The Council of Mar ‘Ishaq (AD 410)
Key Facts:
| Date | 410 |
| Location | Seleucia-Ctesiphon |
| Summoned by |
Yazdgard I |
| Chaired by | Mar ‘Ishaq [Isaac] , bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon |
| Number of Participants |
40 |
| Key Participants |
Bishop Mar ‘Ishaq, Bishop Mar Marutha (representative of the West) |
| Purpose | To unify and organize the Persian church after a period of persecution |
| Key Events |
The council accepts the letter from the Western Church that instructs them to 1) permit only one bishop in a geographical area, 2) celebrate liturgical feasts together on the same day, and 3) adopt the decisions of the Council of Nicaea (325) ; bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon made patriarch/catholicos of the East (i.e, the Persian church). |
Surviving Documents:
Description and Canons as found in Synodicon Orientale for 410. Syriac Text: Chabot, Synodicon Orientale, pp. 17-36. French: Chabot,Synodicon Orientale, pp. 253-75. English: M.J. Birnie, The Synod of Mar ‘Ishaq.
Bibliography
M.J. Birnie, The Synod of Mar ‘Ishaq AD 410 (unpublished).
Wilhelm Baum and Dietmar W. Winkler, The Church of the East: A Concise History, (London: Routledge, 2003), pp. 14-17.
Ehsan Yar Shater, The Cambridge History of Iran, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp. 939-40.
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