Mar
Yohannan VIII Hormizd (often referred to by
European missionaries as
John Hormez or
Hanna
Hormizd) was the last hereditary
patriarch of the Eliya line of the
Church of the East and the first
patriarch of a united
Chaldean
Church.
After succeeding his uncle Eliya XII Denha in
1780 as patriarch of Mosul, he made a Catholic profession of faith and was
recognised in 1783 by the Vatican
as
patriarchal administrator and archbishop of Mosul. His
career as patriarchal administrator was controversial, and was
marked by a series of conflicts with his own bishops and also with
the Vatican. Suspended from his functions in 1812 and again in
1818, he was reinstated by the Vatican in 1828.
In 1830, following the
death of the Amid
patriarchal
administrator Augustine Hindi, he
was recognised by the Vatican as patriarch of Babylon of the
Chaldeans and the Mosul and Amid patriarchates were united
under his leadership. This event marked the birth of the
modern
Chaldean Catholic
Church. Yohannan Hormizd died in 1838 and his successor
Nicholas I Zay a was chosen by the
Vatican, ending the centuries-old practice of hereditary succession
in the Eliya line of the Church of the East.
Sources
Yohannan Hormizd's career, first as patriarchal administrator and
finally as patriarch, was dogged by disputes. Most of the surviving
contemporary accounts of his patriarchate are partisan, and must be
used with care.
Yohannan Hormizd himself wrote a polemical autobiography in
Syriac, a fragment of which
(breaking off in 1795) was translated into English by the
Anglican missionary
George Percy Badger and
reproduced in his classic 1852 study of the Church of the East,
The Nestorians and Their Rituals.
His opponents
responded with an equally intemperate history of the monastery of
Rabban
Hormizd
under the headship of Gabriel Dambo of Mardin
(1775–1832), which was published in a French translation by
M. Brière in 1910 and 1911. Both texts provide spirited
accounts of the intrigues that followed Yohannan's election as
patriarch in 1780. Neither can be trusted on matters of
interpretation, but if read judiciously they shed valuable light on
the politics of the Chaldean Church in the late eighteenth- and
early-nineteenth centuries and provide a wealth of factual detail
omitted in many accounts of this period.
The partisan spirit of the contemporary accounts was reflected in
the texts of several later Chaldean authors, notably Giamil and
Tfinkdji. Stephane Bello, writing in 1939 with access to the
Vatican archives, was the first scholar to write a reasonably
neutral account of Yohannan Hormizd's career. He has been followed
more recently by Habbi. Much of the recent scholarship on Yohannan
Hormizd is in French or German, but convenient English summaries of
his career were made by David Wilmshurst in 2000 and by Wilhelm
Baum and Dietmar Winkler in 2003.
Background
By 1760 the Church of the East had become divided into three
patriarchates:
- The
largest and oldest Patriarchal See was
based at the Rabban Hormizd
monastery of Alqosh, near Mosul
.
It spread
from Aqrah
up to
Seert
and Nisibis
, covering
the South rich plain of Mosul (it is known also as Eliya
line). Since the 15th century, its Patriarchs belonged to
the Bar Mama (or Abuna) family and they were appointed
through a strict hereditary system: the old patriarch chose one of
his nephews (or sometimes his young brother), and consecrated him
as metropolitan bishop with right of succession. The nephew was
known as natar kursi (designated successor). In 1760 the
patriarch of this See was Eliya
XII Denkha, the uncle of Yohannan Hormizd.
- In
1681, the patriarchal See of Amid
became
independent and made a formal union with Rome
(it is also
known as the Josephite line). This See included a
few towns such as Amid and Mardin
in the
North-West Mountains, which are now in Turkey
. In
1760 the patriarch was Joseph IV Lazar Hindi, a
relative of Augustine Hindi.
The
patriarchate struggled with financial difficulties due to the tax
burden imposed by the Turkish
authorities.
- The
third patriarchal See was located in Qochanis
and extended into the North East Mountains (also
known as the Shimun line). This patriarchal line
began in 1553 when Mar Yohannan Sulaqa was consecrated
bishop by the Pope, but soon became independent
of Rome and still survives in the denomination today known as
Assyrian Church of the
East
Early life

300ppx
According to his autobiography, Yohannan Hormizd was born in 1760
in Alqosh. His father, the
deacon Hanna
(Yohannan), was the brother of the Mosul patriarch Eliya XII Denha
(1722–78).
The
Vatican
opened a
correspondence with both the Mosul and Qochanis patriarchs in
1770. At this period hereditary succession (normally from
uncle to nephew as the patriarchs themselves remained celibate) was
in force in both patriarchates. Eliya XII Denha had consecrated his
nephew Isho yahb a metropolitan in 1745 and had also bestowed upon
him the traditional title
natar kursya ('guardian of the
throne'), thereby designating him his presumptive successor. Eliya
XII and his nephew Isho yahb both made Catholic professions of
faith in 1771 in response to this overture from the Vatican, and
Pope Clement XIV wrote to Eliya on
12 December 1772 to commend his zeal and to urge him to bring over
his people to Catholicism. Earlier in the same year, however, Eliya
had deposed Isho yahb from his metropolitan rank, apparently
alarmed by his ambition, and ordained the twelve-year-old Yohannan
Hormizd, another nephew, as a deacon. Four years later, on 22 May
1776, Yohannan was consecrated a metropolitan by Eliya XII Denha
and named
natar kursya in his turn. If his uncle had lived
a few years longer, Yohannan's succession would probably have been
assured, but the patriarch was among the victims of a plague which
swept through the Mosul district in 1778, and died in the village
of Alqosh on 29 April 1778.
Irregular patriarchal succession, 1780–83
On the following day his nephews Isho yahb and Yohannan both made
Catholic professions of faith and were reconciled. Despite the late
patriarch's preference the Latin missionaries supported Isho yahb,
who shortly afterwards succeeded his uncle as patriarch, taking the
name Eliya XIII Isho yahb, without open opposition from the young
Yohannan. In May 1779, as soon as he had obtained his
firman of office from the Ottoman civil authorities, Isho
yahb abandoned his Catholic profession of faith.
The notables of
Mosul, with the support of the Latin
missionaries, deposed him and unanimously chose Shem on of
Amid
, the Chaldean metropolitan of Mardin
(1758–88),
as patriarch in his place. Shem on however declined to
accept the honour, and Isho yahb’s opponents were obliged to turn
instead to the young Yohannan Hormizd, who had demonstrated his
zeal for the Catholic cause since Isho yahb's
volte face
by converting the Nestorians of the large
Erbil villages of Aïnqawa, Armuta and Shaqlawa to
Catholicism and encouraging them to withdraw their loyalty from his
cousin.
Yohannan was elected patriarch in 1780, and
his supporters bribed the governor of Mosul to use his influence to
obtain a firman from Constantinople
, granting him authority over both the Chaldean
Christians and the Nestorians. Yohannan then sent a
profession of faith and a letter of submission to the
Vatican.
The Vatican was placed in a dilemma by this turn of events. If
Yohannan's profession of faith was genuine, he might be the
Catholic
patriarch of
Babylon the Vatican had long been hoping for, and his
confirmation would be rapidly followed by the adoption of
Catholicism by all the villages of the Mosul patriarchate. On the
other hand, to confirm Yohannan's election would be to condone the
distasteful practice of hereditary succession. There was also the
possibility that Yohannan's submission was no more sincere than
Isho yahb's had been two years earlier. The Vatican's initial
response was therefore to inform Raphael Terconuski, the superior
of the Catholic mission at Mosul, that Yohannan Hormizd's
profession of faith appeared to be satisfactory, but that his
election was to be considered null. On 18 February 1783, having
considered further, the
Sacred
Congregation decided to appoint Yohannan archbishop of Mosul
and administrator of the patriarchate of Babylon, granting him all
the necessary powers to that end except the title and the insignia
of the patriarch.
Patriarchal administrator and archbishop of Mosul,
1783–1830
Honeymoon period, 1783–1801
A painting of 1779 representing 'the Nestorian bishop Mar Elias',
possibly the patriarch Eliya XIII Isho yahb
For the next eight years Yohannan Hormizd seemed to justify the
hopes placed in him. He lived on amicable terms with the Catholic
missionaries and devoted his energies to the conversion to
Catholicism of the villages under his authority. In May 1790, on
the advice of the missionaries, he consecrated his nephew Shem on
metropolitan, and in August of the same year sent him to the Zibar
district, where he converted the Nestorian villages of Arena and
Barzane. The following year he sent Shem on to Mengesh in the Sapna
district, where he was equally successful.
The high point of
this honeymoon period came in February 1791, when the Vatican
appointed him patriarchal administrator of the Amid
patriarchate, recalling La zar Hindi to Rome to leave
him a free hand. This appointment led to strenuous protests
from La zar Hindi, his vicar-general Joseph Attar and the clergy of
Amid, and on 3 February 1793 Yohannan Hormizd's appointment was
rescinded.
At about the same time the Mosul missionaries began to report
disquieting rumours about his performance of his duties. He was
said, among other things, to have released a monk from his vows for
a payment of 73 piastres, to have used liturgical books full of
errors, to have visited families without a companion, and to have
feasted in the house of a newly-wed couple. Although each of these
incidents was relatively minor in itself, and could equally have
been explained by mere imprudence rather than active corruption,
their frequency was disturbing.
For his part, Yohannan accused the
missionaries of arrogance and mischief-making, and on his request
the apostolic vicar of Baghdad
, Fulgence de Sainte Marie, was sent to Mosul as
apostolic vicar in 1796 to report on the situation.
While his relations with the Vatican were cooling, Yohannan Hormizd
also had to deal with the opposition of his cousin Isho yahb, who
continued to assert that he was the rightful patriarch.
After
Yohannan's irregular election in 1780 Isho yahb withdrew to
Amadiya
, whose governor Isma'il gave him 'the Nestorian
dioceses of the mountain' to govern. He made another
Catholic profession of faith on 7 April 1783 in an attempt to
regain the sympathies of the missionaries, and to preserve the
patriarchate within his family consecrated his nephew Hnanisho
metropolitan in 1784. Several years of bitter faction-fighting
followed, in which the civil authorities in Baghdad held the
balance between Muhammad, governor of Mosul, who supported Yohannan
Hormizd, and Isma'il, governor of Amadiya, who sheltered Isho yahb
and his followers. In 1788 Yohannan's nephew Shem on was arrested
on a visit to the village of Bir Sivi in the Zakho district on
Isma'il's orders, and was only released by the joint efforts of the
governor of Mosul and Sulaiman, governor of Baghdad. In 1792
Yohannan and his two brothers went to Amadiya on business, and were
arrested, beaten and imprisoned for three and a half months by the
Turkish authorities. Again, the governor of Baghdad intervened to
secure their release.
First clash with the Vatican, 1802
Yohannan's precarious relations with the Vatican survived a further
test in 1801, only to sink further in 1802. In 1796 a delegation
from the
Malabar Christians arrived in Mosul
and begged him to consecrate a bishop for them.
Yohannan
punctiliously wrote to the Vatican
for
guidance, but as Rome
was then
under French occupation he did not receive a reply, and in 1798
consecrated the Indian priest Paul Pandari as a bishop for the
Malabar Christians. As many of the Malabar Christians were now
in communion with the West Syrian
Church, which had replaced the Church of the East as the main focus of
loyalty among the Syrian Christians of India
three
centuries earlier, Yohannan tactfully appointed Pandari bishop 'of
Mar Behnam', a celebrated West
Syrian monastery near Mosul. The Malabar Christians
informed the Vatican of Pandari's arrival in India in a letter of
17 January 1800, and Yohannan was asked to account for his actions.
His explanation was accepted, and in a general consistory of 23
September 1801 the possibility of appointing him patriarch of
Babylon was considered.
Unfortunately for Yohannan, his position was immediately undermined
by renewed complaints from a section of the Chaldean church. On
this occasion his opponents, supported by the Latin missionaries,
impugned his orthodoxy and accused him of embezzling monastic
property. In 1802 the priest Yohannan Mushe of Tel Isqof was
despatched to Rome with letters demanding the dismissal of both
Yohannan and his nephew Shem on, metropolitan of Amadiya.
He had
only sufficient funds to reach Saida in
Syria
, where he entrusted the letter to the missionary
Leopold Sebastien, who was leaving for Rome. The letters do
not seem to have produced any immediate effect, but doubtless added
to the concern in the Vatican about Yohannan Hormizd's
reliability.
Increasing opposition, 1802–12

300ppx
Some
years later Yohannan Hormizd faced another challenge to his
authority from a Baghdad
merchant named Gabriel Dambo, one of the most
remarkable figures of the nineteenth century Chaldean
church. A Chaldean Christian born in Mardin in 1775, Dambo
had made sufficient money by middle age to be able to retire from
business, and he decided to devote the rest of his life to the
service of the Church.
The once-thriving monastery of Rabban Hormizd
near Alqosh
had been
abandoned for many years, and he dreamed of reviving its monastic
life and restoring it to its former glory. He paved the way by
giving free lessons in Baghdad
to young Chaldean
Christians in Arabic, grammar,
logic and rhetoric, and after winning a formidable reputation as a
teacher and scholar moved to Mosul. In 1808 he had no
difficulty in persuading the Chaldean authorities and their
Catholic missionary advisers to allow him to establish a
seminary in the monastery of Rabban Hormizd. Before
long he collected a number of pupils, who were vowed to poverty and
celibacy, and was appointed lay superior of the seminary.
An energetic and charismatic visionary, Gabriel had his own ideas
of how things should be done, and had little patience with the
leaders of the Chaldean Church. If the new seminary was to succeed
it needed its own income, and Gabriel insisted, probably correctly,
that a large proportion of the property then in the hands of the
patriarchal family was originally owned by the monastery of Rabban
Hormizd and should rightly revert to it. Yohannan Hormizd,
understandably, did not agree. This single issue would have been
sufficient to poison relations between the two men, but there were
other causes of friction as well. The new seminary had attracted
men who disliked Yohannan Hormizd and wanted more vigorous
leadership. The monks rallied around their superior and made no
secret of their distaste for the patriarchal administrator. They
were joined by the Catholic missionaries, who shared their
admiration for Gabriel, and by a number of influential priests,
notably Yohannan of Tel Isqof and Yohannan of Alqosh.
In 1809 the Vatican
seriously
considered the possibility of suspending Yohannan Hormizd, and
rumours that he had indeed been suspended were circulated by his
opponents, eliciting a spirited letter of protest to the Vatican by
his supporters on 15 October 1811.
Yohannan
Hormizd's opponents were eventually able to win over the
pasha of Mosul
to their
side, who briefly imprisoned him. The missionaries, led by
the priest Joseph Campanile, immediately took steps to replace him,
and Campanile on his own authority consecrated the priest Shem on
Sayyegh bishop of Mosul. He was later reproved by the Vatican for
this abusive consecration, and
Augustine
Hindi was ordered to send Shem on to Mosul merely as a priest.
At the same time, learning of Yohannan Hormizd's imprisonment, the
Vatican appointed Augustine Hindi apostolic delegate and the priest
Giwargis of Alqosh apostolic vicar of Mosul, 'during the absence of
the said archbishop', on 4 October 1811. This decision sent a clear
signal that the Vatican’s patience with Yohannan Hormizd was, for
the moment, almost at an end.
Suspension and Reinstatement, 1812–30
Yohannan
Hormizd was eventually ransomed by his supporters and returned to
Mosul
, where he had several of his opponents
imprisoned. After a series of mutual recriminations, the
Rabban
Hormizd
monks and the Catholic missionaries wrote jointly
to the Propaganda
calling for Yohannan's deposition, alleging that he was opposed to
their order, that he incited the Kurds of
Isma'il Pasha against them, and that he was endeavouring to lead
the Chaldean proselytes back to Nestorianism. The Vatican
was alarmed at these charges and on 15 February 1812 suspended
Yohannan from his functions as archbishop of Mosul and patriarchal
administrator and appointed Shem on Sayyegh apostolic vicar for
Mosul and the priest Giwargis of Alqosh apostolic vicar for the
patriarchate of Babylon.
Both men were placed under the direct authority of
Augustine Hindi, who was named
apostolic
delegate for the affairs of the patriarchate of Babylon. While
this decision temporarily placed the two Catholic patriarchates
under a single trustworthy authority, it was from the Vatican's
point of view little more than a makeshift, as Hindi could never
command the same prestige in the Mosul district as a member of the
old patriarchal family.
Yohannan Hormizd's suspension lasted for six years. At first he
refused to accept the validity of the Vatican's decision, and
issued threats against his opponents.
Eventually he decided
to seek a reconciliation with them, and a meeting was held on 20
February 1818 at Alqosh
, attended by
a hundred clergymen and notables, in which he agreed to apologise
in writing for his misdeeds. In return, the assembly decided
to send a letter to the Vatican to ask for his suspension to be
lifted. Unfortunately, these good intentions were frustrated, as
the letter’s courier was killed en route and the letter never
reached its destination. The Vatican, ignorant of the
rapprochement between Yohannan Hormizd and his opponents,
was briefed on the affairs of the Chaldean Church early in 1818 by
Campanile, who is unlikely to have placed a sympathetic
construction on Yohannan Hormizd’s previous record. The Sacred
Congregation concluded that Yohannan Hormizd had not taken his
suspension seriously, and on 24 May 1818 it was renewed. The
appointments of Augustine Hindi and Giwargis of Alqosh were renewed
by briefs of 26 June 1818, and Yohannan Hormizd was informed of the
new sentence in a latter of 11 July 1818.
Once again, Yohannan refused to accept the validity of the
sentence, and for the next few years continued to assert his
authority wherever he could, abetted by the civil authorities at
Amadiya.
The Rabban Hormizd
monks refused to have anything to do with him and
accepted the authority of Augustine
Hindi (the colophon of
manuscripts copied in the monastery at this period dutifully
mention the patriarchal administrator Mar Augustine, not Mar
Yohannan). Three monks of the monastery of Rabban
Hormizd were consecrated metropolitan bishops at Amid
by Hindi in
March 1825: the future patriarch Joseph
Audo for Mosul, Lawrent Sho a for Baghdad
, and Basil Asmar for Amadiya. Two other bishops
perhaps consecrated on the same occasion, Mikha'il Kattula and
Ignatius Dashto, were sent to Seert
and Mardin
, traditional
sees of the Amid patriarchate, but the other three returned to
their home villages north of Mosul; Basil Asmar to Telkepe, Lawrent Sho a to Tel
Isqof and Joseph Audo to Alqosh
.
There each of the three metropolitans began ordaining priests and
deacons, in a direct challenge to Yohannan's authority.
Meanwhile, the Vatican reconsidered the condemnation of Yohannan
Hormizd in the light of fresh information, and on 25 November 1826
publicly absolved him. At the same time, to restore the peace of
the Chaldean Church, it urged the 66-year-old former patriarchal
administrator to renounce his claims to the archdiocese of Mosul
and to retire quietly. Yohannan, vindicated by the Vatican's
absolution and supported by the local civil authorities, stubbornly
refused to retire. Instead, he fought back against his opponents.
In 1827,
during the absence of the superior Gabriel Dambo in Rome, a number
of monks in the monastery of Rabban Hormizd
rebelled against its administrator Yohannan Gwera,
who enjoyed the support of the metropolitan Joseph Audo.
Yohannan Hormizd upheld the rebels, and was also able to have Basil
Asmar expelled from
Telkepe, forcing him
to take refuge in Amid.
On 3 April 1827, shortly after Basil's arrival,
Augustine Hindi died at Amid and was buried
in a cemetery outside the city's walls. His death ended the
146-year independent existence of the Amid patriarchate. Basil
Asmar, who had endeared himself to the clergy and people of Amid,
was appointed Hindi's successor as metropolitan of Amid in 1828,
and the Vatican confirmed the appointment. Amid reverted to a
metropolitan diocese of the Chaldean Church, and the Amid
patriarchate came to an end. Basil's appointment required a bishop
to be found for the see of Amadiya, and as Joseph Audo had failed
to overcome the opposition of Yohannan's supporters to his
appointment of metropolitan of Mosul, Gabriel Dambo and the
Catholic missionaries agreed that he should be reassigned to
Amadiya. Like Basil before him, however, he declined to trust his
life to the good faith of Isma'il Pasha, and withdrew to Alqosh,
where he continued to intrigue among the Chaldeans and with the
local authorities of Mosul against Yohannan. As a result of these
intrigues Yohannan was imprisoned for a third time by the Ottoman
authorities, for four months.
After Yohannan's release the charges made by his opponents were
investigated by the Latin
apostolic
vicar Pierre-Alexander Coupperie, who travelled to Mosul to
interview him. Yohannan was absolved of blame and restored to the
exercise of his jurisdiction. Gabriel Dambo was then in Rome, to
lobby more effectively against his rival, and he and his supporters
declared Coupperie's decision invalid and insisted that they would
not accept Yohannan’s authority unless he was absolved personally
by the pope. Coupperie therefore persuaded a number of influential
Chaldeans to join him in a written appeal to the Vatican for
Yohannan's reinstatement.
Patriarch of Babylon, 1830–8

The seal of the Chaldean patriarchs of
Babylon
Couperrie died shortly afterwards, and was succeeded as apostolic
vicar by his assistant Laurent Trioche, who was consecrated a
bishop for the purpose by Yohannan and the metropolitan Lawrent Sho
a of Kirkuk on the Vatican's instructions. Like his predecessor,
Trioche took Yohannan’s part, and in a consistory held in the
Vatican on 5 July 1830 it was agreed that Yohannan should be
relieved of the archdiocese of Mosul, confirmed as patriarch of the
Chaldeans and awarded the
pallium (the
traditional symbol of the Vatican's recognition of his succession).
The decision was communicated to Yohannan Hormizd, now aged 74, in
two
papal bulls of the same date.
Fifty years after his irregular succession to Eliya XII Denha,
Yohannan Hormizd was finally recognised as patriarch of the
Chaldean Church and awarded
the title
patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans. The
suppression of the Amid patriarchate and the union of the Chaldean
dioceses under the
patriarch of Babylon in 1830 marked the
birth of the modern Chaldean Catholic Church.
The new patriarch was
awarded the pallium in a ceremony held in
Baghdad
on 6 April 1834.
Further troubles
Yohannan Hormizd was unhappy with the thought of the unbroken
succession of the Eliya line ending with his death, and made a
curious bargain with the Nestorian church in an attempt to continue
the succession. He ordained his nephew Mansur Sefaro a priest, and
in 1831 sent him to the Nestorian patriarch Shem on XVII Abraham
(1820–61), who consecrated him at Urmi and appointed him
metropolitan over the Nestorians of Amadiya. The new metropolitan
took the name Eliya, the traditional name of the Chaldean
patriarchs, and shortly afterwards abandoned the pretence of being
a Nestorian and was re-admitted into the Chaldean church,
ultimately becoming the first Chaldean bishop of Aqra in
1852.
The feud between Gabriel Dambo and Yohannan Hormizd ended in 1832,
when Alqosh was pillaged by Kör Muhammad, chief of the
Soran Kurds of
Rawanduz. Gabriel Dambo was among the hundreds of
East Syrians killed by the Kurds, and was succeeded as superior of
the monastery of Rabban Hormizd by Yohannan Gwera. Despite the
death of his chief rival, the patriarch's troubles continued
throughout the 1830s. The monks of the monastery of Rabban Hormizd
still refused to acknowledge his authority, and were supported by
the metropolitan
Joseph Audo, who now
claimed jurisdiction over the monastery on the grounds that it lay
within his diocese of Amadiya. Yohannan Hormizd retaliated by
suspending Audo and a number of Rabban Hormizd monks, but this
action had little effect. A rumour spread that a new Latin
apostolic vicar had been appointed in Rome and was now on his way
to Mosul, and the patriarch's enemies temporarily came into line to
make a good first impression on this important official. But when
after two months he had still not arrived, they resumed their
duties in flat defiance of Yohannan's orders. One man only, a
priest named Stephen, sent in his submission to the patriarch, and
was appointed priest of Telkepe.
The patriarch now sent the metropolitan Gregory Peter di Natale to
Mosul, accompanied by a priest named Andrew to represent the
apostolic vicar Laurent Trioche, to inquire into the conduct of the
Rabban Hormizd monks. Joseph Audo thereupon retired to Amid, where
he was welcomed by its metropolitan Basil, and the delegates
condemned the obstinacy of the monks and returned to Baghdad.
In the light of this vindication of the patriarch’s behaviour, an
attempt was made by the monastery's superior Yohannan Gwera to put
his side of the story. He travelled to Rome, accompanied by the
monks Mikha'il Jammala and Peter, and eventually obtained a papal
audience. The response of the Vatican authorities to the monks'
complaints was lukewarm. They were assured that their allegations
would be investigated but were also censured for their
disobedience.
On 13
October 1837, conscious that he had not long to live, Yohannan
designated as coadjutor and
'guardian of the throne' Gregory Peter di Natale, metropolitan of
Gazarta
, presumably with the intention of excluding his
nephew Eliya from the patriarchal dignity. However, he did not
promise the succession to his coadjutor, and in order to ensure
that the hereditary principle would play no part in the selection
of the next patriarch the Vatican appointed by a bull of 25
September 1838 Nicholas Zay a,
metropolitan of Salmas
, Yohannan’s
coadjutor with the right of succession. The reason given in
the bull for this decision was the growing infirmity of the
patriarch and the desirability of avoiding inconvenience and harm
should the patriarchate suddenly become vacant.
Zay a was Persian
by birth, from Khosrowa, and as such could lay
claim to the protection of the foreign consuls in Turkey
. He
had also been educated at the
Propaganda,
and it was hoped that after Yohannan's death he would loyally
implement Vatican policy.
Yohannan, meanwhile, had died a few weeks earlier, on 16 August
1838. His family, which had provided successive patriarchs since
the middle of the fifteenth century, now renounced its hereditary
right of succession but insisted on keeping the title
Abuna as the family name henceforward.
Nicholas Zay a duly succeeded Yohannan
Hormizd as patriarch, but the manner in which his succession had
been arranged by the Vatican offended most of the Chaldean bishops,
and Zay a's brief reign (1839–46) would prove to be as stormy as
that of his predecessor.
Notes
- Badger, Nestorians, i. 150–60 [1]
- Brière, 'Histoire du couvent de Rabban Hormizd', ROC,
15 (1910) and 16 (1911)
- Wilmshurst, EOCE, 28–32; Baum and Winkler, Church
of the East, 00–00
- Badger, Nestorians, i. 150
- Badger, Nestorians, i. 150–1
- Badger, Nestorians, i. 152
- Bello, Congrégation de S. Hormisdas, 11–14
- Badger, Nestorians, i. 155
- Badger, Nestorians, i. 155
- Bello, Congrégation de S. Hormisdas, 12–13
- Badger, Nestorians, i. 153
- Badger, Nestorians, i. 156
- Puliurumpil, A Period of Jurisdictional Conflict in the
Suriani Church of India, 2–50
- Bello, Congrégation de S. Hormisdas, 14–15
- Bello, Congrégation de S. Hormisdas, 14–15
- Bello, Congrégation de S. Hormisdas, 16–18
- Giamil, Genuinae Relationes, 391–4; Bello,
Congrégation de S. Hormisdas, 18 and 66–9
- Badger, Nestorians, i. 163
- Badger, Nestorians, i. 163–4
- Bello, Congrégation de S. Hormisdas, 22
- Giamil, Genuinae Relationes, 394–5
- Giamil, Genuinae Relationes, 396–9; Bello,
Congrégation de S. Hormisdas, 22
- Badger, Nestorians, i. 167–8
- Badger, Nestorians, i. 166
- Badger, Nestorians, i. 166
- Badger, Nestorians, i. 166–7; Bello, Congrégation
de S. Hormisdas, 122–39
- Giamil, Genuinae Relationes, 400–1
References
- Brière, M., 'Histoire du couvent de Rabban Hormizd de 1808 a
1832', ROC, 15 (1910), 4, 410–24;16 (1911), 2, 113–27; 3,
249–54; and 4, 346–55
- Hornus, J. M., 'Mémoire sur l'état actuel et l'avenir de la
religion catholique et des missions lazaristes et protestantes en
Perse par le Comte de Challaye, consul de France à Erzéroun'
(Cahiers d'Études Chrétiennes Orientales 8-9 für 1970/73),
Action Chrétienne en Orient, Strasbourg o. J., 79f. 85f. 102-109.
148.