Timothy II of Seleucia-Ctesiphon
Timothy II was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 1318 to ca. 1352. He became leader of the church at a time of profound external stress due to loss of favor with the Mongol rulers of Persia.
Eleven bishops were present at Timothy's consecration in 1318: the metropolitans Joseph of ʿIlam, ʿAbdishoʿ of Nisibis and Shemʿon of Mosul, and the bishops Shemʿon of Beth Garmaï, Shemʿon of Tirhan, Shemʿon of Balad, Yohannan of Beth Waziq, Yohannan of Shigar, ʿAbdishoʿ of Hnitha, Isaac of Beth Daron and Ishoʿyahb of Tella and Barbelli (Marga). Timothy himself had been metropolitan of Erbil before his election as patriarch.[1]
One of Timothy's first acts as patriarch was to call a synod in February 1318 and to affirm the Nomocanon of Abdisho of Nisibis as a source of ecclesiastical law. The canons of this synod were the last to have been recorded in the Church of the East before the nineteenth century.[2]
Timothy wrote an important treatise on the sacraments of the Church,[3] part of which has been translated into English.
Notes
- Assemani, BO, iii. i. 567–80
- David Wilmshurst, The ecclesiastical organisation of the Church of the East, 1318-1913, CSCO 582, Subsidia 104 (Leuven: Peeters, 2000), p.18.
- Web page about Vatican Syriac ms.151, which contains the text of Timothy's work on the sacraments.
References
- Angelo Mai, Scriptorum Veterum Nova Collectio e Vaticanis Codicibus Edita, volume 10 (Rome: Typis Collegii Urbanii, 1838), Syriac text on pp. 260–268; Latin translation on pp. 96–105. The 13 canons of the synod of Timothy II.
- Paul Blaize Kadicheeni, The mystery of baptism : the text and translation of the chapter "On Holy baptism" from the causes of the seven mysteries of the Church of Timothy II, Nestorian patriarch (1318–1332) (Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications, 1980). English translation of one part of Timothy's treatise on the sacraments.
- William Toma, The Mystery of the Church. Syriac Critical Edition and Translation of the Rite of the Consecration of the Altar with Oil and the Chapter ‘On the Consecration of the Church’ from the Book of the Seven Causes of the Mysteries of the Church by Patriarch Timothy II (1318–1332) (Diss. Rome: PIO [Pontifical Oriental Institute], 2007). Another part of Timothy's treatise on the sacraments.
Preceded by Yahballaha III (1281–1317) |
Catholicus-Patriarch of the East 1318–c.1332 |
Succeeded by Vacant (c.1332-c.1336) Denha II (1336/7-1381/2) |