The Diocese of Salakh was an

East Syriac The East Syriac Rite or East Syrian Rite, also called the Edessan Rite, Assyrian Rite, Persian Rite, Chaldean Rite, Nestorian Rite, Babylonian Rite or Syro-Oriental Rite, is an Eastern Christian liturgical rite that employs the Divine Liturgy ...

diocese 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 ...

in the metropolitan province of Adiabene, attested in the eighth and ninth centuries.

Background

The diocese of Salakh (), which covered the mountainous region to the east of Rawanduz, does not feature in the classical lists of the dioceses of Adiabene, but several eighth-century bishops of Salakh are mentioned in Thomas of Marga's ''Book of Governors'' (written ''c.''840). The ''History of Mar Sabrisho of Beth Qoqa'' also mentions a ninth-century bishop of Salakh. It is not clear when the diocese came to an end.

Bishops of Salakh

A bishop named Yohannan was consecrated for Salakh by the metropolitan Yohannan of Adiabene during the reign of the patriarch

Sliba-zkha Sliba-zkha (the name means 'the cross has conquered' in Syriac) was patriarch of the Church of the East from 714 to 728. Sources Brief accounts of Sliba-zkha's patriarchate are given in the ''Ecclesiastical Chronicle'' of the Jacobite writer Bar ...

(714–28), in consequence of the death of an unnamed bishop of Salakh. Yohannan seems to have been the predecessor of the bishop Ishozkha of Salakh. The monk Ishozkha of the

monastery of Beth ʿAbe Monastery of Beth Abe ( syc, ܒܝܬ ܥܒܐ; ', literally "house of wood"), is an East Syriac monastery located near the on the Great Zab about 80 km northeast of Nineveh. It was founded by Rabban Jacob of Lashom around 595 AD. The monastery ...

, a native of

Beth Aramaye Asoristan ( pal, wikt:𐭠𐭮𐭥𐭥𐭮𐭲𐭭, 𐭠𐭮𐭥𐭥𐭮𐭲𐭭 ''Asōristān'', ''Āsūristān'') was the name of the Sasanian Empire, Sasanian province of Assyria and Babylonia from 226 to 637. Name The Parthian language, Par ...

, was consecrated for Salakh during the reign of the patriarch

(714–28) and died during the reign of the patriarch

Aba II Aba II was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 741 to 751. He is included in the traditional list of patriarchs of the Church of the East. Sources Brief accounts of Aba's reign are given in the ''Ecclesiastical Chronicle'' of the Jacobite w ...

(742–52). The ascetic Maranammeh, head of the East Syriac school in Kfar Uzail near Erbil, was consecrated bishop of Salakh by the metropolitan Ahha of Adiabene on the death of the bishop Ishozkha of Salakh, during the reign of the patriarch

(742–52). Maranammeh was appointed metropolitan of Adiabene during the reign of

Yaqob II Yaqob II (b.699) was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 753 to 773. He is included in the traditional list of patriarchs of the Church of the East. He spent much of his reign in prison after offending the caliph al-Mansur. Sources Brief a ...

(754–73), and during his metropolitanate he adjusted the boundaries of the dioceses of Salakh and Adarbaigan, transferring the district of Daibur from Salakh to Adarbaigan and the district of Inner Salakh from Adarbaigan to Salakh. The monastery of Beth Qoqa, destroyed after the death of its superior Sabrisho, was restored at an unknown date in the ninth century by the bishop Gabriel of Salakh, who had previously been a monk of the monastery.''History of Mar Sabrisho of Beth Qoqa'', 196

Notes

References

* Fiey, J. M., ''Assyrie chrétienne'' (3 vols, Beirut, 1962) * * * Wallis Budge, E. A., ''The Book of Governors: The Historia Monastica of Thomas, Bishop of Marga, AD 840'' (London, 1893) * * {{coord missing, Asia Dioceses of the Church of the East Dioceses of the Assyrian Church of the East Church of the East in Iraq