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THOMAS OF MARGA

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 865 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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THOMAS OF MARGA , a Nestorian See also:bishop and author of an important monastic See also:history in See also:Syriac, who flourished in the 9th See also:century A.D. He was See also:born See also:early in the century, probably of See also:Persian parents, in the region of Salakh to the See also:north-See also:east of See also:Mosul. As a See also:young See also:man he became in 832 a See also:monk of the famous Nestorian monastery of Beth 'See also:Abbe, which was situated at the confluence of the See also:Great Zab with one of its tributaries, about 25 M. due east of Mosul. A few years later he was acting as secretary to See also:Abraham, who had been See also:abbot of Beth 'Abbe, and was catholicus (See also:patriarch) of the See also:Nestorians from 837 to 850. At some date during these 13 years Thomas was promoted by Abraham to be bishop of Marga, a See also:diocese in the same See also:district as Beth 'Abhe, and afterwards he was further advanced to be a See also:metropolitan of Beth Garmai, a district farther to the See also:south-east in the mountains which border the See also:Tigris See also:basin. It was during the See also:period of his See also:life at Beth 'Abhe and his bishopric that he composed The See also:Book of See also:Governors, which is in the See also:main a history of his own monastery, but includes lives of See also:holy men in other parts of See also:Mesopotamia and the regions east of the Tigris. The See also:work was probably planned in See also:imitation of the famous See also:Paradise of See also:Palladius, the history of See also:Egyptian See also:monasticism which had become well known to Syriac-speaking Christians in the version of 'Anan-Isho' (6th century). The Book of Governors has been edited with an See also:English See also:translation and a copious introduction by E. W. Budge (2 vols., See also:London, 1893), who claims that " it occupies a unique position in Syriac literature, and it fully deserves the veneration with which it has been and is still regarded by all classes of Nestorians to whom it is known." It gives a detailed history of the great monastery cf Beth 'Abhe during its three centuries of existence down to the author's See also:time. It is full of interesting narratives of saintly men told in a naive and candid spirit, and it throws much See also:light on the history of See also:Christianity in the Persian dominions. There is a later edition by P.

Bedjan (See also:

Paris, 1901). (N.

End of Article: THOMAS OF MARGA

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