Baba Rabba

Baba Rabba (Samaritan Aramaic: ࠁࠢࠁࠢࠀ ࠓࠠࠁࠠࠄ bābāʾ råbbå, Samaritan Hebrew: ࠁࠢࠁࠢࠀ ࠄࠣࠂࠟࠃࠅࠫࠋ bābāʾ ʾagā̊dōl; literally "Great Father"), was among the greatest of the Samaritan High Priests. He is believed to have lived during the late third and early fourth centuries CE; Jeffrey Cohen puts his birth at 288 and his death at 328.[1]

The son of the Samaritan High Priest Nethanel III, Baba Rabba was probably born in Shechem. Little is known about his life. According to later Samaritan works, he was a religious reformer and together with the scholar Marqah helped codify Samaritan liturgy and worship. He appears to have had connections with the Roman authorities, and may have exercised some temporal authority over the Samaritan community, which appears to have been relatively autonomous during this period. One chronicle places his death at 362 in Constantinople.