Ishodad of Merv
medieval bishop and theologian of the Church of the East
Mar Ishodad of Merv (Classical Syriac: ܡܵܪܼܝ ܝܼܫܘܿܥܕܵܕ ܡܲܪܘܼܙܵܝܵܐ, romanized: Māri Ishoʿdāḏ Maruzāyā; fl. AD 850) was an Assyrian Christian prelate who served as Bishop of Hdatta during the Abbasid Caliphate. He was a prominent theologian of the Church of the East, best known for his Commentaries, which covered the Syriac Bible.
Life
Very little is known of Ishoʿdad's life, but a few details have survived in annotations to the list of patriarchs compiled by Mari ibn Suleiman and Amr ibn Matta. His epithet "of Merv" may denote a birthplace, meaning that he was born in the city of Merv in Khorasan, but this inference remains conjectural: his relationship to Merv is not known with certainty. A member of the Church of the East—historically, though inaccurately, known as the Nestorian church—he became bishop of Hdatta, a town close to the mouth of the Great Zab in modern Iraq, perhaps in 837 after Abraham II of Seleucia-Ctesiphon left the see to become Patriarch of the Church of the East.
Ishodad was a candidate for the patriarchate of the Church of the East around 853 after Abraham's death. At the time the patriarchate was subject to the Abbasid Caliphate, and after two failed attempts to select a new patriarch, a secretary of the reigning caliph al-Mutawakkil, Ibrahim ibn Nuh al-Anbari, recommended Ishodad for the position. al-Mutawakkil, however, opted for the candidate of Vizier Bukhtishu, Theodosius of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, and Ishoʿdad remained at Hdatta in opposition to the new patriarch. He died shortly afterwards.
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