Yohannan VIII. Hormizd

Mar Yohannan Hormizd

Yohannan Hormizd (* 1760 in Alqosh ; † August 16, 1838 in Baghdad ) was an East Syrian patriarch from 1780, 1783-1830 patriarchal administrator and 1830-1838 patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldean Catholic Church .

Life

Yohannan (Johannes) Hormizd came from the house in which the office of Catholicos Patriarch of the East Syrian "Church of the East" had become hereditary. He was born in 1760 as the son of the deacon Hanna (Yohannan) Hormizd. His uncle was Patriarch Elias XI. (XII.) Denkha (1722-1778) by Alqosh . In 1744/5 he had appointed a nephew, Išoˁyahb by name, as heir to the throne and ordained a metropolitan in the usual hereditary manner. Both made a Catholic creed in 1771. As a result of family disagreements, Patriarch Elias changed the succession plan in 1772. In 1776 he consecrated another nephew, the 16-year-old priest Yohannan Hormizd, as bishop and appointed him as his successor in the patriarchal office. As Patriarch Elias XI. (XII.) Died in 1778, nevertheless Išoˁyahb entered as Elias XII. (XIII.) Išoˁyahb (1778–1804) initially undisputed the successor, in 1779 he gained state-Ottoman recognition and revoked his Catholic creed. The Rome-friendly party then declared Elias Išoˁyahb deposed and in 1780 elected Yohannan Hormizd, then Bishop of Mosul, as the (counter) patriarch, who submitted himself to the Roman Pope. On February 18, 1783, Rome recognized him both as Bishop of Mosul and as administrator of the Patriarchate of Babylon the Chaldeans with all rights except the title and insignia of a patriarch. (Elias Išoˁyahb withdrew to the mountains to Amadiya , where he died in 1804; the heir to the throne Hnanišoˁ, who was appointed by him, remained without a strong follower.)

The administration of Yohannan Hormizd is characterized by constant conflict; he was at the center of conflicting interests:

• The Vatican sought (a) the consolidation of its union and that of its church with the Pope, (b) the end of the competition between the now Catholic "Patriarchate of Babylon" and the established Catholic "Patriarchate of Diyabakir" and (c) the end of the traditional transfer of patriarchal office through family succession (usually uncle → nephew).
• Augustinus Hindi ("Patriarch Joseph V"), administrator of the "Patriarchate of Diyabakir", sought - under himself as future patriarch with territorially expanded jurisdiction - to unite the two patriarchates (Diyabakir and Babylon) and to approve their bishoprics with him occupy.
• Yohannan Hormizd and his family wanted the rights of their house (the current family "Aboona / Abuna") to be preserved for the future, on the one hand the succession to the throne of the patriarchate by members of their own family, on the other hand their property (which is difficult to separate from church property), namely that Property of the Rabban Hormizd monastery , which had been taken over in 1808 by the wealthy Catholic Gabriel Dambo from Mardin (* 1775), a stubborn opponent of Yohannan and partisan of Augustine Hindi, for the purpose of running a spiritual seminary.

The competitors

As a result of the family inheritance claims, in addition to this inheritance dispute, a church conflict arose between the Pope and the Patriarch. Elias XIII. Išoˁyahb had accepted the Catholic faith, but had not declared an official union agreement with the Holy See in Rome . In contrast to the incumbent patriarch, Bishop Yohannan Hormizd sought a religious union with Rome. However, the decision of Rome initially fell in favor of the incumbent patriarch and Yohannan was elected "counter-patriarch" in 1779, which in 1780 led to the split in the patriarchate.

Yohannan was largely recognized by the Christian population in the Mosul area; here also five bishops belonged to his followers. Through the followers of the Patriarch Elias XIII. Yohannan was arrested and detained in Amadiyah for over three months . The Holy See in Rome did not confirm Yohannan as patriarch, but gave him the office of Metropolitan of Mosul and the administration of the Patriarchate of Babylon in 1783 .

Between 1791 and 1793, Yohannan's relationship with Rome improved, and Yohannan was even appointed administrator of Amid (= Diyarbakır ). Relations with Rome deteriorated again, however, when Yohannan consecrated an Indian priest of the Syro-Malabar Catholics as bishop in 1798, without Roman consent , Paul Pandari, nominally from Mar Behnam (monastery near Mosul). The negative mission reports that had been sent to Rome by his adversary made things difficult.

The fight

When Elias XIII. Išoˁyahb died in 1804, the metropolitan of Diyarbakir , Augustine Hindi , appeared as the next competitor of Yohannan . He and his followers doubted that Yohannan's union with Catholicism was made out of sheer conviction that Yohannan should have sought union with Rome as a useful instrument of power.

Since 1808, the abandoned monastery of Rabban Hormizd near Alqosh, belonging to the patriarchal family , had been taken over by Gabriel Dambo, a wealthy Catholic layman from Mardin and a staunch opponent of Yohannan, and transformed into a spiritual seminary. A long power struggle followed with Yohannan's imprisonment and mutual deposition. 1818 sent Rome Augustine Hindi († 1827) the pallium and granted him in 1823 the authority to consecrate bishops what these induced to act as patriarch Joseph V. and even its own bishop for the bishopric Mosul, against Yohannan Hormizd Joseph Audo of consecrating, .

After the dissolution of the Catholic Patriarchate of Diyarbakır (1830), Yohannen Hormizd was officially awarded the title of "Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans". His first two successors, Nikolaus Zaya and Joseph VI. Audo , got into conflict with Rome and fought over patriarchal rights and the extent of their jurisdiction. Joseph VI. However, Audo ultimately submitted to the Pope.

Patriarch Yohannan VIII. Hormizd

After the death of Augustine Hindi (aka Joseph V) in 1827, a new era began. Gabriel Dambo († 1832) took over the official management of the monastery. Joseph Audo, who would later become Yohannan's successor and who had been appointed Bishop of Mosul by Augustine Hindi in 1825, was officially transferred to Amadiya , but remained active in Alqosh. After the power struggles were settled by two Yohannan-weighted papal delegates , he was awarded the office and title of "Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans" by Pope Pius VIII on July 5, 1830 . On April 6, 1834, he received the pallium in Baghdad.

During the tenure of Yohannan VIII († August 16, 1838), the seat of a Roman apostolic vicar was established in Mosul to protect and maintain the patriarchy . At the same time, the Pope put an end to nepotism and the family guarantee of succession was prohibited. On October 13, 1837, Yohannan had appointed a coadjutor chosen as his successor in the person of Gregor Petrus di Natale, Chaldean Metropolitan of Gazarta. The renewed attempt to introduce a relative into the succession was nipped in the bud by Rome by the appointment of a patriarchal coadjutor , the future Patriarch Nikolaus Zaya .

literature

• Wilhelm Baum, Dietmar Winkler: The Church of the East: A Concise History. (Hardcover, English) Routledge Curzon, 2003, ISBN 978-0415297707 .
• Martin Tamcke: Christians in the Islamic World: From Mohammed to the Present. Beck, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-406-56819-0 , p. 159 ( limited preview in the Google book search).

Web links

• Patriarch Yukhannan VIII. Hormizd (Hormez), in Giga Catholic Information

Individual evidence

1. ^ The Syriac Manuscripts of Notre-Dame des Semences.
2. ^ The Syriac Manuscripts of Notre-Dame des Semences

predecessor	Office	successor
Joseph V.	Patriarch of Babylon 1830–1838	Nikolaus Zaya