School of Nisibis
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The School of Nisibis ( syr, ܐܣܟܘܠܐ ܕܢܨܝܒܝܢ, for a time absorbed into the
School of Edessa The School of Edessa ( syr, ܐܣܟܘܠܐ ܕܐܘܪܗܝ) was a Christian theological school of great importance to the Syriac-speaking world. It had been founded as long ago as the 2nd century by the kings of the Abgar dynasty. In 363, Nisibis fell t ...
) was an educational establishment in
Nisibis Nusaybin (; '; ar, نُصَيْبِيْن, translit=Nuṣaybīn; syr, ܢܨܝܒܝܢ, translit=Nṣībīn), historically known as Nisibis () or Nesbin, is a city in Mardin Province, Turkey. The population of the city is 83,832 as of 2009 and is ...
(now
Nusaybin Nusaybin (; '; ar, نُصَيْبِيْن, translit=Nuṣaybīn; syr, ܢܨܝܒܝܢ, translit=Nṣībīn), historically known as Nisibis () or Nesbin, is a city in Mardin Province, Turkey. The population of the city is 83,832 as of 2009 and is ...
,
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
). It was an important spiritual centre of the early
Church of the East The Church of the East ( syc, ܥܕܬܐ ܕܡܕܢܚܐ, ''ʿĒḏtā d-Maḏenḥā'') or the East Syriac Church, also called the Church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the Persian Church, the Assyrian Church, the Babylonian Church or the Nestorian C ...
, and like the
Academy of Gondishapur The Academy of Gondishapur ( fa, فرهنگستان گندی‌شاپور, Farhangestân-e Gondišâpur), also known as the Gondishapur University (دانشگاه گندی‌شاپور Dânešgâh-e Gondišapur), was one of the three Sasanian ...
, it is sometimes referred to as the world's first university. The school had three primary departments teaching:
theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
,
philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
and
medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...
. Its most famous teacher was
Narsai Narsai (sometimes spelt ''Narsay'', ''Narseh'' or ''Narses''; syc, ܢܪܣܝ, ''Narsai'', name derived from Pahlavi ''Narsēh'' from Avestan ''Nairyō.saȵhō'', meaning 'potent utterance', the name of a yazata; ) was one of the foremost of Assy ...
, formerly head of the School of Edessa. The school was founded in 350 in Nisibis. In 363, when Nisibis fell to the Persians, St.
Ephrem the Syrian Ephrem the Syrian ( syc, ܡܪܝ ܐܦܪܝܡ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ, Mār ʾAp̄rêm Sūryāyā, ; grc-koi, Ἐφραὶμ ὁ Σῦρος, Efrém o Sýros; la, Ephraem Syrus; am, ቅዱስ ኤፍሬም ሶርያዊ; ), also known as Saint Ephrem, Saint ...
, accompanied by a number of teachers, left the school. They went to the School of Edessa, where Ephrem took over the directorship of the school there. It had been founded as long ago as the 2nd century by the kings of the Abgar dynasty. When Ephrem took over the school, its importance grew still further. After the Nestorian Schism, when the Byzantine emperor
Zeno Zeno ( grc, Ζήνων) may refer to: People * Zeno (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Philosophers * Zeno of Elea (), philosopher, follower of Parmenides, known for his paradoxes * Zeno of Citium (333 – 264 BC), ...
ordered the school closed for its teachings of
Nestorian Nestorianism is a term used in Christian theology and Church history to refer to several mutually related but doctrinarily distinct sets of teachings. The first meaning of the term is related to the original teachings of Christian theologian ...
doctrine, deemed
heretical Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
by
Chalcedonian Christianity Chalcedonian Christianity is the branch of Christianity that accepts and upholds theological and ecclesiological resolutions of the Council of Chalcedon, the Fourth Ecumenical Council, held in 451. Chalcedonian Christianity accepts the Christolo ...
, the School moved back to Nisibis.


Early history

The school was founded around 350 by
Jacob of Nisibis Saint Jacob of Nisibis ( syr, ܝܥܩܘܒ ܢܨܝܒܢܝܐ, '; Greek language, Greek: Ἅγιος Ἰάκωβος Ἐπίσκοπος Μυγδονίας; Armenian language, Armenian: Յակոբ Մծբնայ, '), also known as Saint Jacob of Mygdonia, ...
(Mar Yaqub). Its model was the school of
Diodorus of Tarsus Diodore of Tarsus (Greek language, Greek Διόδωρος ὁ Ταρσεύς; died c. 390) was a Christianity, Christian bishop, a monastic reformer, and a Christian theologian, theologian. A strong supporter of the orthodoxy of First Council of ...
in Antioch. It was an ideal location for a Syriac school: in the centre of the
Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
-speaking world but still in the
Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
, which had just embraced
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
. Most of
Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
was under Sassanid
Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
n rule, which had the ancient
Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic on ...
religion as its official state-religion.


Exile to Edessa

The Persians soon gained Nisibis, in 363, and the school was moved westward to an existing school in
Edessa, Mesopotamia Edessa (; grc, Ἔδεσσα, Édessa) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, founded during the Hellenistic period by King Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Seleucid Empire. It later became capital of the Kingdom of Osroene ...
, where it was known as the 'School of the Persians' (Eskuli d-Forsoye/Eskuli d-Parsaye in Edessan Aramaic/Syriac). There, under the leadership of Ephrem, it gained fame well beyond the borders of the Syriac speaking world. Meanwhile, in Antioch,
Theodore of Mopsuestia Theodore of Mopsuestia (c. 350 – 428) was a Christian theologian, and Bishop of Mopsuestia (as Theodore II) from 392 to 428 AD. He is also known as Theodore of Antioch, from the place of his birth and presbyterate. He is the best known ...
had taken over the school of Diodorus, and his writings soon became the foundation of Syriac theology. Even during his lifetime, they were translated into Syriac and gradually replaced the work of Ephrem. One of his most famous students was
Nestorius Nestorius (; in grc, Νεστόριος; 386 – 451) was the Archbishop of Constantinople from 10 April 428 to August 431. A Christian theologian, several of his teachings in the fields of Christology and Mariology were seen as controve ...
, who became
Patriarch of Constantinople The ecumenical patriarch ( el, Οἰκουμενικός Πατριάρχης, translit=Oikoumenikós Patriárchēs) is the archbishop of Constantinople (Istanbul), New Rome and '' primus inter pares'' (first among equals) among the heads of th ...
, but the doctrine he was preaching made him run afoul of
Cyril of Alexandria Cyril of Alexandria ( grc, Κύριλλος Ἀλεξανδρείας; cop, Ⲡⲁⲡⲁ Ⲕⲩⲣⲓⲗⲗⲟⲩ ⲁ̅ also ⲡⲓ̀ⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ Ⲕⲓⲣⲓⲗⲗⲟⲥ;  376 – 444) was the Patriarch of Alexandria from 412 to 444 ...
. Cyril sought to brand Nestorius as a heretic, and at the
First Council of Ephesus The Council of Ephesus was a council of Christian bishops convened in Ephesus (near present-day Selçuk in Turkey) in AD 431 by the Roman Emperors, Roman Emperor Theodosius II. This third ecumenical council, an effort to attain consensus deci ...
in 431, he had Nestorius formally censured. The resulting conflict led to the Nestorian Schism, which separated the Church of the East from the Western Byzantine form of Christianity. The opponents of
Nestorius Nestorius (; in grc, Νεστόριος; 386 – 451) was the Archbishop of Constantinople from 10 April 428 to August 431. A Christian theologian, several of his teachings in the fields of Christology and Mariology were seen as controve ...
attacked Theodore's School of Diodorus as well, and the Syrians answered by giving protection to the followers of Nestorius. In 489, the Byzantine emperor,
Zeno Zeno ( grc, Ζήνων) may refer to: People * Zeno (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Philosophers * Zeno of Elea (), philosopher, follower of Parmenides, known for his paradoxes * Zeno of Citium (333 – 264 BC), ...
, ordered the school closed for its Nestorian tendencies, and it returned to Nisibis.


Centre of Syriac theology

Back in Nisibis, the school became even more famous. It attracted students from all the Syriac churches, many of its students embodied important church offices, and its teaching was normative. The exegetical methods of the school followed the tradition of Antioch: strictly literal, controlled by pure grammatical-historical analysis. The work of Theodore was central to the theological teaching, and men like Abraham of Beth Rabban, who headed the school during the middle of the 6th century, spent great effort to make his work as accessible as possible. The writings of Nestorius himself were added to the curriculum only about 530. At the end of the 6th century, the school went through a theological crisis, when its director Henana of Adiabene attempted to revise the official exegetical tradition derived from Theodore of Mopsuestia. The controversy over Henana divided the Church of the East, and led to the departure of many of the school's members, probably including Babai the Great. A focus of the controversy was the debate between supporters of a one-''qnoma'' (roughly " hypostasis") and of a two-''qnome''
Christology In Christianity, Christology (from the Ancient Greek, Greek grc, Χριστός, Khristós, label=none and grc, wiktionary:-λογία, -λογία, wiktionary:-logia, -logia, label=none), translated literally from Greek as "the study of Chr ...
, and the divide was worsened by interventions on the part of West Syriac miaphysites. Babai's attacks on Henana's one-''qnoma'' theology came to be generally accepted by the Church of the East, though Henana remained a significant influence in the Church's subsequent tradition of interpretation. The controversy over Henana and the monastic revival initiated by
Abraham of Kashkar Abraham (Mar Oraham) of Kashkar was a legendary primate of the Church of the East, from the family of Jacob, the brother of Jesus, who is conventionally believed to have sat from 159 to 171. There are historical doubts about his existence by later ...
, supported by Babai, diminished the school's influence, and the spread of other schools founded on its model throughout the Sassanid Empire also reduced its centrality. In the first half of the 7th century, after the death of Henana in c. 610, the school seems to have entered terminal decline.


Influence on the West

The fame of this theological seminary was so great that
Pope Agapetus I Pope Agapetus I (489/490 – 22 April 536) was the bishop of Rome from 13 May 535 to his death. His father, Gordianus, was a priest in Rome and he may have been related to two previous popes, Felix III and Gregory I. In 536, Agapetus traveled ...
and
Cassiodorus Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (c. 485 – c. 585), commonly known as Cassiodorus (), was a Roman statesman, renowned scholar of antiquity, and writer serving in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. ''Senator'' w ...
wished to found one in Italy of a similar kind. The troubled times prevented their wishes from being realized, but Cassiodorus's monastery at Vivarium was inspired by the example of Nisibis that he had learned from the Quaestor
Junillus Junillus Africanus (''floruit'' 541–549) was Quaestor of the Sacred Palace (''quaestor sacri palatii'') in the court of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. He is best known for his work on biblical exegesis, ''Instituta regularia divinae legis''. ...
during his time in Constantinople.M.L.W. Laistner, ''Thought and Letters in Western Europe: A.D. 500 to 900'' second edition (Ithaca: Cornell University, 1957), p. 96


Notable students and teachers

*Patriarch
Aba I Aba I (or, with his Syriac honorific, Mar Aba I) or Mar Abba the Great was the List of Patriarchs of the Church of the East, Patriarch of the Church of the East at Seleucia-Ctesiphon from 540 to 552. He introduced to the church the Anaphora (litu ...
, student and teacher * Abraham of Beth Rabban, director 530–569 * Babai the Great, student * Barhadbshabba Arbaya, teacher * Barhadbshabba of Hulwan, student *
Barsauma Barsauma ( syr, ܒܪܨܘܡܐ, ''Barṣaumâ''), nicknamed ''Bar Sawma'', "son of the Lent" in Syriac, was Metropolitan of Nisibis in the 5th century, and a major figure in the history of the Church of the East. Under his leadership the church mo ...
, teacher *
Cyrus of Edessa Cyrus of Edessa (or Qiyore of Edessa) was a Syriac writer and teacher in the Church of the East. He was probably a native of Edessa. He studied at the school of Nisibis (c. 533–538) under Aba, the future patriarch, and then taught at the school ...
, student *
Dadisho of Mount Izla Dadishoʿ (528/9–604) was a monk and author of the Church of the East. He was the second abbot of the great monastery of Mount Izla after its founder, Abraham of Kashkar. Giuseppe Assemani conflated him with Dadishoʿ Qaṭraya, who lived a cen ...
, student *
Elishaʿ bar Quzbaye Elishaʿ bar Quzbaye (  450 –  510/530) was a hermeneut and apologist of the Church of the East. Active in Persia, he served as the second or third director of the school of Nisibis. He wrote extensively in Syri ...
, director ?520s * ʿEnanishoʿ, student *
Ephrem the Syrian Ephrem the Syrian ( syc, ܡܪܝ ܐܦܪܝܡ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ, Mār ʾAp̄rêm Sūryāyā, ; grc-koi, Ἐφραὶμ ὁ Σῦρος, Efrém o Sýros; la, Ephraem Syrus; am, ቅዱስ ኤፍሬም ሶርያዊ; ), also known as Saint Ephrem, Saint ...
, teacher *
Gabriel of Qatar Gabriel of Qatar, also known as Gabriel Qaṭraya bar Lipeh, was a Qatari Syriac writer of the Church of the East. He wrote a commentary on the East Syrian liturgy. Life Gabriel's date are uncertain, but he probably flourished in the late 6th a ...
, student (possibly) * Gregory of Kashkar, student * Henana of Adiabene, director 571–610 *Patriarch
Ishoyahb II Ishoʿyahb II of Gdala was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 628 to 645. He reigned during a period of great upheaval in the Sasanian Empire. He became patriarch at the end of a disastrous war between Rome and Persia, which weakened both p ...
, student *
Joseph Huzaya Joseph (Yawsep) Hūzāyā (fl. c. 530) was a Nestorian teacher and author. His name indicates that he hailed from Khuzestan. Joseph was a disciple of Narsai. He was the ''maqryānā'' (reader) of the School of Nisibis at the end of the 5th and in ...
, teacher *
Paul the Persian Paul the Persian or Paulus Persa was a 6th-century East Syriac theologian and philosopher who worked at the court of the Sassanid king Khosrau I. He wrote several treatises and commentaries on Aristotle, which had some influence on medieval Islami ...
, student and teacher *Patriarch
Sabrisho I Sabrisho I (also Sabr-Ishu, Syriac for "hope in Jesus") was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 596 to 604, during the rule of King Khosrau II. The son of a shepherd from the mountainous region of Shahrizur, Sabrisho had been a hermit, and wa ...
, student *
Severus Sebokht Severus Sebokht ( syc, ܣܘܪܘܣ ܣܝܒܘܟܬ), also Seboukt of Nisibis, was a Syrian scholar and bishop who was born in Nisibis, Syria in 575 and died in 667. Although little is known about his early life, he was one of the leading figures in ...
, teacher *
Thomas of Edessa Thomas of Edessa (or ''Tōmā ūrhāyā''; died c. 540) was a theologian of the Church of the East who wrote several works in Syriac, most of them lost. Thomas was educated in Edessa. There he taught Greek to the future patriarch, Aba. He later tr ...
, student and teacher


See also

*
School of Edessa The School of Edessa ( syr, ܐܣܟܘܠܐ ܕܐܘܪܗܝ) was a Christian theological school of great importance to the Syriac-speaking world. It had been founded as long ago as the 2nd century by the kings of the Abgar dynasty. In 363, Nisibis fell t ...
*
School of Seleucia-Ctesiphon The School of Seleucia-Ctesiphon (sometimes School of Seleucia) was a theological school of the Church of the East located in the western half of the city of Seleucia-Ctesiphon on the right bank of the Tigris. It was an independent Christian scho ...
*
Academy of Gondishapur The Academy of Gondishapur ( fa, فرهنگستان گندی‌شاپور, Farhangestân-e Gondišâpur), also known as the Gondishapur University (دانشگاه گندی‌شاپور Dânešgâh-e Gondišapur), was one of the three Sasanian ...
* Syriac literature *
Nizamiyya The Nezamiyeh ( fa, نظامیه) or Nizamiyyah ( ar, النظامیة) are a group of institutions of higher education established by Khwaja Nizam al-Mulk in the eleventh century in Iran. The name ''nizamiyyah'' derives from his name. Founded a ...
* Sarouyeh


References


Bibliography

* * * * {{Authority control Church of the East
Nasibin Nusaybin (; '; ar, نُصَيْبِيْن, translit=Nuṣaybīn; syr, ܢܨܝܒܝܢ, translit=Nṣībīn), historically known as Nisibis () or Nesbin, is a city in Mardin Province, Turkey. The population of the city is 83,832 as of 2009 and is ...
Osroene Nestorianism Christian terminology History of Christianity in Turkey Religious academies in Babylon Christian schools