Barṣawmo Ṣafī, Grigorios (d. 1307/8) [Syr. Orth.]

Younger brother of Grigorios Abū al-Faraj bar ʿEbroyo and his successor as Maphrian (1288-1307/8).

Younger brother of Grigorios Abū al-Faraj Bar ʿEbroyo and his successor as maphrian (1288–1307/8). Almost all we know about Barṣawmo comes from his elder brother’s Ecclesiastical History, or, rather, from the continuations of that work, parts of which were composed by Barṣawmo himself. Some details not mentioned there, such as Barṣawmo’s role in the continuation of the building work at the Monastery of Bar Nagore in Barṭelle and the construction of an aqueduct at Dayro d-Mor Matay , can be supplied from an incompletely preserved metrical biography, composed as a sequel to the biography of the elder Bar ʿEbroyo by Diosqoros of Gozarto . Barṣawmo was no doubt in the company of his elder brother for most of the time during the latter’s maphrianate and was with him when he died in Maragha in 1286. Barṣawmo was consecrated Maph. of the East two years later on 3 July 1288, taking the episcopal name of ‘Gregory’ in remembrance of his brother, and ruled over his flock in a time of increasing political instability and persecutions for the Christians. Barṣawmo died in Barṭelle in 1307/8, and was entombed in Dayro d-Mor Matay alongside his brother. Besides the continuations of his brother’s historical works, Barsoum ascribes to Barṣawmo an abridgement of the Anaphora of St. John the Evangelist.

See Fig. 20.