caption death_date death_place birth_place feast_day imagesize article_title venerated_in titles major_shrine image prayer name
mar abba the great , patriarch of seleucia-ctesiphon 552 azerbaijan hala , mesopotamia 28 february 200px aba i
 assyrian catholic church church of the east chaldean catholic church roman catholicos patriarch the , california , united states seminary of mar abba the great el cajon file : mar abba i the great.jpg hymn of mar abba mar abba the great
aba i

aba i -lrb- or , with his syriac honorific , mar aba i -rrb- or mar abba the great was the patriarch of the church of the east at seleucia-ctesiphon from 540 to 552 .
he introduced to the church the anaphoras of theodore of mopsuestia and nestorius beside the more ancient liturgical rite of addai and mari .
though his tenure as catholicos saw christians in the region threatened during the persian-roman wars and attempts by both sassanid persian and byzantine rulers to interfere with the governance of the church , his reign is reckoned a period of consolidation , and a synod he held in 544 as -lrb- despite excluding the diocese of merv -rrb- instrumental in unifying and strengthening the church .
he is thought to have written and translated a number of religious works .
aba is a highly regarded and significantly venerated saint in the assyrian church of the east , the ancient church of the east , and the chaldean catholic church , which has a seminary in san diego , california , usa , is named after him .
his feast day is celebrated on both the seventh friday after epiphany and on february 28 .
he is documented in the `` ausgewählte akten persischer märtyrer '' , and `` the lesser eastern churches '' , two biographies of eastern saints .
