Yuḥanon of Mardin (d. 1165) [Syr. Orth.]

Metropolitan of Mardin, author, and restorer of churches.

Metropolitan of Mardin , author, and restorer of churches. He became a monk on the mountain of Edessa , and from there went to Mardin where he was greatly impressed by the buildings of Mor Ḥnonyo Monastery, despite their state of decay. After 1124/5, when he was appointed metropolitan of Mardin and the surrounding region, he was in a position to carry out restorations both there and in local village churches and monasteries (a list is given), and to encourage the revival of the monastic life. He is also said to have written (or sponsored) four illuminated Gospel lectionaries.

A number of biographical (and autobiographical) notices are incorporated into the W.-Syr. ‘Synodicon’, prefacing his Canons for the Monastery of Mor Ḥnonyo ( Dayr al-Zaʿfarān ) and some further canons. His liturgical works, on the ‘oil of anointing’ and the myron are preserved in ms. Sharfeh 4/1 (12th cent.; de Vries, 8). His lost work on the calamities that befell Edessa (captured by Zangī in 1144), claiming that they had nothing to do with the will of God, was refuted by Dionysios bar Ṣalibi . Yuḥanon is the subject of a panegyric (unpublished) by Michael Rabo .