Elishaʿ bar Quzbaye
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Elishaʿ bar Quzbaye[1] (fl. c. 450 – c. 510/530) was a hermeneut and apologist of the Church of the East. Active in Persia, he served as the second or third director of the school of Nisibis. He wrote extensively in Syriac, but only a few fragments of his works survive.
The meaning of Elishaʿ's surname is uncertain.[2] It may come from the village of Quzbo in Marga in Beth ʿArbaye.[3] According to Barḥadbshabba ʿArbaya, his surname was ʿArbaya bar Quzbane.[2] In some later manuscripts, his name is corrupted to Mar Qorbane.[3]
According to the Chronicle of Siirt, Elishaʿ was a fellow student of Narsai at the school of Edessa before 450.[2] Barḥadbshabba of Ḥulwān states that he was "trained in all ecclesiastical and profane books".[3] He eventually taught biblical interpretation at the school of Nisibis, where, according to the Chronicle of Arbela, he became mpashshqānā (chief interpreter).[3][2]
According to the Chronicle of Siirt and the historian Mari ibn Sulayman, the Persian king Kavad I ordered all the religious communities in Persia to submit written descriptions of their beliefs. In response to this command, the Catholicos Aqaq commissioned Elishaʿ to write a general work on Christianity, which the catholicos then had translated into Persian and presented to Kavad. This must have taken place between 488 (Kavad's accession) and 496 (Aqaq's death).[4][5]
According to some sources, Elishaʿ succeeded Narsai as director of the school around 502. Barḥadbshabba ʿArbaya, however, dates the beginning of his term as director to around 522, after Abraham of Beth Rabban's first term.[2] In any case, his term was short, lasting four years (per Barḥadbshabba) or seven (503–510, per the Chronicle).[6]