Yuḥanon Barbur (fl. late 6th cent.) [Syr. Orth. , then Chalcedonian]
When Patr. Peter of Kallinikos went to Alexandria in ca. 581 he took with him as theological experts Yuḥanon Barbur and Proba; the two men, however, were won over to the Neo-Chalcedonian position on a technical matter by the sophist Stephanos; while Proba then openly opposed the miaphysite viewpoint, Yuḥanon for a while left his position ambiguous, but finally, as a result of the Plerophoria that he presented at a synod in Gubba Barraya, ca. 585, he was excommunicated. Nothing is known of his subsequent career. Excerpts of some of his writings (including, probably, one from the Plerophoria) are preserved in ms. Brit. Libr. Add. 12,155 (listed by Van Roey, 353–4). He may be the same person as the ‘Abbot Yuḥanon’, author of a short extract in a collection of Chalcedonian christological texts (ed. Bettiolo, CSCO 403–4, [1979], no. XV).
Sources
- Th. Hainthaler, ‘The christological controversy on Proba and John Barbur’, in SymSyr VIII, 155–70.
- A. Van Roey, ‘Une controverse christologique sous le patriarcat de Pierre de Callinique’, in SymSyr II, 349–57.