Eliya XII

Eliya XII (Syriac: ܐܠܝܐ‎ / Elīyā, d. 1804) was Patriarch of the Church of the East, from 1778 to 1804, with formal residence in Rabban Hormizd Monastery, near Alqosh, in modern Iraq. His birth name was Ishoyahb, and he was the elder son of priest Abraham, who was brother of the previous patriarch Eliya XI (1722-1778). In 1744, Ishoyahb was consecrated as metropolitan, and designated as presumptive successor (natar kursya) by his paternal uncle, patriarch Eliya XI, who died in 1778, and Ishoyahb succeeded him, as patriarch Eliya XII. His tenure was marked by a prolonged rivalry with his pro-Catolic cousin Yohannan Hormizd, who also claimed the patriarchal throne. In 1804, Eliya XII died and was buried in the Rabban Hormizd Monastery, as the last patriarch of the senior Eliya line.[1][2][3][4]

Mar

Eliya XII
Patriarch of All the East
ChurchChurch of the East
Installed1778
Term ended1804
PredecessorEliya XI
SuccessorMar Shimun XVI Yohannan (as the Patriarch of Assyrian Church of the East),
Mar Yohannan Hormizd (as Patriarch belonging to the Elia line based in the Monastery of Rabban Hormizd)
Personal details
Died1804
ResidenceRabban Hormizd Monastery
The ancient Rabban Hormizd Monastery, former residence of the Patriarchs of the Church of the East

In older historiography, he was designated as Eliya XII,[5] but later renumbered as Eliya "XIII" by some authors.[6][7][8][9] After the resolution of several chronological questions, he was designated again as Eliya XII,[10][11][1] and that numeration is generally accepted in recent scholarly works,[12][4][13][14][15][16][17][18] with some exceptions.[19][20]

Biography

Predesignated for the ecclesiastical career, as nephew of patriarch Eliya XI, he was appointed metropolitan in 1744, and became presumptive successor (natar kursya) of the patriarchal throne.[21] His initial name was Ishoyahb (Īshō'yahb), but upon assuming the patriarchal throne in 1778 he took the traditional name Eliya. His cousin and long-time rival Yohannan Hormizd later claimed that in the spring of 1776, patriarch Eliya XI dismissed Ishoyahb and appointed him (Yohannan) as metropolitan and designated successor,[22] but later scholarly research of primary sources, including those from 1777, showed that Ishoyahb was still serving as metropolitan and patriarchal successor.[23][24]

As the new patriarch, since 1778, Eliya XII was faced with several complex problems, inherited from his predecessors. Long rivalry between two coexisting traditionalist patriarchal branches, the senior Eliya line of Alqosh and the junior Shimun line of Qochanis, represented a major obstacle for the consolidation of the Church of the East. Both patriarchs, Eliya XII of the senior line, and his rival Shimun XVI of the junior line, had their own hierarchies, that continued to assert their separate jurisdictions over the same flock, thus prolonging internal divisions. In the same time, both sides were faced with additional challenges, caused by the ever-worsening position of local Christian communities in frontier war-torn regions between two mighty empires (Ottoman and Persian).[25][26][27]

In order to overcome the division between two traditionalist patriarchal lines, one side had to make concessions. Already in 1784, Eliya XII appointed his nephew Hananisho (d. 1813) as metropolitan of Amadiya, thus intending to secure the future patriarchal succession in his family. During the following years, metropolitan Hananisho demonstrated some pro-Catholic tendencies, but they were not accepted as sincere by Rome, thus leading Hananisho to take the opposite, contra-Catholic stance.[28][27]

By the end of the patriarchal tenure of Eliya XII, the question of succession remained unresolved. He died in 1804, and was buried in the Rabban Hormizd Monastery.[29][30] His branch decided not to elect a new patriarch, thus breaking the long-standing practice, and eventually enabling the patriarch Shimun XVI (1780–1820) of the junior line to become the sole primate of the entire traditionalist community.[7][31][32][27][33]

During his tenure, Eliya XII was faced with additional challenges, represented by a growing pro-Catholic movement. In 1780, a group seceded from his jurisdiction and elected his young cousin Yohannan Hormizd (b. 1760) as their leader. That group entered into communion with the Catholic Church. In 1783, Yohannan Hormizd was appointed by Rome as new Eastern-Catholic Archbishop of Mosul and patriarchal administrator of the Chaldean Catholic Church. Learning of the death of Eliya XII in 1804, pro-Catholic parties aimed to take over the ancient Rabban Hormizd Monastery, and eventually succeeded, firstly in 1808, and finally in 1813, thus asserting Eastern-Catholic jurisdiction over that ancient monastic institution, that was the main patriarchal residence since the 15th century.[34][35]

See also

References
  1. Murre van den Berg 1999a, p. 248.
  2. Murre van den Berg 1999b, p. 34-35.
  3. Wilmshurst 2000, p. 29-30, 125, 128-129, 196, 250-251, 259.
  4. Baum & Winkler 2003, p. 120, 174.
  5. Malech & Malech 1910, p. 321.
  6. Tisserant 1931, p. 261-263.
  7. Spuler 1961, p. 165.
  8. Hartmann 1980, p. 64.
  9. Fiey 1993, p. 39.
  10. Lampart 1966, p. 49, 64.
  11. Macomber 1969, p. 263-273.
  12. Baum & Winkler 2000, p. 109, 152.
  13. Baum 2004, p. 235.
  14. Baumer 2005, p. 250, 312.
  15. Murre van den Berg 2006, p. 527.
  16. Hage 2007, p. 400, 473.
  17. Burleson & Rompay 2011, p. 481-491.
  18. Jakob 2014, p. 101.
  19. Wilmshurst 2011, p. 477.
  20. Wilmshurst 2019, p. 804.
  21. Wilmshurst 2000, p. 196, 511.
  22. Badger 1852, p. 150-151.
  23. Vosté 1939, p. 387.
  24. Wilmshurst 2000, p. 196, 525.
  25. Murre van den Berg 1999b, p. 34.
  26. Wilmshurst 2000, p. 196, 250-251.
  27. Baum & Winkler 2003, p. 120.
  28. Wilmshurst 2000, p. 106, 128-129, 196.
  29. Wilmshurst 2000, p. 30, 263-264.
  30. Harrak 2003, p. 301-302.
  31. Ebied 1972, p. 511.
  32. Murre van den Berg 1999b, p. 35.
  33. Hage 2007, p. 302, 400.
  34. Wilmshurst 2000, p. 128-129, 259, 264.
  35. Baum & Winkler 2003, p. 120, 122.

Sources
Church of the East titles
Preceded by
Eliya XI
(1722–1778)		 Catholicos-Patriarch of the East
(1778–1804)		 Succeeded by
Shimun XVI
(1780–1804–1820)
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