Homilies and Songs, Volume 1

of Beth Garmai, who later became the Abbot of the In-kenné monastery; Benjamin the Aramaic, who later presided over the Carith monastery, in which a school also existed, in the territory of the Umrin; and many others.

From the same letter, it is worth commemorating the followers of Ihiba in the Persian school at Edessa, along with their nicknames: Acacius the Aramaic, who was nicknamed "the stifler of a quadrant" in that place; Barsauma, the servant of Mar of Beth Garmai, who was called "swimming in nests"; Maana of Hardashir, nicknamed "the ash-drinker"; Absouta of Nineveh, who was given a nickname that is unlawful to commit to writing; John of Garamash, nicknamed "the little pig"; Micah, nicknamed "Dagon"; Paul from the town of the Huzites, nicknamed "the bean-maker"; Abraham the Mede, nicknamed "the heater of baths"; Narsai, nicknamed "the leper"; and several others.(1)

In the midst of such diversity of opinions, namely those of the Dyophysites, Monophysites, and Catholics, Narsai gladly embraced the doctrine handed down by his teacher Ihiba and drawn from the commentaries of Theodore of Mopsuestia, which held great value in Edessa.

After the death of his teacher, he accompanied the famous Barsauma to the city of Nisibis(2), where he was the founder and principal of a famous school, which later briefly became the center and seat of all institutions for the Eastern Syrians. The primitive Constitutions and canons of this school, by...

Indeed, some modern scholars hold the negative view, namely that he went there enticed by the fame of that city, like other prominent men (so Duval: Syriac Literature, p. 357).

In this way, if I am not mistaken, the question can be resolved. On one hand, before he was a student of the Persian school, Akhsnaia was neither mistreated by the Nestorians, nor, more importantly, expelled from his homeland. Nestorianism, as it were, was not at that time deeply rooted in these Eastern provinces, nor do we know of any famous author living before the return of the expelled teachers (487), during the reign of Emperor Zeno. On the other hand, nothing prevents the possibility that Akhsnaia was expelled by the Nestorians after his return to his own people, along with the other teachers, or after them, or before his elevation to the episcopal see of Mabboug, or in the time immediately following. Naturally, having come there to spread his own errors, but hindered by the Nestorians established in these provinces, he would have been forced to seek the Western provinces, where Eutychianism had already become more established. To prove this opinion, we have, besides what has been mentioned, the testimony of an unknown author who lived shortly after the events described below, that is, Babai the Great (569-628), archimandrite of the convent of Mount Izla, in his book: Divinity and Humanity original: "ܐܠܗܘܬܐ ܘܐܢܫܘܬܐ"; for he said: "He original: "ܗܘ ܕܒܗܠܝܢ ܐܬܪ̈ܘܬܐ ܩܢܘܡܗ ܐܬܚܙܝ..." (in these eastern provinces) appeared as a cursed wolf, who was driven from his homeland by the vigilant and diligent shepherds of his country, who always fought for the truth. He exulted and entered the Mabboug flock of the Roman region, Akhsnaia: a stranger to the truth."

(1) cf. Duval: History of Edessa, p. 178 - Abbeloos and Lamy: Ecclesiastical Chronicle of Bar-Hebraeus, vol. II, p. 62 - Assemani, Bibliotheca Orientalis, I, p. 346 et seq.
(2) According to the same Simeon (ibid), and according to Barhadhchahbam Bar Arabayè. cf. especially Lamy, Ecclesiastical Chronicle, II, p. 63 - R. Duval, Syriac Literature, p. 345, 346.