Maphrian

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The Maphrian (Syriac: ܡܦܪܝܢܐ, romanized: maphryānā or maphryono), originally known as the Grand Metropolitan of the East and also known as the Catholicos,^[1] is the second-highest rank in the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the Syriac Orthodox Church, right below that of patriarch. The office of a maphrian is an maphrianate. There have been three maphrianates in the history of the Syriac Orthodox Church and one, briefly, in the Syriac Catholic Church.^[2]

The first maphrianate, called the Maphrianate of the East or the Maphrianate of Tagrit, was established in 628 to give the Syriac Orthodox Church an ecclesiastical hierarchy in the Sasanian Empire and lands outside the control of the Roman Empire. The seat of the bishop was initially at Tagrit and he ranked second in the hierarchy after the Patriarch of Antioch.^[2] Initially he used the title catholicos in direct opposition to the rival Catholicos of Seleucia-Ctesiphon of the Church of the East. The title "maphrian" first came into use around 1100. In 1156 the seat of the maphrian was moved to Mosul.^[3] The Maphrianate of the East was abolished in 1860 as a result of a decreasing number of Syriac Orthodox outside of the region of Ṭur ʿAbdin. By then it had been a merely titular see for a long time.^[2]

The second maphrianate was the Maphrianate of Ṭur ʿAbdin established in 1495 under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Ṭur ʿAbdin. It is unclear what kind of jurisdiction this maphrian exercised. No new maphrian was appointed after the death of the last one in 1844.^[2]

The sole Syriac Catholic maphrian was Baselios Isḥaq Jbeir who took the title in 1693. Although elected patriarch, he refused the title, keeping his position as a Maphrian, thus not establishing a patriarchal line.^[2]

In the 20th century a new maphrianate nominally under the Syriac Orthodox Church was established in India in 1912, creating a new autocephalous church, the Malankara Orthodox Church. This was not recognized by the then-reigning Patriarch of Antioch until 1958, at the consecration of Baselios Augen I.^[2] This line however, once again declared autonomy, and the unity deteriorated in 1975, when the Malankara Orthodox Church split again from the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church (an integral branch of the Syriac Orthodox Church). The Patriarch withdrew recognition from Baselios Augen and consecrated Baselios Paulose II. Since then there have been two separate lines. The current line recognized by the Syriac Orthodox Church is known as the Catholicos of India. Since the passing away of Baselios Thomas I, the maphrianate is vacant.