Sulaqa

Sulaqa Mar Shimun (* around 1510 in Mosul ; † January 1555 at Amadiya ) was a (counter) Catholicos - patriarch of the East Syrian "Church of the East" in communion with the Pope in Rome.

Life

Sulāqā (name meaning unclear, baptismal name and monk name uncertain: Yoḥannān?), Son of a Daniel from the Bellu family, monk and head of the Rabban Hormizd monastery near Alqosh , allowed himself to be appointed by the opposition to Mar Shimun VII, who was appointed by the family-internal succession in 1552 Ishō'yahb bar Mamā (1551–1558) elected Catholicos Patriarch of the “Church of the East”. With the choice of the official name Shimun, he joined the traditional ranks of East Syrian church heads.

In the absence of an ordained Metropolitan within his party, Sulaqa turned to the Roman Pope. He traveled to Rome via Jerusalem, where he visited churches of all denominations. He arrived there on November 18, 1552 and found the necessary linguistic support from Ambrosius Theseus and Andreas Masius . Pope Julius III checked the situation and the person and appointed Sulaqa "Patriarch of Mosul" (not meant to be limiting, but = the "Church of the East"). On April 9, 1553, he was consecrated bishop in St. Peter's Church in Rome by Cardinal Johannes von Toledo , OP († September 15, 1557) and received the pallium on April 28 from the hands of the Pope . Accompanied by the specially appointed " Nuncio for Mosul", the titular bishop Ambrosius Buttigeg, OP († 1558), as a Maltese who spoke Arabic, Sulaqa traveled overland via Constantinople back to the Orient and arrived on November 12, 1553 in Diyarbakır . In the following months he expanded his obedience by ordaining five bishops, including Mar ˁAbdīšoˁ for Gazarta and in early 1554 Elias b. Asmar Ḥabib for Diyarbakır (Amida). One of his successors, Mar Joseph I , achieved the title of Chaldean Patriarch in the following century .

At the instigation of his non-Catholic rival, Sulaqa was arrested by the Islamic authorities and killed in January 1555, probably by drowning. The Catholics consider him a martyr.

His successor was Mar Abdisho IV. Marron from Gazarta (1555-1570). He wrote three Syrian poems about Sulaqa and his trip to Rome (handed down in the codices Vat. 45 and 63 and Borg. Syr. 21).

Sulaqa Mar Shimun's biological brother, Mar Joseph Sulaqa , ordained for Siirt in 1554 , officiated 1556–1569 as Metropolitan of the Thomas Christians in South India.

meaning

Sulaqa's request for ordination in Rome was unprecedented in the history of the “Church of the East”. Even before him, the " Nestorians " on Cyprus had entered communion with the Roman Pope in 1340 . Sulaqa Mar Shimun of course saw himself and his church as orthodox and was ultimately able to convince the papal authorities of his orthodoxy . Cardinal Bernardino Maffei stated in the consistory of February 20, 1553, before Sulaqa was granted the patriarchal dignity, that the members of the "Church of the East" were "Nestorians" only in name, but their creed was completely orthodox.

In the longer term created Sulaqas from embarrassment born portion Union a prerequisite for the establishment and development of the Chaldean Catholic Church . The younger line of East Syrian Katholikoi patriarchs (with the official name Mar Shimun), opened with Sulaqa Mar Shimun, is now the head of the non-Catholic Assyrian Church of the East , currently Mar Gewargis III. (enthroned on September 27, 2015 in Erbil).

literature

• Wilhelm van Gulik (Ed.): The consistorial files on the establishment of the Uniert-Chaldean Patriarchate of Mosul under Pope Julius III. In: Oriens Christianus. Vol. 4, Issue 2, 1904, ISSN  0340-6407 , pp. 261-277, digitized .
• Jacques-Marie Vosté: Catholiques ou Nestoriens? (Mss. Vat. Syr. 45, 63 and VS Borgia 21). In: Angelicum. Vol. 7, 1930, ISSN  1123-5772 , pp. 515-523.
• Joseph Habbi: Signification de l'union chaldéenne de Mar Sulaqa avec Rome en 1553. In: L'Orient Syria. Vol. 11, 1966, ZDB -ID 301405-8 , pp. 99-132, 199-230.
• Giuseppe Sorge: Giovanni Simone Sulaqua. Primo Patriarca dell 'Unione Formale' della Chiesa caldea. In: Annuarium Historiae Conciliorum. Vol. 12, 1980, ISSN  0003-5157 , pp. 427-440.
• Herman Teule: Les professions de foi den Jean Sullāqā, premier patriarche chaldéen, et de son successeur ˤAbdishoˁ d-Gāzartā . In: M.-H. Blanchet - F. Gabriel: L'union à l'épreuve du formuliare . CRHCB, Paris 2016, 259-269, bes- 263-268.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Source of Cardinal Maffei's speech on the Nestorians (Note No. 18)

predecessor	Office	successor
	Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church 1553–1555	Abdisho IV. Marron