Athanasius Sandalaya, also known as Athanasius Sandloyo or al-Sandali, was the Patriarch of Antioch, and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 756 until 758.
Biography
Originally a monk at the
Monastery of Qartmin, Athanasius became Bishop of
Maiperqat, a bishopric subordinate to the
Metropolitan Bishop
In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan (alternative obsolete form: metropolite), pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis.
Originally, the term referred to the b ...
of
Amid. During his tenure as bishop, Athanasius is known to have used church funds to obtain the support of the Caliph
Marwan II
Marwan ibn Muhammad ibn Marwan ibn al-Hakam ( ar, مروان بن محمد بن مروان بن الحكم, Marwān ibn Muḥammad ibn Marwān ibn al-Ḥakam; – 6 August 750), commonly known as Marwan II, was the fourteenth and last caliph of ...
to strengthen his position.
By 742/743, Athanasius had been granted the title of Metropolitan of Mesopotamia, potentially due to the simultaneous growth and decline of Maiperqat and Amid respectively, as well as the decrepitude of Severus, Bishop of Amid.
[Palmer (1990), pp. 169-172]
As metropolitan, Athanasius granted his student Isaiah of Ashparin administrative control of the greater part of the diocese of Amid as a result of Severus' inability to lead the diocese. During the late 740s, however, this appointment caused Athanasius to come into conflict with the patriarch
Iwannis I who ordained a certain Abay, former Bishop of Arzun, as the new bishop of Amid. This conflict was exacerbated by Iwannis' failure to ordain Dionysius, Athanasius' appointment to the empty see of Tur Abdin, after the death of its former incumbent Athanasius of Nunib.
At the Synod of Tella in 752, Athanasius expanded his authority as metropolitan from the area of the former Roman province of
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
to the entirety of
Upper Mesopotamia
Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the Upland and lowland, uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. Since the early Muslim conquests of the mid-7th century, ...
through the use of implicit threats of reprisals from the Muslim authorities, despite the protests of the bishops. Athanasius commemorated his success with the erection of a new cathedral in the city of Maiperqat. He later used his new authority to ordain his student
Iwannis Isaac as Bishop of
Harran
Harran (), historically known as Carrhae ( el, Kάρραι, Kárrhai), is a rural town and district of the Şanlıurfa Province in southeastern Turkey, approximately 40 kilometres (25 miles) southeast of Urfa and 20 kilometers from the border cr ...
and depose the bishops of
Samosata
Samsat ( ku, Samîsad), formerly Samosata ( grc, Σαμόσατα) is a small town in the Adıyaman Province of Turkey, situated on the upper Euphrates river. It is the seat of Samsat District.[Singara
Singara (, ''tà Síngara'') was a strongly fortified post at the northern extremity of Mesopotamia, which for a while, as it appears from coins minted there, was occupied by the Romans as an advanced colony against the Persians. It was the camp o ...]
. Athanasius also succeeded in having Iwannis Isaac ordained as the patriarch and successor to Iwannis I in 754. Daniel, son of Moses of Tur Abdin, later claimed that Athanasius secured Iwannis' elevation to the patriarchal office by organising the election fraudulently. Athanasius succeeded Iwannis in 756 and served as patriarch until 758.
References
Bibliography
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{{authority control
Syriac Patriarchs of Antioch from 512 to 1783
Syrian Oriental Orthodox Christians
Syrian archbishops
8th-century Oriental Orthodox archbishops
Upper Mesopotamia under the Abbasid Caliphate
8th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate
8th-century Syriac Orthodox Church bishops