Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Īšō‘yab (var. Yešū‘yahb), catholicos of Seleucia-Ctesiphon (628–46). A native of Bēt ‘Arbāyē, he had studied in Nisibis and been bishop of Balad. Tradition ascribes to him a considerable interest in education, but circumstances forced him into high-level politics. He went on an embassy (perhaps for the Sasanian queen, Boran, but the purpose is unclear) to Emperor Heraclius who was in Aleppo in 630. The emperor accepted the catholicos’ orthodoxy and they took communion together. Also in the group visiting Syria was Sahdona, who was persuaded of the correctness of the monophysite view by monks in Apamaea. Īšō‘yab's reign saw the fall of Seleucia-Ctesiphon to the Arabs (637), and the fall of jerusalem and antioch (638). He appears to have reached some accommodation with the conquerors, as reported by barhebraeus . According to the twelfth-century ‘Nestorian’ writer Mārī, Īšō‘yab received from Muhammad a document conferring privileges on the church of the east . It is during the time of this same catholicos that nestorian missionaries arrived in China (635 according to the sian-fu inscription). ... log in or subscribe to read full text