Ibas of Edessa

• Ibas bishop of Edessa was a Syrian by birth.
• He appears first as a presbyter of the Church of Edessa during the episcopate of Rabbula.
• He was an ardent admirer of the writings of Theodore of Mopsuestia,which he translated into Syriac.

• According to some accounts, Ibas was the head of the famous theological School of Edessa which offered great facilities for this propagation of Theodore’s tenets.
• The Church of Edessa was generally favorable to Theodore’s teaching, and Ibas was supported by the majority against their bishop (Rabbula). He attended the Council of Ephesus in 431, as a presbyter.
• When Rabbula died in 435, a reactionary wave made Ibas his successor. This was very distasteful to those who held the strong anti-Nestorian views of their late bishop and they speedily planned to secure his deposition by spreading charges against him of openly preaching heretical doctrines. They told Ibas and all of the eastern bishops that they would remove the scandal if he would publicly condemn certain propositions against the errors of Nestorius chiefly drawn from Theodore’s writings. But Ibas and the bishops generally refused to condemn Theodore’s propositions.
• He was condemned as a Nestorian in the Second Council of Ephesus in 449; he was deposed for two years and replaced by Nonnus.
• Without thoroughly examining the teaching of Ibas included in his famous letter to Maris, and without officially condemning it, the Council of Chalcedon in 451, agreed to declare Ibas innocent if he would accept the Tome of Leo and revoke what he had written in his letter. Consequently was returned to his chair in Edessa, where he lived until his death in 457.

• He wrote the letter to Maris in 433, who was then, or subsequently, bishop of Hardaschir in Persia and had visited Edessa. In the letter, Ibas discussed current theological issues and harshly attacked the person and doctrines of St. Cyril of Alexandria. Only a Greek

translation is preserved in the acts in the Council of Chalcedon.

• At the Second Council of Constantinople in 553, Ibas’ letter to Maris was officially condemned as one of “The Three Chapters.”
• Ibas was a translator and disseminator of the writings of others, rather than an original author.
• He must have received a good linguistic education in either Edessa or Antioch, for when he became a teacher in the School of Edessa, he was able to assist in translating the theological works of Theodore of Mopsuestia, Diodore of Tarsus, Theodoret of Cyrus, and Nestorius.
• Consequently these works were actively spread through Syria, Persia, and the East, and were very influential in fostering the tenets which have, even to the present day, characterized some of the Christians of those regions.
• His influence was permanent in the theological School of Edessa, in spite of the efforts of Nonnus to eradicate it, until its final overthrow and the banishment of its teachers to Persia.
• The catalogue of “Abdiso” of Nisibis attributes to Ibas a Commentary on Proverbs, homilies, hymns, and a polemical treatise.
• None of the hymns, homilies, or commentaries reputedly authored by him have survived.