Youhana, Metropolitan of Dara

Youhana, Metropolitan of Dara

Youhana was a proficient scholar and illustrious theologian and deeply versed in religious studies. He became a monk at the Monastery of Mor Hananyo near Mardin around 825 , the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Dionysius of Tell Mahre ordained him a metropolitan of Dara which he administered for thirty five years. He is thought to have died in the year 860 and this date is confirmed by the ordination of his successor Athanasius Hakim around the same year. 

Youhanna was the person who requested Patriarch Dionysius of Tell Mahre to write his chronicles. In his introduction to these chronicles, the Patriarch testified to Youhanna's love and pursuit of knowledge from youth until old age. Youhanna composed distinguished works whose study became required  by the monks. His works are cited by later Syriac theologians like Moshe Bar Kepha, Dionysios Bar Salibi and Grogorois Bar Hebraeus. His works included:

• A book on theology divided into twelve parts in forty-nine chapters, consisting of four hundred ninety long pages. It contains the theological books of the celestial hierarchies, ecclesiastical hierarchies, a book on the priesthood, on the priest, on the Resurrection, on the Christian doctrine, on the offering of the Holy Sacraments and on demons. This treatise was written at the request of a certain bishop. A shortened version, transcribed before the year 932 is preserved at the Vatican library. 

• A book on Paradise, Creation, the Resurrection, Epiphany, the finding of the Cross and the Acts of our Lord, all of which are contained in a large volume consisting of four hundred forty-three pages and divided into seven books. In this book, Youhanna cites authorities like Eusebius; Nimysius, bishop of Borns; Titus, metropolitan of Busra; Surian, bishop of Gabla; Elijah, bishop of Sinjar and particularly, Philoxenus of Mabbug. Copies of this book are still extant today. 

• A significant book on the soul, into which he incorporated the entire treatise on the soul by Youhana of Atharb . Copies of this book are still extant today.  

• A commentary on the New Testament or the Gospels alone, mentioned by Bar Salibi in the introduction to his Commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew. This commentary is lost. 

• An eloquent treatise on the policy of the church and the settlement of peace in it, consisting of thirty nine pages. There is an anonymous copy of this treatise fixed at the end of his book on theology in a former Mosul manuscript. Youhana wrote this treatise in the days of the Patriarch Youhana IV (around 850) and it still extant today. 

• A liturgy mentioned by Scholtingem and Asemani, which could not be located today.

Sources: 

• Patriarch Ignatius Aphram I Barsoum (2003), The Scattered Pearls, A History of Syriac Literature and Sciences, Translated and Edited by Matti Moosa, New Jersey