Joseph II (Chaldean Patriarch)

Mar Joseph II Sliba Marouf (or Youssef II Sliba Bet Macruf) was the second incumbent of the Josephite line of Church of the East, a little patriarchate in full communion with the pope active in the areas of Amid and Mardin in the 17th–19th century. He was the patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church from 1696 to 1713.

Mar Joseph II Sliba Marouf
Patriarch of the Chaldeans
Church	Chaldean Catholic Church
Archdiocese	Amid
See	Amid of the Chaldeans
Installed	18 June 1696
Term ended	1713
Predecessor	Joseph I
Successor	Joseph III Timothy Maroge
Personal details
Birth name	Sliba Marouf
Born	1667 Tel Keppe
Died	1713 (aged 45–46)
Residence	Amid, Turkey

Life

Sliba Marouf was born in 1667[1] in Tel Keppe, Ottoman Empire, received first orders at fourteen,[2] and was consecrated bishop, without the previous consent of Rome, at the age of 24 in 1691 by Joseph I.[3]^:209 He was chosen by Joseph I as his successor in 1694, but this appointment became effective only when Rome accepted his predecessor's resignation in 1696. Thus Sliba Marouf was confirmed patriarch by Holy See on June 18, 1696,[3]^:209 with the name of Joseph II.

As happened for Joseph I, his ministry had to face the strong opposition of the traditionalists.[4]^:26 This forced him in 1708 to ask permission of Rome to resign and move to Italy, a request that was not granted.

During the plague that spread from 1708 he distinguish himself for the help and the pastoral care he offered to the sick[4]^:58 until he too was infected. Early in 1713 he chose as successor Timothy Maroge and died of plague a few months later in 1713[3]^:209[4]^:52 (or according to other sources in 1712) at the age of 46.

Works

Joseph is remembered as a Syriac and Arabic writer and for having translated many texts from Latin. His Speculum tersum (Book of the pure Mirror) was translated from Syriac into Latin by I. A. Assemani and is conserved in the Vatican Library.[5]

Notes

1. "Patriarchal See of Babylon". www.gcatholic.org. Retrieved 2009-02-01.
2. Heleen H.L. Murre. "The Patriarchs of the Church of the East from the Fifteenth to Eighteenth Centuries". Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies. Archived from the original on 2008-12-22. Retrieved 2009-01-24.
3. Frazee, Charles A. (2006). Catholics and Sultans: The Church and the Ottoman Empire 1453-1923. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-02700-7.
4. David, Wilmshurst (2000). The Ecclesiastical Organisation of the Church of the East, 1318-1913. Peeters Publishers. ISBN 978-90-429-0876-5.
5. Vatican Library, segn. Borg.lat.177

Sources

• Frazee, Charles A. (2006) [1983]. Catholics and Sultans: The Church and the Ottoman Empire 1453-1923. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521027007.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Wilmshurst, David (2000). The Ecclesiastical Organisation of the Church of the East, 1318–1913. Louvain: Peeters Publishers. ISBN 9789042908765.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)