Anazarbus was an archdiocese of the Syrian Orthodox Church, attested between the sixth and twelfth centuries. Nearly thirty Syrian Orthodox bishops or metropolitans of Tarsus are mentioned either by Michael the Syrian or in other Syrian Orthodox narrative sources. The archdiocese is last mentioned towards the end of the twelfth century, and seems to have lapsed in the early decades of the thirteenth century.
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The main primary source for the Syrian Orthodox metropolitans of Anazarbus is the record of episcopal consecrations appended to Volume III of the Chronicle of the Syrian Orthodox patriarch Michael the Syrian (1166–99). In this Appendix Michael listed most of the bishops consecrated by the Syrian Orthodox patriarchs of Antioch between the ninth and twelfth centuries. Twenty-eight Syrian Orthodox patriarchs sat during this period, and in many cases Michael was able to list the names of the bishops consecrated during their reigns, their monasteries of origin, and the place where they were consecrated. For the sixth and seventh centuries, Michael's lists are supplemented by several references in other Syrian Orthodox narrative sources.
Anazarbus was a large city of Cilicia, which lay on the river Pyramus or Gihon, 24 miles away from Sis. The city was the metropolis of the Chalcedonian ecclesiastical province of Cilicia Secunda. It was an obvious site for a Syrian Orthodox diocese, and was the seat of a Syrian Orthodox bishop or metropolitan as early as the sixth century. It is one of the oldest attested Jacobite dioceses.[1]
The Jacobite diocese of Anazarbus is attested between the sixth and twelfth centuries. The earliest known Jacobite bishop of Anazarbus, Yohannan (Iwanis), consecrated the patriarch Sargis of Tella (538–40).[2]
Two seventh-century Jacobite bishops of Anazarbus are known: Stephen (680/1) and Isidore (692).[3]
Twenty-five Syrian Orthodox metropolitans of Anazarbus from the end of the eighth century to the end of the twelfth century are mentioned in the lists of Michael the Syrian.[4]
| Name | From | Consecrated in the reign of | Place of consecration |
| Ignatius | Monastery of Natfa | Quriaqos (793–817) | not known |
| Anastasius | Monastery of Qarqafta | Dionysius I of Tel Mahre (818–45) | not known |
| Mikha'il | Monastery of Mar Yaʿqob of Cyrrhus | Dionysius I of Tel Mahre (818–45) | not known |
| Giwargis | Monastery of Sandalaya | Dionysius I of Tel Mahre (818–45) | not known |
| Severus | Monastery of Mar Zakkai, Callinicus | Dionysius I of Tel Mahre (818–45) | not known |
| Ahron | Monastery of Mar Zakkai, Callinicus | Yohannan III (847–74) | not known |
| Abraham | Monastery of Hadbshabba | Ignatius II (878–83) | not known |
| Quriaqos | Monastery of Shlemun | Ignatius II (878–83) | not known |
| Cyril | Monastery of Zuqnin | Theodosius Romanus (887–35) | not known |
| Habib | Monastery of Mar Sargis | Theodosius Romanus (887–95) | not known |
| Ignatius | Village of Bala | Basil I (923–35) | not known |
| Yohannan | not known | Yohannan V (936–53) | not known |
| David | not known | Yohannan V (936–53) | not known |
| Athanasius | not known | Yohannan V (936–53) | not known |
| Laʿzar | not known | Dionysius III (958–61) | not known |
| Thomas | Monastery of Masharʿa | Athanasius IV Laʿzar (987–1003) | Monastery of Barid |
| Basil | Monastery of Abu'l Hauri | Yohannan VII bar ʿAbdon (1004–30) | not known |
| Iwanis | Monastery of Buqa | Dionysius IV Heheh (1032–42) | Monastery of Buqa |
| Basil | Monastery of Abu'l Hauri | Yohannan bar ʿAbdon (1042–57) | not known |
| Basil | Monastery of Mar Abhai | Basil II (1074–5) | not known |
| Ishoʿ | Monastery of Abu'l Hauri | Dionysius VI (1088–90) | not known |
| Shemʿon | Not known | Athanasius VI bar Khamara (1091–1129) | Kaishum |
| Basil | Not known | Athanasius VI bar Khamara (1091–1129) | Not known |
| Athanasius Zakkai | Monastery of Mar Bar Sawma, Melitene | Yohannan X Maudiana (1129–37) | not known |
| Athanasius | not known | Michael I (1166–99) | not known |
Further details of some of these bishops are supplied in the narrative sections of the Chronicle of Michael the Syrian and in the Chronicon Ecclesiasticum of Bar Hebraeus:
The archdiocese of Anazarbus is not mentioned in any later source, and probably lapsed in the early decades of the thirteenth century, perhaps on the death of Athanasius (1166/1199).
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