Marutha of Takrit, Maphrian of the East

Marutha of Takrit

A luminary of the Syriac Orthodox church of the East and an ornament of his time, he was born at Shawarzaq, a village of Beth Nuhadra in the province of Mosul and became a monk at the Monastery of Nardes at the prime of his age. Then he journeyed to the Monastery of Mar Zakka or Zacchaeus near Callinicus in quest of knowledge and for ten years studied theological sciences, Greek and Syriac under the monk Theodore at this monastery. He then moved to the Edessan Mountain, where he mastered calligraphy and also studied under the blind monk Thomas. From there he went to the Monastery of St. Matthew to teach theology. He also laid down appropriate methods for services and worship for the monks of this monastery. At the end of the year 628 he was consecrated a Maphryono of the See of Takrit and held a Synod at the Monastery of St. Matthew, in which he drew up twenty-four canons. He organized twelve dioceses for the Maphrianate See of Takrit and added to them three more dioceses in Azerbaijan, Khorasan and Afghanistan. He built churches, founded monasteries, imposed the fasting of Nineveh, and administered the church in an apostolic manner. He died on the second of May, 649, which also became the day of his commemoration.

Among his works is a commentary on the Gospels, portions of which are reproduced in the collection of the monk Severus; festal homilies, one of which is the homily for Low Sunday, beginning thus: "Brethren, we are celebrating the new day (New or Low Sunday) and remembering the Sacraments;"  a polemical treatise against the Nestorians mentioned in his biography but lost; a detailed letter to the Patriarch John, containing the account of Barsoum of Nisibin and the Nestorianism which invaded Persia as had been related by the authorities of church history. He was also the author of a liturgy beginning thus: "O Lord who art good by His nature and a giver of safety and peace," and a husoyo for Passion Week beginning: "O Lord our God, whose mercy doth naturally exist in Thee." To him was ascribed the life of Ahudemeh, metropolitan of Takrit, and according to a less reliable account, some supplicatory prose hymns.