Mar Denha I (also written Dinkha I) was

Patriarch of the Church of the East The patriarch of the Church of the East (also known as patriarch of the East, patriarch of Babylon, the catholicose of the East or the grand metropolitan of the East) is the patriarch, or leader and head bishop (sometimes referred to as Cath ...

(sometimes referred to as the Nestorian church) from 1265 to 1281. He was widely suspected of murdering Shem'on Bar Qaligh, bishop of Tus, and was remembered by later generations as Denha Qatola, 'Denha the Murderer'.

Patriarchate

In 1268 the Patriarch had moved from

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

, first to Oshnou in Azerbaijan and later to

Urmia Urmia (; ) is the largest city in West Azerbaijan Province of Iran. In the Central District of Urmia County, it is capital of the province, the county, and the district. The city is situated near the borders of Iran with Turkey and Iraq. ...

and

Maragheh Maragheh () is a city in the Central District (Maragheh County), Central District of Maragheh County, East Azerbaijan province, East Azerbaijan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Maragheh is on the bank of ...

. Denha I was patriarch when

Rabban Bar Sauma Rabban Bar Ṣawma (Syriac language: , ; 1220January 1294), also known as Rabban Ṣawma or Rabban ÇaumaMantran, p. 298 ( zh, s=拉班·扫马, t=拉賓掃務瑪, p=lābīn sǎowùmǎ), was a Uygurs, Uyghur monk turned diplomat of the "Nestor ...

and his companion Rabban Markos arrived in

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, on their pilgrimage from China towards

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. Denha had his seat in Baghdad at that time, and requested the two monks to visit the court of Abaqa in order to obtain confirmation letters for Mar Denha's ordination as Patriarch. Intending to establish them as leaders of the

Church of the East in China The Church of the East (also known as the Nestorian Church) was a Christian organization with a presence in China during two periods: first from the 7th through the 10th century in the Tang dynasty, when it was known as ''Jingjiao'' ( zh, t=景� ...

, Denha consecrated Markos as Mar Yahballaha, Bishop of Katai and Ong, and named Rabban Bar Sauma vicar general. Later, Denha charged the monks to return to China as his messengers. However, their departure was delayed due to armed conflict along the route. When Denha died, Markos was elected as his successor. A modern assessment of Denha's reign can be found in David Wilmshurst's ''The Martyred Church''.Wilmshurst, ''The Martyred Church'', 244–8

Notes

References

*James A. Montgomery, ''History of Yaballaha III'', (New York: Columbia University Press, 1927). *

E. A. Wallis Budge Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge (27 July 185723 November 1934) was an English Egyptology, Egyptologist, Orientalism, Orientalist, and Philology, philologist who worked for the British Museum and published numerous works on the ancient ...

, ''The Monks of Kublai Khan'', (London: Religious Tract Society, 1928). * * Paul Bedjan, ''Histoire de Mar Jab-Alaha, Patriarche'', (1888, 2nd ed 1995; reprint Gorgias, 2007). Syriac text on which the translations of Montgomery and Budge are based. *Gregory

Barhebraeus Gregory Bar Hebraeus (, b. 1226 - d. 30 July 1286), known by his Syriac ancestral surname as Barebraya or Barebroyo, in Arabic sources by his Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu'l-Faraj, and his Latinisation of names, Latinized name Abulpharagius in the ...

, ''Chronicon Ecclesiasticum'', ed. J. B. Abbeloos and T. J. Lamy, (Paris: Maisonneuve, 1877), 3: II, cols.451ff. *Wilmshurst, David, ''The Martyred Church: A History of the Church of the East'' (London, 2011).

External links

Chaldeans, History and Cultural Relations
{{DEFAULTSORT:Denha 1 Patriarchs of the Church of the East Year of birth missing 1281 deaths 13th-century bishops of the Church of the East