Iraq after the Muslim Conquest - Michael G. Morony

RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES

Legend:

BETH ARBHAYE 1UI.roN :~!?,~~: BiMoprie

~ rM'Ilopo/ilan See

TAKRIT :'~!:~.SITE:

Cilia! and tOWI"l$

2.000·h labovestll cantour ..... 1i line

Fig. 7. Christian Bishoprics

THEAItABS

... 4"

CHRISTIAN BISHOPRICS

Approximate scale:

;:0 =:2~O==~ll"';:;::::::;'!:,:;O go ,60 Kilometers Miles

44' .,. 44' 47'

surprising, then, to find the image of the head and the body used to

justify the authority of the catholicos,19 or the symbolism of shepherd

and sheep to describe the lower clergy.20 Nestorian patriarchs also

adopted Sasanian-style hierarchic titles patterned after the King of

Kings or Mobadhiin-mobadh. As early as 484, Bar Sawma addressed

the patriarch Mar Acacius as "Father of Fathers,"21 and sixth-century

patriarchs called themselves "Father of Fathers," "Shepherd of Shep-

19 Ibid., pp. 160, 420.

20 Ibid., pp. 96, 97, 106, 353, 355, 363. Priests are called the physicians of souls

(ibid., pp. 174,434).

21 Ibid., pp. 527, 534.