Homilies and Songs, Volume 1

3: Jacob of Sarug, in one of his letters, adds that as a young man (around 470) he applied himself to the study of the books of Diodorus, which were being translated from Greek at Edessa, in the Persian school (1).

Relying, therefore, on these three testimonies, one can conclude what the sources were from which Narsai drew his Nestorian disciplines and ideas: that is, the commentaries of Theodore(2) and Diodorus, which were translated at that time, and the celebrity which those commentaries unfortunately and unjustly acquired for themselves in the school. How these doctrines were spread among the people will be clear from the following. We mentioned above the students of the Persian school who followed Ihiba, to whom must be added: Yazidad (3); Mares the Persian (4); Maroun Elitha (5); Ezalia (6); all of whom we know were convicted of heresy together with their teachers, and were expelled once and again: the first time, in the year 457, after the death of Bishop Ihiba, who was the pillar and support of the Nestorian sect of the provinces on this side of the Euphrates; the second time, in the year 489, when, through the machinations of Philoxenus (7) and Cyrus (8), bishop of Edessa, the school was completely closed by Emperor Zeno. Furthermore, upon returning to their homeland, they seemed to be crowned with the halo of both knowledge and martyrdom, and for that reason, they were honored by their fellow citizens with public esteem. For this reason, from the very moment of their arrival in their homeland, having been elevated to the height of the episcopate, they had no higher priority than to feed the poison of their doctrines to the sheep of Christ, out of the fury with which they boiled against the Westerners who had expelled them. From among them, Barsaumas was elected bishop of Nisibis; Maana was first metropolitan of Persia, and afterwards was called the Catholic of the Nestorians; Micah was bishop of Lashuma of the Garamæans; Acacius was elected Patriarch of Seleucia in the year 484; Mares was exalted to the see of Rewardashir; Paul Kaki obtained the bishopric of Ledan of the Huzites; John obtained the see of Beth-Slokh of the Garamæan region; Abraham was bishop of the Medes. Some, however, were ordained priests, others...

Bar-Hebraeus's opinion: "And just as Bar-Hebraeus writes... original: "ܐܝܟܰܢܳܐ ܕܶܝܢ ܟܳܬܶܒ ܒܰܪ ܥܶܒܪܳܝܶܐ...""
No one fails to see that the discussion is about Maana and that the pronoun "he" original: "ܗܰܘ" can refer only to Maana.

(1) See Martin: Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft, XXX, p. 220.
(2) Narsai himself tells us this in the homily: A Discourse on the Two Teachers original: "ܡܶܠܬܳܐ ܕܰܥܠܰܝܗܽܘܢ ܕܰܬܪܶܝܢ ܪ̈ܰܒܳܢܶܐ"
(3) Assemani, B.O. III, I, p. 226. Letter of Simeon of Beth-Arsham. Cf. Duval, History of Edessa, p. 178 (No. 2).
(4) Ibid., especially Duval, History of Edessa, p. 177-178.
(5) Ibid., and especially Assemani, B.O. I, p. 350 et seq.
(6) Ibid., and Lamy in Ecclesiastical Chronicle of Bar-Hebraeus, II, p. 62.
(7) Bar-Hebraeus, Ecclesiastical Chronicle, II, p. 55, etc.
(8) Chronicle of Edessa in Assemani, B.O. I, p. 406.