Ishoyahb II

Ishoʿyahb II of Gdala was Patriarch of the Church of the East from 628 to 645. He reigned during a period of great upheaval in the Sasanian Empire. He became patriarch at the end of a disastrous war between the Byzantine Empire and Persia, which weakened both powers. Two years later the Muslim Arabs began a career of conquest in which they overthrew the Sassanids and occupied the eastern provinces of the Byzantine Empire. Ishoʿyahb lived through this momentous period, and is said to have met both the Byzantine emperor Heraclius and the second Muslim caliph Umar.

The Syriac name Ishoʿyahb means 'Jesus has given', and is spelled variously in English. Alternative spellings include Yeshuyab and Ishu-yahb. Ishoʿyahb II is commonly known as Ishoʿyahb of Gdala, to distinguish him from two near-contemporary Eastern patriarchs, Ishoʿyahb I of Arzun (582–95) and Ishoʿyahb III of Adiabene (649–59).