Vorlage:Infobox Christian leader
Mar ShemVorlage:Translon VII IshoVorlage:Translyahb (Vorlage:Lang-syc), born Vorlage:Transl,Vorlage:Sfn was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 1539 to 1558, with residence in Rabban Hormizd Monastery.Vorlage:Sfn
His reign was widely unpopular, and discontent with his leadership led to the schism of 1552, in which his opponents rebelled and appointed the monk Shimun Yohannan Sulaqa as a rival patriarch. Sulaqa's subsequent consecration by Pope Julius III saw a permanent split in the Church of the East and the birth of the Chaldean Catholic Church. His body is buried in the Rabban Hormizd Monastery near Alqosh, modern Iraq, belonging to the Chaldean Catholic Church.
Guardian of the throne and metropolitan of Mosul Bearbeiten
ShemVorlage:Translon IshoVorlage:Translyahb was the younger brother of the patriarch ShemVorlage:Translon VI (1504–38). Throughout his brother's reign ShemVorlage:Translon was his designated successor or natar kursya ('guardian of the throne'). He is first mentioned as natar kursya in a manuscript colophon of 1504, at the very beginning of his brother's reign. In October 1538, two months after the death of ShemVorlage:Translon VI on 5 August 1538, he is mentioned as metropolitan of Mosul. It is not clear whether he became metropolitan of Mosul before or after his brother's death.Vorlage:Sfn
Patriarch Bearbeiten
ShemVorlage:Translon IshoVorlage:Translyahb succeeded his brother as patriarch either at the end of 1538 or, more probably, early in 1539. He is first mentioned as patriarch in a manuscript colophon of 1539. He took the name ShemVorlage:Translon VII IshoVorlage:Translyahb. At this period the patriarchal succession in the Church of the East was hereditary, normally from uncle to nephew or from brother to brother. This practice, which had been introduced in the middle of the fifteenth century by the patriarch [[Shemon IV|ShemVorlage:Translon IV Basidi]] (died 1497), eventually resulted in a shortage of eligible heirs and in 1552 provoked a schism in the Church. ShemVorlage:Translon VII IshoVorlage:Translyahb caused great offence at the beginning of his reign by designating his twelve-year-old nephew HnanishoVorlage:Transl as his successor, presumably because no older relatives were available. Several years later, probably because HnanishoVorlage:Transl had died in the interim, he transferred the succession to his other nephew, fifteen-year-old Eliya, the future patriarch Eliya VI (1558–1591). His opponents further accused him of crimes such as selling ecclesiastical positions, allowing the practice of concubinage, and general intemperance.Vorlage:Sfn
Schism of 1552 Bearbeiten
In 1552 a section of the Church of the East, angered by ShemVorlage:Translon VII IshoVorlage:Translyahb's misbehaviour, revolted against his authority. The prime movers in the rebellion were unnamed bishops of Erbil, Salmas and Adarbaigan, and they were supported by 'many' priests and monks from Baghdad, Kirkuk, Gazarta, Nisibis, Mardin, Amid, Hesna d'Kifa and Seert. These were urban centres where there was little respect for the principle of hereditary succession to the patriarchate.Vorlage:Sfn
The rebels elected Shimun Yohannan Sulaqa, the superior of the monastery of Rabban Hormizd near Alqosh, in opposition to ShemVorlage:Translon VII IshoVorlage:Translyahb, but were unable to consecrate him as no bishop of metropolitan rank was available, as canonically required. Franciscan missionaries were already at work among the Nestorians, and they persuaded Sulaqa's supporters to legitimize their position by seeking Sulaqa's consecration by Pope Julius III (1550–5). Sulaqa went to Rome, where he made a satisfactory Catholic profession of faith and presented a letter, drafted by his supporters in Mosul, which set out his claims to be recognized as patriarch. This letter, which has survived in the Vatican archives, grossly distorted the truth. The rebels claimed that the Nestorian patriarch ShemVorlage:Translon VII IshoVorlage:Translyahb had died in 1551 and had been succeeded illegitimately by 'ShemVorlage:Translon VIII Denha' (1551–8), a non-existent patriarch invented purely for the purpose of bolstering the legitimacy of Shimun Yohannan Sulaqa's election. The Vatican was taken in by this fraud, and consecrated Shimun Yohannan Sulaqa as 'patriarch of Mosul' and founding patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church in April 1553 in Rome, thereby creating a permanent schism in the Church of the East.Vorlage:Sfn
He returned to Mesopotamia towards the end of the same year. In December 1553 he obtained documents from the Ottoman authorities recognising him as an independent 'Chaldean' patriarch, and in 1554, during a stay of five months in Amid, consecrated five metropolitan bishops (for the dioceses of Gazarta, Hesna d'Kifa, Amid, Mardin and Seert). ShemVorlage:Translon VII IshoVorlage:Translyahb responded by consecrating two more underage members of the patriarchal family as metropolitans for Nisibis and Gazarta. He also won over the governor of Vorlage:TranslAmadiya, who invited Sulaqa to Vorlage:TranslAmadiya, imprisoned him for four months, and put him to death in January 1555.Vorlage:Sfn
The Vatican only discovered that ShemVorlage:Translon VII IshoVorlage:Translyahb was still alive two years after Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa's appointment. 12 January 1555, shortly after Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa's murder, the Franciscan friar Ambrose Buttigeg wrote to Pope Julius III with the news that 'ShemVorlage:Translon Bar Mama' was still alive:
- Your holiness will be shocked to learn that, contrary to what your holiness, the most reverend cardinals, and the rest of you were told, the old patriarch never died at all, and has recently murdered the said Simon Sulaqa.Vorlage:Sfn
Shemon's death and succession Bearbeiten
ShemVorlage:Translon VII IshoVorlage:Translyahb died on Wednesday, 1 November 1558, and was succeeded as patriarch by his nephew and natar kursya (designated successor) Eliya VI (1558–1591). His body was buried in the Rabban Hormizd Monastery near Alqosh, where his tomb can still be seen, alongside those of several other patriarchs of the ShemVorlage:Translon line. His epitaph, published by Vosté in 1930, contains a conventional Nestorian profession of faith.
See also Bearbeiten
Notes Bearbeiten
References Bearbeiten
- Giuseppe Luigi Assemani: De catholicis seu patriarchis Chaldaeorum et Nestorianorum commentarius historico-chronologicus. Roma 1775 (google.com).
- Giuseppe Luigi Assemani: History of the Chaldean and Nestorian patriarchs. Gorgias Press, Piscataway, New Jersey 2004.
- Wilhelm Baum, Dietmar W. Winkler: The Church of the East: A Concise History. Routledge-Curzon, London-New York 2003, ISBN 978-1-134-43019-2 (google.com).
- Giuseppe Beltrami: La Chiesa Caldea nel secolo dell'Unione. Pontificium Institutum Orientalium Studiorum, Roma 1933, ISBN 978-88-7210-262-6 (google.com).
- Samuel Giamil: Genuinae relationes inter Sedem Apostolicam et Assyriorum orientalium seu Chaldaeorum ecclesiam. Ermanno Loescher, Roma 1902 (google.com).
- Wilhelm van Gulik: Die Konsistorialakten über die Begründung des uniert-chaldäischen Patriarchates von Mosul unter Papst Julius III. In: Oriens Christianus. 4. Jahrgang, 1904, S. 261–277 (archive.org [PDF]).
- Joseph Habbi: Signification de l'union chaldéenne de Mar Sulaqa avec Rome en 1553. In: L'Orient Syrien. 11. Jahrgang, 1966, S. 99–132, 199–230 (google.com).
- Albert Lampart: Ein Märtyrer der Union mit Rom: Joseph I. 1681–1696, Patriarch der Chaldäer. Benziger Verlag, Einsiedeln 1966 (google.com).
- Heleen H. L. Murre van den Berg: The Patriarchs of the Church of the East from the Fifteenth to Eighteenth Centuries. In: Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies. 2. Jahrgang, Nr. 2, 1999, S. 235–264, doi:10.31826/hug-2010-020119 (bethmardutho.org [PDF]).
- Adolf Rücker: Über einige nestorianische Liederhandschriften, vornehmlich der griech. Patriarchatsbibliothek in Jerusalem. In: Oriens Christianus. 9. Jahrgang, 1920, S. 107–123 (archive.org [PDF]).
- Joseph Tfinkdji: L' église chaldéenne catholique autrefois et aujourd'hui. In: Annuaire Pontifical Catholique. 17. Jahrgang, 1914, S. 449–525.
- Eugène Tisserant: Dictionnaire de théologie catholique. Band 11, 1931, Église nestorienne, S. 157–323 (google.com).
- Jacques Marie Vosté: Les inscriptions de Rabban Hormizd et de N.-D. des Semences près d'Alqoš (Iraq). In: Le Muséon. 43. Jahrgang, 1930, S. 263–316 (google.com).
- Jacques Marie Vosté: Mar Iohannan Soulaqa, premier Patriarche des Chaldéens, martyr de l'union avec Rome (†1555). In: Angelicum. 8. Jahrgang, 1931, S. 187–234 (google.com).
- David Wilmshurst: The Ecclesiastical Organisation of the Church of the East, 1318–1913. Peeters Publishers, Louvain 2000, ISBN 978-90-429-0876-5 (google.com).
- David Wilmshurst: The martyred Church: A History of the Church of the East. East & West Publishing Limited, London 2011, ISBN 978-1-907318-04-7 (google.com).
External links Bearbeiten
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Vorlage:Patriarchs of the Church of the East
{{authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Shemon VII Ishoyahb}} [[Category:16th-century bishops of the Church of the East]] [[Category:Patriarchs of the Church of the East]] [[Category:1558 deaths]] [[Category:Year of birth missing]] [[Category:Assyrians from the Ottoman Empire]] [[Category:16th-century archbishops]] [[Category:Bishops in the Ottoman Empire]] [[Category:16th-century people from the Ottoman Empire]]