CHRISTIANSophysites.^158 By the end of the sixth century, the Monophysite pop-
ulation in Iraq was composed mainly of native Aramaeans, former
Magian Persians, and former pagan Arabs.
By the end of the fifth century, Monophysite monks who followed
Severus of Antioch had occupied the monastery of Qartemin on Mt.
Izla. The first expulsion of Monophysite monks from Amid in 521
coincided with the deposition of John bar Cursus from his see as bishop
of Tella (Constantine). After attending the ecumenical council in 533
at Constantinople, John retired to Mt. Sinjar across the Sasanian bor-
der, where he propagated Monophysitism until 537 when he was
extradited by the marzban of Nasibin. In the same year and again in
555 or 561, the Monophysite monks of Amid were expelled and fled
across the border into Beth 'Arbhaye.^159
The schism within the church in the Sasanian empire began in the
late fifth century with resistance to the "Nestorianizing" tendencies
of Bar Sawma by those who were not necessarily Monophysites them-
selves. Fiey argues that the districts where there was resistance in the
late fifth century tended to become Monophysite in the course of the
sixth century. Opposition came from the monks at the monastery of
Mar Matta and at other places in Beth Nuhadhra and from bishop
Shim'lin of Beth Arsham (510-25).160 The man responsible for giving
the Jacobite Church in the East both its name and its organization,
Jacob Baradaeus (ca. 490-578), was originally from a village near
Nasibin. Between 541 and 578 he created an underground Mono-
physite ecclesiastical structure in the Byzantine empire and organized
anti-Nestorian elements in the church in the Sasanian empire into a
separate body. The monastery of Mar Matta became the center of
operations in the East where J acob Baradaeus was received by the
Christians of Takrit, and by those in Beth Garme, and Adiabene. A
Monophysite bishop was ordained for Seleucia, and the new organi-
zation was joined by those who had fled from the Byzantine empire
in the reign of J ustin.^161
158 D. Oates, in Studies in the Ancient History of Northern Iraq (London, 1968), p.
114, seems to be the only recent author to recognize that the numbers of Monophysites
in Iraq increased through conversion as well as by the settlement of Syrian captives,
and he also notes that A~udemmeh's parents were Nestorian.
159 Brooks, "Lives of the Eastern Saints," pp. 598, 607-8, 619, 621-22; Duchesne,
L'Eglise, pp. 83, 86-87, 102; Thomas of Margha, Governors, 11, 21l.
160 Assemani, BO, I, 342; Fiey, Assyrie chretienne, 11, 327, 628-29, 765; Ill, 18;
Trimingham, Christianity, p. 169.
161 Assemani, BO, 11, 62-69; Duchesne, L'Eglise, p. 108; Scher, "Histoire nesto-
rienne," 11(1), 141-42.