List of maphrians explained
The
Maphrian, originally known as the Grand Metropolitan of the East or the Catholicos, was the head of the Maphrianate of the East and was the second highest-ranking prelate within the
Syriac Orthodox Church, after the
Patriarch of Antioch. The maphrianate originated as a distinct
miaphysite ecclesiastical institution in the
Sasanian Empire after the ordination of
Ahudemmeh as Grand Metropolitan of the East by
Jacob Baradaeus in 559. However, it claimed to be the legitimate continuation of the
Church of the East and counted its leaders prior to the church's adoption of
dyophysitism as its own. Sources disagree on the first to use the title of maphrian as
Michael the Syrian's
Chronicle gives John IV Saliba, who is believed to have adopted it in, whereas
Bar Hebraeus'
Ecclesiastical History names
Marutha of Tikrit as the first.
A separate maphrianate of Tur Abdin under the authority of the Patriarch of Tur Abdin was established in and endured until 1844. Eventually, the Maphrianate of the East was abolished in 1860. A maphrianate in India was established in 1912, thereby creating the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, but was not recognised by the Syriac Orthodox Church until 1958. In 1975, Patriarch Ignatius Jacob III withdrew recognition of the maphrian Baselios Augen I, and appointed Baselios Paulose II in his stead. The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church thus split from the Syriac Orthodox Church which continues to appoint its own maphrians in India.
List of maphrians
Grand Metropolitans of the East from 559 to 1075
Unless otherwise stated, all information is from the list provided in The Syriac World, as noted in the bibliography below. According to church tradition, numeration includes incumbents deemed legitimate by the Syriac Orthodox Church prior to 559.
vacant (575–578)
vacant (609–614)
vacant (624–628/629)
vacant (659–669)
- Barishoʿ (669–683)
- Abraham I
- David (–)
- John I Saba (686–688)
- Denha II (688–727)
- Paul I (728–757)
- John II Kionoyo (759–785)
- Joseph I (785–)
vacant (–793)
- Sharbil (793–ca. 800)
- Simon (–)
- Basil I (–829)
- Daniel (829–834)
- Thomas (834–847)
- Basil II Lazarus I (848–858)
- Melchisedec (858–868)
vacant (869–872)
vacant (883–887)
vacant (904–)
- Thomas (910–911)
- Denha III (913–933)
vacant (933–937)
- Basil III (937–961)
- Cyriacus (962–980)
- John III (981–988)
vacant (988–991)
- Ignatius I bar Qiqi (991–1016)
vacant (1016–1027)
- Athanasius II (1027–1041)
vacant (1041–1046)
vacant (1069–1075)
Maphrians of the East from 1075 to 1859
- John IV Saliba (1075–1106)
vacant (1106–1112)
- Dionysius I Moses (1112–1142)
- Ignatius II Lazarus II (1142–1164)
- John V Sarugoyo (1164–1188)
- Gregory I Jacob (1189–1214)
Dionysius bar Masih (1189–1190)
vacant (1258–1263)
vacant (1286–1288)
- Gregory III Barsawmo (1288–1308)
vacant (1308–1317)
- Gregory IV Matthew (1317–1345)
vacant (1345–1360)
Gregory V Dioscorus (1360–1361)
vacant (1361–1364)
- Athanasius III Abraham (1364–1379)
vacant (1379–1404)
vacant (1412–1415)
- Dioscorus II Behnam (1415–1417)
vacant (1417–1422)
- Basil Barsawmo II (1422–1455)
vacant (1455–1458)
Cyril Joseph II (1458–)
vacant (1487–1490)
vacant (1494–1496)
- Basil Abraham III (1496–1507)
vacant (1507–1509)
- Basil Solomon (1509–1518)
- Basil Athanasius Habib (1518–1533)
- Basil Elias I (1533–)
- Basil Ni'matallah (1555–1557)
- Basil ʿAbd al-Ghani I al-Mansuri (1557–1575)
- Basil Pilate (1575–1591)
Elias II
vacant (–)
Basil Shukrallah (1748–1764)
vacant (1768–1783)
- Basil Sliba (1783–1790)
- Basil Bishara (1790–1817)
- Basil Yunan (–)
- Basil Cyril (–)
- Basil ʿAbd al-ʿAziz
- Basil Matthew (1820–)
- Basil Elias III Karmeh (1825–1827)
- Basil Elias IV ʿAnkaz (1827–1839)
- Basil Behnam IV (1839–1859)
Maphrians of Tur Abdin from c. 1479 to 1844
vacant
vacant (1510–1537)
- Basil Abraham (1537–1543)
vacant (1543–1555)
- Basil Simon I (1549–1555)
vacant (1555–1561)
vacant (1562–1650)
- Basil Habib Haddad (1650–1674)
vacant (1674–)
vacant (–1710)
- Basil Simon II (1710–1740)
- Basil Denha Baltaji (1740–1779)
- Basil ʿAbdallah Yahya (1779–1784)
- Simon (1786)
- Sliba al-ʿAttar (1779–1815)
- Basil Barsawmo (1815–1830)
- Basil ʿAbd al-Ahad Kindo (1821–1844)
Maphrians of the East from 1912 to 1964
See main article: Catholicos of the East (Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church).
vacant (1913–1925)
Maphrians of the East from 1964 to 2002
vacant (1996–2002)
Maphrians of India from 2002 to present
See main article: Catholicos of India.
See also
References
NotesCitations
Bibliography
- Book: Barsoum. 2003. The Scattered Pearls: A History of Syriac Literature and Sciences. 2nd. Gorgias Press. Matti Moosa. Ignatius Aphrem I. 14 July 2020.
- Book: Barsoum. 2009. The Collected Historical Essays of Aphram I Barsoum. 1. Gorgias Press. Matti Moosa. Ignatius Aphrem I . 26 June 2021.
- Book: Baum. Wilhelm. Winkler . Dietmar W. . 2003. The Church of the East: A Concise History. RoutledgeCurzon. Miranda G. Henry.
- Book: Duval. 2013. Syriac Literature. Gorgias Press. Olivier Holmey.
- Book: Ignatius Jacob III. 2008. History of the Monastery of Saint Matthew in Mosul. Gorgias Press. Matti Moosa. Ignatius Jacob III. 25 May 2021.
- Encyclopedia: Thomas. Joseph. Malankara Syriac Orthodox Church. Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition . Sebastian P. Brock . Aaron M. Butts . George A. Kiraz . George A. Kiraz . Lucas Van Rompay . Gorgias Press . 2011. 12 February 2024.
- Encyclopedia: George A. . Kiraz . Maphrian. Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition . Sebastian P. Brock . Aaron M. Butts . George A. Kiraz . George A. Kiraz . Lucas Van Rompay . Gorgias Press . 2011. 13 September 2020. George A. Kiraz.
- Encyclopedia: Hidemi. Takahashi. Maphrian. The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Oliver Nicholson. Oxford University Press. 2018. 957.
- Encyclopedia: Baby. Varghese. Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition . Sebastian P. Brock . Aaron M. Butts . George A. Kiraz . George A. Kiraz . Lucas Van Rompay . Gorgias Press . 2011. 12 February 2024. Baby Varghese.
- Dorothea . Weltecke . Bar ʻEbroyo on Identity: Remarks on his Historical Writing. 2016. Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies. 303–332.
- Book: Wilmshurst. 2019. West Syrian patriarchs and maphrians. The Syriac World. Routledge. 806–813. Daniel King.
- Book: Wood. 2013. The Chronicle of Seert: Christian Historical Imagination in Late Antique Iraq. Oxford University Press.
- Phillip John . Wood. Miaphysites in Iraq during the Last Great War of Antiquity (c. 604–28) and its Aftermath. 2021. The Journal of Ecclesiastical History. 1–18.