Henana of Adiabene (died 610) was a

Christian theologian Christian theology is the theology of Christian belief and practice. Such study concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Christian tradition. Christian theologians use biblical exegesi ...

, and headmaster of the

School of Nisibis The School of Nisibis ( syr, ܐܣܟܘܠܐ ܕܢܨܝܒܝܢ, for a time absorbed into the School of Edessa) was an educational establishment in Nisibis (now Nusaybin, Turkey). It was an important spiritual centre of the early Church of the East, and ...

, the main theological center of the

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 ...

(571–610).

Biography

Before he became headmaster, Henana of Adiabene had occupied the chair of biblical exegesis. His teacher was a certain Moses, who was probably an

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

Christian. Many of Henana's ideas were close to

Byzantine theology The history of theology has manifestations in many different cultures and religious traditions. Terminology and connotations Plato used the Greek word ''Theology, theologia'' (θεολογία) with the meaning "discourse on god" around 380 BC ...

, and his appointment as head of the school might have been in line with a general uneasiness with pro-

Antiochene Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ� ...

theological discourse, previously set by the

Synod of Beth Lapat The Synod of Beth Lapat was a local council of the Church of the East, that was held in 484, in the Persian city of Gundeshapur (''Bēth Lapaṭ'', in the Syriac language). The council was headed by Metropolitan Barsauma of Nisibis (d. 491), w ...

(484). His predecessor headmaster was Abraham of Beth Rabban, who had worked hard to promote the

theology of

Theodore of Mopsuestia Theodore of Mopsuestia (c. 350 – 428) was a Christian theologian, and Bishop of Mopsuestia (as Theodore II) from 392 to 428 AD. He is also known as Theodore of Antioch, from the place of his birth and presbyterate. He is the best known ...

. Henana was a humble man, worked tirelessly, and stood to his convictions. Under his leadership the school initially continued to grow. He wrote extensive commentaries and other works, but only two works and a number of citations have been preserved. A speech for the commencement of the academic year from the time when Henana was director has survived, and in it Henana is described as the equal of Theodore in productivity, and with the authority to choose the best from among all traditions. However, Henana did not reconcile the teaching of Theodore with the other creeds; he tried to replace him.

Christological dispute

held that union of Christ′s two natures (divine and human) is manifested as a

prosopic union Prosopon (, ;"prosopon"
''

hypostatic union ''Hypostatic union'' (from the Greek: ''hypóstasis'', "sediment, foundation, substance, subsistence") is a technical term in Christian theology employed in mainstream Christology to describe the union of Christ's humanity and divinity in one h ...

of the two natures, as specified by the

Council of Chalcedon The Council of Chalcedon (; la, Concilium Chalcedonense), ''Synodos tēs Chalkēdonos'' was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, Bith ...

in 451. Accordingly, he believed in God's suffering on the Cross, impossible without a hypostatic union between the two natures. Those

christological In Christianity, Christology (from the Greek grc, Χριστός, Khristós, label=none and grc, -λογία, -logia, label=none), translated literally from Greek as "the study of Christ", is a branch of theology that concerns Jesus. Differ ...

controversies were reflected in a debate between pro-Chalcedonian supporters of "one-''qnoma''" Christology and pro-Antiochene supporters of "two-''qnome''" Christology (

qnoma 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 ...

, a

Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...

term, translated as " hypostasis"). The divide between two groups was worsened by interventions on the part of West Syriac miaphysites. Henana's one-''qnoma'' theology was attacked by

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 ...

, whose criticism of Henana's views was generally accepted by the Church of the East, though Henana remained a significant influence in the Church's subsequent tradition of interpretation. Henana accepted the decisions of the

Council of Ephesus The Council of Ephesus was a council of Christian bishops convened in Ephesus (near present-day Selçuk in Turkey) in AD 431 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius II. This third ecumenical council, an effort to attain consensus in the church th ...

(431), believing that the term 'mother of God' was appropriate for the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

. Theodore of Mopsuestia had taught that man was created mortal. Henana believed that Adam was initially immortal, and that he became mortal through sin. It also appears that Henana rejected Theodore's idea that the

book of Job The Book of Job (; hbo, אִיּוֹב, ʾIyyōḇ), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), and is the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. Scholars ar ...

was a book of fiction composed by a Hellenist, and rejected his commentary on Job. Henana's pro-Byzantine orientation was so prominent that he was accused by his opponents for possible tendencies towards

Origenism Origenism refers to a set of beliefs attributed to the Christian theologian Origen. The main principles of Origenism includes allegorical interpretation of scripture and subordinationism. Origen's thought was influenced by Philo the Jew, Platonism ...

, an theological position that was popular among some Byzantine monks, but disputed and finally condemned in 553. One of the more extreme positions held by the followers of

Origen Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an Early Christianity, early Christian scholar, ...

was the denial of the resurrection of the body of the Lord on the third day. This clashed head on with any literal interpretation of scripture, certainly with the rigorous literal interpretation of the Antiochene type.

Growing opposition

As Henana's break with tradition became more open, opposition grew. In Nisibis, the Deacon Elijah established the rival school of Beth Sahde, and made a man from the school of Balad director, who had also lived on the monastery of

Mt. Izla Mount Izla ( syr, ܛܘܪ ܐܝܙܠܐ ''Ṭūr Īzlā' ''),Thomas A. Carlson et al., “Izla — ܛܘܪܐ ܕܐܝܙܠܐ ” in The Syriac Gazetteer last modified January 14, 2014, http://syriaca.org/place/100. also Mountain of Nisibis or briefly ...

and was a disciple of

Abraham the Great of Kashkar Abraham the Great of Kashkar was the father of the Assyrian monastic revival in the 6th century. He is a doctor and saint of the Assyrian Church of the East. He was born in Kashkar in Persia around 492. He left there to preach the Gospel at Al ...

. His name was Abimelek, and his great opponent

later glorified him in a biography of 'The Priest and Martyr Abimelek'. In 596 Sabrisho, an alumnus of the school of Nisibis, was appointed successor of Ishoʿyahb I as

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 ...

. He immediately held a synod and anathematized the opponents of Theodore, though he did not mention Henana explicitly. At the same time or sometimes after, Gregory, another alumnus of the school of Nisibis, became Metropolitan of Nisibis, probably chosen by Sabrisho. Gregory first reproached and censored, later condemned the writings of Henana. Henana wrote a defense to Sabrisho that resulted in his excommunication by the other bishops. But Henana was not without protection: Queen

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 ...

was a convert from the Church of the East 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 ...

, and so was Gabriel of Shiggar, the influential royal physician. They supported Henana. As Babai the Great reports: 'the medical science at the court had taken sides with Henana. This tilted the scales in favor of Henana and upset the carefully prepared strategy of his enemies. Of course, all this was clear to Sabrisho.' In 601 Bishop Gregory had to leave and was ordered by the king to live in the monastery of Shahdost. The Catholicos disagreed with the excommunication and was spared the royal wrath. But Henana's position could not be saved. Even though he stayed head of the school, 300 souls left the same year. (There is some doubt on when exactly these events took place. But all sources agree that they happened under the Catholicos Sabrisho). Some of the exiles went to the monastery of Mar Abraham on Mt. Izla, others were welcomed by Marcos, bishop of Balad, at his school. Still others went to the rival school-monastery of Beth Sahde in Nisibis itself. Only 20 persons stayed with Henana, and the school hardly struggled on.

Legacy

Two years after the death of Henana, the teachings of Theodore were canonized by an episcopal gathering, and the Christology of Theodore became the official doctrine of the Church. Of the many writings of Henana very little has been preserved, and the

has rejected him. But in order to refute him, Babai the Great clarified the Christology of the

, which otherwise might not have happened.

References

Sources