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Patriarch
of Antioch (793-817), a most
distinguished Antiochian Father, in his life, piety, knowledge and
understanding, Kyriakos was born and raised at Takrit. He received
his education and also became a monk at the Monastery of the Pillar
near alRaqqa (Callinicus) where he acquired a great deal of
theological science, and practiced the monastic life. He was a man
of many virtues and good character. He was elected a patriarch by
the Holy Synod and was consecrated in 793. He held five Synods, one
in Beth Botin in 794, in which he issued forty canons and made them
public in a universal letter. The second was held at the Monastery
of Nawawis in the province of Qinnesrin in 797 or 798 to reconcile
the Phantasiast Julianists and add them to the Church, but his
efforts were blocked by some envious and fanatic bishops. The third
was at Beth Gabrin in 808, in which he excommunicated the monks of
the Gubba monastery. The fourth was at Harran in 813 and the fifth,
at Mosul in 817. Because of his determination and strictures in
enforcing laws and regulations, he suffered calamities from
malicious clergy and laymen who violated them. He administered the
Holy See for twenty-four years, during which time he ordained
eighty-six metropolitans and bishops.
He died in Mosul
on the sixteenth of August, 817 and was buried in Takrit and was
commemorated by the Church.
Michael the
Great said: "Patriarch Kyriakos wrote a book on theological teaching
as well as a magnificent collection of letters. "By the first work,
Michael meant the book on Divine Providence, consisting of
three volumes and divided into ninety-eight treatises. What remained
of this book is the third volume, and twenty-two treatises, some of
whose chapters are wanting. Two of these treatises he wrote at the
request of Theodosius, Bishop of Seleucia, and Walid and Yeshu of
Tarmanaz, in the province of Cyrus. It is a noble book, testifying
to the author's wide knowledge of the Bible and the writings of the
church scholars. Moreover, it is written in a smooth and excellent
style, free from foreign terms.
Kyriakos also
wrote ten letters in reply to the questions propounded to him by the
said Yeshu, deacon of Tarmanaz. These were added to his book. He
enacted seventy-two canons in the Synods of Beth Batin and Harran
and instituted a pledge of allegiance consisting of six pages, to be
recited by the candidates for high ranks of priesthood before their
ordination. He has also three eloquent discourses consisting of
seven pages; in the first he praised the virtues of Severus of
Antioch. It begins with, "The clear and pure mirror which reflects
the wonderful merits of St. Severus, requires a clear mind with
tremendous imagination to look through it."
The second discourse on the Sunday of the priests
begins with, "When we remember the chief priests and priests of the
Orthodox faith, who departed from this
transient world." The third
discourse on the "vineyard of the beloved," mentioned by the prophet
Isaiah, begins with: "When our Savior spoke to the descendants of
Israel by parables and symbols." He also wrote a
homily on virginity and drew up a liturgy beginning with, "0,
eternal and everlasting Lord," consisting of five pages, and a creed
composed by him and Gabriel, head of the Julianists. This collection
of his letters, however, is lost, and of his Synodical epistles,
only two survive; one addressed to john IV and one to Mark III,
patriarch of Alexandria, in an imperfect Arabic translation.
(History of
Syriac Literature and Sciences, Patriarch Ignatius Ephrem I
Barsoum, Presseggiata Press, p 124/5)
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