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Ishocyahb III of Adiabene’s Letters
to the Qataris

Mario Kozaii
American University of Beirut

Introduction
Ishc/yahb III of Adiabene (d. 659) was Patriarch of the Church of
the East from 649 to 659. He was Hie son of Bastomag of Kuplana
(on the Greater Zab river) in Adiabene, a wealthy and prominent
landowner. Ishocyalib became a monk in the nearby monastery of
Beth cAbe, then pursued his education at die School of Nisibis, and
was appointed bishop of Nineveh in c. 627. Approximately ten
years after this appointment he was raised to metropolitan of
Arbela, then in 649 he was elevated to become Catholicos. During
his patriarchate Isho^ahb III undertook important liturgical
reforms and wrote a number of tracts, sermons, and hymns in
addition to a Lafe of lsboc$abran. It is, however, his extensive
collection of 106 letters which arc today the subject of greatest
scholarly attention since they provide a very valuable glimpse into
the life of the Church of the East during a critical period in its
history and of the Middle East with the rise of Islam. These letters
arc divided into three groups in the manuscripts: 52 letters written
while he was bishop of Nineveh, 32 letters written during the time
he was metropolitan of Arbela, and 22 belong to the time he held
the office of Catholicos.
It is during this final period of his life that Ishocyahb III wrote
five letters (letters 17—21) to the Christian inhabitants, monks and
bishops of Beth Qafrayc. These five letters reveal a great deal of
toponymic, historical and ecclesiastical information about the Beth
Qafrayc region where the local church ended up in dispute with the
Catholicos. Ishocyahb Ill’s letters to its members fully describe the

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