Ignatius David II Shah

Ignatius David II Shah (Syriac ܕܘܕ ܫܗ) was the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1576 until his death in 1591.

Biography Ignatius David II Shah is the third person to from the family of Sa’ad Al-Din to became a patriarch after his great uncle Ignatius John XIV bar Shay Allah (1483-1493) and his brother Ignatius Ni'matallah (1557-1576). He also had 4 other brothers, Timothy Thomas, Bishop of Mardin, Mina, bishop of Mor Abay monastery in Tur-Abdin, Costantine, and Basha. but he became the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch when his brother Ignatius Niʿmatallah resigned his position as a patriarch and travelled to Rome in 1576 His family is originally from Bartella, near Mosul, but moved to Mardin in the 13th or 14th century and there were 4 patriarchs and 3 metropolitans and bishops from this family. The only thing that both sources agree on is that the papal envoy, Leonardo Abel, who travelled to Tur Abdin hoping to meet the Patriarch and convince him to declare his union with Rome and carrying with him a letter from his brother, the former Patriarch Ignatius Niʿmatallah, and carrying a pallium with him. When Abel arrived to Dyarbaker, he couldn’t meet the Patriarch but met with a representative of the Patriarch by the name of Rabban Abdunnur at the Monastery of Mor Abhai in Gargar. There was a conversation between the two parties but the conversation didn’t achieve any success. Even the reason for the meeting failure differs between the two sources. The Syriac Orthodox source states that the Patriarch was under the Ottoman rulers pressure not to meet with the papal envoy and the representative of the Patriarch rejected the Council of Chalcedon resolutions and were hesitant to accept the new Gregorian calendar. The Roman Catholic sources states that the Patriarch was under the pressure of the community not to meet with the envoy

Episcopal succession During Ignatius David II Shah time as a Maphrian and Patriarch, he ordained a Maphrian and 18 metropolitans. In total, he ordained 1153 priest, monks, deacons and nuns.

Basil Pilate (1575–1591), Maphrian of the East Mina (his brother) (1575), Bishop of Monastery of Mor Abay La'azar. Bishop of Miyafarqit Severus Malke (1582–1599), Bishop of the Monastery of Mor Malke Shemoun Aziz, bishop for the monastery of Mor Ibrahim in Midyat Habib, bishop of the monastery of Mor Ya'qub in Kafr Shma' Elias, bishop of the monastery of al-Salib, Daoud, bishop of monastery of Mor Gewargis in al-Ma’adan, Aphrem for al-Sur Hananiyya, metropolitan of Gargar Wanes for Kharput, Issa, bishop of the monastery of Mor Yulyana Yuhanna for Tripoli Gewargis, bishop of Hardin Gregorius Behnam (1590–1614), Metropolitan of Jerusalem Yeshu, bishop of Zargil Yeshu, Metropolitan for the monastery of Mor Abay Abduallah, bishop of Marde

Death Ignatius David II Shah died in 1591 and was buried at St. Thomas church in the village of Qatribil near Amid