John of Dailam

Saint John of Dailam (ܝܘܚܢܢ ܕܝܠܡܝܐ , Yoḥannan Daylamáyá ; † January 26, 738 ) was a Christian saint of the East Syrian Church and a monk who founded many monasteries in Mesopotamia and Persia .

biography

According to the hagiographic work Syrian Life by John of Dailam , John was born in Ḥdattā , a village at the confluence of the Great Zab and the Tigris , in 660. At a young age he entered the monastery of Bēṯ ʿĀbē . He was later captured by the Dailamites who were at war with the attacking Arabs. They took him to Dailam . John was able to free himself from captivity and subsequently wandered around preaching the gospel to the Dailamites.

The Syrian life describes the rescue of the daughter of an Umayyad -Kalifen by John. As a reward, the monk asked for an estate in Fars in southwestern Persia, which should be exempt from the Kharaj tax , in order to build a monastery there. The work also describes a visit by John in Baghdida , whose inhabitants he converted to Christianity and where he founded a monastery that still bears his name today, the monastery of St. John of Dailam . This is, however, a later addition to the hagiography by a Monophysite author who probably wanted to overwrite the city's "Nestorian" past.

On his way to Fars, John miraculously healed the Arab governor of Iraq al-Hajjajj . After reaching Behbahān , he converted a number of Zoroastrians and founded another monastery there. He also founded a monastery near Kashkar , which was placed under the Syrian-speaking community, in order to resolve a conflict between the Syrian- and Persian-speaking monks in the region. It was in this monastery that John of Dailam died on January 26, 738.