Mar Mar, mar or MAR may refer to: Culture * Mar or Mor, an honorific in Syriac * Earl of Mar, an earldom in Scotland * MAA (singer) (born 1986), Japanese * Marathi language, by ISO 639-2 language code * March, as an abbreviation for the third ...

II (sometimes written Shimun II) was the

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 Catholic ...

from 1385 until 1405. He succeeded

Denha II Mar Denha II (also written Dinkha II) was patriarch of the Church of the East from 1336/7 to 1381/2. Although no history of his reign has survived, references in a number of Nestorian, Jacobite and Moslem sources provide some details of his patri ...

, who died in 1381/2, and his reign corresponds to the beginning of a period of obscurity in the Church of the East and the patriarchal succession. He is mentioned in one near-contemporary list of patriarchs in a 15th-century manuscript copy of the ''

Book of the Bee __NOTOC__ The ''Book of the Bee'' ( syr, ܟܬܒܐ ܕܕܒܘܪܝܬܐ / Ktābā d-debboritā) is a historiographic and theological compilation, containing numerous Biblical stories. It was written around 1222, by Solomon of Akhlat, who was Bishop of ...

''. He is listed between Denha II and Eliya IV, and the copy was produced in the time of Eliya's successor,

Shemʿon III Mar Shemon III was the patriarch of the Church of the East in the early 15th century. There is uncertainty over his existence, his dates and his place in the order of patriarchs. Traditionally, Shemʿon III is listed between patriarchs Shemʿon I ...

. The traditional listing makes Shemʿon III the successor of Shemʿon II and predecessor of Eliya IV, but the contemporary source is preferred. Shemʿon II probably selected his name in honour of the 4th-century patriarch Shemʿon bar Sabbaʿe, a victim of the

Forty Years' Persecution 40 (forty) is the natural number following 39 and preceding 41. Though the word is related to "four" (4), the spelling "forty" replaced "fourty" in the course of the 17th century and is now the standard form. In mathematics *Forty is a compo ...

. Possibly he foresaw a similar period of persecution. His choice of name became very common thereafter. In view of the upheavals in Iraq in his time, it is unlikely that he was consecrated in

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesipho ...

. Probably he was consecrated and resided in a monastery in northern Iraq. His reign fell in a period of intense persecution of Christians under the

Timurid Empire The Timurid Empire ( chg, , fa, ), self-designated as Gurkani ( Chagatai: کورگن, ''Küregen''; fa, , ''Gūrkāniyān''), was a PersianateB.F. Manz, ''"Tīmūr Lang"'', in Encyclopaedia of Islam, Online Edition, 2006 Turco-Mongol empir ...

. The 1390s saw a "flight to the mountains", as Nestorians took refuge from the upheavals in the region of

Hakkari Hakkari or Hakkâri may refer to: *Hakkari (historical region), a historical region in modern-day Turkey and Iraq *Hakkâri (city), a city and the capital of Hakkâri Province, Turkey *Hakkâri Province, a province in southeast Turkey *Hakkari (el ...

in northern Iraq. In 1401,

Pope Boniface IX Pope Boniface IX ( la, Bonifatius IX; it, Bonifacio IX; c. 1350 – 1 October 1404, born Pietro Tomacelli) was head of the Catholic Church from 2 November 1389 to his death in October 1404. He was the second Roman pope of the Western Schism.Rich ...

granted an indulgence to

Greek Orthodox The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also call ...

and Nestorian Christians who sheltered

Latins The Latins were originally an Italic tribe in ancient central Italy from Latium. As Roman power and colonization spread Latin culture during the Roman Republic. Latins culturally "Romanized" or "Latinized" the rest of Italy, and the word Latin ...

fleeing the Timurids.

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * {{Patriarchs of the Church of the East 14th-century bishops of the Church of the East 15th-century bishops of the Church of the East Patriarchs of the Church of the East