Mar Yosip Khnanisho the metropolitan or matran of Shemsdin

Shemsdin (East Syrian Ecclesiastical Province)

The metropolitan province of Shemsdin, created after the 1552 schism in the Church of the East, was the most important ecclesiastical province of the Qudshanis patriarchate after the province of the patriarch himself. The metropolitans or mutrans of Shemsdin traditionally took the name Hnanisho...

 from 1918 to 1977.

Hakkari

Of the Mar Khnanishu family, he studied with Rev. Rehana, the head of the Seminary in Mar Ishu Monastery. He was ordained a deacon at age 12 and ordained as a priest in 1912. In 1914, he was sent as a delegate to participate in a meeting at the patriarchal cell in Qudchanis to discuss the effects of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 on the Church and the nation and prepare for the changes that were expected to take place. While there, he was consecrated a Bishop on August 10, 1914. He remained in Qudchanis until 1916.

Iraq

In 1918, Mar Yosip was appointed as assistant to the Patriarch Mar Shimun XXII Paulos as Locum Tenens. In December 1918 he was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan in Baghdad

Baghdad

Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...

 Iraq, by the Patriarch.

In 1933, he was made administrator of the Church in Iraq and the Middle East. In 1973 when Eshai Shimun XXIII resigned his position as Catholicos Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East

Assyrian Church of the East

The Assyrian Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East ʻIttā Qaddishtā w-Shlikhāitā Qattoliqi d-Madnĕkhā d-Āturāyē), is a Syriac Church historically centered in Mesopotamia. It is one of the churches that claim continuity with the historical...

, Yosip Khnanisho was vested with responsibilities of administering the Church worldwide. At the same time the Iraqi government issued a Republican decree appointing Yosip Khnanisho as the Supreme Head of all the Assyrians in Iraq

Assyrians in Iraq

Assyrians in Iraq are those Assyrians still residing in the country of Iraq. They are the indigenous people of Iraq, descending from the ancient Mesopotamians, in particular from the Akkadian peoples and the Aramean tribes who intermingled with them from the 10th century BC onwards...

.

Death

On the 3 July 1977, Yosip died in Baghdad, Iraq. His funeral services were conducted on 6 July 1977, at the Church of Mar Gewargis in Dora

Dora, Baghdad

Dora is a neighborhood in Al Rashid administrative district, southern Baghdad, Iraq. Although this was a majority Christian neighborhood, it became controlled by Sunni Muslim Extremists during the Iraq War...

, a suburb of Baghdad.

Mar Yosip Khnanisho Church in San Jose

San Jose, California

San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 is named after the Metropolitan.

See also

• Assyrian Church of the East
  Assyrian Church of the East
  The Assyrian Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East ʻIttā Qaddishtā w-Shlikhāitā Qattoliqi d-Madnĕkhā d-Āturāyē), is a Syriac Church historically centered in Mesopotamia. It is one of the churches that claim continuity with the historical...