The Synod of Mar Ishaq Catholicos Patriarch 410 AD

The Holy Synod of the Assyrian

Church of the East that was held in
India- Jan 13-19, 20101- issued a
proclamation honoring 1600 years
anniversary of Mar Ishaq’s synod2. Who
was Mar Ishaq and what was his role in
reorganizing Church of the East?

History

During the Sassanid’s Empire

Christianity was widely spread from the
Mountains of Assyria (Kurdistan) to the
Persian Gulf including Bahrain’s
Islands.

Shapour became king of Persia in 309 AD., and after conversion of the Roman
Emperor Constantine to Christianity, status of Christians in the Sassanid’s Empire changed.
They were viewed and suspected as co-religious and sympathizers with the Persian’s enemy. 3
Thus, Shapour ordered that all Christians to pay double taxes, and he specifically ordered Mar
Shimun Bar Sabai Catholicos to collect the taxes. Mar Shimun refused to obey the order which
cost him his life. On the morning of Good Friday 339 AD., the Catholicos, five bishops, and
one hundred clergy were put to death. Persecution lasted all over Persia for forty years, and
according to Wigram, “Sapor [Shapour] continued to persecute up to the very end of his life
relentlessly.”

Finally, the long-lived king, Shapour, died in 379 AD., and this gave the church a
golden opportunity to be in peace and to start rebuilding and reorganizing itself. At this time,
Mar Ishaq [Isaac] became Catholicos in 399 AD.

Reorganization

Yazdgard [Yazdgerd] became king of Persia in 399 AD., and his friendly relations with
the Christian Empire of Rome offered a prospect of definite peace for the church. Therefore, in
409 AD., he issued a decree to Christians to worship openly. One can compare that decree to
the “Edict of Milan 313 AD.” between Constantine and Licinius for the religious toleration in
the Roman Empire.

Yazdgard’s Decree

1
http://www.assyrianchurchnews.com/News/view/NewsID/370
2
http://www.fourthcentury.com/index.php/the-council-of-mar-ishaq-ad-410/
3
W. A. Wigram. 1909. History of the Assyrian Church
 “in the eleventh year of the reign of the victorious king of kings, Yazdgard, when
tranquility and peace had come to the churches of the Lord, he brought about
deliverance and rest to the congregations of Christ, and gave the servants of God the
authority for Christ to be openly magnified in their bodies, both in their lives and in
their deaths. He rolled away the dark cloud of persecution from all the churches of
God, and put away the blackness of affliction from all the flocks of Christ. He
commanded in all his kingdom that the temples which had been torn down by his
forebears should be magnificently rebuilt in his own days, and the altars which had
been pulled down should be carefully supplied. Those who for the sake of God had
been tried and tested by imprisonments and torments were to go out in the open, and
priests and rulers, as well as the entire holy profession, were to move about freely
without dread or fear.”4

Mar Ishaq Catholicos, head of the bishops of the entire East, with the help and
mediation of his fellow brother Mar Maruta the bishop of Maiparqat who was the Roman
ambassador to the Persian King, requested from Yazdgard to allow all bishops of his kingdom
to gather in the capital city of Seleucia-Ctesiphon5 for a synod. This was the first official
assembly of bishops in Persia which was approved by the king.

According to the Bible, king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD6 thus Yazdgard ordered
all Marzbans (Border Governors) to send bishops of their district to the capital city for the
assembly. In the month of Kanon (January), on the holy feast of the Epiphany, forty bishops
came to the great city, the chief of all cities of the East i.e. Seleucia-Ctesiphon. and king of
kings (Yazdgard) commanded “our honored father, Mar Ishaq, bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon,
Catholicos and chief bishop of the entire East, and his brother, Mar Maruta the bishop, that all
should gather at the cathedral church.”

The second session started “at the beginning of the month of Sbat (February), on the
third day of the week” under the primacy of our father, Mar Ishaq, Catholicos and chief bishop
of the entire East. And the letter of the Western fathers7 was read by Mar Maruta, the mediator
of tranquility and peace between the East and the West.

All forty bishops not only accepted and agreed the canons and ordinances set forth in
the West by the bishops in the land of the Romans. They were also able to establish, define,
and append their own twenty-one canons “regarding the orders of bishops and metropolitans;
and concerning the patriarch and the ranks of the clergy; and concerning the admonitions set
forth for those in ecclesiastical service; and concerning the confession of faith of the fathers,
the three hundred and eighteen bishops.”

Thereafter, our father, the honorable Mar Ishaq, Catholicos of the East, and Mar Maruta
the bishop, met with the king and he commissioned Kosrau Yazdgard, the Grand Vizier (Prime
Minister), and Mihr-Sabur, the Chief of Staff to meet and listen to the assembled bishops. And
they advised:

“Previously a great persecution came upon you and you went about secretly. Now the
king of kings has brought about great tranquility and peace for you. Through the

4
http://www.fourthcentury.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/thecouncilofmarishaq.pdf
5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Mada%27in
6
Prov. 21:1
7
Porphyrius, bishop Catholicos of Antioch; Acacius, bishop of Aleppo; Pqida, bishop of Edessa; Eusebius, bishop
of Tella; and Acacius, bishop of Amida
 mediation of Ishaq the Catholicos before the king of kings, whom he was pleased to
make head over all Christians in the East, and especially from the day that Maruta the
bishop came here in the friendship of the king of kings….So now Yazdgard, the king of
kings, commands thus: any man whom you desire to govern the people of God, and
know to be suitable for rulership, and whom Ishaq and Maruta establish, shall become
the head.”8

Canons

They wrote down the canons in an edict and by signing it they ratified, the
unchangeable covenant, inviolable oath, indissoluble contract, and immutable decree that they
find necessary for the conduct of the ministry of the catholic church.

Thus, in the twelfth canon concerning the honor which is proper and due to the Catholicos who
occupies the see of Seleucia and Ctesiphon, they decreed:

“All of us together willingly have agreed- and have also been commanded by
Yazdgard, the king of kings- that we bishops of all the territories of the East and those
who come after us shall be subject to the bishop Catholicos, the head of the bishops and
metropolitan of Seleucia and Ctesiphon- that is to every bishop who sits upon this great
throne of the church of Koke- in all due matters which are commanded, until the
coming of Christ”9

Seventeenth canon: again, the agreement and covenant of the bishops concerning the keeping
of these canons; and concerning the censure which they decreed against the scornful who
neglect them:

“All of us bishops who have gathered from various places according to the command of
the victorious and illustrious Yazdgard, the king of kings, have accepted gladly all
these admonitions, beginning with our father and head, Mar Ishaq the bishop and
metropolitan, Catholicos and head of the bishops, and all of us together. May the fire of
God fall upon anyone who ventures to transgress any of these commandments, and may
the wrath of God remain upon him. May he be bound and anathematized from the
entire church of Christ in the four regions…”

Twenty-first canon concerning the order and honor of precedence of the provinces and sees of
the metropolitans, and the bishops under their control, one after another corresponding to the
greatness of the city:

“Those sees which are honored and are set forth one after another because of the
greatness of the city; even if one who is young occupies a particular see, honor is
rendered to him because of his see and because of his city.
The first and chief see is that of Seleucia and Ctesiphon, and the bishop who occupies it
is the great metropolitan and head of all the bishops. The bishop of Kaskar is reckoned
with this diocese of the (great) metropolitan, and he is his right hand and fellow servant
and governs his see after him. Henceforth the metropolitan of a diocese is under the
control of the great metropolitan who occupies the see of Seleucia and Ctesiphon.
After this (is) the see of Beit Lapat the metropolitan of Beit Huzaye. Therefore, when
those bishops who have been restricted have departed, a bishop who is made by the
metropolitan of Seleucia (will) be bishop metropolitan over his fellow bishops.
8
http://www.fourthcentury.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/thecouncilofmarishaq.pdf
9
http://www.fourthcentury.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/thecouncilofmarishaq.pdf
 After this (is) the see of Nisibis, and the bishop who occupies it is metropolitan over
Arzon, Qardo, Beit Zabdai, Beit Rehimai, and Beit Moksaye and the bishops in them.
After this is the see of Prat and Maisan, and the bishop who occupies it is metropolitan
over Karka, over Rima, and over Nhargor and the bishops in them.
After this is the see of Arbil, and the bishop who occupies it is metropolitan of Beit
Nuhadra, Beit Bagas, Beit Dasen, Ramonin, Beit Mahqart, and Dabarinos and the
bishops in them.
After this is the see of Karka, and the bishop who occupies it is metropolitan over
Sharqart, Lasom, Ariwan, Darah, and Harbgelal…”

In conclusion, I would like to leave you with this quote from Wigram, “the canons
passed by the council numbered twenty-one; it is a strong proof of the spirit of independence in
the Assyrians that at this moment- when they owed so much to the West- they should have
dealt thus boldly with the canons even of Nicaea. The creed, of course, they accepted; but all
other rules they seem to have felt themselves free to accept, alter or neglect, according to their
own judgment as an autocephalous Church.”