DISCOVER
People who shaped Christianity in the Middle East
Twelve figures in date order, not a ranking. Each link says how the person is connected to a place: a documented residence, a burial, or a site built up after their time. No portraits are shown, because the images that survive are later icons, not likenesses.
Antony of Egypt
about 251–356 · Egyptian monasticism, before the 5th-century divisions
Born to Christian parents at Qiman in Middle Egypt, Antony gave away his property, lived for years as a recluse and finally settled in the Eastern Desert near the Red Sea, where disciples gathered. An ancient tradition calls him “the Father of the Monks”. The main source for his life is the biography by Athanasius, who knew him.
Sources: Antoine Guillaumont, “Antony of Egypt, Saint”, The Coptic Encyclopedia (CE:149a–151a); Otto Meinardus & Maurice Martin & Peter Grossmann, “Dayr Anba Antuniyus”, The Coptic Encyclopedia (CE:719b–729a)
Ephrem
died 373 · Syriac Christianity, before the 5th-century divisions
A deacon, poet and theologian, Ephrem served the bishops of Nisibis for most of his life. When the city was handed to Persia in 363 its Christians had to leave, and he settled in Edessa, where he died. His hymns and verse homilies were so admired that many later works came to be attributed to him.
Sources: Sebastian P. Brock, “Ephrem”, Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage (Entry “Ephrem”)
Simeon the Stylite
about 380–459 · Syrian monasticism; feast kept by Syriac and Greek churches
Born near Nicopolis to Christian parents, Simeon spent ten years in a monastery before he was asked to leave for his extreme asceticism. At Telneshe he stood on ever higher pillars for 47 years, praying, advising and settling disputes for pilgrims who came from every level of society. He was buried in Antioch.
Sources: Robert Doran, “Shemʿun the Stylite”, Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage (Entry “Shemʿun the Stylite”)
Shenoute of Atripe
died probably 466 · Coptic monasticism
Shenoute entered the White Monastery near Sohag about 371 and became its abbot when his uncle Pjol died, about 385. He ran a large community of monks and nuns under a strict rule, which he supplemented with many letters of detailed instruction. His dates are uncertain; he probably died in 466.
Sources: K. H. Kuhn, “Shenute, Saint”, The Coptic Encyclopedia (CE:2131a–2133b)
Empress Theodora
died 548 · Protector of the Miaphysites; revered in the Syriac Orthodox Church
Theodora married the future emperor Justinian in 523 and reigned with him from 527. She protected exiled Miaphysite church leaders and monks, housed their patriarchs in a palace in Constantinople, and supported the missions that laid the foundations of a separate Syriac Orthodox Church. A roof-beam inscription at Sinai names her as already dead.
Sources: Susan Ashbrook Harvey, “Theodora (Empress)”, Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage (Entry “Theodora (Empress)”); George H. Forsyth, “Mount Sinai Monastery of Saint Catherine”, The Coptic Encyclopedia (CE:1681b–1686a)
Isaac of Nineveh
late 7th century · Church of the East
Born in Beth Qaṭraye on the Gulf coast, Isaac was made bishop of Nineveh (Mosul) by the catholicos Gewargis, perhaps about 676–680, but soon left to live as a hermit in the region of Shushtar, in today’s Iran. His writings stress the immensity of divine love; translated into Greek at Mar Saba, they later reached many other languages.
Sources: Sebastian P. Brock, “Isḥaq of Nineveh”, Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage (Entry “Isḥaq of Nineveh”); Lucas Van Rompay, “Beth Qaṭraye”, Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage (Entry “Beth Qaṭraye”)
John of Damascus
died about 750 · Greek-speaking (Chalcedonian) church
After an early administrative career, John became a monk of Mar Saba in the Judaean desert. He wrote theology and liturgical poetry in Greek. Little of his theology passed into Syriac, but several of his liturgical canons were soon translated and entered the services of other churches.
Sources: Sebastian P. Brock, “John of Damascus”, Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage (Entry “John of Damascus”)
Timothy I
727/8–823 · Church of the East
Born near Arbela (Erbil), Timothy led the Church of the East from 780 until his death in 823, under five caliphs. His dialogue with Caliph al-Mahdi survives in Syriac and Arabic. He sponsored translations from Greek, obtained a copy of Origen’s Hexapla, and organised churches as far away as China, Tibet, Yemen and India.
Sources: David D. Bundy, “Timotheos I”, Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage (Entry “Timotheos I”)
Bar Hebraeus
1225/6–1286 · Syriac Orthodox Church
Born in Melitene, Bar Hebraeus became maphrian, the senior Syriac Orthodox bishop of the East, in 1264. He lived at Mosul and Mor Mattai and spent long periods at the Mongol centres of Maragha and Tabriz, where he befriended leading Muslim scholars. His more than forty works drew on Arabic and Persian scholarship and remained standard texts for centuries.
Sources: Hidemi Takahashi, “Bar ʿEbroyo, Grigorios”, Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage (Entry “Bar ʿEbroyo, Grigorios”); George A. Kiraz, “Matay, Dayro d-Mor”, Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage (Entry “Matay, Dayro d-Mor”)
Yoḥannan Sullaqa
about 1510–1555 · Church of the East, then its first Catholic line
A monk from Mosul, Sullaqa was abbot of Rabban Hormizd when a synod elected him patriarch in 1552, in protest at hereditary succession. He travelled to Rome by way of Jerusalem, was ordained in 1553 and returned to found a Catholic line of the Church of the East at Amid (Diyarbakır). He died in 1555, probably assassinated.
Sources: Herman G. B. Teule, “Yoḥannan Sullaqa”, Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage (Entry “Yoḥannan Sullaqa”); Heleen L. Murre-van den Berg, “Hormizd, Monastery of Rabban”, Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage (Entry “Hormizd, Monastery of Rabban”)
Khachatur Kesaratsi
died 1646 · Armenian Apostolic Church
Primate of New Julfa, the Armenian quarter of Isfahan, from the 1620s, Khachatur founded a school of higher learning at All Saviour’s Monastery. Having seen printed books in Poland, he set up a printing press there in 1636, introducing European letterpress printing to Persia.
Sources: Vazken S. Ghougassian, “Julfa i. Safavid period”, Encyclopaedia Iranica (Article, printed pp. 217–231)
Agnes Smith Lewis and Margaret Dunlop Gibson
1843–1926 and 1843–1920 · Independent scholars
Twins from Irvine in Scotland, both widowed early in their marriages, Agnes and Margaret devoted the rest of their lives to scholarship. Agnes published Syriac and Christian Palestinian Aramaic texts and catalogued the Syriac manuscripts at Sinai; Margaret concentrated on Christian Arabic texts. The manuscripts they acquired in Cairo went to Westminster College, Cambridge.
Sources: Sebastian P. Brock & George A. Kiraz, “Smith, Agnes and Margaret”, Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage (Entry “Smith, Agnes and Margaret”)