Simandu (West Syrian Diocese)
Simandu was an archdiocese of the Syrian Orthodox Church in Cappadocia, attested between the tenth and twelfth centuries. Thirteen of its bishops are mentioned in the lists of Michael the Syrian and other Jacobite sources.
Sources
The main primary source for the Syrian Orthodox metropolitans of Simandu 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.
Two twelfth-century bishops omitted from Michael's list are mentioned in the Chronicon Ecclesiasticum of the Jacobite maphrian Bar Hebraeus (ob.1286).
Location
Simandu was a district near Melitene, known in Greek as Tzamendos. During the twelfth century it was included in the territories of the Frankish County of Edessa.[1]
Bishops and metropolitans of Simandu
Eleven Jacobite metropolitans of Simandu are mentioned in the lists of Michael the Syrian.[2]
| Yaʿqob | Unspecified | Iwanis II (954–7) | not known |
| Basil | Monastery of the Mother of God | Yohannan VI (965–86) | not known |
| Eliya | Monastery of Peter | Athanasius IV Laʿzar (987–1003) | Not known |
| Philoxenus | Monastery of Mar Bar Sawma, Melitene | Dionysius IV Heheh (1032–42) | Not known |
| Ignatius | Monastery of Barid | Athanasius V Haya (1058–64) | not known |
| Athanasius | Monastery of Barid | Yohannan VIII bar Shushan (1063–73) | Harran |
| Yohannan ʿAbdon | Monastery of Bar Gaghi, Melitene | Basil II (1074–5) | Monastery of Mar Bar Sawma, Melitene |
| Basil | Monastery of Barid | Athanasius VI bar Khamara (1091–1129) | not known |
| Mattai | Monastery of Beth Qenaya | Yohannan X Maudiana (1129–37) | not known |
| Basil | Monastery of Mar Ahron, Shigar | Athanasius VII bar Qutreh (1139–66) | not known |
Two twelfth-century bishops of Simandu omitted from the lists of Michael the Syrian are mentioned in the Chronicon Ecclesiasticum of Bar Hebraeus:
- Yohannan, previously bishop of Segestan, was awarded the diocese of Simandu at the synod of Kaishum in 1129, at the request of the Frankish count Joscelin I of Edessa.
- Bar Turkaya, bishop of Tel Bshir, was transferred to Simandu in or shortly after 1132, and after a short residence as bishop of Simandu was again transferred to Habora.[3]
The diocese of Simandu seems to have lapsed around the end of the twelfth century, perhaps after the death of the bishop Basil (1139/1166).
Notes
References
- Abbeloos, Jean Baptiste; Lamy, Thomas Joseph, eds. (1877). Bar Hebraeus, Chronicon Ecclesiasticum (3 vols). Paris.
- Fiey, J.M. (1993). Pour un Oriens Christianus novus; répertoire des diocèses Syriaques orientaux et occidentaux. Beirut. ISBN 3-515-05718-8.
- Jean-Baptiste Chabot, Chronique de Michel le Syrien, Patriarche Jacobite d'Antiche (1166-1199). Éditée pour la première fois et traduite en francais I-IV (1899;1901;1905;1910; a supplement to volume I containing an introduction to Michael and his work, corrections, and an index, was published in 1924. Reprinted in four volumes 1963, 2010).
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