After the lapse of twenty-two years, Abrahâm, a kinsman of James, the brother of our Lord, was appointed to succeed Abrees, and ruled over the Church in the East from a.d. 130 to a.d. 152. During his supremacy, the Christians were sorely persecuted by the Persian king, who was instigated thereto by the Magians. His successor was Yaakoob [James], who also was of the kindred of Mary, the Blessed Virgin. Previous to his death, he gave direction that two of his disciples, Kam-Yeshua and Aha d'Abhooi, should go to Antioch, in order that one of them might be consecrated Patriarch there. They accordingly went, but were seized as spies of the King of Persia, who condemned them, together with Saleeba, the Patriarch of Antioch, to be crucified before the church in that city. Aha d'Abhooi, however, escaped to Jerusalem, and was consecrated there by Mattiâs, the occupant of that See, in the church of the Resurrection. He reached Ctesiphon a.d. 205, and presided over the Christians of the east for fifteen years.
After another Patriarch had been set over Antioch, it was agreed upon by the Patriarchs of the four great Sees, that the Eastern Patriarch elect should not again come to Antioch to be consecrated, but that the Metropolitans, Bishops, elders, and faithful, should choose him who was to fill the See, and ordain him thereunto in the church at Ctesiphon.11 The subjoined is a translation of the Epistle[1] which was written on this subject by the four Western Patriarchs, who occupied the four great Sees, to the Eastern Church:—
"To the brotherhood in Christ our Lord, Who is the Saviour of men, the Restorer of the primeval fall, and the Receiver of repentant sinners:—to the members of Christianity dwelling in the East:—From your brethren in the faith, and ribs with them in the degree [of the Priesthood], and their associates in prayer—the company of the afflicted shepherds to
- ↑ Of this Epistle Mar Abd-Yeshua writes: "In the days of Papa a letter was written by the Westerns raising this Eastern See into a Patriarchate. The letter was sent with all honour by the hands of Agepta of Elam." See Vol. II. App. A. Part 4. There is a discrepancy in the date of the document as given by Sleewa ibn Yohanna and the author just quoted, the former referring it to the time when Aha d'Abhooi was Patriarch, about a.d. 205, and the latter to the Patriarchate of Papa, about forty years later.
