Yuḥanon of Tella (in some mss.) [Syr. Orth.]

Bp. of Tella (d-Mawzlat) 519–21 and miaphysite leader.

Bp. of Tella (d-Mawzlat) 519–21. Born 482 in Kallinikos in the province Osrhoene, he received a good education and was fluent in both Syriac and Greek. In 507 he joined the monastic community of Mar Zakkay in Kallinikos and was ordained (among others by Yaʿqub of Serugh ) bp. of Tella in (Nov.–Dec.?) 519. As Miaphysite bp. he was exiled in 521/2, and lived in hiding around Mardin and in Persia. In exile he ordained thousands of deacons and priests, and thereby established a Miaphysite church hierarchy which became the foundation of the Syr. Orth. Church. In 532/3 he attended a discussion of faith with Chalcedonian bishops in Constantinople. For building an underground church, he was persecuted after 536, caught in the mountains around Shighar in Persia in early Feb. 537 and brought to Antioch where he died 6 Febr. 538.

He is remembered in two Lives, one by Eliya (CSCO 7–8, 31–95 [23–60]) and one by Yuḥanon of Ephesus (PO 18, 513–26). His own works show him as a reform bp. involved in the ecclesiastical and christological controversies of his days and include Canons for priests and deacons, questions and answers (especially concerning the Eucharist), a commentary on the Trisagion, and a profession of faith.