Shemon bar Sabbae

{{Short description|Patriarch of the Church of the East}} {{Infobox saint | honorific_prefix = [[Saint]] |name=Simeon bar Sabbae |birth_date=3rd century |death_date=[[Good Friday]], 345 |feast_day=14 April ([[Syriac Christianity]]) 17 April ([[Greek Orthodox Churches]] and [[Greek Catholic Churches]]) Sixth Friday of Qaitha (Summer) ([[Syro-Malabar Catholic Church]]) 17 April and 21 April ([[Latin Church]]) variable date in August ([[Assyrian Church of the East]]) |venerated_in=[[Assyrian Church of the East]] [[Ancient Church of the East]] [[Catholic Church]] [[Oriental Orthodox churches]] [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] |image=Simeon Barsabae.jpg |imagesize=200px |caption= |birth_place= |death_place=[[Sassanid Empire]] |titles= |beatified_date= |beatified_place= |beatified_by= |canonized_date= |canonized_place= |canonized_by= |attributes= |patronage= |major_shrine= |suppressed_date= |issues= }}

'''Mar Shimun Bar Sabbae''' ({{langx|syc|ܡܪܝ ܫܡܥܘܢ ܒܪܨܒܥܐ|translit=Shemʿon bar Ṣabbaʿe}};<ref>{{cite web | title=Shemʿon bar Ṣabbaʿe | publisher=[[Beth Mardutho]], Gorgias Press | url=https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Shemon-bar-Sabbae | access-date=2023-12-04}}</ref> died [[Good Friday]], 345) was the [[List of Patriarchs of the Church of the East|Bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon]] from Persia, the ''de facto'' head of the [[Church of the East]], maintaining this position until his death. He was bishop in the [[Sasanian Empire]] during the persecutions of [[Shapur II]] against Christians and he was executed along with many of his followers. He is revered as a [[saint]] in various Christian communions.

==Biography== Shimun Bar Sabbae was born the son of a [[fulling|fuller]]. He had two sisters, one of which was named [[Tarbula]].

There is some scholarly debate on what "bar Sabbae" means. In Syriac, his native tongue, ''bar'' translates to “son of”. ''Ṣabbā’ē'' means dyers, so altogether his name means “son of the dyers.” [[Alban Butler|Butler]] stated that Simeon was surnamed Barsaboe and that it signified that he was the son of a fuller according to the naming customs of the area.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Butler |first=Alban |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YHgTAAAAQAAJ&dq=Seleucia-Ctesiphon++simeon+saint+fuller&pg=PA175 |title=The lives of the fathers, martyrs, and other principal saints |date=1821 |language=en}}</ref>

In 316, he had been named the [[coadjutor bishop]] following his predecessor, [[Papa bar Gaggai]], in Seleucia-Ctesiphon (now [[al-Mada'in]]). He was later accused of being a friend of the [[Roman emperor]] and of maintaining secret correspondences with him. On that basis, [[Shapur II]] ordered the execution of all Christian priests. It is also thought that a reason for this order was that Shemon had supposedly converted the king's mother [[Ifra Hormizd|Ifra Hormizid]] to Christianity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Neusner |first=Jacob |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eJw3AAAAIAAJ&dq=neusner+ifra+hormizd+converted&pg=PA36 |title=A History of the Jews in Babylonia |date=1969 |publisher=Brill Archive |language=en}}</ref>

Since Shemon would not convert to [[Zoroastrianism]], he was beheaded along with several thousand Christians, including bishops, priests, and the faithful. These included the priests Abdella (or Abdhaihla), Ananias (Hannanja), Chusdazat (Guhashtazad, Usthazan, or Gothazat), and [[Pusai]] (Fusik), Askitrea, the daughter of Pusai, the eunuch Azad (Asatus) and several other companions, numbered at either 1150 or 100. [[Sozomen]], a historian of the 5th century maintained that the numbers of the dead martyrs was registered at 16,000. Another historian, Al-Masoudy from the 10th century, claimed that there were around 200,000 Christians killed. They are commemorated on:

*17 April (2004 [[Roman Martyrology]]) and 21 April (1956 Roman Martyrolgy) in the [[Roman Rite]] of [[Catholic Church]] *the Friday after [[Easter]] in the [[Syriac Orthodox Church]] *17 April in the [[Eastern Orthodox Churches]] and [[Greek Catholic Churches]] *17 August in the [[Assyrian Church of the East]]

==References== {{Commons category}} {{reflist}} *Holweck, F. G. ''A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints''. St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co., 1924.

{{s-start}} {{s-rel|[[Church of the East|Church of the East titles]]}} {{succession box |before=[[Papa bar Gaggai|Papa]] (c. 280–317) ''Vacant'' (317–329) |title=[[List of Patriarchs of the Church of the East|Catholicos-Patriarch of the Church of the East]] [[Patriarchal Province of Seleucia-Ctesiphon|Bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon]] |years=(329–341) |after=[[Shahdost]] (341–343) }} {{s-end}}

{{Patriarchs of the Church of the East}} {{Catholic saints - martyrs|state=collapsed}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Simeon Barsabae}} [[Category:Mesopotamian saints]] [[Category:Year of birth missing]] [[Category:345 deaths]] [[Category:4th-century Christian martyrs]] [[Category:Patriarchs of the Church of the East]] [[Category:Assyrian Church of the East saints]] [[Category:People executed by the Sasanian Empire]] [[Category:Christians in the Sasanian Empire]] [[Category:Eastern Catholic saints]] [[Category:4th-century Mesopotamian bishops]] [[Category:Syriac Orthodox Church saints]]