Dadishoʿ I Lucas Van Rompay Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute Syriaca.org: The Syriac Reference Portal Jean and Alexander Heard Library, Vanderbilt University The International Balzan Prize Foundation George A. Kiraz Sebastian P. Brock Aaron M. Butts Lucas Van Rompay Ute Possekel Daniel L. Schwartz David A. Michelson Data cleaning, editorial proofreading, and TEI editing by Ute S. Posssekel Data cleaning and initial valid TEI encoding by David Michelson XSLT transformations by Winona Salesky Data cleaning, editorial proofreading, TEI schema, and TEI encoding and editing by Daniel L. Schwartz Conversion to semantic XML by George A. Kiraz Electronic Edition Version 1.5 Published by Gorgias Press LLC, 954 River Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA www.gorgiaspress.com for Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute Published with the collaboration of Syriaca.org: The Syriac Reference Portal Published and hosted with the collaboration of the Jean and Alexander Heard Library, Vanderbilt University

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2016-09-22-16:00
Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition George A. Kiraz Sebastian P. Brock Aaron M. Butts Lucas Van Rompay Ute Possekel Daniel L. Schwartz David A. Michelson Data cleaning, editorial proofreading, and TEI editing by Ute S. Posssekel Data cleaning and initial valid TEI encoding by David Michelson XSLT transformations by Winona Salesky Data cleaning, editorial proofreading, TEI schema, and TEI encoding and editing by Daniel L. Schwartz Conversion to semantic XML by George A. Kiraz Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage Sebastian P. Brock Aaron M. Butts George A. Kiraz Lucas Van Rompay Piscataway, N.J. Gorgias Press for Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute 2011 Copyright ©2011 by Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute ISBN: 978-1-59333-714-8
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Dadishoʿ I https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Dadisho-I http://syriaca.org/bibl/155 146 http://syriaca.org/person/433 person Bp. of Seleucia-Ctesiphon and Cath Cath. , also known as ‘Dadishoʿ the Aramean’. (d. 456) [Ch. of E.]

Bp. of Seleucia-Ctesiphon and Cath Cath. , also known as ‘Dadishoʿ the Aramean’. Our main source for Dadishoʿ’s life and work is the report of the Synod of the Ch. of E. held in 424, which is included in the Synodicon Orientale. In spite of the inauguration of a policy of toleration and freedom for the Church in the Persian Empire under Yazdgard I (r. 399–420), reflected most clearly in the Synod of Iṣḥaq Isḥaq (410), the situation of the Christians again deteriorated towards the end of Yazdgard’s rule, when warfare between the Roman and Persian Empires resumed. After some difficult years, Dadishoʿ was elected Cath. cath. in 421 or 422. From the beginning he was confronted with opposition and accusations within the Church. Imprisoned by the Persian authorities, he was released only after the intervention of a ‘believing envoy’ (apparently from the Roman Empire). This is the background to the Synod of 424, held not in the capital but in ‘Markabta of the Arabs’. Dadishoʿ is quoted at length in the account of the Synod: he reports about his painful experience and is reluctant to resume leadership. The gathered bishops, with bp. Bp. Agapetos of Beth Lapaṭ and Hoshaʿ of Nisibis as their main spokesmen, supplicate Dadishoʿ to come back and promise him their full support. He finally consents. His tenure is said to have lasted for 35 years, until his death, but following the Synod of 424 no further information on him is preserved.

A remarkable moment in the Synod is the participating bishops’ decision to abolish what they see as the right of Eastern Christians to lodge complaints against the bp. of Seleucia-Ctesiphon with Western bishops ( i.e. i.e., bishops within the Roman Empire). Although no such right is recorded in any preserved text, its abolition is presented as a step toward Dadishoʿ’s full rehabilitation. In recent scholarship, this abolition has sometimes been interpreted as a declaration of independence of the Ch. of E. Such an interpretation, however, is based on the assumption that in the earliest period the Ch. of E. was subjected to the authority of the Church within the Roman Empire (or of the bp. of Antioch ), whereas such dependence in all likelihood never existed. It remains uncertain, therefore, whether the Synod of 424 and Dadishoʿ’s tenure in fact contributed to the process of alienation between the Syriac Christian communities in the two Empires, which took place in the course of the 5th cent.

Sources Braun, Synodicon Orientale, 44–59. Chabot, Synodicon Orientale, 43–53 (Syr.), 285–98 (FT). Fiey, Jalons, 76–80. Labourt, Le christianisme dans l’empire perse, 119–25. Westphal, Untersuchungen, 159–70.
Lucas Van Rompay