Mar Mattai's sixth-century

Michael the Syrian transmits a record of this mountain before Mar John came to these monks. So does this manuscript, which makes me wonder which came first.

The community was founded in time immemorial. Under "metropolitan" Bar-Sahde, Barsauma "the Nestorian" had the monastery burned and Bar-Sahde killed. Barsauma was a Nisibene schoolmaster and not acting under Catholical orders. Later the Armenian catholicos Christopher had it re-founded, I guess because the Church Of The East still had no real sway itself this far north. Christopher kept its name "Mar Mattai" and used locals, rather than Armenians, starting with one "Garmay" or maybe "Gmiri" (the MSS vary).

Michael surmises from all this that under the restored Catholicate of Acacius, rather under its nose, Mar Mattai continued to elect its own abbots for those loyal to the Council of Ephesus against Chalcedon. This, says Michael, because the Armenians could not venture Antioch anymore "for fear of the Persians" - and neither could Mar Mattai. Michael might not be my sort of Christian but he is assuredly my sort of historian.

The Alfâmonks boast that their abbots acted as shadow-metropolitans for Ephesus in the East until Christopher, who accepted Mar Athanasius as the Ephesian pope. Christopher submitted his monastery's subordination further to his former pupil Maruta now ensconced (more or less) in Tikrit. I, myself, am not seeing Mar Mattai's importance in contemporary literature, until and except what importance John in AG 936 provided to it.

Michael transmits a list of Mar Mattai's superiors: after Garmay, Mari. Then Ishoʿzeka. After Ishoʿzeka, Mar Sahda then Shimʿon - then the final Christopher.