Michael II^{[nb 1]} (Syriac: ܦܛܪܝܪܟܐ ܡܝܟܐܝܠ ܬܪܝܢܐ, Arabic: البطريرك ميخائيل الثاني)^[3] was the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1292 until his death in 1312.

Barsoum was born in the 13th century, and became the abbot of the Monastery of Gawikat, near Mopsuestia in Cilicia.^[2][4] After the death of Patriarch Philoxenus I Nemrud, Barsoum was consecrated as his successor as patriarch of Antioch in November 1292 by Iyawannis, archbishop of Tarsus, and Basil, archbishop of Jerusalem, and assumed the name Michael.^[5][6] Schism within the church erupted at this time as Constantine proclaimed himself patriarch at Melitene, and Ignatius bar Wahib was consecrated as patriarch of Mardin in January 1293.^[7]

Michael issued a general proclamation on 6 January 1295 declaring his ascension to the patriarchate, and excommunicated Constantine of Melitene and his supporters.^[2] The proclamation was also signed by the aforementioned Iyawannis and Basil.^[5] In 1301, he resided at the White Monastery near Dara.^[8] He served as patriarch of Antioch until his death on 7 December 1312.^[2]

Notes

Citations

• Barsoum, Aphrem (2003). The Scattered Pearls: A History of Syriac Literature and Sciences. Translated by Matti Moosa (2nd ed.). Gorgias Press. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
• Barsoum, Aphrem (2008). History of the Za'faran Monastery. Translated by Matti Moosa. Gorgias Press.
• Burleson, Samuel; Van Rompay, Lucas (2011). "List of Patriarchs: II. The Syriac Orthodox Church and its Uniate continuations". In Sebastian P. Brock; Aaron M. Butts; George A. Kiraz; Lucas Van Rompay (eds.). Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition. Gorgias Press. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
• Carlson, Thomas A. (2018). Christianity in Fifteenth-Century Iraq. Cambridge University Press.