Nisibis (East Syriac ecclesiastical province)

TheMetropolitanate of Nisibiswas anEast Syriacmetropolitan province of theChurch of the East, between the fifth and seventeenth centuries. The ecclesiastical province ofNisibis(Syriac: Nisibin,ܢܨܝܒܝܢ, often abbreviated to Soba,ܨܘܒܐ) had a number of suffragan dioceses at different periods in its history, includingArzun, Beth Rahimaï, Beth Qardu (later renamed Tamanon), Beth Zabdaï, Qube d'Arzun, Balad, Shigar (Sinjar),Armenia, Beth Tabyathe and the Kartawaye, Harran andCallinicus(Raqqa),Maiperqat(with Amid and Mardin),Reshʿaïna, Qarta and Adarma, Qaimar and Hesna d'Kifa.  Aoustan d'Arzun and Beth Moksaye were also suffragan dioceses in the fifth century.
In 363 the Roman emperorJovianwas obliged to cede Nisibis and five neighbouring districts to Persia to extricate the defeated army of his predecessorJulianfrom Persian territory.   The Nisibis region, after nearly fifty years of rule byConstantineand his Christian successors, may well have contained more Christians than the entireSassanian empire, and this Christian population was absorbed into the Church of the East in a single generation.  The impact of the cession of Nisibis on the demography of the Church of the East was so marked that the province of Nisibis was ranked second among the five metropolitan provinces established at the synod of Isaac in 410, a precedence apparently conceded without dispute by the bishops of the three older Persian provinces relegated to a lower rank.  The metropolitan of Nisibis ranked below the metropolitan ofʿIlam, but above the metropolitans of Maishan, Adiabene and Beth Garmaï.
The bishop of Nisibis was recognised in Canon XXI of the synod of Isaac as 'metropolitan ofArzun, of Qardu, of Beth Zabdaï, of Beth Rahimaï, of Beth Moksaye, and of the bishops to be found there', and the bishops Daniel of Arzun, Samuel 'of Arzun for Baita d'Aoustan', Daniel of Beth Moksaye, and Abraham of Beth Rahimaï were confirmed as his suffragans.
The bishop of Nisibis was recognised in 410 as the metropolitan ofArzun(ܐܪܙܘܢ), Qardu (ܩܪܕܘ), Beth Zabdaï (ܒܝܬ ܙܒܕܝ), Beth Rahimaï (ܒܝܬ ܪܚܡܝ) and Beth Moksaye (ܒܝܬ ܡܘܟܣܝܐ).  These were the Syriac names for Arzanene, Corduene, Zabdicene, Rehimene andMoxoene, the five districts ceded by Rome to Persia in 363.  The metropolitan diocese of Nisibis (ܢܨܝܒܝܢ) and the suffragan dioceses of Arzun, Qardu and Beth Zabdaï were to enjoy a long history, but Beth Rahimaï is not mentioned again, while Beth Moksaye is not mentioned after 424, when its bishop Atticus (probably, from his name, a Roman) subscribed to the acts of the synod ofDadishoʿ.  Besides the bishop of Arzun, a bishop of 'Aoustan d'Arzun' (plausibly identified with the district of Ingilene) also attended these two synods, and his diocese was also assigned to the province of Nisibis.  The diocese of Aoustan d'Arzun survived into the sixth century, but is not mentioned after 554.
During the fifth and sixth centuries three new dioceses in the province of Nisibis were founded in Persian territory, inBeth ʿArabaye(the hinterland of Nisibis, between Mosul and the Tigris and Khabur rivers) and in the hill country to the northeast of Arzun.  By 497 a diocese had been established at Balad (the modern Eski Mosul) on the Tigris, which persisted into the fourteenth century.By 563 there was also a diocese forShigar(Sinjar), deep insideBeth ʿArabaye, and by 585 a diocese for 'Beth Tabyathe and the Kartawaye', the country to the west of Lake Van inhabited by the Kartaw Kurds.Davidwas the bishop of the Kurds of Kartaw during or immediately after the reign ofHnanisho I(686–698).
The famousSchool of Nisibiswas an important seminary and theological academy of the Church of the East during the late Sassanian period, and in the last two centuries of Sassanian rule generated a remarkable outpouring of East Syriac theological scholarship.
Probably during the Umayyad period, the East Syriac diocese of Armenia was attached to the province of Nisibis.  The bishop Artashahr of Armenia was present at the synod ofDadishoʿin 424, but the diocese was not assigned to a metropolitan province.  In the late thirteenth century Armenia was certainly a suffragan diocese of the province of Nisibis, and its dependency probably went back to the seventh or eighth century.  The bishops of Armenia appear to have sat at the town of Halat (Ahlat) on the northern shore ofLake Van.
The Arab conquest allowed the East Syriacs to move into western Mesopotamia and establish communities in Damascus and other towns that had formerly been in Roman territory, where they lived alongside much larger Syriac Orthodox, Armenian and Melkite communities.  Some of these western communities were placed under the jurisdiction of the East Syriac metropolitans of Damascus, but others were attached to the province of Nisibis.   The latter included a diocese for Harran and Callinicus (Raqqa), first attested in the eighth century and last mentioned towards the end of the eleventh century, and a diocese at Maiperqat, first mentioned at the end of the eleventh century, whose bishops were also responsible for the East Syrian communities in Amid and Mardin.Eleventh- and thirteenth-century lists of dioceses in the province of Nisibis also mention a diocese for the Syrian town ofReshʿaïna(Raʿs al-ʿAin).Reshʿaïnais a plausible location for an East Syriac diocese at this period, but none of its bishops are known.
Changes in the formal and informal titles borne by the metropolitans of Nisibis reflect the shifts in the province's centre of gravity over the centuries.  In 497 the metropolitan Hosea of Nisibis was styled 'metropolitan of the country ofBeth ʿArabaye'.In the eleventh century the metropolitanʿAbdishoʿ Ibn ʿAridof Nisibis, who became patriarch in 1074, was styled 'metropolitan bishop of Soba [Nisibis] and Beth Nahrin [Mesopotamia]'.At the end of the thirteenth century the celebrated East Syriac writerʿAbdishoʿ Bar Brikha, himself metropolitan of Nisibis, referred loosely to his province as 'Soba (Nisibis) and Mediterranean Syria'.Few Mesopotamian or Syrian dioceses still existed at this period, however, andʿAbdishoʿwas normally styled 'metropolitan of Nisibis and Armenia'.  As far as is known, the title 'metropolitan of Nisibis and Armenia' was used by all ofʿAbdishoʿ's successors until 1610, when the East Syriac metropolitan province of Nisibis was abolished.
ʿAbdishoʿ Bar Brikhalisted thirteen suffragan dioceses in the province of Nisibis at the end of the thirteenth century, in the following order:  Arzun, Qube, Beth Rahimaï, Balad, Shigar, Qardu, Tamanon, Beth Zabdaï, Halat, Harran, Amid,Reshʿaïnaand 'Adormiah' (Qarta and Adarma).It has been convincingly argued thatʿAbdishoʿwas giving a conspectus of dioceses in the province of Nisibis at various periods in its history rather than an authentic list of late-thirteenth century dioceses, and it is unlikely that the dioceses of Qube, Beth Rahimaï, Harran andReshʿaïnastill existed at this period.
A diocese was founded around the middle of the thirteenth century to the north of theTur ʿAbdinfor the town of Hesna d'Kifa, perhaps in response to East Syriac immigration to the towns of the Tigris plain during the Mongol period.  At the same time, a number of older dioceses may have ceased to exist.  The dioceses of Qaimar and Qarta and Adarma are last mentioned towards the end of the twelfth century, and the diocese of Tamanon in 1265, and it is not clear whether they persisted into the fourteenth century.  The only dioceses in the province of Nisibis definitely in existence at the end of the thirteenth century were Armenia (whose bishops sat at Halat on the northern shore of Lake Van), Shigar, Balad, Arzun and Maiperqat.
The see of Nisibis was founded in AD300.At theSynod of 410 in Seleucia-Ctesiphon, Nisibis was made the metropolitan see of Beth ʿArbaye.
East Syriac bishops ofArzun(near present-daySiirt) are attested between the fifth and thirteenth centuries.  A twelfth-century reference to the diocese of 'Arzun and Beth Dlish' indicates that the bishops of Arzun may have sat atBitlis.
The bishop Daniel of Arzun was confirmed as a suffragan bishop of the metropolitan Hosea of Nisibis in Canon XXI of the synod of Isaac in 410, and was among the signatories of its acts.He was also among the signatories of the acts of the synod ofDadishoʿin 424.
The bishop Job of Arzun was among the signatories of the acts of the synod of Babaï in 497.
The bishop Gabriel Ibn al-Shammas of Arzun was an unsuccessful candidate in the patriarchal election of 1012.  His successful rival, the patriarchYohannan VI, appointed him metropolitan of Mosul on 19 November 1012, immediately after his own consecration as patriarch.
The bishop Giwargis of Arzun was consecrated metropolitan of Nisibis by the patriarchʿAbdishoʿII shortly after his own consecration in 1074.
An unnamed bishop of Arzun was present at the consecration of the patriarchBar Sawmain 1134.
The bishop Emmanuel of Arzun was present at the consecration of the patriarchMakkikha IIin 1257.
The bishopShemʿonof Arzun was present at the consecration of the patriarchYahballaha IIIin 1281.
The bishop Samuel 'of Arzun for Baita d'Aoustan' was confirmed as a suffragan bishop of the metropolitan Hosea of Nisibis in Canon XXI of the synod of Isaac in 410, and was among the signatories of its acts.
The bishop Yohannan of 'Aoustan d'Arzun' was among the signatories of the acts of the synod ofDadishoʿin 424.
The bishop 'Natum', probably Nathan, of 'Arzun d'Beth d'Aoustan' adhered by letter to the acts of the synod ofJosephin 554.
The bishop Miles of Qardu was among the signatories of the acts of the synod ofDadishoʿin 424.
The bishop Bar Sawma of Qardu was among the signatories of the acts of the synod ofJosephin 554.
The bishop Marutha of Qardu was among the signatories of the acts of the synod of Gregory in 605.
The bishop Theodore of Qardu was appointed metropolitan ofʿIlamby the patriarchYohannan IIIimmediately after his consecration on 15 July 893.
The bishop Yohannan ofBeth Zabdai(Gazarta) was among the signatories of the acts of the synod of Babaï in 497.
The bishopIshoʿyahbofGazartais mentioned together with the patriarchAbraham III(906–37) in the colophon of an East Syriac manuscript of 912.
The bishopIshoʿyahbofGazartawas present at the consecration of the patriarchʿAbdishoʿIIin 1074.
An unnamed bishop ofGazartawas present at the consecration of the patriarchBar Sawmain 1134.
The bishop Daniel of Beth Moksaye was confirmed as a suffragan bishop of the metropolitan Hosea of Nisibis in Canon XXI of the synod of Isaac in 410.
The bishop Atticus of Beth Moksaye was among the signatories of the acts of the synod ofDadishoʿin 424.
The bishop Abraham of Beth Rahimaï was confirmed as a suffragan bishop of the metropolitan Hosea of Nisibis in Canon XXI of the synod of Isaac in 410.
The bishop Gabriel of Qube d'Arzun was among the signatories of the acts of the synod ofTimothy Iin 790.
The bishopʿAbdishoʿof Tamanon was present at the consecration of the patriarchʿAbdishoʿII in 1074.
The bishopʿAbdishoʿof Tamanon was present at the consecration of the patriarch Eliya II in 1111.
The bishopBrikhishoʿof Tamanon was present at the consecration of the patriarchDenha Iin 1265.
The bishop Gregory the Alchemist was bishop ofHarranduring the reign of the patriarchPethion(731–40).
ʿAbdishoʿ bar Bahrīz, who became the metropolitan of Mosul before 827, previously served as bishop of Harran.
The patriarchSabrishoʿII (831–5) was consecrated bishop of Harran by the metropolitan Yohannan of Nisibis, and became metropolitan of Damascus during the reign ofTimothy I(780–823).
The bishopYaʿqob"of Harran and Callinicus" (Raqqa) is mentioned together with the patriarchYohannan III(893–9) in the dating formula of an East Syriac manuscript copied in the monastery of Mar Gabriel near Harran by the deacon Babai in 899.
The bishop Yohannan, bishop ofʿUkbarawhenElijah of Nisibiscompleted hisChronographyin 1018/19, was formerly bishop of Harran.
The bishop Eliya 'of Raqah (Raqqa)' was present at the consecration of the patriarchMakkikha Iin 1092.
The bishop Eliya, metropolitan of Damascus whenElijah of Nisibiscompleted hisChronographyin 1018/19, was formerly bishop ofMaiperqat.
The bishop Yohannan of Maiperqat was present at the consecration of the patriarchMakkikha IIin 1257.
The bishopIshoʿdnahof Maiperqat was present at the consecration of the patriarchDenha Iin 1265 (as bishop 'of Mardin').He was also present at the consecration ofYahballaha IIIin 1281 (as 'bishop of Miyafariqin').
The bishops Hawah andShubhalishoʿof Balad were among the signatories of the acts of the synod of Babaï in 497.
The bishop Yazdgird of Balad was among the signatories of the acts of the synod of Joseph in 554.
The future patriarchIshoʿyahbIIof Gdala (628–45) was appointed bishop of Balad after the death of the bishop Quriaqos of Balad.
The bishopSabrishoʿof Balad was appointed metropolitan of Nisibis by the patriarchHnanishoʿIafter the death of the metropolitanQamishoʿ, probably in 697.
An unnamed bishop of Balad was among the bishops who witnessed a retraction of the Messallian heresy made by the priest Nestorius of the monastery of Mar Yozadaq in 790 before his consecration as bishop of Beth Nuhadra.
The monk Quriaqos of themonastery of Beth ʿAbe, a native of the town of Gbilta in theTirhandistrict, became bishop of Balad at an unknown date in the second half of the eighth century or the first half of the ninth century.
The bishop Yohannan of Balad was appointed metropolitan of Merv by the patriarch Sargis (860–72).
The bishop Eliya of Balad was appointed metropolitan ofBardaʿaby the patriarch Mari (987–99).
The bishopSabrishoʿof Balad was present at the consecration of the patriarchʿAbdishoʿII (1074–90), and was later consecrated metropolitan ofʿIlamby the same patriarch.
An unnamed bishop of Balad was present at the consecration of the patriarch Bar Sawma in 1134.
The bishopShemʿon'of Balad and al-Jaslona (Gaslona)' was present at the consecration of the patriarchYahballaha IIIin 1281.
The bishopShemʿonof Balad was present at the consecration of the patriarchTimothy IIin 1318.
TheDiocese of Shigarwas founded in the sixth century, probably to counter the growing influence of the Jacobites in the Sinjar region.  The full name of the diocese was Shigar andBeth ʿArabaye, and it covered the desert region to the north of Sinjar, where there were several Nestorian monasteries.  Six Nestorian bishops of Shigar are attested between the sixth and the fourteenth centuries.  The first of these bishops, Bawai, is mentioned in 563.  The last, Yohannan, was present at the consecration of the patriarch Timothy II in 1318.
It is not clear when the diocese of Shigar came to an end.  The Shigar region seems to have had a small Nestorian community up to the seventeenth century, and may even have had a bishop from time to time.  A metropolitan 'Glanan Imech' (possiblyMaranʿemmeh), of 'Sciugar' is mentioned in the report of 1607, and may have been a bishop of Shigar.  According to aYaziditradition, the last Nestorian 'metropolitan' of Sinjar died around 1660, and the region's few remaining Nestorian Christians become Yazidis.   It is difficult to say whether there is any truth in this tradition.
The bishopKlilishoʿof 'Beth Tabyathe and the Kartawaye' was among the signatories of the acts of the synod ofIshoʿyahbI in 585.
The diocese of Qarta and Adarma was listed as a suffragan diocese in the province of Nisibis in theMukhtasarof 1007/8, and a bishop Mushe of Qarta and Adarma is attested during the reign of the catholicus Eliya II (1111–32).  A ritual for the consecration of the bishop of Qarta and Adarma has survived in the works of the patriarch Eliya III (1176–90).  Finally, a manuscript was copied in 1186 in the monastery of Mar Awgin near Nisibis for the village of Tel Mahmad 'in the diocese of Qarta'.  Its colophon mentions that the manuscript was copied in the time of the patriarch Eliya III and the metropolitan Yahballaha of Nisibis, providing further confirmation that Qarta was a diocese in the province of Nisibis.
Qarta has been identified byFieywith the monastery of Mar Gabrona and Mar Shmona (Arabic: Dayr al-Qara) near the Lailah Dagh, twenty kilometres to the southeast of Gazarta, and Adarma with the small town of Adarma, seventy kilometres east of Nisibis, near the modern Tel Rmelan al-Kabir.  The seat of the bishops of Qarta and Adarma may have been the monastery of Gabrona and Shmona, mentioned in the colophons of manuscripts of 1213/4 and 1217/8.
TheNestorian diocese of Armenia, whose bishops sat in the town of Halat (Ahlat) on the northern shore of Lake Van, is attested between the fifth and fourteenth centuries.  In the fifth century the diocese of Halat was not assigned to a metropolitan province, but was later included in the province of Nisibis, probably shortly after the Arab conquest.  The patriarch Timothy I created a metropolitan province for Armenia, presumably by raising the status of the diocese ofHalat.  By the second half of the eleventh centuryHalatwas once again a suffragan diocese of the province of Nisibis.  By the thirteenth century the jurisdiction of the bishops ofHalatincluded the towns of Van and Wastan.
An unnamed bishop of Qaimar was present at the consecration of the patriarch Bar Sawma in 1134.
The bishopSabrishoʿof Qaimar was transferred to the diocese ofKashkarby the patriarch Eliya III (1176–90).
A diocese was founded around the middle of the thirteenth century to the north of theTur ʿAbdinfor the town ofHesna d'Kifa.
The bishop Eliya of Hesna d'Kifa was present at the enthronement ofMakkikha IIin 1257.
The bishop Emmanuel of Hesna d'Kifa was present at the consecration of the patriarchYahballaha IIIin 1281.
The unperfected bishop Ibn Fadala, 'guardian of the throne of Nisibis' and bishop of an unnamed diocese in the province of Nisibis, was present together with the metropolitan Yohannan of Nisibis at the consecration of the patriarchʿAbdishoʿIIIin 1139.  He was required to proclaim the patriarch's name in the traditional ceremony in the church of Mar Pethion, 'because all the bishops of the great eparchy [Beth Aramaye] had died, and their thrones were vacant; something which had never happened before'.