Gregorius Bar-Hebraeus

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Gregorius Bar-Hebraeus (other spellings Barhebraeus , Barhebräus , Bar Hebräus , Bar Ebroyo ), also Abū l-Faraj Ibn al-ʿIbrī ( Arabic أبو الفرج ابن العبري, DMG Abū l-Faraǧ Ibn al-ʿIbrī ), Latinized Abulpharagius , Abulfaragius , Germanized Abulfaraj ; (* 1226 in Malatya ; † July 30, 1286 in Maragha near Tabriz in Persia , in the Ilkhan's court camp ) was a polymath and Maphrian of the East of the Syrian Orthodox Church in the 13th century.

Life

Bar Evra'yá ( Latinized Bar-Hebraeus) was baptized in the name of John. The part of the name "hebra" indicates on the one hand a Jewish descent; his father Aharon was a Jewish doctor who converted to the Syriac Orthodox Church . On the other hand, it is also a reference to the village name of his ancestors "Hebra". The mother tongue of Bar-Hebraeus was Syrian / Aramaic , but he learned the Arabic and High Syriac languages ​​early on, which were only used in literature and liturgy. He grew up in Malatya (Melatia), which at that time belonged to the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum . The city or the monastery of St. Barsaumá was the residence of the Jacobite patriarch. He then devoted himself to theological studies, which he completed in Antioch , where his father had fled from the Mongols in 1244 . According to his own statements, he also spoke the Greek language. He spoke Turkish and could at least read Persian.

After studying medicine and theology, he became a priest in Antioch at the age of 20, then moved to Tripoli , where he studied with Nestorian monks. He was consecrated Bishop of Guba by the Jacobite Patriarch in 1246 and was given the name Gregorius. Soon he became Bishop of Lakabhin . In 1252 he took part in the synod in St. Barsaumá, at which, after the death of Ignatius, Bishop Dionysius of Melatia was elected as the new patriarch, whereby the rules of canon law were not fully observed. Bar-Hebraeus was sent by Dionysus to Mesopotamia to his rival Johannes Barmaderi , the primus of the east, who became patriarch of Aleppo in 1256 , presumably to persuade him to recognize the election of Dionysus, which was unsuccessful. Bar-Hebraeus then traveled to Tur Abdin with his nephew to collect donations. After that he was sent to Damascus to have the appointment of Dionysus confirmed by the governor there. When it became known that he had connections with the Mongols , there were difficulties, and only through the mediation of the Coptic scholar Ibn Amid did the governor finally relent. Afterwards Bar-Hebraeus was appointed bishop of Aleppo by Dionysus, but Johannes Barmaderi gave the position to someone else. At a synod in Sis , John was confirmed as patriarch, and Bar-Hebraeus retired with his father to the monastery in Barsaumá.

When the Mongols conquered Baghdad in 1258 , this strengthened the position of Dionysus, who had good relations with the Khan. In 1259 Dionysus was formally recognized as patriarch by the Ilchan Hülegü . However, Dionysus was not choosy in his methods of raising money and was murdered in front of the altar in February 1259 by a deacon, a monk and a layman in St. Barsaumá. The Mongols punished the murder, but Johannes Barmaderi was now the undisputed patriarch. He seems to have avoided the Mongolian sphere of influence and stayed in Cilicia until his death in 1263 . Bar-Hebraeus traveled to Sis to elect his successor. The choice fell on the abbot Joscha, who as Ignatius became patriarch on January 6, 1264. Bar-Hebraeus became a Catholicos (Syrian: Maphrian = "pollinator") of the autonomously administered eastern part of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch , an office that had been vacant since 1258. In the presence of Hethum I , the king of Armenia , he was consecrated in the church of St. Theotokos in Sis. The Khan confirmed him in office, and Bar-Hebraeus went to Mosul . But because of the political unrest he was only able to take office in Tagrit on the Tigris in 1266 . The office is comparable to the current rank of Grand Archbishop .

He has been an author since he was 20. Among the Syrian writers, he was considered to be the most educated, the most precise and the most devout historian of his time. Bar-Hebraeus set up a library in Tikrit .

From 1279 he lived in a cave monastery built by him in Maragha, which was about 40 m below the observatory of his friend Nasir Al-din al-Tusi . Il-Chan Tekuder , the son of the Syriac Orthodox Christian Qutai Khatun , had given permission to build new churches .

He was also very famous as a doctor, so that the then Ilchan (probably Hülegü, 1263) only allowed himself to be treated by him.

His life and work were described by his brother Barsaumá.

Works

He wrote more than 30 writings in the fields of astronomy, ethics, grammar, canon law, mathematics, medicine, philosophy and theology. Most of his works are in Aramaic , the professional scientific works, especially world history, in Arabic . Bar Hebraeus is considered the final high point of Syrian school scholarship.

Bar-Hebraeus wrote a handbook of world history entitled "Compendium of the History of Dynasties" ( Muḫtaṣar Taʾrīḫ ad-duwal ) from the beginning of creation until the year 1273 AD. This work contains valuable information about the Saracens , Tatar and Mongols about the conquests of Genghis Khan.

Thanks to Bar-Hebraeus, the most exact comparison of the chronological registration of the Saracen dynasties up to that point could be carried out.

His ethical (from Ethikon, ascetic textbook) and mystical works reflect the school knowledge of his time and show parallels to Ghazali (here especially Ihya ulum al-din ), but do not testify to his own practice. His philosophical works, like the works of contemporary occidental scholasticism, deal primarily with Ibn Sina ; there are no connections to occidental works.

A selection of his works

  • World history from Adam to his time in 3 parts, of which the first is political history, the second and 3. the church history of the Jacobites u. Contains Nestorians
  • Horreum mysteriorum (treasure house of secrets), commentary z. whole Bible, completed 1277
  • Kethabha dhe-Bhabhatha , a work on logic and dialectics
  • Hewath Hekmetha , a representation of Aristotle's philosophy
  • Sullarat Haunãnãyã (Rise of the Spirit), a work on astronomy and cosmography , edited and translated by F. Nau (Paris, 1899)
  • Various medical works
  • Kethabha dhe-Zalge (Book of Rays), The Syrian Grammar
  • Kethabha dhe-Thunnaye Mighaizjzikhanl (Book of Entertainment Stories ), edited and translated by EA Wallis Budge (London, 1897).
  • Makhtbhanuth Zabhne , a secular and ecclesiastical history book
  • Aucar Raze (Book of Lines), a compendium on theology, philosophy and metaphysics .
  • Ethikon , ethical-ascetic writings
  • Kethabha dhe-Jauna , Book of the Dove, a work on mysticism, ed. Gabriel Cardahi (Rome 1898); Engl. Transl. AJ Wensinck (Leiden, 1919).
  • FS Marsh (Hrsg.), Book of Hierotheos (English & Syriac): The book which is called the Book of the Holy Hierotheos, with extracts from the prolegomena and commentary of Theodosios of Antioch and from 'the Book of excerpts' and other works of Gregory Bar-Hebræus (Farnborough, Gregg 1969).

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Catholic Encyclopaedia: Bar Hebraeus
personal data
SURNAME Bar-Hebraeus, Gregorius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bar Hebrews; Bar ebroyo; Abulfaragus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Doctor, historian, scholar and Catholicos of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch
DATE OF BIRTH 1226
PLACE OF BIRTH Malatya
DATE OF DEATH July 30, 1286
Place of death Maragha near Tabriz , Persia