Ibas von Edessa: Rekonstruktion einer Biographie und dogmatischen Position zwischen den Fronten (review)

Bishop Ibas of Edessa (435–457) probably is best known to modern students of church history as the author of the Letter to Mari. Even after Ibas's death this document constituted a major point of contention in the christological controversies surrounding and following Chalcedon (451). Yet Ibas's impact upon the christological struggles of the fifth and sixth centuries was significantly more prominent than a simple correspondence could tell. Despite the relative lack of primary sources dealing either with his person or his Christology, Claudia Rammelt's revised dissertation explores with some care and in great detail the story of Ibas's life, his standing in the diocese of Edessa, as well as the reception of his person and teachings in the context of fifth- and sixth-century church politics.

Rammelt organizes her discussion into seven main chapters, which in turn are subdivided into numerous sections. An expansive bibliography offers the reader useful orientation. A fuller index would have been welcome. Chapter One briefly acquaints the reader with the primary sources available, the status quaestionis regarding research into Ibas's life and activities, and the goals Rammelt set with this study. Given the centrality of Ibas's Letter to Mari for later conciliar developments, her choice of tracing Ibas's impact up until the Second Council of Constantinople in 553 is well-justified. Chapter Two discusses Edessa as the urban context for Ibas's career. Chapter Three, offering "biographical remarks," examines in some detail the origins and possible meaning of Ibas's name and considers what role Ibas may have held at the School of the Persians before becoming bishop of Edessa. Although Rammelt displays adequate familiarity with older literature, results of more recent studies (e.g., A. Becker) that call into question whether Ibas can be associated with that School of the Persians in the first place are not discussed. An evaluation of Ibas's episcopacy, including his building activities at Edessa, concludes Chapter Three. Chapter Four is dedicated to translation and detailed analysis of Ibas's Letter to Mari. Two distinct formulations of the letter, "Today Christ became immortal" and "I do not envy Christ," are given extended consideration. Chapter Five, with its length of more than 120 pages and its christological focus, constitutes the centerpiece of this monograph. This chapter ably situates Ibas in the context of the christological controversies between Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon. On the basis of the scant primary sources that are available, Rammelt still ably integrates Ibas's activities into the larger, undoubtedly confusing, conciliar and church political picture. The tensions between Rabbula and Ibas are worked out well. Adequate attention also is paid to the discussion of the context of Ibas's condemnation as a heretic at the "Robber Synod" in 449. Chapter Six examines how Ibas and his legacy were received following Chalcedon until the Second Council of Constantinople. Evaluations of historical reactions on the part of the Syrian Orthodox Church and the Church of the East are presented in order to advance the potential for rapprochement between those two churches. Given that Constantinople II condemned Ibas's Letter to Mari, but not his person, and given moreover that the council, as Rammelt discusses, called into question Ibas's authorship of the letter, her classification of the council's reaction as an expression of the condemnation of Ibas on the part of the church of the Byzantine Empire overstates the case. Chapter Seven, by way of conclusion, offers a brief summary of the main points of the monograph.

The study of Syriac Christianity that focuses on church historical milestones and figures—whether central, or marginal, or merely heretofore neglected—in Edessa and in the wider orbit of that city in the fifth and sixth centuries has been helpfully advanced in recent years by, among others, Robert Doran, Stewards of the Poor, Robert R. Phenix, The Sermons on Joseph of Balai of...