ABRAHAM of BETH RABBAN. – Syriac doctor, who lived from 449 to 569. For about sixty years he was director of the school of Nisibis, where he succeeded (according to Mari, p. 39) its founder Narsai, of whom he was a disciple and relative, and whose name (and even the surname Beth Rabbân, meaning “of the house of our master,” i.e., of Narsai) he adopted. Under his leadership the school flourished greatly.
According to Barhadbâbâ (late 6th century), in PO 4, 389 and 9, 628, his works include commentaries on the prophets, on Ecclesiasticus, Joshua, and Judges, as well as an epistle written at the order of Justinian, in which he sets forth his Nestorian faith and replies to doctrinal objections raised by his opponents. But the catalogue of Ebediesu (Assemani, Bibl. Orient., III, 71) attributes many other works to him. The manuscript of Diarbekir, II, attributes liturgical hymns to him, which would be the only writings of his that have come down to us. This manuscript is now in the patriarchal see of Mosul (Vosté, in Muséon, 50 [1937], p. 349).