Maphrian
Encyclopedia
The Maphrian was historically the prelate in the Syriac Orthodox Church
Syriac Orthodox Church
The Syriac Orthodox Church; is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Eastern Mediterranean, with members spread throughout the world. The Syriac Orthodox Church claims to derive its origin from one of the first Christian communities, established in Antioch by the Apostle St....

 who ranked second in the hierarchy after the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch. The Maphrian, whose title literally means "one who bears fruit", i.e. "consecrator", was originally the head of the church in Persia and the lands outside of the Roman Empire
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....

. Eventually he bore the additional title of Catholicos of the East
Catholicos of the East
Catholicos of the East is an ecclesiastical title used historically by the Church of the East and the Syriac Orthodox Church, and now used in successor churches. The title Catholicos, or "universal leader", is used in several Eastern Christian churches and implies a degree of sovereignty and...

, signifying a connection to the Catholicate of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the seat of the Patriarch of the Nestorian
Nestorianism
Nestorianism is a Christological doctrine advanced by Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople from 428–431. The doctrine, which was informed by Nestorius's studies under Theodore of Mopsuestia at the School of Antioch, emphasizes the disunion between the human and divine natures of Jesus...

 Church of the East
Church of the East
The Church of the East tāʾ d-Maḏnḥāʾ), also known as the Nestorian Church, is a Christian church, part of the Syriac tradition of Eastern Christianity. Originally the church of the Persian Sassanid Empire, it quickly spread widely through Asia...

. The position is somewhat similar to an exarch
Exarch
In the Byzantine Empire, an exarch was governor with extended authority of a province at some remove from the capital Constantinople. The prevailing situation frequently involved him in military operations....

 in other churches. The title was resurrected in the 20th century, and is now given to the Catholicos of India, leader of the local Jacobite Syrian Christian Church
Jacobite Syrian Christian Church
The Jacobite Syrian Christian Church is part of the Syriac Orthodox Church, located in Kerala, India. It recognizes the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, currently Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, as its supreme head. It functions as a largely autonomous archdiocese within the church, under the authority...

 and the second highest prelate of the wider Syriac Orthodox Church.

History

The ecclesiastical dignity goes back certainly to the seventh century and perhaps to the closing years of the sixth. After the Nestorian Schism
Nestorian Schism
The Nestorian Schism was the split between the Orthodox Church and churches affiliated with Nestorian doctrine in the 5th century. The schism rose out of a Christological dispute, the key figures in which were Cyril of Alexandria and Nestorius...

, when the teaching of Nestorius
Nestorius
Nestorius was Archbishop of Constantinople from 10 April 428 to 22 June 431.Drawing on his studies at the School of Antioch, his teachings, which included a rejection of the long-used title of Theotokos for the Virgin Mary, brought him into conflict with other prominent churchmen of the time,...

 were branded heretical at the First Council of Ephesus in 431, the School of Edessa
School of Edessa
The School of Edessa , often mistaken to be one and the same as the School of Nisibis, was a theological school of great importance to the Syriac speaking world. It had been founded as long ago as the 2nd century by the kings of the Abgar dynasty. In 363 Nisibis fell to the Persians, causing St....

 in Mesopotamia was closed for its Nestorian teachings, and moved to its original home in Nisibis
Nisibis
Nusaybin Nisêbîn) is a city in Mardin Province, Turkey, populated mainly by Kurds. Earlier Arameans, Arabs, and Armenians lived in the city. The population of the city is 83,832 as of 2009.-Ancient Period:...

, in the Sassanid Empire
Sassanid Empire
The Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...

. At the Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon
Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon
The Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, also called the Council of Mar Isaac, met in AD 410 in Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the capital of the Sassanid Empire of Persia. The council, extended official recognition to the Empire's Christian community, known as the Church of the East, and established the Bishop of...

, with the approval of the Sassanid king, a formal Patriarchate was established (see List of Patriarchs of the Church of the East).

Nestorianism
Nestorianism
Nestorianism is a Christological doctrine advanced by Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople from 428–431. The doctrine, which was informed by Nestorius's studies under Theodore of Mopsuestia at the School of Antioch, emphasizes the disunion between the human and divine natures of Jesus...

 flourished, forcing the few remaining Persian Monophysites, like Xenaias (Philoxenus) of Tahal, into exile. Xenaias became Bishop of Mabug
Mabug
Manbij , formerly known as Hierapolis Bambyce, is an ancient city in the Aleppo Governorate, Syria.- History :In 1879, after the Russo-Turkish War, a colony of Circassians from Vidin was planted in the ruins, and the result has been the constant discovery of antiquities, which find their way into...

 (ancient Hieropolis). In Persia, the Mesopotamian town of Tagrit (or Maypherkat, now in Iraq) alone did not adopt the prevailing religion; it became the centre of the Monophysite missions at the commencement of the sixth century. The energetic James Baradaeus ordained for the Persians bishop Ahudenuneh, who died a martyr in 575. But the efforts of the monk Maruta (not Saint Maruthas) were to be crowned with greater success. At one time from the monastery of Mar Mattai (near the ancient Assyrian capital Nineveh
Nineveh
Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....

), at another from Tagrit itself, he undertook fruitful missionary work among the Arabs and throughout the valley of the Tigris. He relied on the influence of Chosroes II's physician, Gabriel de Shiggar, who had completely won the confidence of the Christian queen Shirin
Shirin
Shirin was a wife of the Sassanid Persian Shahanshah , Khosrau II. In the revolution after the death of Khosrau's father Hormizd IV, the General Bahram Chobin took power over the Persian empire. Shirin fled with Khosrau to Syria where they lived under the protection of Byzantine emperor Maurice...

.

From time to time the Persian armies, which invaded the Roman territories so often at this period would bring back a multitude of captives, Byzantines, Egyptians, Euphratesians or Edessans, mostly Jacobites. So in 628-9 it was judged suitable to organize the Monophysite Church in Persia. The Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch, Athanasius the Chancellor, saw that it would be necessary to grant the Syrians in the Persian Empire a large ecclesiastical autonomy. In fact one of the most serious objections raised by the Nestorians against the Monophysites was that the latter obeyed a spiritual head residing in Byzantine territory and that they were therefore inclined to become the subjects of the Emperor of Constantinople. Hence the Monophysites were frequently denounced at the court of Seleucia as conspirators favouring the Romans; the thus incensed Sassanides would persecute the Jacobites.

The relations of the Maphrian and the Jacobite Patriarch of Antioch
Patriarch of Antioch
Patriarch of Antioch is a traditional title held by the Bishop of Antioch. As the traditional "overseer" of the first gentile Christian community, the position has been of prime importance in the church from its earliest period...

 remained, despite several schisms, harmoniously. In 869 it was decided that just as the patriarch consecrated the Maphrian, the consecration of a new Patriarch would be reserved to the Maphrian. Within their own circumscriptions, the Maphrians had often disputes with the metropolitan of the monastery of Mar Mattai (near Nineveh), who was jealous of the preponderating influence of Tagrit.

In 1089, the churches of Tagrit having been destroyed by the Muslims, the Maphrians abandoned it and settled in Mosul
Mosul
Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...

.

From A.D. 1155 they generally resided at Mar Mattai while retaining an immediate jurisdiction over Tagrit and Nineveh. One of the Maphrians worthy of special mention is the celebrated Gregory Abulfaradj, surnamed Bar Hebraeus (d. 1286), the most highly cultured man of his age. There has been preserved a history by him of his predecessors. This work was continued by his brother, and later by unscholarly annalists, and stops in the fifteenth century (1496).

Modern era

In time, the number of Syriac Orthodox Christians in Mesopotamia decreased, and the maphrianate lost its original significance. It became largely a titular designation for the Syriac Orthodox Church's second highest office until being abolished altogether in a synod of 1860. In the 20th century the title was resurrected in the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church
Jacobite Syrian Christian Church
The Jacobite Syrian Christian Church is part of the Syriac Orthodox Church, located in Kerala, India. It recognizes the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, currently Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, as its supreme head. It functions as a largely autonomous archdiocese within the church, under the authority...

, the part of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

's Malankara Church
Malankara Church
The Malankara Church is the church of the Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala, India, with particular emphasis on the part of the community that joined Archdeacon Mar Thoma in swearing to resist the authority of the Portuguese Padroado in 1653...

 that remained under the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch after an internal split; it is given to the church's local leader, the Catholicos of India. The current Maphrian is Baselios Thomas I.

External links

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