CHRISTIANSJacobites at Haditha were expelled by Titiis in about 590, for which
he was made bishop by Isho 'yahbh I. They were also expelled from
the church of Balad by Isho'yahbh of Gadala in the second decade
of the seventh century. On the other side, the Monophysites, with the
aid of Gabriel of Sinjar, expelled the Nestorians from the monasteries
of Mar Pethion, of ShlrIn near Hulwan, and others.^169
During this conflict, Mariitha emerged as a leader of the Mono-
physites comparable to Babai the Great at Mt. Izla. In about 615 he
took over the direction of the monastery founded by Shirln for Nes-
torians near the palace in Mada'in. The monastery had later become
Jacobite but the Jacobite metropolitan, Samuel (614-24) had allowed
the Nestorians to continue to receive communion there. Mariitha re-
formed the monastery, ended this "abuse," and reformed the "illegal
promiscuities" there.^170
The death of Gabriel ended Monophysite patronage at court. Until
the end of the reign of Khusraw Parvlz in 628, the Monophysites were
persecuted and monasteries near the royal court were destroyed.l71
Mariitha fled from Takrit with a fellow monk, Mar Al:ta, and the two
took refuge in the cells of Rabban Shabiir near 'Aqola (Kufa), where
they remained until Parvlz died.172
The end of the Byzantine-Persian war and the death of Parvlz made
it possible for the Monophysites of Sasanian Iraq to establish formal
ties with the Jacobite Church in the West. In 629 a delegation of five
clerics-the metropolitan of Mar Matta, the bishops of Sinjar, Beth
Nuhadhra, Beth Ramman, and Shahrzur-and three monks-Marii-
tha, Aitalaha, and Al:ta-went from Mar Matta to Antioch, where
they concluded a formal union with the Jacobite patriarch Athanasius.
After their return to Mar Matta, they held a synod with the approval
of Athanasius in which the jurisdiction of the metropolitan of Mar
Matta was limited to the diocese of Nineveh, and Mariitha was elected
grand metropolitan of the East with his see at Takrit and with the
169 Guidi, Chronica Minora I, 1,22; H, 20; Scher, "Histoire nestorienne," H(2), 473,
538-39,554-55. The people at Balad were called Arians, but there are other instances
in which Monophysites were called Arians by Nestorians as a term of abuse (Bra un,
Persischer Miirtyrer, p. 192; Chabot, Synodicon, p. 628). For other examples of this
conflict, see Budge, Rabban H6rmizd, I, 186; JI, 282; Chabot, "Jesus-Sabran," p. 498;
Fiey, Assyrie chretienne, H, 441-42, 769.
170 Nau, "Aboudemmeh," pp. 54, 75.
17\ Ibid., p. 56. It is entirely possible that the church and monastery of St. Sergius
outside Mada'in was destroyed at this time and not during the conquest.
172 Ibid., pp. 54, 56, 78.