Shemʿun II, Basileios (ca. 1670–1740) [Syr. Orth.]

Writer, maph. of Ṭur ʿAbdin (1710–40), and martyr.

Writer, maph. of Ṭur ʿAbdin (1710–40), and martyr. He was born in Beth Manʿem ca. 1670 to Malke b. Ayyub and Saydeh. He became a monk ca. 1690 and visited Dayro d-Mor Matay in 1695. Shortly after, he was ordained a priest and became a ḥbišoyo ‘recluse’ at Dayro d-Mor Yaʿqub near Dayr al-Zaʿfarān . He was consecrated maph. for Ṭur ʿAbdin in 1710 by Patr. Isḥoq ʿAzar at the church of Mor Thoma in Qaṭrabil near Amid . The following year, however, Shemʿun temporarily retired from the responsibilities of the maphrianate without abdicating, preferring the life of a ḥbišoyo at Dayro d-Mor Yaʿqub. In 1725, he brought about a reconciliation between the Patriarchate of Ṭur ʿAbdin, upon the death of its Patr. Ignatius Denḥo, with the mainstream Patriarchate in Mardin , a union which lasted for 15 years. He returned to actively administer the maphrianate in 1727.

Shemʿun was tortured then killed on 6 Apr. 1740 by ʿAbdal Agha, a local Kurdish warlord, for refusing to grant a matrimonial permission for the Agha’s Syr. Orth. servant who wished to marry a close cousin, an act prohibited by the canon law of the time. Shemʿun is particularly known for a Kurdish song, Lawij ‘lyrical song’, which he is said to have recited during an audience with the Kurdish Amir of Jazireh, Muḥammad al-Bakhti, during the time when ʿAbdal Agha was trying to get Shemʿun killed.

His literary works include: 1. A book on religion and theology (ms. Syr. Orth. Patr. Libr.); 2. A book on the Sacraments, Markabat al-asrār (lost); 3. Another theological book, Ṣilāḥ̣ al-dīn wa-turs al-yaqīn (ms.); 4. A collection of sermons (ms.); 5. A collection of poems and memre (a few ed. by Çiçek); 6. An abridged dictionary based on that of Bar Bahlul (ms.); 7. A commentary on the Lord’s Prayer (ed. Çiçek, 1998).