Maruthas or Marutha of Martyropolis was a Syriac monk who became

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

"The Armenian Life of Marutha of Maipherkat", Ralph Marcus, ''The Harvard Theological Review'', Vol. 25, No. 1 (Jan., 1932), 47. of Maypherkat in

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

( Meiafarakin)"The Armenian Life of Marutha of Maipherkat", Ralph Marcus, ''The Harvard Theological Review'', 50. for a period beginning before 399 up to around 410. He is believed to have died before 420. He is venerated as a saint in the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Greek Orthodox Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly the rite used in the Eastern Rom ...

and

Oriental Orthodox The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysitism, Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 50 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches adhere to the Nicene Christian ...

Churches, his feast being kept on 4 December. He brought into his episcopal city the relics of so many martyrs that it received the Greek moniker ''Martyropolis''. During his tenure as bishop he was a friend of Byzantine churchman

John Chrysostom John Chrysostom (; ; – 14 September 407) was an important Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and p ...

. Moreover, it was through this political connections he was able to act as an envoy and ambassador between the East Roman Emperor and the Persian Emperor. In the interests of the Church of

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 ...

, which had suffered much in the persecution of

Shapur II Shapur II ( , 309–379), also known as Shapur the Great, was the tenth King of Kings (List of monarchs of the Sasanian Empire, Shahanshah) of Sasanian Iran. He took the title at birth and held it until his death at age 70, making him the List ...

, he came to

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, but found Emperor

Arcadius Arcadius ( ; 377 – 1 May 408) was Roman emperor from 383 to his death in 408. He was the eldest son of the ''Augustus'' Theodosius I () and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla, and the brother of Honorius (). Arcadius ruled the eastern half of ...

too busily engaged in the affairs about the exile of St. John Chrysostom. Later Maruthas was sent by Emperor

Theodosius II Theodosius II ( ; 10 April 401 – 28 July 450), called "the Calligraphy, Calligrapher", was Roman emperor from 402 to 450. He was proclaimed ''Augustus (title), Augustus'' as an infant and ruled as the Eastern Empire's sole emperor after the ...

to the court of Persia, where, notwithstanding the

Magi Magi (), or magus (), is the term for priests in Zoroastrianism and earlier Iranian religions. The earliest known use of the word ''magi'' is in the trilingual inscription written by Darius the Great, known as the Behistun Inscription. Old Per ...

, he won the esteem of King Yazdegerd I of Persia by his affability, saintly life, and, as is claimed, by his knowledge of medicine. Marutha therefore managed to negotiate a peace between the two empires. He was present at the general

First Council of Constantinople The First Council of Constantinople (; ) was a council of Christian bishops convened in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) in AD 381 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius I. This second ecumenical council, an effort to attain consensus in the ...

in 381 and at a Council of

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; , ) "Antioch on Daphne"; or "Antioch the Great"; ; ; ; ; ; ; . was a Hellenistic Greek city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. One of the most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic period, it served as ...

in 383 (or 390), at which the Messalians were condemned. For the benefit of the Persian Church he is said to have held two synods at

Ctesiphon Ctesiphon ( ; , ''Tyspwn'' or ''Tysfwn''; ; , ; Thomas A. Carlson et al., “Ctesiphon — ܩܛܝܣܦܘܢ ” in The Syriac Gazetteer last modified July 28, 2014, http://syriaca.org/place/58.) was an ancient city in modern Iraq, on the eastern ba ...

. A great organizer, he was one of the first to give a regular structure to the church, helped in his mission by the

catholicos A catholicos (plural: catholicoi) is the head of certain churches in some Eastern Christian traditions. The title implies autocephaly and, in some cases, it is the title of the head of an autonomous church. The word comes from ancient Greek ( ...

Isaac. His writings include: *''Acts of the Persian Martyrs'' (these acts remember the victims of the persecution of Shapur II and Yazdegerd I)"The Armenian Life of Marutha of Maipherkat", Ralph Marcus, ''The Harvard Theological Review'', 47-48. *''History of the Council of Nicaea'' *A translation in Syriac of the canons of the Council of Nicaea *A Syrian liturgy, or anaphora *Commentaries on the Gospels *''Acts of the Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon'' He also wrote hymns on the Holy Eucharist, on the Cross, and on saints killed in Shapur's persecution.

Notes

References

Maruthas
from the ''

Catholic Encyclopedia ''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...

'' (1915) * De Lacy O'Leary, ''The Syriac Church and Fathers'' (2002) * Smith, William & Wace, Henry (editors); ''A dictionary of christian biography, literature, sects and doctrine'', "Maruthas (1)", (1877). * Moffett, Samuel Hugh. ''A History of Christianity in Asia'', (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1998) p. 154-155 {{Authority control 4th-century births 420 deaths 5th-century Mesopotamian bishops 4th-century Mesopotamian bishops Persian saints Syrian Christian saints 5th-century Christian saints 5th-century Byzantine writers Martyropolis Roman–Iranian relations People from Diyarbakır Province