STS. MAR MARKOS YAHBALLAHA III & RABBAN BAR SAUMA OF CHINA (NOV. 13TH)

Sts. Mar Rabban Bar Sauma and Mar Markos Yahballaha of China

By Bp. Joseph (Ancient Church of the West)

Mar Markos Yahballaha III (Died November 13th, 1317), known in earlier years as Rabban Markos, was disciple of the Master Monk Rabban Bar Sauma, and became Patriarch of the East from 1281 to 1317. He is the only Chinese-born Patriarch in the history of the Eastern Patriarchates. As Patriarch, Mar Yahballaha headed the Church of the East during the severe persecutions under the reign of Mongol Khans Ghazan and his successor, Öljaitü, who converted to Islam. 

Master Bar Sauma and Monk Markos arrived in the Patriarchate of the Church of the East from China in AD 1266 on official business. They served Patriarch Denha I, until his death in 1281, when Markos was elevated to the Patriarchate due to his fluency in Mongolian and his ability to favorably interact with the authorities. 

Once elevated to Patriarch, Mar Yahballaha was uncompromising in his defense of Chalcedonian Orthodoxy, and was seen as a meddler and reformer by Nestorian elements within the Church. Remarkably, during a time of great suffering, Pope Nicholas IV issued a bull declaring Mar Yahballaha as the "Patriarch of all the Christians of the East,” recognizing him for both his doctrinal commitments and his patriarchal primacy. 

Mar Yahballaha is best known for sending the Monk Bar Sauma to appeal to St. Edward of England for help against the Muslims, subsequently communing the English King and his whole court using the Ancient Syriac Rite. European monarchs were unable to raise a crusade to help the Church of the East, and Monk Bar Sauma returned to Iraq to write his monumental record of travels to Europe and back again (translated by E.A. Wallis Budge as “The Monks of Kublai Khan”). This work is the only surviving document chronicling Medieval Europe from the perspective of traveling Easterner, and preserving the history of the Church in China from the perspective of an Eastern Christian. St. Bar Sauma faithfully served his Church and Patriarch until his death in AD 1294. 

St. Yahballaha continued to serve his Church for many years, tried unsuccessfully to protect his people and broker a peace with the Muslims and the Mongols, and died during a time of intense persecution in Maragheh in the Fall of 1317.

COLLECT 

ALMIGHTY GOD, Who didst give grace unto Thy servants, Patriarch Markos (Yahballaha) and Monk Bar Sauma, to serve Thy Church in the East and West, enlightening the world to Thy work in China, the faithfulness of the Church under Islamic domination, and the power of Thy Gospel to the kings of the Medieval West; Grant that, by the power of their examples and saintly intercessions, we may strive to be like them, bold in the face of persecution and joyful in the call of service; So that with Thy saints we might praise Thee forever and ever. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.