Papa (bishop)

Mar Papa (died c. 327/328), also known as Papa bar Aggai, was Bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the capital of Sassanid Persia, in the late 3rd and early 4th century. An important figure in the early history of the Church of the East, he was first in the generally recognized line of Bishops of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, who would later become the acknowledged heads of the church. He was the first bishop to be given the title of Catholicos, or universal leader, and set about restructuring the previously disorganized Persian church. Some historians describe him as the founding figure of the Church of the East, though according to Syriac tradition, he was simply continuing a line of leaders, such as Mar Mari, that stretched back to Thomas the Apostle.

Prior to Papa's consecration the Christian community in Seleucia-Ctesiphon had no organized leadership or established episcopal succession. According to the scholar Mschikha-Zca, two visiting bishops, Akha d'abuh' of Arbil and the Bishop of Susa, appointed Papa so that the Persian capital might have its own bishop and diocese. This probably occurred around 280. He was considered a strong-willed, though hot-tempered,statesman and a capable scholar in both the Persian and Syriac tongues.

During his tenure Papa made a substantial, and controversial, reorganization of the Persian church, setting himself up as head of a hierarchy of other bishops. For these efforts he was recognized as Catholicos of the Church in 315. Since he was the leader of the Christian minority (melet) in the Sassanid Empire (which was primarily Zoroastrian), Papa was also in touch with the King and the King's ministers, as the melet-bashi, the leader of the minority.

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