West Syrian Patriarchs and Maphrians

The following list provides a convenient summary of the reign dates of the patriarchs and maphrians of the Jacobite Church up to the start of the fifteenth century. In most cases, these dates are uncontentious, and generally agree with those given in the Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage (GEDSH). In some cases, based on a close reading of the sources, I have modified the traditional dates by a year or two. For the purposes of this translation and the accompanying index, I have used the GEDSH dates for the reigns of the patriarchs Sargis of Tella (ca. 557–560), Paul of Beth Ukomo (564–81), and Peter III of Callinicus (581–91), but I am not entirely confident that they are correct. Certainty here may be elusive, as the dates found in the contemporary sources, particularly John of Ephesus, are vague and contradictory. Nevertheless, there are grounds for placing all three reigns earlier than GEDSH does. According to the Chronicle of Zuqnin, Sargis of Tella was patriarch as early as 544, and Paul of Beth Ukomo as early as 551. ¹ There is also a plausible tradition that Paul was deposed in 578, not 581, and that Peter III of Callinicus was consecrated in the same year. ² According to John of Ephesus, Paul of Beth Ukomo died in 580 or 581, two or three years after his own deposition and the death of Yaʿqob Baradaeus in 578. ³