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Download date: 28. Sep. 2021 Defining Christ. The Church of the East and Nascent Islam

CONTENTS

Introduction: The Christological debate of 612 in Persia 1

1. Historical background: The Church of the East up to the Christological debate in 612 6 1.1. General overview 6 1.1.1. The Church of the East 6 1.1.2. Theological education in schools and monasteries 8 1.1.3. The Miaphysites in the Persian Empire 13 1.1.4. The organization and growth of the Church of the East 15 1.2. The main theologians of the fourth century 17 1.2.1. Aphrahat and Ephrem 17 1.2.2. Ephrem’s Christology 21 1.3. The beginnings of the ‘Antiochene School’ 25 1.4. Theodore of Mopsuestia (c.350-428) 29 1.4.1. Theodore’s position within the Church of the East and outside 29 1.4.2. Theodore’s Commentary on the Nicene Creed 31 1.4.3. Prosopon (parsopa in Syriac) 34 1.4.4. Hypostasis (qnoma in Syriac) 36 1.4.4.1. Qnoma in the Commentary on the Nicene Creed 37 1.4.4.2. Qnoma in On the Incarnation (Inhomination), Memra 8. 39 1.4.5. Soteriology, the two Catastases 46 1.4.6. Participation: Baptism and Eucharist 47 1.5. Nestorius versus Cyril of Alexandria 49 1.5.1. Nestorius and Cyril 49 1.5.2. The Liber Heraclidis 52 1.5.3. Nestorius’ Christological terminology 54 1.5.4. Comparisons with the Christological terminology of Cyril 58 1.6. The first Synod of the Church of the East, 410 60 1.7. The Byzantine councils of Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon I (451) 63 1.8. Narsai (c.415-502/503) and the Schools of Edessa and Nisibis until 540 68 1.9. The Synod of 486 74 1.10. The Synod of 544 with the letters of Catholicos Aba I 77 1.11. Justinian and the Byzantine council of Constantinople II (553) 78 1.12. Polemics in and around the School of Nisibis after 540 83 1.13. The Synods of the Church of the East between 553 and 604 88 1.13.1. The Synod of 554 held under Catholicos Joseph 88 1.13.2. The Synod of 576 88 1.13.3. The Synod under Ishoʿyahb I in 585 and his confession of faith 89 1.13.4. Sabrishoʿ and his Synod in 596 93 1.13.5. Gregory I (605-608) and his Synod in 605. 96 1.14. The Arabs and the Church of the East 98 1.14.1. Introduction 98 1.14.2. The Ghassanid kingdom centred in the Golan Heights 100 1.14.3. The Lakhmid kingdom centred on Hira 101 1.14.4. Hira’s connections with the Arabian Peninsula 103 1.14.5. Examples of involvement with Christian culture in Hira 106

Defining Christ. The Church of the East and Nascent Islam

2. The Catholicoi of the Church of the East from 612 up to the end of the Persian Empire 109 2.1. Babai the Great 109 2.1.1. Life and works 109 2.1.2. Intellectual background. Theology and Philosophy 112 2.1.3. Main challenges 114 2.1.3.1. Advocates of the one nature and/or one qnoma 114 2.1.3.2. Henana 117 2.1.3.3. Monastic circles and Origenism 121 2.1.3.4. Epistemology 124 2.1.3.5. Geo-politics and lay elites 127 2.1.3.6. Babai of Nisibis 129 2.1.3.7. Tradition. The authority of the Fathers 129 2.2. Babai’s Christology 133 2.2.1. The human and divine names of Christ 133 2.2.2. Descriptions of the union 135 2.2.3. Mary’s title 138 2.2.4. Kyana 139 2.2.5. Parsopa 140 2.2.6. Qnoma 141 2.2.7. Christology and epistemology 145 2.3. The debate in 612 151 2.3.1. The purposes and participants 151 2.3.2. The content of the debate 154 2.4. Political and religious developments among Arabs around 612 160 2.5. The first Arab conquests in the Arabian Peninsula 164 2.6. Ishoʿyahb II of Gdala (628-45) 169 2.6.1. Life and works 169 2.6.2. Intellectual background. Theology and Philosophy 173 2.6.3. Main challenges 173 2.6.4. Ishoʿyahb II of Gdala’s Christology 176 2.6.5. Ishoʿyahb II of Gdala’s Christological terminology 180 2.6.5.1. Kyana 180 2.6.5.2. Qnoma 180 2.6.5.3. Parsopa 184 2.7. Maremmeh (646-49/50) 185

Defining Christ. The Church of the East and Nascent Islam

3. Ishoʿyahb III of Adiabene (c.649-c.659) and his secular leaders 187 3.1. Life and works 187 3.2. Heraclius and the Chalcedonian doctrine 190 3.3. The Persians and their nobility 193 3.4. The Arab conquests in Byzantine and Persian lands 196 3.4.1. Introduction 196 3.4.2. Southern Iraq: Hira, Kufa, Basra and Bet Huzaye 198 3.4.3. Tagrit, Nineveh and Mosul 200 3.4.4. Damascus, Edessa and Nisibis 204 3.4.5. The reactions of Christians to the Arab invasions and subsequent government 206 3.5. The Arabs and the Qurʾan 208 3.5.1. Christians in the Qurʾan 208 3.5.2. Christology in the Qurʾan 209 3.5.3. Influences from the Church of the East in the Qurʾan? 213 3.6. Danger in Nineveh/Mosul 215 3.6.1. Growing influence of Miaphysites within the Church of the East 215 3.6.2. Miaphysites supported by ‘barbarian leaders’ and Persian nobles who changed sides 217 3.6.3. The unknown years: Ishoʿyahb III’s strife for a better career 222 3.7. Problems in Nisibis 224 3.7.1. Ecclesiastical authority contested: Cyriacus and Moshe 225 3.7.2. Wars, famine, pestilence and poverty 229 3.7.3. Growing influence of Miaphysitism 230 3.8. Conflicts in Arbela 234 3.9. The rebellion in the provinces at the Persian Gulf and the first civil war 241 3.9.1. Introduction 241 3.9.2. The first civil war 242 3.9.3. The rebellion of Simon, metropolitan of Fars 243 3.9.4. The rebellion on the coast of the Arabian Peninsula 247 3.9.5. Rebellion and apostasy 255 3.10. Ishoʿyahb III’s position towards the Arabs and Muslims 257 3.10.1. Ishoʿyahb III and the first signs of Arab rule in the Northern provinces 258 3.10.2. Catholicos Ishoʿyahb III and the Arabs at the dawn of the first civil war 266

4. Ishoʿyahb III’s Christology and view on monasticism and Divine Paideia 270 4.1. Ishoʿyahb III’s view on Christological history 270 4.2. Sahdona 275 4.2.1. Sahdona, the opponent of Ishoʿyahb III 275 4.2.2. Sahdona’s Christology. 281 4.3. Ishoʿyahb III’s main Christological terminology and concepts 288 4.3.1. Qnoma in Ishoʿyahb III’s letters 289 4.3.2. Parsopa in Ishoʿyahb III’s letters 292 4.3.3. Christology in letters of Ishoʿyahb III 294 4.3.4. The Life of Ishoʿsabran and its Christology 305 4.3.5. Indications for adaptations in themes and terminology? 310 4.4. Ishoʿyahb III and monasticism 318 4.4.1. Contacts with the monasteries 318 4.4.2. Regulating monasticism 324 4.4.3. Mysticism 329 4.5. Philosophy and Divine Paideia 331 4.5.1. Philosophy 331 4.5.2. Divine Paideia 333

Defining Christ. The Church of the East and Nascent Islam

5. Other Catholicoi of the Church of the East until 700 337 5.1. Early Arab rule and its contested succession 337 5.2. The position of the Christians in nascent Islam 342 5.3. George I (661-80) 346 5.3.1. Life and works 346 5.3.2. Rebellion in Bet Qatraye: the Synod of 676 347 5.3.3. George’s Christology 349 5.4. John I Bar Marta (680-83) 356 5.5. Henanishoʿ I and John of Dasen, ‘the Leper’ (685-700) 356

6. Conclusions 360 6.1. The new Christological formula and Babai 360 6.2. Epistemology and Christology. The monastic life 366 6.3. Hira of the Arabs 368 6.4. Ishoʿyahb III and the Arabs 370 6.5. Ishoʿyahb III and his rivals 375 6.6. Adaptations in Ishoʿyahb III’s Christology? 377 6.7. The Christology of other Catholicoi in the seventh century 379 6.8. Reactions to increasing pressure on Christians and their basic tenets 381 6.9. Divine Paideia (mdabbranuta) and the end times 382

Annexes 385 Annex 1. Map of the Middle East pertaining to Syriac literature (Duval) 385 Annex 2. Map of Iraq under the Abbasid Caliphate, with inserts on the vicinities of Bagdad 386 Annex 3. Map of Pre-Islamic Arabia. 387

Bibliography 388

Abstract 402