On Epistle 52

By #52, rather by Mar Gabriel's letter which #52 answers: Mar Marammeh of the monastery on Izla became the bishop of that Bēt-Lapaṭ which the Iranians knew as Gundeshapur and which lies, indeed, in 'Elam. This was the metropole of the Church there... sometimes. We'll get to this.

As an aside, we must bestow upon Philip Scott-Moncrieff the proverbial "L" for his worst summary yet.

Maremmeh hailed from Ałzn, an Armenian-infested city with no real connexion with the Khūz. As for those Khūz, Kevin van Bladel thinks Hatamti traces may have survived but we, for the AD seventh-century, should assume an illiterate creole with Aramaic/Persic (it was already headed there 500 BC). Ishoʿyahb has had two occasions to note Marammeh - neither particularly favourable.

The two clerics did patch over their differences given that, at some point, the bishop Ishoʿyahb had cause to send the monk over to the Catholicos himself - over the head of their (clerical) father Mar Gabriel, metropolitan of Beth Garmay over in (what's now called) Kirkuk. (Arbela is unimportant to Ishoʿyahb and might not own even a bishop at this time.) Part of this mission was to invite the Catholicos up to higher ground, Kirkuk being as far as he'd likely climb. The very-short epistle #37 enjoins as much; given how wormeaten the epistles are overall (and how scribes tried to hide this) #37 may be an extract from that very letter.

As for #52's timing since it postdates #30 and 51 both, #52 cannot precede the restoration of communications with Izla circa AD 630. Ishoʿyahb's chum Hormizd is a bishop by now, as well; although I know not where. As for the Catholicos Ishoʿyahb II: he is not yet in Beth Garmay, but he's considering a sojourn up there. Guidi's famous chronicle has him relocate his see in the wake of Sa'd "bin Waqqas" [sic] traditionally set early AD 637 - over the following summer, one imagines.

'Elam, we know from the chronicle, had been facing Problems. These are less-well constrained, but #52 may help. Chase Robinson's article "The conquest of Khuzistan", written from 1995-2005, still holds up, as far as I have found.

That chronicle notes that the Arab invasion has been a bloody affair, not just Magian blood but Christian as well. In Aqula / Hirta, adjacent to the misr of al-Kufa, Ishoʿdad its bishop was killed. Khuzestan was no different, especially after the first cities fell, among which were Bēt-Lapaṭ and "Shushan byrt'". (From Bîrta, Robinson translates "Shushan the citadel". I prefer construct: either Shushan-of-the-citadel, or Shushan at Mount Bîrta beyond the Zab in Marga. Although the Zab is more Kurde- than Khuze-. Dark-horse: if b-Yarta, "Shushan by legacy". Either way Robinson is right it ain't classical Susa. I suspect Hormizd-Ardashir, erstwhile capital of the Khuzestan province.)

Only "Shush" - old Susa, "Tûs" - and "Shushtra" - Achaemenid Shurkutir, "Tûstar" - were left. The Sasanids had renamed Shurkutir into "the Greater Susa" (basically) and made it the summer-capital for their whole empire; in AD 628 Shiroë had perished on his way there. Shushtra was on a river-island accessible only by bridge. (Given the syame dots, I wonder if this is to be read as plural "Shushtrê", like the recent synod but - hey.)

For two years, says the chronicle, a shayna (armistice) was observed - between Abu Musa the amir of Basra, who held Bēt-Lapaṭ; and Hormizdan the shah's military governor, who held the two Susas. Easing this peace, Abu Musa enjoyed the loyalty of Abraham the metropolitan of the Furat (Robinson says: d-Maysan - technically Ishoʿdnah "Basrene" was from this Furat) and George bishop of Ulay south of Hirta, using them as go-betweens. Hormizdan broke this peace first, killing the former and imprisoning the latter. That Hormizdan's crimes presented no scandal for the Church Of The East suggests that the two were Had-Qnoma answering to the Maphrianate at Tikrit. That Sa'd, at least, initially favoured Tikrit is the background for Epistle #44 (Bcheiry, 83-8).

To Abu Musa the older Susa fell first, with the death of all the nobles which will start with the Magians; and a lot of looting, which looks to have affected its major Jews as well. (One worries after the fate of Bar-Sauma.) Hormizdan locked himself in the "better Susa" which city held more Christians, including its own Exegete (Mpashqana) and several exiles foremost the bishop of Hormizd-Ardashir (i.e. of Ahvaz). After a siege of another two years some Qatrene betrayed the city; so Abu Musa slaughtered all the major Christians.

Given all this, the Arabs left 'Elam bereft of at least one bishopric: Ahvaz, vacant by exile if not by murder. Furat too was in no state to appoint bishops over there. If Gundeshapur were spared all that, it were fortunate indeed. UPDATE 2/20: Metropolitan John died "naturally" but I suspect shock.

It may be as simple as that for Maremmeh, Ishoʿyahb of Nineveh cannot stomach the word "metropolitan". All must admit Maremmeh was catapulted from a not-terribly-favoured monasticism to a high position. But. Over the four years Khuzestan was divided politically with its metropole ravaged, it may be that Bēt-Lapaṭ was no longer, as seen from Seleucia, a metropole. She still needed a bishop. This is what #52 implies - in fact, that the peaceful portion of Khuzestan might now (temporarily) lie under Mar Gabriel's oversight, from Kirkuk. Later, after the fuss had died down, the Catholicos might ponder to raise Bēt-Lapaṭ again UPDATE 2/20 which he did immediately.

PEACE 3/12: In the first and second Metropolitan epistles we learn that Maremmeh will take offence to #52 - and who wouldn't? But those two later letters will patch it all up.

FIEY 4/15/23: E. LII is summarised ch. V, p. 14 in French. Fiey promotes this one to the Metro series, which I don't.