John VII Sarigta (Yōḥannān Sərīğteh) was the

Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch The Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East ( Syriac: ܦܛܪܝܪܟܐ ܕܐܢܛܝܘܟܝܐ ܘܕܟܠܗ̇ ܡܕܢܚܐ ''Paṭriarḵo ḏ-Anṭiuḵia waḏ-kuloh madnho'') is the Bishop of Antioch, and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church ...

, 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 965 until his death in 985.

Biography

John was elected Syriac Orthodox Patriarch on 9 July 965. Between then and 968, he received an invitation (likely in form of a

chrysobull A golden bull or chrysobull was a decree issued by Byzantine emperors and monarchs in Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Description A golden bull was a decree issued by Byzantine Emperors. It was later used by monarchs in Europe ...

, which has not survived) from the Byzantine emperor

Nikephoros II Phokas Nikephoros II Phokas (; – 11 December 969), Latinized Nicephorus II Phocas, was Byzantine emperor from 963 to 969. His career, not uniformly successful in matters of statecraft or of war, nonetheless greatly contributed to the resurgence of t ...

to move with his fellow Syriacs to the newly reconquered territories around Melitene in order to repopulate the region. In return, Nikephoros promised to grant them religious freedom and protection from the Byzantine state church. John, taking the emperor at his word, decided to do so and started building the

monastery of Bārid The Monastery of Bārid (; ) was a Syriac Orthodox monastery near Kahramanmaraş in Turkey. It produced one patriarch, one maphrian, and eighteen bishops and metropolitan bishops. Etymology The name of the monastery seems to go back to the stre ...

close to Melitene in 968, which became the seat of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch. Nevertheless, under pressure from the pugnacious Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople, Polyeuctos, Nikephoros invited John Sarigta for theological disputations to the capital. John started his journey in winter 969 took with him six companions, including the Syriac bishops of

Apamea Apamea or Apameia () is the name of several Hellenistic cities in western Asia, after Apama, the Sogdian wife of Seleucus I Nicator, several of which are also former bishoprics and Catholic titular see. Places called Apamea include: Asia Minor ...

Tzamandos Tzamandos () was a medieval fortress in Anatolia and is today situated in a neighbourhood of Pınarbaşı, Kayseri. It was constructed in 908 by the Byzantine-Armenian general Melias and was a Byzantine and continued as a minor settlement until th ...

, Zubatra and Germanicea. In Constantinople, John and his companions were detained and only set free after the death of Nikephoros II and Polyeuctos by Nikephoros' successor

John I Tzimiskes John I Tzimiskes (; 925 – 10 January 976) was the senior Byzantine emperor from 969 to 976. An intuitive and successful general who married into the influential Skleros family, he strengthened and expanded the Byzantine Empire to inclu ...

in early 970. Upon return, John lived again in Barid which he continued to expand and where he was buried upon his death in 985.

References

Bibliography

* * {{cite book , last1=Vest , first1=Bernd Andreas , title=Geschichte der Stadt Melitene und der umliegenden Gebiete: vom Vorabend der arabischen bis zum Abschluss der türkischen Eroberung (um 600-1124) , date=2007 , publisher=Dr. Kovač , isbn=978-3-8300-2575-7, language=de Syriac Orthodox Patriarchs of Antioch 985 deaths 10th-century Oriental Orthodox archbishops Prisoners and detainees of the Byzantine Empire