DIONYSIUS OF TELLMARA. - Monophysite patriarch and annalist, originally from Tellmara, d. 22 Aug. 845. He was first a monk in the monastery of Kenedrè, and after it was burned, in the monastery of St. James of Kaisum. After the death of the Jacobite patriarch Cyriacus, he was elected to succeed him on 19 Aug. 818. He was a man of great energy and notable skill in governing the Jacobite Church.
Internally, he had to contend with the schism of Abraham, and after the latter’s death, which occurred around 836, against his successor Simeon. Externally, he had to defend the rights of his Church against the Muslims. In 825 he went to Egypt to the emir ʿAbdallāh ibn Ṭāhir to complain of the violence and destruction of sacred buildings and obtained permission to rebuild them. In the spring of 829 he negotiated successfully with the caliph al-Maʾmūn, and subsequently established cordial relations with his successor al-Muʿtaṣim. But toward the end of his life he was afflicted by new violent oppressions of the Muslim leaders against his Christians.
D. secured his fame through an important historical compilation covering the period from the accession of Emperor Maurice (512) to the death of Emperor Theophilus (842). This work, more a chronicle than history—since it lacks any critical method—was of capital importance for knowledge of the affairs of the Eastern Churches; but unfortunately only one chapter of the original survives (J. Assemani, *Bibl. Orient.*, II, Rome 1721, pp. 72–77). However, Michael the Syrian made extensive use of D.’s work and even reproduced entire lengthy passages; the same was done by the author of the anonymous chronicle that continues Michael’s work up to 1234.