Simandu (West Syriac diocese)

Simandu was an archdiocese of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Cappadocia, attested between the tenth and twelfth centuries. Thirteen of its bishops are mentioned in the lists of Michael the Syriac and other Jacobite sources.

Sources

The main primary source for the Syriac Orthodox metropolitans of Simandu is the record of episcopal consecrations appended to Volume III of the Chronicle of the Syriac Orthodox patriarch Michael the Syrian (1166–99). In this Appendix Michael listed most of the bishops consecrated by the Syriac Orthodox patriarchs of Antioch between the ninth and twelfth centuries. Twenty-eight Syriac Orthodox patriarchs sat during this period, and in many cases Michael was able to list the names of the bishops consecrated during their reigns, their monasteries of origin, and the place where they were consecrated.

Two twelfth-century bishops omitted from Michael's list are mentioned in the Chronicon Ecclesiasticum of the Jacobite maphrian Bar Hebraeus (ob.1286).

Location

Simandu was a district near Melitene, known in Greek as Tzamendos. During the twelfth century it was included in the territories of the Frankish County of Edessa.

Bishops and metropolitans of Simandu

Eleven Jacobite metropolitans of Simandu are mentioned in the lists of Michael the Syrian.

Name	From	Consecrated in the reign of	Place of consecration
Yaʿqob	Unspecified	Iwanis II (954–7)	not known
Basil	Monastery of the Mother of God	Yohannan VI (965–86)	not known
Eliya	Monastery of Peter	Athanasius IV Laʿzar (987–1003)	Not known
Philoxenus	Monastery of Mar Bar Sawma, Melitene	Dionysius IV Heheh (1032–42)	Not known
Ignatius	Monastery of Barid	Athanasius V Haya (1058–64)	not known
Athanasius	Monastery of Barid	Yohannan VIII bar Shushan (1063–73)	Harran
Yohannan ʿAbdon	Monastery of Bar Gaghi, Melitene	Basil II (1074–5)	Monastery of Mar Bar Sawma, Melitene
Basil	Monastery of Barid	Athanasius VI bar Khamara (1091–1129)	not known
Mattai	Monastery of Beth Qenaya	Yohannan X Maudiana (1129–37)	not known
Basil	Monastery of Mar Ahron, Shigar	Athanasius VII bar Qutreh (1139–66)	not known

Two twelfth-century bishops of Simandu omitted from the lists of Michael the Syrian are mentioned in the Chronicon Ecclesiasticum of Bar Hebraeus:

• Yohannan, previously bishop of Segestan, was awarded the diocese of Simandu at the synod of Kaishum in 1129, at the request of the Frankish count Joscelin I of Edessa.
• Bar Turkaya, bishop of Tel Bshir, was transferred to Simandu in or shortly after 1132, and after a short residence as bishop of Simandu was again transferred to Habora.

The diocese of Simandu seems to have lapsed around the end of the twelfth century, perhaps after the death of the bishop Basil (1139/1166).

References

• Abbeloos, Jean Baptiste; Lamy, Thomas Joseph, eds. (1877). Bar Hebraeus, Chronicon Ecclesiasticum (3 vols). Paris.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Fiey, Jean Maurice (1993). Pour un Oriens Christianus Novus: Répertoire des diocèses syriaques orientaux et occidentaux. Beirut: Orient-Institut. ISBN 9783515057189.
• Jean-Baptiste Chabot, Chronique de Michel le Syrien, Patriarche Jacobite d'Antiche (1166-1199). Éditée pour la première fois et traduite en francais I-IV (1899;1901;1905;1910; a supplement to volume I containing an introduction to Michael and his work, corrections, and an index, was published in 1924. Reprinted in four volumes 1963, 2010).