Gabriel of Sinjar ( syc, ܓܒܪܐܝܠ ܕܫܝܓܪ, ') was a court physician (''

drustbed ''Drustbed'' was the title of the chief physician in Sasanian Iran (224–651). No mention of the title is made in the early Sasanian period, and all the known holders of the title first lived in the late Sasanian era, which implies that this ti ...

'') of the

Sasanian The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

shah Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...

Khosrow II Khosrow II (spelled Chosroes II in classical sources; pal, 𐭧𐭥𐭮𐭫𐭥𐭣𐭩, Husrō), also known as Khosrow Parviz (New Persian: , "Khosrow the Victorious"), is considered to be the last great Sasanian king (shah) of Iran, ruling fr ...

(). He played a major role in inter-Christian rivalries in the Sasanian empire.

Biography

Gabriel was born in

Sinjar Sinjar ( ar, سنجار, Sinjār; ku, شنگال, translit=Şingal, syr, ܫܝܓܪ, Shingar) is a town in the Sinjar District of the Nineveh Governorate in northern Iraq. It is located about five kilometers south of the Sinjar Mountains. Its p ...

to a Syrian Miaphysite family. According to one account he became a court physician (''

'') after curing the sterility of the shah's favourite wife,

Shirin Shirin ( fa, شیرین; died 628) was a Christian wife of the Sasanian King of Kings (''shahanshah'') Khosrow II (). In the revolution after the death of Khosrow's father Hormizd IV, the General Bahram Chobin took power over the Persian empire. S ...

, who eventually gave birth to a son named Mardanshah. Shirin later converted to the

Syriac Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = syc , image = St_George_Syriac_orthodox_church_in_Damascus.jpg , imagewidth = 250 , alt = Cathedral of Saint George , caption = Cathedral of Saint George, Damascus ...

under Gabriel's influence. Shirin also influenced by Gabriel, tried to replace

Dyophysitism In Christian theology, dyophysitism (Greek: δυοφυσιτισμός, from δυο (''dyo''), meaning "two" and φύσις (''physis''), meaning "nature") is the Christological position that two natures, divine and human, exist in the person of ...

(

Church of the East The Church of the East ( syc, ܥܕܬܐ ܕܡܕܢܚܐ, ''ʿĒḏtā d-Maḏenḥā'') or the East Syriac Church, also called the Church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the Persian Church, the Assyrian Church, the Babylonian Church or the Nestorian C ...

) with

Miaphysitism Miaphysitism is the Christological doctrine that holds Jesus, the "Incarnate Word, is fully divine and fully human, in one 'nature' (''physis'')." It is a position held by the Oriental Orthodox Churches and differs from the Chalcedonian positio ...

as the official form of Christianity in the Iranian empire. Gabriel convinced the shah to prohibit the Church of the East from appointing a new leader after the death of its ''

Catholicos Catholicos, plural Catholicoi, is a title used for the head of certain churches in some Eastern Christian traditions. The title implies autocephaly and in some cases it is the title of the head of an autonomous church. The word comes from ancient ...

'', Gregory. He also tried to exploit the fragmentation of the Church of the East in order to weaken it: he convinced Khosrow II to convene a disputation at his court between Miaphysites and Dyophysites, knowing that the Church of the East would have to produce a formula of faith that would not be universally accepted by all its bishops. In the 612 disputation,

Babai the Great Babai the Great ( , c. 551 – 628) was an early church father of the Church of the East. He set several of the foundational pillars of the Church, revived the monastic movement, and formulated its Christology in a systematic way. He served as a ...

presented the Sasanians' first clear and "official"

Miaphysite Miaphysitism is the Christology, Christological doctrine that holds Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, the "Incarnation (Christianity), Incarnate Logos (Christianity), Word, is fully divine and fully human, in one 'nature' (''physis'')." It is a posi ...

christology In Christianity, Christology (from the Ancient Greek, Greek grc, Χριστός, Khristós, label=none and grc, wiktionary:-λογία, -λογία, wiktionary:-logia, -logia, label=none), translated literally from Greek as "the study of Chr ...

which did as expected cause schisms amongst members of his church. During the disputation

George of Izla George of Izla ( syc, ܓܝܘܪܓܝܣ ܕܐܝܙܠܐ, ', born Mihrām-gušnasp or Mihr-Māh-gošnasp, died 615) was an East Syriac martyr, theologian and interpreter. He was mainly remembered for his role in a royal disputation which eventually led to ...

, a

Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic on ...

convert to the Church of the East, objected to Gabriel's expulsion of Dyophysite monks from their monasteries. Gabriel retaliated by accusing George of

apostasy Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that i ...

from the state religion, which caused the latter's execution by the Sasanian authorities in 615. The news of this event circulated widely across the elites of

Ctesiphon Ctesiphon ( ; Middle Persian: 𐭲𐭩𐭮𐭯𐭥𐭭 ''tyspwn'' or ''tysfwn''; fa, تیسفون; grc-gre, Κτησιφῶν, ; syr, ܩܛܝܣܦܘܢThomas A. Carlson et al., “Ctesiphon — ܩܛܝܣܦܘܢ ” in The Syriac Gazetteer last modi ...

, and demonstrated that the court was willing to exert violence in order to preserve the Zoroastrian religion. Gabriel of Sinjar died not long after. Eventually, as the Sasanians suffered defeat at the hands of the Byzantines, the Miaphysites too fell out of favour and Christians of all sects were persecuted.

References

Sources

* * * * * {{Portal, Christianity 7th-century deaths 7th-century physicians Medieval Assyrian physicians People from Sinjar Year of birth unknown 7th-century people 7th-century Christians Christians in the Sasanian Empire People excommunicated by the Church of the East Khosrow II Court physicians Physicians from the Sasanian Empire