Pawlos of Nisibis (d. 573) [Ch. of E.]

Theologian, biblical commentator, and bp. of Nisibis, for which position he was selected in 544 by Cath. Mar Aba, his former teacher.

Theologian, biblical commentator, and bp. of Nisibis , for which position he was selected in 544 by Cath. Mar Aba , his former teacher. As metropolitan bp. of Nisibis, Pawlos attended the Synod convened by Cath. Yawsep in 554 and signed the acts. He played an important role in the deposition of Yawsep, probably in 567, and, according to the Chronicle of Siirt , he had to cope with problems arising in the School of Nisibis, involving the newly arrived teacher Ḥenana of Adiabene . In the war between the Byzantine and Persian Empires, which broke out in 572, Pawlos is said to have supported Byzantine efforts to reconquer the city of Nisibis. When this failed, his death saved him from deposition and further humiliation.

Soon after 561, the Persian emperor Khusrau sent Pawlos, along with some other E.-Syr. theologians, to Constantinople. Of the official theological discussion, arranged by the emperor Justinian, Pawlos wrote a report that is preserved in a W.-Syr. ms. of Monothelete provenance. It was published and studied by Guillaumont, who argued that in this text the concept of the two hypostases (qnome) in Christ is mentioned for the first time. This concept was later generally accepted in E.-Syr. Christology.

ʿAbdishoʿ of Nisibis , in his ‘Catalogue’ (no. 65), presents Pawlos as the author of a biblical commentary. While this has not been preserved in direct transmission, a few fragments are incorporated into later E.-Syr. biblical commentaries.