EBED JESU, î'bed jî'sū: Nestorian theologian; b. in Mesopotamia about the middle of the thirteenth century; d. at Nisibis, in Armenia, Nov., 1318. He became bishop of Sinjar (60 m. w. of Mosul) about 1285, and in 1291 metropolitan of Nisibis. His importance is principally of a literary character, since he is regarded as the last great writer of the Nestorians. The most important of his works is the metrical "Catalogue" of Syriac authors, in which in four books he treats of the writings of the Old and the New Testament, of translations from the Greek into Syriac, and of works originally written in Syriac, especially Nestorian productions. Other works of note are "The Pearl," a dogmatic work, in five parts; the Nomocanon, a collection of the canons of synods; and Paradisus Eden, a collection of poems. Other works have been lost. The name is frequent among the Syrians, and is pronounced by them Abdisho or Odisho. A martyr of this name is referred to in H. Feige's Geschichte des Mar Abhdiso (Kiel, 1889), while a bishop of the name, a convert to Romanism, was present at the last session of the Council of Trent and is pictured at the entrance to the Sistine Chapel at Rome (cf. G. E. Khayyath, Syri orientales, p. 124, Rome, 1870).

E. NESTLE.

 

Bibliography: The " Catalogue " was edited by Abraham Ecchellensis, Rome, 1653; by J. S. Asseman, with Latin transl. and commentary, in Bibliotheca orientalis, iii. 1, pp. 1-362, Rome, 1728; an Eng. transl. appears in Appendix A of G. P. Badger's Nestorians and their Ritual, ii. 361-379, London, 1852, which contains also a transl. of " The Pearl," ii. 380 sqq.; " The Pearl " is also in A. Mai, Scriptorum veterum nova collectio, ii. 317 sqq., 10 vols., Rome, 1825-38, where (pp. 169 sqq.) will be found also the Nomocanon. The poems were edited by H. Gismondi at Beirut, 1888 (cf. Nöldeke in ZDMG, 1889, xliii. 675, and Zingerle, in the same, 1875, xxix. 496). Consult: W. Wright, A Short Hist. of Syriac Literature, pp. 285 sqq., London, 1894; R. Duval, La Littérature syriaque, Paris, 1900.