Eliya I of Ṭirhan (d. 1049) [Ch. of E.]

Bp. of Ṭirhan, cath. , author of an important work on Syriac grammar.

Bp. of Ṭirhan; cath. , author. After having been bp. of Tirhan, Eliya was consecrated cath. in 1028. Prior to becoming bp. he wrote his influential Syriac grammar, aimed at students accustomed to the system of grammars of Arabic. He also may be the author of three treatises on accents and diacritics. As cath. he ordered the introduction of some new liturgical practices, such as the Service of the Genuflection (Syām burkā) on Pentecost. He most likely is responsible for the final redaction of the great E.-Syr. Synodicon, and he issued several canons in the field of hereditary law, possibly written in Arabic and translated into Syriac. Ṣalībā b. Yuḥannā, the compiler of the theological encyclopedia Asfār al-asrār, attributes to him a theological handbook in Arabic (Kitāb uṣūl al-dīn), which, however, on the basis of internal criticism, must be the work of a later author.