John the Stylite

John the Stylite,[lower-alpha 1] also known as John of Litharb[lower-alpha 2] (died c. 737/738), was a Syriac Orthodox monk and author. He was a stylite attached to the monastery of Atarib and part of a circle of Syriac intellectuals active in northern Syria under the Umayyad dynasty.[1][3]

Few of John's writings have survived. Although he maintained a correspondence with Jacob of Edessa (died 708) and George, bishop of the Arabs (died 724), his only surviving letter is fragmentary and unpublished (as of 2011). It is addressed to an Arab priest, Daniel Ṭuʿoyo, and concerns the prophecy in Genesis 49:10. He also wrote a history with a strong chronographical focus, apparently as a continuation of the chronicle of Jacob of Edessa that ended in 692, which itself was a continuation of the 4th-century Chronicle of Eusebius. John took the history down to the Council of Manzikert in the year 726.[4] It has not survived, however, although it is referenced and in a few places quoted by Dionysius of Tel Maḥre and Michael the Syrian.[1][3] Dionysius' comments suggest that John did not exactly follow the format of Eusebius or Jacob.[4] Other evidence suggests that John corrected Jacob's chronology of Muḥammad by giving him a reign of ten years (622–632).[5]

It is a matter of debate whether the "John the Stylite in the monastery of Mār Zʿurā at Sarug"[lower-alpha 3] who wrote a short grammatical treatise and a disputation is to be identified with John the Stylite of Litharb.[2][3] The monastery of Mār Zʿurā at Sarug is mentioned by Michael the Syrian in the 12th century.[2] In favour of the identity is the fact that the grammatical treatise is dependent on Jacob of Edessa's grammar;[lower-alpha 4] against it that it is preserved only in a Nestorian manuscript.[1] The disputation[lower-alpha 5] likewise survives only in the form of a Maronite summary.[2] It is written as a theological dispute between John and a non-Christian (possibly Muslim) opponent.[1] Harald Suermann argues for parallels between the disputation and a letter of Jacob of Edessa to John of Litharb. Carl Anton Baumstark did not accept it as a work of the stylite of Litharb, but he did accept the grammatical treatise.[2] Robert Hoyland considers there to be two distinct men.[6]

Although his own writings are largely lost, something of John's intellect and education can be gathered from the surviving eleven letters of Jacob of Edessa and four of George addressed to him. They show a circle of intellectuals discussing a broad variety of topics: chronology, history, philosophy, astronomy, literary criticism and biblical exegesis.[1][3] John was a younger contemporary of Jacob and his death is usually placed in 737 or 738.[1][2]