Shimun XXIII Eshai

Mar Eshai Shimun XXI (; 26 February 1908 – 6 November 1975), sometimes known as Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII, Mar Shimun XXIII Ishaya, Mar Shimun Ishai, or Simon Jesse, was Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East from 1920 until his murder on 6 November 1975 in San Jose, California. He was consecrated as patriarch at 12 years old.

Biography Mar Eshai was born on 26 February 1908 in Qudchanis, the mountainous region located in southern Turkey. Mar Eshai was raised with great care while receiving the necessary theological and liturgical training by the Archdeacon of the Patriarch, Thoma of Ashita and by the Metropolitan of Rustaqa, Mar Yosip Khnanisho, who was also his uncle.

At the age of twelve, due to geopolitical upheavals at the time, Mar Eshai was ordained as Patriarch in 1920, succeeding his uncle, Shimun XX Paulos. He was educated in England, studying theology at Canterbury and at Westcott House, University of Cambridge. Ismail was convicted of first-degree murder, sentenced to life imprisonment and was released after 12 years.

When the church council met in London on 17 October 1976, it elected as patriarch Mar Dinkha IV (who had been bishop of Tehran).

Works

Many Syriac books were translated into English by Mar Eshai Shimun. Some of which are:

Portions of the Aramaic liturgy; The Book of Hymns and Praises; Synodical Rules of the Church of the East; The Book of Marganitha, a standard theological work of the Church of the East; The publication of the homilies of Mar Narsai, the great saint and scholar of the fifth century, in two volumes, numbering more than 1400 pages; along with seventy pages of introduction and critical apparatus in English by Shimun as well as countless outstanding sermons on the historical doctrine of the Church of the East.

The Assyrian Tragedy

The Assyrian Tragedy documents the national struggle of the Assyrian people prior, during, and after World War I. It was originally published anonymously in 1934. Authorship of the book was posthumously attributed to Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII.

Most of the material in the book is his personal letters to various heads of governments and organizations and their replies. The book was reprinted in January, 1988 by Mr. Sargis Michael, over a decade after the assassination of Mar Eshai.