Yahbalaha III Joseph P. Amar 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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Yahbalaha III https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Yahbalaha-III http://syriaca.org/bibl/587 578 http://syriaca.org/person/810 person A monk of the Ch. of E. from Beijing who traveled west and was elected Cath. cath. (ca. 1245–1317) [Ch. of E.]

Mar Yahbalaha III, an ethnic Uighur and a monk of the Ch. of E., was born in the vicinity of Khān Bālīq (Beijing). As a young monk, he took the name Markos and became devoted to his spiritual master, Ṣawma . Sometime around 1275 the two of them set out on a pilgrimage with the intention of visiting Jerusalem . In spite of travel permits from Kublai Khan, the two encountered numerous difficulties before reaching Baghdad and meeting with the Cath. cath. of the Ch. of E., Mar Denḥa. When the Cath. cath. died (1281), Markos was chosen as his successor and took the name Mar Yahbalaha III. His electors may have hoped that by raising someone from the East to the patriarchal throne they would gain some advantage with their Mongol overlords.

Mar Yahbalaha is remembered for his efforts to establish diplomatic contacts with the Mongols and for his defense of the Ch. of E. against harassment and massacres by local Muslim rulers. Despite valiant efforts, Yahbalaha witnessed the decimation of his Church. A particularly savage massacre of Christians took place at Arbil ( Arbela ). These sad events in the history of the Ch. of E. were recorded by Ṣawma who also kept a record of his diplomatic mission to Christian Europe. The story of Mar Yahbalaha first became known in the English-speaking world in 1928. In that year the British orientalist E. A. Wallis Budge published his Monks of Kublai Khan, Emperor of China.

Sources

For Primary and Secondary Sources, see under Rabban Ṣawma .

Joseph P. Amar