patriarch but met with a representative of the Patriarch by the name of Rabban Abdunnur at the Monastery of Mor Abhai in Gargar. There was a conversation between the two parties but the conversation didn’t achieve any success. Even the reason for the meeting failure differs between the two sources. The Syriac Orthodox source states that the Patriarch was under the Ottoman rulers pressure not to meet with the papal envoy and the representative of the Patriarch rejected the Council of Chalcedon resolutions and were hesitant to accept the new Gregorian calendar. The Roman Catholic sources states that the Patriarch was under the pressure of the community not to meet with the envoy

## Episcopal succession

During Ignatius David II Shah time as a Maphrian and Patriarch, he ordained a Maphrian and 18 metropolitans. In total, he ordained 1153 priest, monks, deacons and nuns.
* Basil Pilate (1575–1591), Maphrian of the East
* Mina (his brother) Bishop of Monastery of Mor Abay
* La"azar. Bishop of Miyafarqit
* Malke Bishop of the Monastery of Mor Malke,
* Shemoun
* Aziz bishop for the monastery of Mor Ibrahim in Midyat
* Habib bishop of the monastery of Mor Ya'qub in Kafr Shma'
* Elias bishop of the monastery of al-Salib,
* Daoud for the monastery of Mor Gewargis in al-Ma’adan,
* Aphrem for al-Sur
* Hananiyya metropolitan of Gargar
* Wanes for Kharput,
* Issa for the monastery of Mor Yulyana
* Yuhanna for Tripoli
* Gewargis bishop for Hardin
* Gregorius Behnam (1590–1614). metropolitan of Jerusalem
* Yeshu bishop of Zargil
* Yeshu Metropolitan for the monastery of Mor Abay
* Abduallah bishop of Marde

## Death

Ignatius David II Shah died in 1591 and was buried at St. Thomas church in the village of Qatribil near Amid