Maremmeh as bishop?

Siʿrt #108 on Catholicos Maremmeh - from Addai Scher's French. (We'll get to the Arabic.)

This Father was originally of Arzun; after completing his studies at the Nisibene school, he enrolled as a monk in the convent of Mar Abraham [at Izla] where he dwelt in a cell without leaving it. At some point he was named bishop of Nineveh. The patriarch Ishoʿyahb his predecessor [II] wrote to the inhabitants of Gundeshapor, who had asked him for a metropolitan for their region, on making the elegy on this Father's virtues, who had been bishop of Nineveh. So they requested to the Catholicos to establish him their metropolitan; so he made him come [to Mahoze] and consecrated him. He governed the see which he occupied with much wisdom. After Ishoʿyahb's death the election picked him, he was ordained patriarch despite his very advanced age. He was good, virtuous and charitable, preoccupied with increasing the number of schools. He was first to command that scholars be girded with a belt, to be distinguished from other young men. ... Some of the historians' community say that he was bishop of Nineveh and that the Muslims worked to make him Catholicos because he had brought them food during their invasion into the land of Mosul for the Futh.

From those ashâb the Majdal ed. Gismondi mentions, upon the death of Catholicos Ishoʿyahb II, AD 645 -

Maremmeh the Arzunite, educated at the Nisibene school, professed monastic life in the monastery of Mar Abraham, whose cell he frequented. He was first appointed Bishop of Nineveh, and soon afterward Mar Ishoʿyahb ordained him the metropolitan of Gondisapor. As an old man of great age, the patriarch was elected by unanimous vote; for his conduct of assistance under the Moslems' campaign in the siege of Mosul, for he had brought corn to them. ...

Mari and/or ʿAmr then carri/es on with one of those "diploma of aman" narratives, here with ʿAli; this need not detain us. Then there's Saliba:

This father was an old man, upright, pious, chaste, caring for alms and the education of the schools. Originating from Arzun. He had been taught in the school of Nisibis, and was a monk in the monastery of Mar Abraham. He was bishop of Nineveh, and afterwards Metropolitan of Gondisapor. [After the death of Ishoʿyahb II] was chosen AG 958, Supp. Easter i. 25. 1, [the first caliphate of ʿUthman] and was ordained patriarch of al-Madain, dressed in a green cloak. He was the first who commanded the priests to wear a garment fastened openly with a girdle, so that they might be distinguished from the rest. ...

We also own Khuzestan ed. Guidi #40 (Latin; again, NOT my translation):

... Maremmeh was appointed as patriarch over the church; he came from the region of Arzon, his village being Qozimas, and he had been appointed metropolitan of Beth Lapat. He had put on the monastic [p.32] habit in the monastery of Mar Abraham of Izla; he was greatly acclaimed both during his solitary life and as metropolitan, and when he had been place on the candelabra of the catholicosate he was held in honour by all the leaders of the Ishmaelites.

These summary biogs are in general agreement. Bēt Lapaṭ in the Bēt Huzāyē, in Syriac; was, to the Iranians, exactly Gondēšāpūr of the Khuzestan. As for "Mar Abraham", upon the later Arabic accounts I am comfortable glossing "of Izla" given Khuzestan in early Syriac. I'm pretty sure Ishoʿyahb of Nineveh agreed. Although yes the Devil hides in translators' glosses. And do keep an eye on that "Nineveh" thing in later Arabic not in earlier Syriac. We're getting to all that.

"Mosul" is an anachronism; Ishoʿyahb III never names it (although Khuzestan knows the name). Ishoʿdnah recalls it in #50 as "the ʿEbraite Fortress", before Islam, although it owned at least one monastery. Either way the Muslims credit its fall to Abdullah ibn Muta'am, late AD 637.

Ishoʿyahb's letter #52 as bishop(?) makes clear that his boss Ishoʿyahb II is still in Seleucia when/where Maremmeh gets his see, tho' neither will tarry there for long. I don't think Salibi is correct that Maremmeh got his Catholicate in Bet-Aramaye. Although, yeah, Thomas of Marga is probably right that George shall hold court back down there, a couple decades later.

Siʿrt (tr. Scher) with Gismondi's Majdalayn are clear upon Maremmeh's appointment over Nineveh, which is difficult given that another Ishoʿyahb is there writing with authority just about all through the AG 940s / AD 630s. Although, AG 941/2 ~ AD 630, we have hints he was "dragged away by necessity" to Seleucia. So let's look at Siʿrt's Arabic.

Scher's sentence Il fut ensuite évêque de Nineve has no corollary in the Arabic. The Arabic goes right from Maremmeh's stint at the Mar Abraham cell to, wa-kâna Ishoʿyahb al-Gâthlîq alladhî qablih, kataba ilâ ahli Gundîshâbûr, lammâ al-tamshû minhu matrânan ʿalâ baladhum, fa-wasafah wa-hasana dabbârah. Only after all that: wa-huwa idh dhâk iskup-Nînuâ. Siʿrt has two glosses here and, instead of critiquing those glosses, Addai Scher its editor simply added a new one. Bad editor, bad!

If one take out Scher's gloss (as Scher should have) and also rethink his translation of alladhî qablih: then Ishoʿyahb al-Gâthlîq could, instead of II, be read as III. Then al-Gâthlîq alladhî qablih means "Catholicos [but] beforehand" and wa-huwa idh dhâk iskup-Nînuâ refers not to the subject of Ishoʿyahb's letter but to its author. This might even be the letter assembled as Ishoʿyahb Arbelene #1.

Scher, I suspect, depends upon Gismondi's Majdalayn: later Arabic, but earlier Latin. Georg Graf's summary argued that the Majdal works, vice-versa if you will, had depended upon Siʿrt (GCAL II 196). I will note, for my part, that the two Arabic excerpts do not seem interrelated. It may be that the error crept into the Majdal lore from Siʿrt's Arabic transmitters already saying the al-Gâthlîq alladhî qablih garble. Gismondi's Majdal ("Mari") complained about how bad its sources are.