Ignatius III David was the

Patriarch of Antioch The Patriarch of Antioch is a traditional title held by the bishop of Antioch (modern-day Antakya, Turkey). As the traditional "overseer" (, , from which the word ''bishop'' is derived) of the first gentile Christian community, the position has ...

and head of the

Syriac Orthodox Church The Syriac Orthodox Church (), also informally known as the Jacobite Church, is an Oriental Orthodox Christian denomination, denomination that originates from the Church of Antioch. The church currently has around 4-5 million followers. The ch ...

from 1222 until 1252.

Biography

In 1215, David was ordained

maphrian The Maphrian ( or ''maphryono''), is the second-highest rank in the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the Syriac Orthodox Church, right below that of patriarch. The office of a maphrian is a maphrianate. There have been three maphrianates in the hist ...

by John XII upon which he took the name Ignatius and was maphrian for seven years before being consecrated patriarch in 1222, which was also the year he ordained Mor Dionysius Sleeba as maphrian. A diplomatic mission carried out by David and the Armenian Catholicos Constantine I of Cilicia in 1225 attempted to end hostilities between Isabella, Queen of Armenia and the usurper

Constantine of Baberon Constantine of Baberon (; died ) was a powerful Armenian noble of the Het‛umid family. He was the son of Vassag and the father of Hethum I, King of Armenia, King Het‛um I, who ruled the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia from 1226 to 1270. Constant ...

. In 1232, David ordained the future patriarch John V bar Maʿdani as maphrian. The former maphrian, Ignatius Sleeba III of Edessa, after having retired and became a physician, is known to have treated David, who suffered from gout. During David's tenure as patriarch, a dispute arose between the Syriac Orthodox Church and

Pope Cyril III of Alexandria Cyril III, known as Cyril ibn Laqlaq (), was the 75th Coptic Orthodox Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria. His episcopate lasted seven years, eight months, and 23 days from Sunday, 17 June 1235 (23 Paoni 951 A.M.) to Tuesday, 10 March 1243 (14 Ba ...

of the

Coptic Orthodox Church The Coptic Orthodox Church (), also known as the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, is an Oriental Orthodox Christian church based in Egypt. The head of the church and the See of Alexandria is the pope of Alexandria on the Holy Apo ...

, who, in 1237, had taken advantage of the military strength of the

Ayyubid Sultanate The Ayyubid dynasty (), also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egyp ...

to appoint a Coptic bishop of Jerusalem. The new bishop was granted jurisdiction over Ayyubid and crusader territories in Syria and Palestine, an area traditionally within the jurisdiction of the Syriac Orthodox Church and thus created friction between the churches. Simultaneously, David was approached by an Ethiopian faction within the Coptic Orthodox Church and asked to ordain an Ethiopian as an

abuna Abuna (or Abune, which is the status constructus form used when a name follows: Ge'ez አቡነ ''abuna''/''abune'', 'our father'; Amharic and Tigrinya) is the honorific title used for any bishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church as w ...

, the head of the church in Ethiopia. He discussed the issue with the newly arrived

Dominicans Dominicans () also known as Quisqueyans () are an ethnic group, ethno-nationality, national people, a people of shared ancestry and culture, who have ancestral roots in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican ethnic group was born out of a fusio ...

who offered to mediate the dispute and forbade the appointment of an abuna, however, David spurned the Dominicans' offer and ordained a new abuna. Upon hearing of the appointment of a new abuna, the Dominicans incited the Templar and Hospitaller knights to meet with David and demand an explanation. This was a very rare incident between the two churches as in general their relationship is one of the strongest between any two churches. In the closing years of his tenure as patriarch, David entered a quarrel with the metropolitan bishop Dionysius Angur of Melitene.

Sources

References

{{authority control Syriac Orthodox Patriarchs of Antioch 13th-century Syriac Orthodox Church bishops Syrian archbishops 1252 deaths 13th-century Oriental Orthodox archbishops Maphrians

Biography

See also

Sources

References