GIOVANNI di TELLÁ (BAR KŮRSŐS). – Monophysite writer (483–558). He became a monk after having been a soldier. Consecrated bishop of Tellá in 519, he was one of the most zealous propagators of Severian Monophysitism in Syria. G. represented the Monophysites in Constantinople in 533 in the dogmatic discussions under the Emperor Giustiniano. Upon returning to his homeland, he had to go into hiding, but was arrested, deported to Antioch, and killed. There remains from him a collection of canons concerning especially the Eucharist, which is of great interest for the history of the liturgy. His life was written by one of his companions named Elia and by Giovanni di Asia.
BIBL.: C. Kuberczyk, Canones Joannis bar Cursus, Tellae Maustratae episcopi, Lipsia 1901; A. Baumstark, Geschichte der syrischen Literatur, Bonn 1922, p. 174; J. B. Chabot, Littérature syriaque, Parigi 1934, pp. 70–71. Gugliemo de Vries