Philoxenus of Mabbūg and His Relationship with Ṭūrʿabdīn: 1500 Years Commemoration of His Death in 523 A.D.

To close out the 2023 blog, we share Atla Metadata Editor, Dr. Iskandar Bcheiry’s article on fifth/sixth century Syriac writer and theologian, Philoxenos Mabbūg. We hope you enjoy reading about this fascinating character from history and that you reflect with joy on 2023 and look forward with excitement to 2024. 

Introduction

This year marks the 1500th anniversary of the death of Philoxenos Mabbūg, a prominent Syriac writer and theologian of the fifth/sixth century. While his theological and ascetic writings are usually highlighted, his place in the context of popular piety does not receive due academic attention. Therefore, I thought it is proper to highlight some of the historical documents in the archives and manuscripts that relate to this aspect of this man’s life, especially in the Ṭūrʿabdīn region. Among the sources that mention the life and deeds of Philoxenos of Mabbūg, there is a Syriac homily composed probably in the thirteenth century by an anonymous author who stresses a special relationship between Philoxenos and Ṭūrʿabdīn. This short article aims to understand the historical background of this homily, how the image of Philoxenos was employed in the life of the community in Ṭūrʿabdīn, the importance of his relics, sacred places dedicated to him, feast days in honor of his name, and his place in local folk stories. However, I would first like to very briefly introduce Philoxenos of Mabbūg and the geographical region of Ṭūrʿabdīn.

Philoxenos of Mabbūg

Philoxenos, known in Syriac circles as Akhsnoyō, meaning the ‘Stranger,’ as a translation of his Greek name, was a prominent Syriac writer and theologian from the fifth/sixth century. He is well known as a devoted adversary of the Christological doctrine laid down at the council of Chalcedon 451. He was born in the Persian empire in Beth Garmai, a historical region around Kirkuk in northern Iraq. He studied at the famous theological school in Edessa called ‘the Persian School.’ Philoxenos refused the Antiochian theological tradition and followed the Alexandrian tradition of Cyril of Alexandria. He became a leading figure in ecclesiastical circles in Syria, and in 485, he was appointed bishop of Mabbūg. Among his many activities as bishop, he sponsored revising the Syriac translation of the New Testament, bringing it closer to the Greek text. After the death of the emperor Anastasius in 518, his successor Justin I (518-527) supported the Chalcedonians and expelled the non-Chalcedonian bishops from their sees. Philoxenos was deposed and exiled, and he died five years later in Paphlagonia in 523.

Geographical background

Ṭūrʿabdīn is a plateau that stretches north from the Tigris River until the plain of Nisibis south and west from Medyat-Estel to the valley called Juhannam east. The name Ṭūrʿabdīn is of Syriac Aramaic origin which means “Mountain of the Servants.” According to Barṣawm, this term refers to the ascetics who inhabited the area since the fourth century. The churches, convents, monasteries, and ruins of this area show the strength of Christianity during previous centuries. Ṭūrʿabdīn fell under the dominion of the Byzantines, Persians, Muslim Arabs, Umayyads, Abbasids, Seljuks, Turkmans, Mamelukes, and Persians. The Ottoman Turks came to dominate the region in the early sixteenth century, and the Syriac Christian community survived, although in reduced form, under the Ottoman Sultanate. Besides the Syriac Christian presence in Ṭūrʿabdīn, many Kurdish clans dwelled in the area, and their presence gradually grew, especially after the sixteenth century.

Homily on Philoxenos of Mabbūg

Among the sources about the life and deeds of Philoxenos of Mabbūg, there is a memrō or homily composed in a twelve-syllable meter that André de Halleux published in his “Éli de Qartmin: Memra sur S. Mar Philoxène de Mabbog,” CSCO 100-101 (Louvain, 1963). This memrō is found in a Syriac manuscript preserved in Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS Syr 377. Alphonse Mingana presented an English translation of a short version of this memrō, in his “New Documents on Philoxenos of Heirapolis and the Philoxenian Version of the Bible,” The Expositor, 9th series vol. 19 (1920) pp. 149-160. Another similar text, Manchester, John Rylands Library, Syriac 45B, was edited by Sebastian P. Brock in his “Tash‘itā de-Mar Aksnayā,” in Qolo Suryoyo 110 (July/Aug 1996), 244-253.

Who is the author of this memrō on Philoxenos of Mabbūg?

We do not know the name of the author of this homily. André de Halleux assumed the name of Elī (Elijah) as the composer of the homily based on a sentence in the memrō:

ܐܦܝܣ ܠܡܪܟ ܕܢܥܒܕ ܪ̈ܚܡܐ ܥܠ ܚܛܝ̈ܐ ܘܡܠܐ ܡ̈ܘܡܐ ܕܐܠܝ ܒܫܪܒܟ ܐܠܗܝܐ

“Supplie ton Seigneur de faire miséricorde aux pécheurs, et supplée aux défauts [qu’a commis] Élï dans ton histoire divine.”

“(Addressing Philoxenos) Beseech your Lord to have mercy on sinners and supplicate to the faults [that] Elï committed in your divine history.”

However, I believe this is not correct, we should read the Syriac text as:

ܐܦܝܣ ܠܡܪܟ ܕܢܥܒܕ ܪ̈ܚܡܐ ܥܠ ܚܛܝ̈ܐ ܘܡܠܐ ܡ̈ܘܡܐ ܕܠܐܝ ܒܫܪܒܟ ܐܠܗܝܐ.

“(Addressing Philoxenos) Beseech your Lord to have mercy on sinners, and on the one (the author) who is full of faults, but he made efforts to compose your story.”

The confusion into which André de Halleux fell through his inaccurate reading of the Syriac text led to an incorrect and unproven identification of the name of the author of this sermon. It is most likely that the author was a monk affiliated with the Monastery of Qartamīn located near Medyat in Mardin Province in southeastern Turkey. It is possible that he was the abbot or bishop of the monastery and from Beth Sabrīnō, a village in Ṭūrʿabdīn. This assumption is based on his emphasis on this village as a critical place in Philoxenos’s life. It is essential to mention that most of the abbots and monks of the monastery, especially from the twelfth century and upward, came from Beth Sabrīnō.

Philoxenos and Ṭūrʿabdīn

The story tells us that his country is that of the East (Persia), darkened by the worship of images, idols, and fetishes. His parents, however, were upright and righteous people, fearing the Lord for their good works. He was born in a village by the name of Taḥil in the country called Beth Garmai. Akhsnoyō (Philoxenos) had a biological brother named Mor Addai, a teacher in the village of Taḥil. And because of heathen persecution against the Christians, the parents of Mor Akhsnoyō left that country and settled in the blessed country of Ṭūrʿabdīn near the village of Beth Sbīrīnō. When the little Akhsnayō grew up learning to distinguish between good and evil, he parted from his family for a half mile, built for himself a cell, and lived in it for a particular time practicing asceticism. One day, venerable monks living in some monasteries of the Qardū Mountain visited the cell of Philoxenos, on their way to visit the monastery of Qartamīn, a divine monastery founded by angels on the orders of the Lord, to pray there and be blessed by its relics and by the holy fathers who were famous there. Philoxenos rejoiced when he saw them and went with them to the monastery of Qartamīn, where they were blessed by the saints who dwelt there. Philoxenos decided to settle in the monastery and earn his salvation by living a hard monastic life. There, he studied the doctrine and became very knowledgeable in Greek and Syriac; he became a master in the two schools of this monastery and a famous knowledgeable man of his time. He took the monastic habit and lived an ascetic life by fasting all day and eating nothing but some dry bread in the evening. Then, he decided to leave the monastery and move to the territory west of the Euphrates. On his way, he visited a monastery hermitage located near Medyat in Ṭūrʿabdīn, at Mor Hobel, the stylite, solitary on his column next to Medyat. There a miracle occurred. As they were looking for each other to greet each other, suddenly, the column lowered its top of the stone so Mor Hobel could thus greet his friend Philoxenos. Philoxenos continued his path to where the Lord directed his steps. After Philoxenos had studied in the monastery of Telʿada in Syria, consecrated a bishop for the city of Mabbūg, and fought against the ‘heretics,’ he was exiled by order of emperor Justin. After five years, he died of suffocation. Soon after, when Mabbūg was at war, his nephew, also named Philoxenos, brought his uncle’s body to Ṭūrʿabdīn, to the monastery of Qartamīn, where Philoxenos had been raised and trained as a monk. The nephew buried his uncle’s body in the cemetery of the monastery. His family members brought the head of Philoxenos to Medyat, and they placed him in a shrine, in a church built under his name and known until today as the church of the ‘chosen one.’

Philoxenos, the nephew of Philoxenos the Great

Regarding the nephew of Philoxenos, there are few mentions of him in Syriac manuscripts: “The Anaphora of Mor Philoxenos, bishop of Mabbūg known as d’Eṣṭbay, the nephew of Philoxenos the Great, Mor Akhsnoyō who lived during the time of the faithful king Zenon” (Barṣawn, Makhṭūṭāt ṬūrʿAbdīn, 271).

Or “An Anaphora composed by Saint Philoxenos, who is the same Eṣṭbayā, nephew of the great Philoxenos bishop of Mabbūg. Other people say: that his uncle is the one who composed it, I mean the one that heretics suffocated” (Barṣawn, Makhṭūṭāt ṬūrʿAbdīn, 31).

Three or four Feast days dedicated to Philoxenos?

The memrō mentions that Philoxenos’s nephew set up three memorial days for his uncle: December 10th, the day of his death; February 18th, the day of his burial; and August 18th, the day of his consecration as bishop. However, according to a Syriac liturgical manuscript that contains a Tesksō dedicated to Mor Philoxenos, there is a mention that he was buried inside the holy monastery of Qartmīn, and his memory was celebrated on the first of April; 18th of February; 18th of August; and 10th of December (Barṣawm, Makhṭūṭāt ṬūrʿAbdīn, 90).

Other sacred places dedicated to Philoxenos

In the memrō, there are three sacred places related to Philoxenos. The Monastery of Qartmīn, where his body was kept; a church in Medyat named after him, where his head was preserved; and the monastery of Mor Hobel near Medyat, where his head was later kept. However, there are two other places designated to his name. The same Monastery of Mor Hobel and Mor Abrohom near Medyat. This monastery was known before the sixteenth century as the Monastery of Mor Hobel, Mor Abrohom, and Mor Philoxenos. The names of the three saints are fixed and arranged in sequence, supplemented by a brief introduction of each saint:

(Barṣawn, Makhṭūṭāt ṬūrʿAbdīn, 59) (1559 A.D).

ܕܝܪܐ ܕܡܪܝ ܗܒܝܠ ܐܠܗܝܐ ܘܡܪܝ ܐܒܪܗܡ ܪܒܗ ܕܡܪܝ ܒܪܨܘܡܐ ܓܪܒܝܝܐ ܪܝܫ ܐܒܝ̈ܠܐ ܘܡܪܝ ܦܝܠܘܟܣܝܢܘܣ ܪܝܫ ܐܦܣܩܘܦ̈ܐ ܕܡܒܘܓ

“The monastery of Mor Hobel the divine, Mor Abrohom the master of Mor Barṣawmō from the north, who was the head of the anchorites, and Mor Philoxenos the metropolitan of Mabbūg.”

(Barṣawn, Makhṭūṭāt ṬūrʿAbdīn, 276) (1472 A.D).

ܕܝܪܐ ܕܡܪܝ ܗܒܝܠ ܐܠܗܝܐ ܘܡܪܝ ܐܒܪܗܡ ܪܒܗ ܕܡܪܝ ܒܪܨܘܡܐ ܓܪܒܝܝܐ ܘܡܪܝ ܦܝܠܘܟܣܝܢܘܣ ܪܒܐ ܕܡܒܘܓ ܕܒܡܕܢܚ ܡܕܝܕ

“The monastery of Mor Hobel the divine, Mor Abrohom the master of Mor Barṣawmō from the north, and the Great Mor Philoxenos, metropolitan of Mabbūg.”

(Barṣawn, Makhṭūṭāt ṬūrʿAbdīn, 327) (1478 A.D).

ܕܝܪܐ ܩܕܝܫܐ ܕܢܨܝܚ ܫܘܦܪ̈ܐ ܡܪܝ ܗܒܝܠ ܥܢܘܝܐ ܕܠܟܐܦܐ ܘܐܬܒܪܟ ܡܢ ܡܪܝ ܐܟܣܢܝܐ ܘܕܩܕܝܫܐ ܡܪܝ ܐܒܪܗܡ ܕܛܘܪܐ ܕܪܡ ܪܒܗ ܕܓܒܝܐ ܡܪܝ ܒܪܨܘܡܐ ܘܕܩܕܝܫܐ ܘܚܣܝܐ ܡܪܝ ܦܝܠܘܟܣܝܢܘܣ ܕܡܕܝܢܬ ܟܗܢ̈ܐ ܡܒܘܓ

“The holy monastery of the splendid Mor Hobel, the ascetic on a column who was blessed from Mor Akhsnoyō, and Mor Abrohom from the High Mountain, the master of Mor Barṣawmō, the chosen one and the holy and pure Mor Philoxenos of Mabbūg, the city of priests.”

Another church was also dedicated to Mor Philoxenos (Akhsnoyō) in the village of Beth Sbīrīnō. A Late Nineteenth-Century Survey-report of Christian Religious Sites in Ṭūrʿabdīn informs us that among the churches of Beth Sbīrīnō, there is one church dedicated to “Mor Qūryaqūs, Mor Abrohom, Mor Gewargīs, Mor ʿOzozō’īl, Mor Yoreth, Mor Akhsnoyō (Philoxenos), and Mor Gabrō.”

Comparison between the long and short versions of the memrō on Philoxenos

As mentioned, there is an extended version of his life story (published by André de Halleux), which is chronologically the oldest, and a short version (Published by Alphonse Mingana), which is more recent. The lengthy version highlights the monastic and ascetic conduct of Philoxenos since his early youth: “staying up all night chanting,”; “prostrating a lot with tears flowing from his eyes in abundance while praying,”; “chanting to the Lord tirelessly”; “living a life full of fasting and prayer”; “depriving himself of worldly sustenance and from pleasant foods”; “his body was weakened, but his soul was enlightened”; “He was burning with love to the Son of God”; “He became a pure dwelling temple for the Holy Spirit.” On the other hand, the shortened version is much more moderate in this aspect. It only tells us that “Akhsnoyō parted from his parent, built for himself a shed of stones, where he lived for a certain time in peace and the service of God.”

The extended version emphasizes the importance of the monastery of Qartamīn by highlighting the spiritual and ascetic life of the monks living there. The monastery is presented as a holy place of pilgrimage to which people come from far away to receive blessings from the living monks and the relics of the holy saints. The monastery is a place where miracles occur. This focus does not appear as much in the short version.

In the short version, there is no role given to Philoxenos’s nephew in bringing the body of Philoxenos to ṬūrʿAbdīn, and there is no mention of Qartamīn as a place of burial:

“When the Arabs owned the seashore, the members of Mor Akhsnoyō’s family took the head of the saint and arrived at ṬūrʿAbdīn. They built a church in a village called Medyat, and there they laid the body of Mar Akhsnoyō.”

The extended (original) version is mainly related to the monastic and ascetic life in the Monastery of Qartamīn. In contrast, the short version is a reformulation of the original text in response to a pastoral need in the town of Medyat, and its purpose is to educate the laity of the parish, so the ascetic monastic tone has been dramatically toned down.

Historical background of the homily: rivalry and competition

The homily gives importance to the village of Beth Sbīrīnō and the monastery of Qartamīn. It reflects rivalry or competition between Beth Sbīrīnō-Qartamīn from one side and Medyat on the other side:

“O Philoxenos, your head is in Medyat, your resting place is in the monastery, and your dwelling was first in Beth Sbīrīnō, where you lived. Of this blessed town of Medyat, of the said monastery, and the famous and blessed Beth Sbīrīnō, may the Lord remove all filthiness, wickedness, fornication, greed, drunkenness, lust, vanity, and fraud. And it shall be among them neither envious, nor resentful, nor disruptive, nor annoying, nor insulter, neither quarrelsome, nor mocker, nor slanderer, nor stubborn, nor anything that causes sin and condemnations; but let their inhabitants be pure, clear, honest, and righteous people, fearing the Lord. May there be perfect charity and purity; may the Lord keep peace and clear happiness; and may we now sing your glory and your praise, illustrious martyr and heroic Mor Akhsnoyō!”

Beth Sbīrīnō and Philoxenos

Beth Sbīrīnō has a special relationship with Philoxenos. Scribes, scholars, and teachers from the village of Beth Sbīrīnō and the family of the famous priest Yeshūʿ dedicated liturgical compositions to Philoxenos.

In the Fenqithō d’sedrě of the feasts and memorials, a sedrō for the night prayer dedicated to Philoxenos Akhsnoyō was composed by monk Yeshūʿ the son of priest Eshaʿyō (Barṣawm, Makhṭūṭāt ṬūrʿAbdīn, 29).

Another sedrō for the evening prayer dedicated to Mor Philoxenos was also composed by Monk Yeshūʿ (Barṣawm, Makhṭūṭāt ṬūrʿAbdīn, 196).

What is interesting here is that during the fifteenth century and onwards, there were remarkable efforts by authors from Beth Sbīrīnō and specifically from the famous family of priest Eshaʿyō to collect or compose accounts about the saints of their churches (Barṣawn, Makhṭūṭāt ṬūrʿAbdīn, 252-256). Among these narrations, one dedicated to Philoxenos of Mabbūg, which Afram Barṣawm translated into Arabic and published in 1911 (Barṣawm, Makhṭūṭāt ṬūrʿAbdīn, 252).

This collection of stories has become part of a local spiritual heritage, as they are remarkably similar in specific details and aspects. In addition to the spiritual dimension and religious values, these stories, including those related to Philoxenos, express the saint’s social and economic setting and the material or moral gains they involve. Owning the relics of a saint or part of his body gives a group or village a privilege and honor over the rest of the villages, attracting spiritual and worldly power. Therefore, it is not strange for bloody conflicts to occur between villages in the dispute over the relics of saints, as happened with a group of monks from a monastery found near the city of Heṣnō d’Kīfō on the one hand and the monks of the Monastery of Saint Gabriel when the first ones stole the body of Saint Gabriel, resulting in one dead person and some wounded. These violent events about obtaining or burying the relics were repeated in the stories of Mor Dodo (the village of Beth Sbīrīnō against the village of Esphes), Shemʿūn Maniʿmoyō, Bishop Rizkallah (Beth Sbīrīnō against the village of Arbō), and Philoxenos himself (Beth Sbīrīnō against the town of Medyat).

Was the homily on Philoxenos a part of hagiographical literature to support a process of imprinting Christian identity on the Ṭūrʿabdīn landscape during late middle age and later?

There is a reason Beth Sbīrīnō was called Ba Sbīrīnō Emo du Dinō, “Beth Sbīrīnō the mother of religion.” This fame dates to nine hundred years ago when two-thirds of Beth Sbīrīnō’s population who were Christian bought the houses and lands of the Muslim population of Beth Sbīrīnō, who were one-third of the total population. These Muslims were asked to leave the village, and they did. In order not to allow Muslims to return to Beth Sbīrīnō or the nearby village of Estir, Raban Shemʿūn, the son of leader Thomas, said to his father: “It would be very good if you gave me a hundred loads of lime and a hundred households and I shall go and live in that ruined village called Estir; for I know that before long they (the Muslims) will regret what they have done and will come back and live in that ruin of Estir, right next to our vineyards, and instead of reaping the benefit, we shall have bitter wound and loss, and every day they will inflict sufferings on us.” The Muslims sent messengers to negotiate their return to live in the mentioned ruined village. They came and found Raban Shemʿūn’s built a few houses in Estir, and they asked him if they might come and live with him, but he rejected their request. After the Muslims had left, Raban Shemʿūn came back to the village of Beth Sbīrīnō; he and those who had gone with him began to tear down the mosque of the Muslims and their minaret. Extensive building efforts of churches, monasteries, towers, courtyards, fortresses, cemeteries, dwelling places for the sister nuns, and caravansaries followed this action.

What is happening here? It is a process of claiming every inch of land by imprinting a religious-social identity on it; in other words, it is a policy of Christianizing the land. To back up such a process of extensively building sacred places and reviving ruined sites, there was the need to associate every site with symbols, legends, stories, miracles, heroic acts, significant events, and religious feelings. In other words, there was a need to collect and use hagiographical literature of saints’ stories related to the sacred landscape. This would strengthen the bond between the local community and their environment and ensure a popular collective memory attached to the land for generations. And the story, or the homily on Philoxenos, was composed within this process, need, and context.

Conclusion

In conclusion, after reviewing the homily on Philoxenos and more sources in the form of colophons and historical notices about Philoxenos, it becomes clear that besides Philoxenos’s legacy as a prominent theologian who lived in a very critical period of dogmatic conflict, his image also integrated with people’s lives, concerns, and interests, by becoming a device employed to gain their heart and mind.