|
|
|
|
|
705 AD |
Ya`qob (Jacob) of
Edessa completed his revised Syriac text of the Old
Testament.
Ya`qob was a distinguished scholar. He was responsible for
creating new monastic centres of Greek learning at Kaisum, Eusebona and
Tell `Adda. In his writings, Ya`cob used the Peshitta as his gospel
text. |
[33], p. 211
[38], p.
100 |
|
June 5th
708
AD |
Died Ya`qob, (Jacob)
who was for a few years, Syrian Orthodox bishop of
Edessa. |
[24], p. 143
[33], p.
211
[38], p. 100
[53], p. 93, 97 |
|
714 - 718 AD |
Giwargis, (George)
Syrian Orthodox bishop of the Arabs wrote in a letter about the
identity of the fourth century 'Persian sage' we know as Aphrahat.
This letter was part of an important cycle of his correspondence written
between AD 714 and 717, [53]. |
[53], p.
98 |
|
724 AD |
Died Giwargis, Syrian
Orthodox bishop of the Christian Arab tribes. According to
Spencer-Trimingham, [35] Giwargis was born c. 640 AD. He was based at
`Aqula, (later known as Kufa and famous as the source of the Arabic Kufic
script) not far from the Nestorian centre of Arab Christianity at
Hira, [35]. |
[35], p. 176
f.
[38], p. 100
[53], p. 97 |
|
740 AD |
Died Pition,
Catholicos of the East. |
[24], p.
218 |
|
c. 740 AD |
Flourished the East Syrian
Mystical writer Abraham Bar Dashandad. A letter of his survives in
Mingana Syr 601 part C. |
[46], volume 1,
column 1147 |
|
741 AD |
Mar Abha Bar
Berikh-sebhyaneh of Kashkar bishop of Kashkar became East
Syrian Catholicos. He sat until his death in AD 751 at an age of 110
years. He is quoted at least ten times by Isaac Shebadhnaya, also
known as Asco in his sedras, see AD 1440 and Wright's catalogue of
the Cambridge MSS, page 441. Also, it is mentioned in the Beth Gaza, for
example Borgia Syr. 60, p. 532, column 2 that this Mar Abha wrote the
Turgame, or exegetical anthems which are chanted before the gospel
readings in the liturgy of the Church of the East.
Mar Abha of Kashkar was
succeeded by Sourin as catholicos of the east, [50]. |
[24], p. 186
f.
[50], p. 515 note 4 |
|
750 AD |
The Abbasid Islamic
caliphate is established in Iraq |
[60], p.
xxiv |
|
c. 754 AD |
Sourin catholicos of
the east was deposed, [50]. |
[50], p. 515
note 4 |
|
758 AD |
Giwargi was elected
Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch. He sat until AD 790. |
[62], p.
5 |
|
Between
October
1st
759 AD and September
30th
760AD |
Ya`qob metropolitan of
Gundi-Shapor was elected Ya`qob II Saba Brika catholicos of the
east. His election ended a four year gap which began with the deposition
of his predecessor, Sourin. |
[50], p. 515
note 4 |
|
759 or 760 AD |
A dated inscription in a
stone sepulchre was found near Amida containing three quotations from an
Old Syriac gospel. |
[38], pp. 110 -
111 |
|
760 AD |
Was born Job of
Edessa. |
[33], p. 212 |
|
Between
October
1st
764 AD and September
30th
765AD |
Ya`qob II catholicos
of the east was imprisoned and within two years, he died. After his death,
there was no catholicos of the east for nine years until the election of
Henanisho` II. |
[50], pp. 515, 515 note
4 |
|
767 AD |
An East Syrian copy of the
Peshitta NT was copied in the convent of Rabban Mara Sabar Yeshua,
or Beth Quqa near the river Zaba Rabba in Adiabene. |
Hatch 'Album', p.
214 |
|
773 or 774 AD |
Lazar of Qandasa, (or
Kandasa), a Syrian Orthodox monk who lived in the mountains near Edessa
wrote a commentary upon the gospels of Mark and John. From these it is
clear that Lazar used the Peshitta text. |
[38], p. 113 |
|
774 - 779 AD |
When the Caliphs conquered
the old Sassanid (Persian) metropolis of Seleucia-Ctesiphon and built
Baghdad their new capital between the years 762 and 766, the East Syrian
catholicos Henanisho` II (774-9) considered it expedient to
move the Patriarchate in 775 to that city though still reserving the old
title of Seleucia-Ctesiphon. As head of one of the richest and influential
communities in the Islamic Empire, his position in the central
administration became one of relative importance, sometimes through favour
with the Caliphs themselves and sometimes through bribery and gifts,
[Atiya]. Henanisho` II died in AD 780, [46]. |
Atiya, Aziz S., 'A History of
Eastern Christianity' Methuen, London, 1968
[46], volume 1, column
1202
[60], pp. xxv, 5 |
|
775 AD |
Mohammed El-Mahdi
became Islamic Caliph of Baghdad. |
[50], p. 516
[60], p.
85 |
|
Between October
29th
775 AD and October 16th
776
AD |
The East Syrian catholicos
Henanisho` II held a synod. The synodal acts contain gospel
quotations which mainly follow the Peshitta text, though a few Old
Syriac variants are still to be seen. The synodal record is dated to 'AG
1087 which is also AH 159', [50]. This provides an early confirmation of
the mathematical link between the Greek and Islamic calendars in use at
that time.
Henanisho` had been
bishop of Lashom prior to his election as catholicos. His election was
schismatic: not all east Syrian bishops supported him. Nevertheless,
according to [50], it is his name which appears on the Singan-fu Syriac
inscription found in China which is dated AD 781. The present author has
not yet been able to verify this claim, or the date of the
inscription. |
[38], p. 116
[50], p.
515 |
|
775 - 776 AD |
A monk from a monastery near
Amida writes 'The chronicle of Zuqnin', which covers the period AD
488 - 775. |
[32] |
|
September 779
AD |
Died east Syrian catholicos
Henanisho` II. Henanisho` was poisoned and died when
he tried to recover some church property lost during the interregnum.
|
[46], volume 1, column
1202
[50], pp. 515 note 3, 603 note 5 |
|
Sunday 7th
May
780 AD |
After 8 months of wrangling,
Henanisho` II was succeeded by Timothy I Catholicos of the
East. He was elected on Sunday 7th May AD 780. Prior to his
election, Timothy had been bishop of Beth Bagash. Timothy came originally
from Hazza in Adiabene. |
[50], p. 603 note 5
[52],
p. 60
[60], p. 80 |
|
780 to 823 AD |
Timothy Catholicos of
the Church of the East corresponded with Sergius who was later
metropolitan-bishop of Bet-Lapat or Gundishapur in the Persian province of
Elam. Timothy was a favourite of the Caliphs al-Mahdi and Harun al-Rashid.
About 200 of Timothy's letters survive and when he quoted the gospel, he
quoted from the Peshitta. Some of these letters can be found in
Mingana 47, section mm. |
[32], paras 24ff.
[38], p.
115
[52], p. 60 |
|
22nd May
785
AD |
Mari Giwargi Syrian
Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch held a synod in the village of
Kaper-nabu in the district of Serug. The synodal canons are preserved in a
Damascus Patriarchate MS which has been edited and published in [68]. the
date given in the synodal letter is Pentecost Sunday, 22nd day
of the month Iyar in the year of the Greeks 1096. |
[62], p.
5
[68], p. 1 ff. |
|
785 AD |
Died Mohammed
El-Mahdi, Islamic Caliph of Baghdad. He was succeeded by Harun
al-Rashid, (see above). |
[50], p. 516
[60], p.
85 |
|
790 AD |
End of the see of
Giwargi Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch. |
[62], p.
5 |
|
Between May 19th
790 AD &
May 7th
791 AD |
Timothy I catholicos
of the east, held the first of two synods.
Catholicos Timothy I tried a
cleric, Nestorius priest of the Monastery of Mar Yozedeq, [50] who
was accused of being a Messalian, that is to say, a member of an
ascetic sect which originated in the 4th century AD, [46].
Nestorius subsequently retracted this belief in a letter dated in this
year, AH 174, [50]. Subsequently, Nestorius was made bishop of Beth
Nuhadran or Nuhadraya. A treatise by this Nestorius can be
found in Mingana Syr 601 part S, [46]. The writings of John
Dalyatha who flourished c. AD 700 were also condemned by Timothy at
the same synod and for the same reason, [69]. This condemnation was
rescinded by Timothy's successor, Isho` bar Nun, [69] see under AD
823.
Also, according to Beulay,
during this synod, some words written by Yoseph Hazzaya
recommending prayer in the monk's cell as more important than church
services were condemned. As one might expect, this sort of teaching was
always condemned as 'Messalian' by the Church of the East. See P. Harb,
'Lettre..', p. 269 referring to the ancient text edited in §102 which is
on pp. 376 f.
Yoseph was from Hazza
in Adiabene, hence his name, and he was born around AD 710, [61]. He wrote
many books, most of which are now lost but some were transmitted under the
pseudonym of his brother `Abdisho` (See Mingana MS 601). An excellent
critical edition of three of his letters based upon 12 manuscripts has
been published by Harb. This edition preserves some teaching by Yoseph on
the monastic life. |
[46], volume 1, column 1115,
1118-9
[50], pp. 603 note 4, 608 note 3
[61], pp. 314 ff.
P.
Harb, 'Lettre sur les trois étapes de la vie monastique', P.O. t. 45,
fasc. 2, Belgium 1992
[69], pp. 6, 9 |
|
791 or 792 AD |
The scholar Theodore bar
Koni of Kashkar nephew of (presumably Catholicos) John IV,
completed his 'Liber Scholiorum'. This book contains much theological,
apologetical and historical information. The text is richly studded with
the gospel text quoted from a revised version of the Peshitta.
Vööbus shows that the Peshitta text used by Theodore had been revised
towards the Greek text, [38]. Theodore was promoted by his uncle to be
bishop of Lashom in AD 893.
In his 'Liber Scholiorum'
Theodore gives an account of the Diatessaron and a brief quotation. He
says, (I translate from the Syriac): ‘And finally came Tatianos the
Greek, and he saw in the Separate Gospels that the episodes were described
two or three times, and he took to write them down, one by one, and
gathered from the four of them, one book. He called it
"Diatessaron". And when he came to the reading of the resurrection,
he saw that the testimonies of the four differed, because each caused to
write that He was risen from the dead at the time that our Lord appeared
to him. And, so as not to have to choose one testimony and omit three, he
spoke thus in order to take account of the testimony of all four: "In the
night when the first day of the week dawned, our Lord rose from the dead."
‘ |
[24], p. 222
[38], p.
116
Petersen “Diatessaron” p. 51 |
|
793 AD |
Quriaqos or
Cyriacus became Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch.
Cyriacus had been a monk at the convent of Bizona or 'the pillar' near
Callinicus. He sat until AD 817 when he died in Mosul. His patriarchate
was fraught with serious divisions caused or exacerbated by him in the
Church. This situation even led to the appointment of a schismatic
patriarch and the mediating intervention of the Islamic Caliph, Harun
al-Rashid. |
[24], p. 165 f.
Bar
Hebraeus, 'Nomocanon'
[53], p. 102
[62], p. 6 |
|
November
794
AD |
Quriaqos or
Cyriacus Patriarch of Antioch held a synod in the village of
Beth-bethyan in the region of Harran. The synodal canons are edited in
[68]. |
[62], p. 6
[68], p.
6 |
|
After 797 AD |
A work written about the
three founders of the Syrian Orthodox monastery of Qartamin in Tur
`Abdin which quotes the gospel from an Old Syriac
text. |
[38], p. 113 |
|
c. 800 AD |
Died David, an East
Syrian monk of Beth Rabban Paulos, i.e. of the convent of
Zekha-isho` who later moved and lived in the convent of Beth `Abhe. David
wrote a monastic history called 'The little paradise' used as a source by
Thomas bishop of Marga. He also wrote a geographical
treatise and some poorly styled acrostic poems on wisdom and
learning. |
[24], pp. 183 f.
[46],
volume 1, column 902 |
|
