ISAAC. - First katholikòs of Persia, that is, hierarchical head of all the bishops of that empire, d. in 410. He was installed in the see of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the capital of Persia, in 399, thanks to the intervention of St. Maruthas (v.), who had previously obtained from Yazdegerd I the cessation of the period of persecution. Even more solemnly, I. was confirmed bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon and declared "head of the bishops of all the East," that is, of Persia, in the Synod held there in 410.

This time the election was sanctioned by the Emperor himself, who granted full freedom to the Christians. On the other hand, I. and the Persian bishops accepted the conciliar canons by then in force in the Byzantine Empire and brought by St. Maruthas, among which were purported Nicene canons.

I. was recognized as katholikòs of the 5 metropolias that corresponded to the 5 provinces of the Persian Empire. Moreover, the obligation was always acknowledged of having recourse, for the most important questions, to the "Western" bishops, that is, to the Antiochene patriarchate.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: O. Braun, De sancta nicaena synodo, Münster 1898, p. 34 ff.; id., Das Buch der Synhodos, Stuttgart 1900, p. 7 ff.; J. B. Chabot, Synodicon orientale, Paris 1902, pp. 258-272; J. Labourt, Le christianisme dans l'empire perse, ibid. 1904, pp. 87-99; I. Ortiz de Urbina, Storia e cause dello scisma della Chiesa di Persia, in Orient. Christ. Periodica, 3 (1937), pp. 468-73.

Ignazio Ortiz de Urbina

@incollection{ec7_isacco_2, author = {Ortiz, de Urbina Ignazio}, title = {Isacco}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VII}, pages = {231--232}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/isacco-2} }

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Isaac

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