Mar Youhannan Semaan Issayi (1914 -یوحنا سمعان عیسائی) ;1999)) was the Metropolitan Archbishop of Tehran of the

Chaldean Catholics The Chaldean Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic particular church ('' sui iuris'') in full communion with the Holy See and the rest of the Catholic Church, and is headed by the Chaldean Patriarchate. Employing in its liturgy the East Syri ...

from March 16, 1971, until his death on February 7, 1999. He was born in

Sanandaj Sanandaj (; ) is a city in the Central District of Sanandaj County, in the Kurdistan province of Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. With a population of 414,069, it is the second largest Kurdish city a ...

سنندج, Kurdistan

Iran 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 June 27, 1914, and ordained priest on March 3, 1940, and

consecrated Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

bishop on, October 22, 1967, in Iran.

Additional titles

Coadjutor Archbishop The term "coadjutor" (literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coadjutor bishop ...

of Sehna of the Chaldeans (

): (September 1, 1967 – March 7, 1970) *

Titular Titular may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Title character in a narrative work, the character referred to in its title Religion * Titular (Catholicism), a cardinal who holds a titulus, one of the main churches of Rome ** Titular bisho ...

Archbishop of

Hieropolis Hierapolis /ˌhaɪəˈræpəlɪs/ ( ''Ierapolis'') or Hieropolis (Ιερόπολις) was a town of the Phrygian Pentapolis in ancient Phrygia, inhabited during Roman and Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empir ...

: (September 1, 1967 – March 7, 1970) *Metropolitan Archbishop of Sehna of the Chaldeans (Iran): (March 7, 1970 – March 16, 1971.

Education

His Excellency attended the Chaldean Seminary in Mosul for the formation and left for Rome in 1933. He attended the

Pontifical Urbaniana University The Pontifical Urban University, also called the ''Urbaniana'' after its names in both Latin and Italian, is a pontifical university that was under the authority of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. The university's mission is to ...

, where he earned a master's degree in both philosophy and theology. He then pursued doctoral studies and obtained his Ph.D. During his academic career, he mastered 8 languages: the classic Syriac, Colloquial Syriac (Modern Assyrian), Persian, Arabic, English, French, Italian, Latin, and Kurdish.

Priesthood life

He was ordained as a priest in 1940 and elevated to the rank of Archbishop on October 22, 1967. His excellency Metropolitan Mar Youhannan

Semaan Semaan ( ), also spelled Sem'an, Semán, Simaan, Sim'an, Samaan, Sam'an, or Sima'an, is a masculine given name mainly found in the Levant of West Asia. It can also be used as a surname. The name is derived from the Semitic root word/verb ''sema'' ...

Issayi for more than half-century dedicated his life and earnestly served the Assyro-Chaldean Catholic Congregation at

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

Hamadan Hamadan ( ; , ) is a mountainous city in western Iran. It is located in the Central District of Hamadan County in Hamadan province, serving as the capital of the province, county, and district. As of the 2016 Iranian census, it had a po ...

Kermanshah Kermanshah is a city in the Central District (Kermanshah County), Central District of Kermanshah province, Kermanshah province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. The city is from Tehran in the western pa ...

Qazvin Qazvin (; ; ) is a city in the Central District (Qazvin County), Central District of Qazvin County, Qazvin province, Qazvin province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is the largest city in the provi ...

, and

. He supervised several construction projects of the churches, schools, and other charity institutions affiliated to the Assyro-Chaldean Catholic Church at Tehran Diocese.

Writer and translator

Translation of Eastern Rite Mass book from Aramaic into Modern Colloquial Syriac. A writer of extensively religious or Historic issues in modern Assyrian including an unpublished comprehensive Syriac Dictionary. The writer of different religious books for Assyro-Chaldean students from elementary to high school levels. Mar Youhannan was editor of the church's periodicals named Marga and Payam published in Persian and modern Assyro-Chaldean. Mar Youhannan published a poetry book devoted to the Virgin Mary and besides of his clergy services, he was a professor of Aramaic and Assyrian language.

Hymnist

Mar Youhannan composed many Assyro-Chaldean hymns (music & lyric) for the Christmas Mass, Good Friday, and Easter Mass. These hymns were harmonized in polyphonic by Maestro

Paulus Khofri Paulus Khofri (, ; 7 August 1923 – May 2000) was an Assyrian composer, lyricist and painter. Biography Khofri was born on 7 August 1923 in Baghdad, Mandatory Iraq. His father, Jibrael Khofri, and his mother Victoria, were of Assyrian desc ...

and performed by the Saint Joseph's Church Choir of Tehran and other church choirs worldwide.

External links

*http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bissayi.html *https://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/diocese/tehr0.htm#10223 *http://banipal.org/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=127 Iranian bishops Chaldean Catholic archbishops Iranian Eastern Catholics People from Sanandaj Religious leaders from Tehran 1914 births 1999 deaths Iranian Assyrian people Chaldean Catholics {{ChaldeanCatholic-bishop-stub