George I of Antioch

George I of Antioch
Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East
Church	Syriac Orthodox Church
See	Antioch
Installed	758
Term ended	790
Predecessor	Athanasius Sandalaya
Successor	Joseph
Personal details
Died	1 December 790 Monastery of Mar Bar Sawma
Sainthood
Feast day	7 December
Venerated in	Orthodox Christianity

George I of Antioch (Syriac: Mor Gewargis) was the Patriarch of Antioch, and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 758 until his death in 790.

George was born in Baltan, near Emesa, into a family of Melkites. He became a Jacobite and studied Syriac and Greek at the Monastery of Qinnasrin, as well as philology, theology and jurisprudence. Here he was later ordained as a deacon.

In December 758, a synod was held in Mabbogh to elect a new patriarch, however, a consensus could not be reached and George was imposed as patriarch. John, bishop of Raqqa, and other bishops of Mesopotamia, did not recognise George as patriarch and John was elected patriarch. The Caliph al-Mansur supported John and thus George was prohibited from residing at the patriarchal seat at Antioch and resided at several monasteries during this time. John continued to pose as patriarch until his death in 762/763 AD.

In 764/765 AD, a synod was held at Serug to attempt to heal the division within the church. Negotiations were unsuccessful as George refused to recognise the bishops consecrated by John of Raqqa whilst posing as patriarch. From 765 to 766, George resided at the Monastery of Zuqnîn near Amid. A meeting was held in 766 between the two camps in the palace of the Caliph al-Mansur and David of Dara was appointed patriarch by the Caliph. George was imprisoned in Baghdad alongside the Nestorian Catholicos Jacob II, Theodore, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, and Sliba-zkha, Nestorian bishop of Tirhan.

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