Dioceses of the Syriac Orthodox Church

Deir Zaʿfaran, the 'saffron monastery', seat of the Syrian Orthodox patriarchs after the First World War

Dioceses of the Syrian Orthodox Church: In the period of its greatest expansion, in the tenth century, the Syrian Orthodox Church had around 20 metropolitan dioceses and a little over a hundred suffragan dioceses. By the seventeenth century only 20 dioceses remained, reduced in the twentieth century to 10. The seat of Syrian Orthodox Patriarch was at Mardin before the First World War, and thereafter in Deir Zaʿfaran, Mosul, from 1932 in Homs, and finally from 1959 in Damascus.

The Syrian Orthodox Church before the Arab Invasions

When the Syrian Orthodox movement began in the sixth century, the Christian world was organised into five patriarchates: Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem. The Syrian Orthodox movement was initially confined to the eastern provinces of the Roman empire, in the territory of the patriarchates of Antioch and Jerusalem. The West Syrians envisaged their church as the legitimate patriarchate of Antioch, and appear to have tried to duplicate the hierarchy already existing.

The Syrian Orthodox Church under the Caliphate

Map showing historical localities in Northern Mesopotamia and Syria.

Over a hundred West Syrian dioceses and around a thousand West Syrian bishops are attested between the sixth and thirteenth centuries. The main source for these dioceses and bishops are the lists of Michael the Syrian, compiled in the twelfth century. Many other dioceses and bishops are mentioned in other literary sources, particularly the works of Bar Hebraeus, written in the second half of the thirteenth century. Several bishops not known either to Michael the Syrian or Bar Hebraeus are mentioned in the colophons of surviving West Syrian manuscripts.

Syria

Eight West Syrian dioceses are known to have existed at various periods before the fourteenth century in southern Syria, in the areas covered by the Chalcedonian province of Phoenicia Libanesia and the southern part of the province of Euphratensis. There was a West Syrian diocese for Damascus, first attested in the seventh century. The diocese persisted into the fourteenth century and appears to have been one of the few West Syrian dioceses which continued undisturbed into the fifteenth century and beyond.^[1] Emesa (Homs) and Palmyra (Tadmor) also had West Syrian dioceses.^[2] There was an ephemeral Jacobite diocese for the coastal port of Laodicea (Latakia) in the ninth century;^[3] and an ephemeral Jacobite diocese for Sadad, a town between Damascus and Homs, in the twelfth century.^[4]

There was also a West Syrian diocese for Heliopolis (Baalbek), attested between the seventh and eleventh centuries;^[5] and a diocese for Kfar Tab near Homs, attested in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.^[6] No record has survived of West Syrian bishops in the other towns in Phoenicia Libanesia with known Chalcedonian dioceses (Salamias, Evaria, Iabruda, Abila and Chonochora), though Iabruda certainly had a West Syrian community. As far as the southern part of the Chalcedonian province of Euphratensis is concerned, a West Syrian diocese is attested for Sergiopolis (Resafa) in the ninth and tenth centuries.^[7]

Nine West Syrian dioceses are known to have existed at various periods before the fourteenth century in northern Syria. The diocese of Apamea, which was the seat of a metropolitan by the eighth century, is attested between the seventh and tenth centuries;^[8] Seleucia Pieria in the eighth and ninth centuries;^[9] Berrhoea (Aleppo) between the seventh and late-thirteenth centuries;^[10] Beth Balesh between the eighth and eleventh centuries;^[11] Cyrrhus between the eighth and eleventh centuries;^[12] Qenneshrin between the eighth and tenth centuries;^[13] Mabbugh between the ninth and twelfth centuries;^[14] Gishra between the eighth and tenth centuries;^[15] and Karshena (Gudpaï) in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.^[16]

The diocese of Gishra was incorporated into the diocese of Mabbugh during the reign of Athanasius IV (987–1003), and Mabbugh in turn was incorporated into the diocese of Marʿash in the Commagene district in 1155. It is unlikely that any of these dioceses, with the possible exception of Aleppo, persisted beyond the early years of the fourteenth century. Although an almost unbroken succession of bishops of Aleppo is attested from the early years of the sixteenth century onwards, no fourteenth- or fifteenth-century bishops of Aleppo are known. It seems likely that the diocese of Aleppo lapsed after the death of its bishop Mikha'il, attested in 1298, and was only revived at the beginning of the sixteenth century.

Palestine

There were two stable Syrian Orthodox dioceses in Palestine between the eighth and twelfth centuries, one for the Golan region (whose bishops sat first at Paneas and later at Tiberias) and the other for Jerusalem. The Syrian Orthodox bishops of Golan resided at Paneas, the classical city of Caesarea Philippi, during the seventh and eighth centuries;^[17] and at Tiberias in the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries.^[18] Jerusalem was the seat of a Syrian Orthodox bishop at least as early as the eighth century.^[19] For most of the period covered by the lists of Michael the Syrian, both dioceses had metropolitan bishops. The diocese of Tiberias lapsed in the twelfth century but the diocese of Jerusalem, whose bishops may have resided in Tripolis for several decades after the recapture of Jerusalem by the Moslems in 1240, seems to have persisted into the fourteenth century. A short-lived Syrian Orthodox diocese of ʿAkko was also established in the Crusader stronghold of Acre in the thirteenth century, which doubtless lapsed after the fall of Acre to the Mamluks in 1291.^[20]

Cilicia

Eleven separate West Syrian dioceses are attested at various periods in Cilicia, the most important of which seem to have been Tarsus, Adana and Anazarbus. Tarsus, the metropolis of the Chalcedonian province of Cilicia Prima, is first mentioned as a West Syrian diocese in the seventh century, and survived as the seat of a West Syrian bishop or metropolitan until the end of the thirteenth century, the only Cilician diocese which appears to have persisted for so long.^[21] West Syrian bishops, and later metropolitans, of both Adana and Anazarbus are attested between the seventh and twelfth centuries.^[22] Other West Syrian dioceses attested between the seventh and tenth centuries include Citidiopolis (seventh century), Hamam (ninth to twelfth centuries),^[23] Hanzit (ninth century),^[24] Kinisa (ninth century)^[25] and Irenopolis (ninth and tenth centuries).^[26]

As a frontier province of the Roman empire, Cilicia was affected by the varying fortunes of war, and three later dioceses reflected Christian successes against the Arabs. Part of Cilicia was settled by West Syrian Christians in the tenth century, and a diocese of Gihon, created at this period, persisted into the twelfth century. Its bishops sat in the monastery of Barid, and the diocese is sometimes referred to as 'Gihon and Barid'.^[27] A West Syrian diocese of Kalinag, in eastern Cilicia, is attested in the eleventh century.^[28] A West Syrian diocese for Sis, then under Armenian rule, was established in the second half of the thirteenth century, whose bishops normally resided in the monastery of Gawikath.^[29] One of the bishops of Sis claimed the title of patriarch around the end of the thirteenth century and founded a line of patriarchs which persisted into the fifteenth century.

Cappadocia

Seventeen West Syrian dioceses are known to have existed at various periods before the fourteenth century in Cappadocia. The diocese of Melitene, which seems to have been the seat of a metropolitan from the late ninth century onwards, is attested between the seventh and thirteenth centuries; Simandu (also the seat of a metropolitan) between the tenth and twelfth centuries;^[30] Zuptara between the eighth and eleventh centuries; Gubos and Qlisura between the ninth and thirteenth centuries;^[31] ʿArqa, Gargar, Laqabin and Qlaudia between the tenth and thirteenth centuries;^[32] Tel Patriq in the eleventh and twelfth centuries; Hisn Mansur, Hisn Ziyad (Harput) and Semha between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries; Caesarea in Cappadocia in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; and Guma in the thirteenth century. There were also ephemeral dioceses for Arabissus around the end of the tenth century and for Romana in the twelfth century.^[33] It is doubtful whether any of these dioceses, with the possible exceptions of Gargar and Hisn Ziyad, persisted into the fourteenth century. The dioceses of Gargar and Hisn Ziyad are again attested from the late fourteenth and mid-fifteenth century respectively, but may have been revived, as no bishops of either diocese are known for more than a century before they are again mentioned.

Commagene

Nine West Syrian dioceses are known to have existed before the fourteenth century in the Commagene district. The diocese of Samosata, which appears to have been the seat of a metropolitan from the late eighth century onwards, is attested between the sixth and twelfth centuries;^[34] Germanicea (Marʿash) between the seventh and twelfth centuries;^[35] Urim between the eighth and ninth centuries;^[36] Dolikh between the ninth and eleventh centuries;^[37] Hadath between the eighth and eleventh centuries;^[38] Kaishum between the eighth and twelfth centuries;^[39] Zeugma between the ninth and twelfth centuries;^[40] Raʿban between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries;^[41] and Tel Bshir (an ephemeral diocese in Crusader territory) in the twelfth century.^[42] It is doubtful whether any of these dioceses persisted into the fourteenth century.

Osrhoene

Amid

Four substantial West Syrian dioceses are known to have existed before the fourteenth century in the Amid region: the dioceses of Amid and Maiperqat, attested between the seventh and thirteenth centuries;^[50] the diocese of Arsamosata, attested between the ninth and twelfth centuries;^[51] and the diocese of Hattakh, first mentioned towards the end of the thirteenth century.^[52] Bar Hebraeus also mentions a bishop of Aspharin, an ephemeral diocese carved out of the diocese of Amid by the patriarch Iwanis I (740–55), which existed for only a few years in the middle of the eighth century.^[53] The dioceses of Amid and Maiperqat persisted into the fourteenth century. The diocese of Hattakh, first mentioned in 1293, is not again mentioned until 1479, and it is not clear whether it survived into the fourteenth century or was later revived.

Arzun

The Arzun region had three stable West Syrian dioceses before the fourteenth century: Arzun, attested between the seventh and twelfth centuries;^[54] Armenia (Akhlat), attested between the ninth and eleventh centuries;^[55] and Hesna d’Kifa, first attested in the eighth century.^[56] A short-lived diocese was also established at the end of the eighth century for Qalinqala (ancient Theodosiopolis, modern Erzerum), 'a city of Armenia'.^[57] Wastan, a city on the shore of Lake Van, was also a Jacobite diocese in the second half of the tenth century, but does not seem to have persisted into the eleventh century.^[58]

Mardin

Four stable Syrian Orthodox dioceses are known to have existed at various periods before the fourteenth century in the Mardin district. The diocese of Mardin is first attested in the seventh century, and has persisted without interruption up to the present day.^[59] The diocese of Tel Beshme is attested between the eighth and tenth centuries, and was revived for a few decades in the twelfth century.^[60] The diocese of Rishʿaina is attested between the seventh and eleventh centuries;^[61] and the diocese of Rish Kipa between the eighth and tenth centuries.^[62] An ephemeral diocese of Kfartutha, normally associated with Mardin, is attested in the seventh century, but may have been later revived;^[63] and a single bishop is also attested for Baghdashiya in the thirteenth century.^[64] In the first half of the twelfth century the dioceses of Dara, Nisibis, Harran, Khabur, Kfartutha and Tel Beshme were temporarily united with the diocese of Mardin owing to a steep decline in the number of Christians in the region. With the exception of Mardin itself, it is doubtful whether any of these dioceses persisted into the fourteenth century.

Nisibis

In the Nisibis region, there were dioceses for Nisibis, Dara and Maʿarre.

Tur Abdin

Despite its later central importance in the history of the West Syrian church, only two West Syrian dioceses are known to have existed before the thirteenth century in the Tur ʿAbdin. The diocese of Qartmin, whose bishops sat in the celebrated monastery of Mar Gabriel (Qartmin Abbey), is attested from the sixth century onwards; and the diocese of Tur ʿAbdin, whose bishops sat in the monastery of the Cross near the village of Hah, from the eleventh century. Confusingly, bishops of both these dioceses often bore the title 'Tur ʿAbdin'. By the end of the thirteenth century there was a third diocese, whose bishops sat in the monastery of Mar Yaʿqob the Recluse near the village of Salah, and possibly a fourth, whose bishops sat in the monastery of Mar Abai near the village of Sawro. The dioceses of Salah and Sawro, both of which persisted for several centuries, are first reliably attested in 1283 and 1312 respectively, and references in hagiographies to sixth- and seventh-century bishops of these dioceses cannot be trusted.

Iraq

Two West Syrian dioceses, Beth Nuhadra and Gumal, were established in the ʿAmadiya region before the end of the sixth century, and were among the dioceses placed under the jurisdiction of the maphrians. The diocese of Beth Nuhadra, whose bishops sat initially in the monastery of Nardos near Deir Jundi and later in the town of Maʿaltha near Dohuk, is attested between the sixth and thirteenth centuries, usually under the name Beth Nuhadra but occasionally under the name Maʿaltha. The diocese of Gumal, which seems to have covered the Marga district, is attested between the sixth and tenth centuries, but may have persisted into the thirteenth century. The last-known bishop of Beth Nuhadra was consecrated in 1284, and is unlikely to have had a successor.

A diocese was established for the Mosul region, whose bishops sat in the monastery of Mar Mattai, in the seventh century. This diocese seems to have persisted without a break up to the present day. A diocese was also established for Gazarta in the ninth century.

Two West Syrian dioceses are known to have existed in the Beth ʿArabaye region between the sixth and fourteenth centuries, centred on Balad and Shigar (Sinjar) respectively. They were among the West Syrian dioceses placed under the jurisdiction of the maphrians towards the end of the sixth century. Several bishops of Beth ʿArabaye are attested between the sixth and ninth centuries, and again between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. They were variously styled bishops of 'Beth ʿArabaye', 'Balad' or 'the monastery of Mar Sargis', and probably resided in the monastery of Mar Sargis near Balad. Several bishops of Shigar are attested between 630 and 818, but the diocese is not again mentioned until 1277. It is possible that for much of the intervening period Shigar was under the jurisdiction of the bishops of Beth ʿArabaye. The dioceses of Balad and Shigar both survived into the fourteenth century.

In the Erbil region there were dioceses for Beth Ramman and Beth Waziq (seventh to thirteenth centuries) and for Shahrzur. In the second half of the thirteenth century an ad hoc diocese was created for West Syrian refugees from the Mosul region who settled in and around the Erbil village of Beth Sayyade, with the title of Beth Takshur (a West Syrian village near Mosul).

In central Iraq, a West Syrian diocese for Baghdad, the capital of the ʿAbbasid caliphate, is attested between the ninth and thirteenth centuries.^[65] There were also West Syrian dioceses for Tagrit, Karma (seventh to thirteenth centuries), Bahrin, Piroz Shabur, Karsabak, ʿAqula, and the Bani Taghlib Arabs (seventh to tenth centuries).

Iran and Central Asia

In western Iran there were dioceses for Adarbaigan and Tabriz.

Four substantial West Syrian dioceses are known to have existed before the fourteenth century in eastern Iran and Central Asia: Zarang (or Segestan), attested between the seventh and thirteenth centuries;^[66] Gurgan (later renamed Abaskun) to the south of the Caspian Sea between the eighth and tenth centuries;^[67] Aprah in Segestan between the eighth and eleventh centuries;^[68] and Herat, also between the eighth and eleventh centuries.^[69]

Two other dioceses are mentioned only once, and may have been ephemeral. The unlocalised diocese of Khorasan, apparently to be distinguished from both Aprah and Herat, is mentioned in the first half of the ninth century in the lists of Michael the Syrian.^[70] The diocese of Beth Parsaye (literally, 'the country of the Persians') also features in the lists of Michael the Syrian for the same period, and has been tentatively localised by Dauvillier in eastern Iran.^[71]

Ephemeral and unlocalised dioceses

Several other West Syrian dioceses appear to have been ephemeral, including Ibidinge (in Isauria) in the seventh century,^[72] Junia (Lebanon), Gulia (in the Melitene district), Kfar Bat (unlocalised) and Kfar Kila (in Lebanon) in the ninth century,^[73] Halys (in northeast Turkey) and Hassassa (near Tagrit) in the tenth century,^[74] Gudpaï (southern Turkey), Hauran (near the Syrian border with Jordan) and Hezza (near Maiperqat) in the eleventh century,^[75] and Hisn Jaʿbar (on the Euphrates, in Iraq) in the twelfth century.^[76]

Several West Syrian dioceses mentioned in the lists of Michael the Syrian cannot be even approximately localised: Harara (attested in 685),^[77] Dirig (end of the eighth century),^[78] Deboraitha (ninth century),^[79] Dula (ninth and tenth centuries),^[80] Helbon (ninth to eleventh centuries),^[81] Qadmanaye (eighth and ninth centuries),^[82] and Shalabdin (twelfth century).^[83]

The Syrian Orthodox Church in the Mongol and Post-Mongol Period

It is clear that the late thirteenth century was a period of disruption for the West Syrian church. According to a famous passage of Bar Hebraeus, several West Syrian dioceses were depopulated in the 1270s, and some (though not all) may never have recovered:

Even if I wanted to be patriarch, as many others do, what is there to covet in the appointment, since so many dioceses of the East have been devastated? Should I set my heart on Antioch, where sighs and groans will meet me? Or the holy diocese of Gumal, where nobody is left to piss against a wall? Or Aleppo, or Mabbugh, or Callinicus, or Edessa, or Harran, all deserted? Or Laqabin, ʿArqa, Qlisura, Semha, Gubos, Qlaudia and Gargar—the seven dioceses around Melitene—where not a soul remains?^[84]

As with the Church of the East, it seems likely that a number of West Syrian dioceses in Mesopotamia came to an end in the fourteenth century. Only six West Syrian dioceses which existed at the end of the thirteenth century definitely persisted into the sixteenth century: Amid, Damascus, Gazarta, Hah, Mardin and Qartmin. Other dioceses, such as Homs, Jerusalem, Aleppo (for which no bishops are known for the whole of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries), the monastery of Mar Mattai (for which no bishops are known for the whole of the thirteenth century), Gargar (for which no bishops are known for the whole of the thirteenth century), Hisn Ziyad (for which no bishops are known for the whole of the fourteenth century), and Maiperqat, may also have persisted undisturbed, but at present there is insufficient evidence to be certain, and they may all have been revived after lapsing for long periods. The diocese of Edessa seems to have come to an end after the city’s depopulation in 1283, and by the beginning of the sixteenth century Edessa was included in the title of the metropolitans of Gargar.^[85]

Several dioceses in Iraq came to an end during the fourteenth century, some possibly during the terrible campaigns of Timur Leng. In 1330 the dioceses of Beth ʿArabaye and Sinjar were combined, with the consecration of a bishop 'of the monastery of Mar Sargis and Sinjar', who probably resided in the monastery of Mar Sargis near Balad. This diocese is not mentioned again, and by the sixteenth century the small West Syrian communities remaining in the Beth ʿArabaye region came under the authority of the bishops of Tur ʿAbdin, who occasionally included Sinjar in their titles.

However, the picture was not all gloom. Several Jacobite dioceses were created or revived between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries, particularly in the Tur ʿAbdin region, which increasingly became the heartland of the West Syrian church. In Lebanon, which had never previously been the seat of a Jacobite bishop, two Jacobite dioceses are attested in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, one for Hama and Hardin and the other for Tripoli.^[86] A Jacobite diocese was also established in Cyprus in the thirteenth century, initially for Jacobite refugees and later for Jacobite merchants from the Mosul region, which persisted into the seventeenth century despite sporadic Latin persecution.^[87] In northern Mesopotamia new dioceses were created for Maʿdan towards the end of the fourteenth century, and for Zargel (whose bishops sat in the monastery of Mar Quriaqos) by the middle of the fifteenth century.^[88] The monastery of Mar Mushe the Ethiopian near Nebek was restored in 1556 and became the seat of a bishop shortly afterwards.^[89]

Five dioceses were created in the Tur ʿAbdin region during the Mongol and post-Mongol period. The diocese of Salah, whose bishops sat in the monastery of Mar Yaʿqob the Recluse, is first mentioned in 1283, and was probably created in the second half of the thirteenth century.^[90] The diocese of Sawro, whose bishops sat in the monastery of Mar Abai, is first mentioned in 1312.^[91] A third diocese, Beth Rishe, whose bishops sat in the monastery of Mar Malke near the village of Hbab, is attested before the end of the fourteenth century.^[92] A fourth diocese, Natfa near Mardin, was created in the fourteenth century and persisted into the nineteenth century.^[93] A new diocese seems to have been created for Midyat in the fourteenth century.^[94] The title of the diocese also included Hesna d'Kifa, whose West Syrian diocese lapsed in the eleventh century, and it is not clear whether its bishops sat in the monastery of Mar Abraham near Midyat or in the monastery of the Cross near Hesna d'Kifa. By the end of the sixteenth century the diocese was divided, and thereafter both Midyat and Hesna d'Kifa had their own bishops, with the bishops of Hesna d’Kifa sitting in the monastery of the Cross at al-ʿItafiya.^[95]

In the Mosul region, which had long had only the single diocese of the monastery of Mar Mattai, a new diocese was created in the middle of the sixteenth century, whose bishops sat in the monastery of Mar Behnam near Beth Khudaida (Qaraqosh).^[96]

By the sixteenth century certain names had become relatively firmly associated with particular dioceses, and were almost invariably taken by their bishops. The name Yohannan, for example, was associated with the diocese of Qartmin, and Dionysius with Aleppo.

The Syrian Orthodox Church in the nineteenth century

In 1792 or 1793 a separate Syrian Orthodox diocese was created for Mosul, hitherto under the jurisdiction of the diocese of Mar Mattai, in response to the consecration of a Syrian Catholic bishop for Mosul in 1790.^[97]

In the 1840s, shortly after it recovered the ancient monastery of Mar Awgin from the East Syrians, the Syrian Orthodox church revived the old diocese of Nisibis. Four Syrian Orthodox bishops of Nisibis sat in the monastery of Mar Awgin up to the outbreak of the First World War.^[98]

The Syrian Orthodox Church in the twentieth century

The Syrian Orthodox dioceses of Amid, Mardin and Gazarta were ruined in the First World War (Dioscorus Bar Sawma, the Syrian Orthodox bishop of Gazarta, was among the members of the West Syrian hierarchy murdered by the Turks and their Kurdish auxiliaries in 1915), and were not revived after the war.

In 1921 there was a large migration of West Syrian refugees from Turkey into the new French mandate of Syria. As a result, the Syrian refugee population of the districts around Hassakeh, ʿAmuda and Ra's al-ʿAïn was placed in 1929 under the jurisdiction of the bishop Athanasius Thomas Qsir of Aleppo, who took the title Aleppo, Jazira and Khabur. In 1933 these districts were detached and organised into a separate diocese of Jazira and Khabur (renamed Jazira and Euphrates in 1943), whose bishops sat in the town of Hassakeh.^[99]

Since the Second World War the Syrian Orthodox Church has established a number of dioceses and patriarchal vicariates for its diaspora in America and Europe. In America the church established a diocese for North America and Canada in 1957, and patriarchal vicariates for Brazil and Argentina in 1982. In Europe the church established a diocese of Central Europe and Benelux in 1977 and a diocese for Sweden and Scandinavia in 1978. In 1987 a separate diocese was created for the United Kingdom, previously part of the diocese of Sweden. The church also has a 'diocese of patriarchal institutions', whose bishop sits at ʿAtshaneh in Lebanon.^[100]

According to a Catholic statistic of 1962, the Syrian Orthodox Church at that time had a total of 130,000 members, of whom 115,000 members lived in the Middle East.

Notes

↑ Fiey, POCN, 187–90
↑ Fiey, POCN, 211–12 (Emesa) and 251 (Palmyra)
↑ Fiey, POCN, 227
↑ Fiey, POCN, 261–2
↑ Fiey, POCN, 173
↑ Fiey, POCN, 223–4
↑ Fiey, POCN, 261
↑ Fiey, POCN, 167
↑ Fiey, POCN, 265–6
↑ Fiey, POCN, 159–60
↑ Fiey, POCN, 175–6
↑ Fiey, POCN, 186–7
↑ Fiey, POCN, 256
↑ Fiey, POCN, 229–30
↑ Fiey, POCN, 201–2
↑ Fiey, POCN, 225
↑ Fiey, POCN, 176
↑ Fiey, POCN, 274
↑ Fiey, POCN, 218–22
↑ Fiey, POCN, 157–8
↑ Fiey, POCN, 271
↑ Fiey, POCN, 158 and 166
↑ Fiey, POCN, 206–7
↑ Fiey, POCN, 207
↑ Fiey, POCN, 226
↑ Fiey, POCN, 217–18
↑ Fiey, POCN, 193
↑ Fiey, POCN, 224
↑ Fiey, POCN, 269
↑ Fiey, POCN, 268
↑ Fiey, POCN, 202 (Gubos), 257 (Qlisura)
↑ Fiey, POCN, 169–70 (ʿArqa), 199–200 (Gargar), 227–8 (Laqabin) and 256–7 (Qlaudia)
↑ Fiey, POCN, 168–9 (Arabissus) and 260–1 (Romana)
↑ Fiey, POCN, 263
↑ Fiey, POCN, 232–3
↑ Fiey, POCN, 279
↑ Fiey, POCN, 194
↑ Fiey, POCN, 203–4
↑ Fiey, POCN, 225
↑ Fiey, POCN, 282–3
↑ Fiey, POCN, 258
↑ Fiey, POCN, 272
↑ Fiey, POCN, 194–6
↑ Fiey, POCN, 258–9
↑ Fiey, POCN, 264
↑ Fiey, POCN, 207–8
↑ Fiey, POCN, 266–7
↑ Fiey, POCN, 184–5
↑ Fiey, POCN, 273
↑ Fiey, POCN, 162–3 (Amid), 240–2 (Maiperqat)
↑ Fiey, POCN, 170
↑ Fiey, POCN, 209–10
↑ Bar Hebraeus, Chronicon Ecclesiasticum (ed. Abeloos and Lamy), i. 310; Fiey, POCN, 171
↑ Fiey, POCN, 170–1
↑ Fiey, POCN, 169
↑ Fiey, POCN, 214–15
↑ Michael the Syrian, Chronicle, iii. 451; Fiey, POCN, 253
↑ Fiey, POCN, 279
↑ Fiey, POCN, 233–8
↑ Fiey, POCN, 272
↑ Fiey, POCN, 259–60
↑ Fiey, POCN, 260
↑ Fiey, POCN, 224
↑ Fiey, POCN, 174
↑ Fiey, POCN, 172–3
↑ Fiey, POCN, 281
↑ Fiey, POCN, 157 and 203
↑ Fiey, POCN, 167–8
↑ Fiey, POCN, 210–11
↑ Fiey, POCN, 226
↑ Fiey, POCN, 178–9
↑ Fiey, POCN, 217
↑ Fiey, POCN, 203 (Gulia) and 223 (Kfar Bat and Kfar Kila)
↑ Fiey, 207 (Halys) and 208 (Hassassa)
↑ Fiey, POCN, 202 (Gudpai) and 210 (Hauran and Hezza)
↑ Fiey, POCN, 214
↑ Fiey, POCN, 207
↑ Fiey, POCN, 191
↑ Fiey, POCN, 190–1
↑ Fiey, POCN, 194
↑ Fiey, POCN, 210
↑ Fiey, POCN, 253
↑ Fiey, POCN, 267
↑ Bar Hebraeus, Chronicon Ecclesiasticum (ed. Abeloos and Lamy), ii. 460
↑ Fiey, POCN, 195 and 200
↑ Fiey, POCN, 206–7 (Hama and Hardin) and 275 (Tripoli)
↑ Fiey, POCN, 184
↑ Fiey, POCN, 230–1 (Maʿdan) and 281–2 (Zargel)
↑ Fiey, POCN, 247
↑ Fiey, POCN, 262
↑ Fiey, POCN, 264–5
↑ Fiey, POCN, 231–2
↑ Fiey, POCN, 248
↑ Fiey, POCN, 243–4
↑ Fiey, POCN, 214–15 and 243–4
↑ Fiey, POCN, 177
↑ Fiey, POCN, 245–6
↑ Fiey, POCN, 250
↑ Fiey, POCN, 193
↑ Fiey, POCN, 284

References

Abbeloos, Jean Baptiste; Lamy, Thomas Joseph, eds. (1877). Bar Hebraeus, Chronicon Ecclesiasticum (3 vols). Paris.
Fiey, J.M. (1962). Assyrie chrétienne (3 vols). Beirut.
Fiey, J.M. (1979). Communautés syriaques en Iran et en Irak, des origines à 1552. London. ISBN 0-86078-051-1.
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).

Dioceses of the Syrian Orthodox Church

Syria	Aleppo Apamea Baalbek Beth Balesh (Barbalissus) Cyrrhus Damascus Emesa (Hims) Gishra Hauran Karshena Kfar Tab Laodicea Mabbugh Mar Mushe the Ethiopian Sadad Seleucia Sergiopolis (Resafa) Tadmor (Palmyra)

Palestine	ʿAkko Paneas Jerusalem Tiberias

Lebanon and Cyprus	Cyprus Hama and Hardin Tripoli

Cilicia	Adana Anazarbus Citidiopolis Gihon Hamam Hanzit Irenopolis Kalinag Kinisa Sis Tarsus

Cappadocia	Arabissus ʿArqa Caesarea-in-Cappadocia Gargar Gubos Guma Hisn Mansur Hisn Ziyad (Kharput) Laqabin Melitene Qlaudia Qlisura Romana Semha Simandu Tel Patriq Zuptara

Commagene	Dolikh Hadath Kaishum Marʿash Raʿban Samosata Tel Bshir Urim Zeugma

Osrhoene	Callinicus (Raqqa) Circesium (Khabur) Edessa Harran Sarugh Sibaberek (Severek) Tella d'Mauzalath

Amid and Arzun	Amid Armenia (Akhlat) Arsamosata Arzun Aspharin Hesna d'Kifa Hezza Maʿdan Maiperqat Qalinqala Wastan Zargel

Mardin and Nisibis	Bagdashiya Dara Kfartutha Maʿarre Mardin Natfa Nisibis Rishʿaina Rish Kipa Tel Beshme

Tur ʿAbdin	Beth Rishe Hesna d'Kifa Midyat Salah Sawro Tur ʿAbdin

Iraq	Baghdad Bahrin Beth ʿArbaye (Balad) Beth Nuhadra Beth Takshur Gazarta Gumal Karma Mar Behnam Mar Mattai Mosul Piroz Shabur Shigar

Iran and Central Asia	Adarbaigan (Urmia) Aprah Beth Parsaye Gurgan (Abaskun) Herat Khorasan Tabriz Zarang

Unlocalised dioceses	Deboraitha Dirig Dula Harara Helbon Qadmanaye Shalabdin

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