IBAS (Hibā). - Bishop of Edessa, d. 28 Oct. 457. He was head of the school of Edessa (v.) under Bishop Rabbūlā, together with whom he attended the Council of Ephesus, but on the side of the Antiochenes. When Rabbūlā condemned the works of Theodore of Mopsuestia, I. remained dissatisfied with this. Once peace had been made between the Antiochenes and St. Cyril of Alexandria (433), I. was expelled from Edessa by his bishop, and it was probably then that he wrote his letter to Mārī, bishop of Rēwardašīr in Persia.
He also had the works of Theodore of Mopsuestia propagated through Armenian versions, which obliged Rabbūlā and then Proclus of Constantinople to warn the Armenians against Nestorian doctrines. In 435 I. was elected bishop of Edessa. As early as 445 he was accused of Nestorianism before the patriarch of Antioch, but he did not appear. Accused again in 448 and by order of Theodosius II, I. presented himself before the tribunals of Tyre and Berytus, where he denied being a Nestorian, but his accusers produced his letter. I. was able to return to Edessa; however, in 449 Theodosius II had him appear again at the "Robber Council of Ephesus," inspired by the Monophysites, where he was deposed. But at the Council of Chalcedon (451), at which he was present, he was rehabilitated after the reading of his letter, though on condition of the condemnation of Nestorius. Nevertheless, at the Council of Constantinople of 553 one of the Three Chapters condemned was precisely the letter of I.
This letter, written without doubt in Syriac, is preserved only in Greek (E. Schwartz, Acta Conc., II, Berlin, 1, 3, p. xxiii ff.). It has a certain Nestorianizing flavor, accuses the doctrine of St. Cyril of Apollinarianism, distinguishes between the Word and His temple born of Mary, and seems to ignore the communication of idioms in Christ.
Bibliography2 works
Ignazio Ortiz de Urbina