Baba Rabba
Encyclopedia
Baba Rabba, literally "The Great Gate", was one of the greatest of the Samaritan
high priests
. He is believed to have lived during the late third and early fourth century AD.
The son of the Samaritan high priest Nethanel, Baba Rabba was probably born in Shechem
. Little is known about his life. According to later Samaritan works, he was a religious reformer and together with the scholar Marqah helped codify Samaritan liturgy and worship. He appears to have had connections with the Roman
authorities, and may have exercised some temporal authority over the Samaritan community, which appears to have been relatively autonomous during this period. One chronicle places his death at 362 in Constantinople
.
Baba Rabba's reign is remembered as a golden age by Samaritans to this day. Tales of his piety and miracle-working are a mainstay of Samaritan folklore.
Samaritan
The Samaritans are an ethnoreligious group of the Levant. Religiously, they are the adherents to Samaritanism, an Abrahamic religion closely related to Judaism...
high priests
Kohen
A Kohen is the Hebrew word for priest. Jewish Kohens are traditionally believed and halachically required to be of direct patrilineal descent from the Biblical Aaron....
. He is believed to have lived during the late third and early fourth century AD.
The son of the Samaritan high priest Nethanel, Baba Rabba was probably born in Shechem
Shechem
Shechem was a Canaanite city mentioned in the Amarna letters, and is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as an Israelite city of the tribe of Manasseh and the first capital of the Kingdom of Israel...
. Little is known about his life. According to later Samaritan works, he was a religious reformer and together with the scholar Marqah helped codify Samaritan liturgy and worship. He appears to have had connections with the Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
authorities, and may have exercised some temporal authority over the Samaritan community, which appears to have been relatively autonomous during this period. One chronicle places his death at 362 in Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
.
Baba Rabba's reign is remembered as a golden age by Samaritans to this day. Tales of his piety and miracle-working are a mainstay of Samaritan folklore.