Iwannis of Dara John of Dara (fl. first half of 9th cent.) [Syr. Orth.]
Syr. author. The circumstances of his life are completely unknown, apart from the fact that Patr. Dionysios of Tel Maḥre (d. 845) dedicated his (now lost) Ecclesiastical History to him. Of his works, only his ‘Commentary on the Liturgy’, in 4 Books, has so far been published. Other writings of his are treatises on the following topics: the Soul, the Resurrection of Bodies, Priesthood (though this may be by Mushe bar Kipho), Paradise, Creation, the Divine Economy, the Resurrection of Christ, Pentecost, the Finding of the Cross, demons, Christian doctrine, against heretics, and a Commentary on Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite’s ‘Celestial and Ecclesiastical Hierarchies’.
- J. Sader, Le “De Oblatione” de Jean de Dara (CSCO 308–9; 1970).
- B. Varghese, John of Dara, Commentary on the Eucharist (Moran Etho 12; 1999). (ET)
- M. Breydy, ‘Les compilations syriaques sur le sacerdoce au IXe siècle’, in SymSyr II, 267–93.
- J. Reller, ‘Iwannis von Dara, Mose bar Kepha und Bar Hebräus über die Seele, traditionsgeschichtlich untersucht’, in After Bardaisan, ed. Reinink and Klugkist, 253–68.
- J. Sader, Le lieu de culte et la messe syro-occidentale selon le De Oblatione de Jean de Dara (OCA 223; 1983).
- A. Vööbus, ‘Important manuscript discoveries of Iwannis of Dara and his literary heritage’, JAOS 96 (1976), 576–8.