Shimun XXI Eshai

Mar Eshai was born on 26 February 1908 in Qudchanis, the mountainous region located in southern Turkey. Mar Eshai was raised with great care while received the necessary theological and liturgical training by the Archdeacon of the Patriarch, Thoma of Ashita and by the Metropolitan of Rustaqa, Mar Yosip Khnanisho, who was also his uncle. At the age of twelve, due to geopolitical upheavals at the time, Mar Eshai was ordained as Patriarch in 1920, succeeding his uncle, Mar Poulus Shimun, XXII. When the church council met in London on 17 October 1976, it elected as patriarch Mar Dinkha IV (who had been bishop of Tehran). ==Works==

Many Syriac books were translated into English by Mar Eshai Shimun. Some of which are: • Portions of the Aramaic liturgy; • The Book of Hymns and Praises; • Synodical Rules of the Church of the East; • The Book of Marganitha, a standard theological work of the Church of the East; • The publication of the homilies of Mar Narsai, the great saint and scholar of the fifth century, in two volumes, numbering more than 1400 pages; • along with seventy pages of introduction and critical apparatus in English by Shimun as well as countless outstanding sermons on the historical doctrine of the Church of the East. The Assyrian Tragedy The Assyrian Tragedy documents the national struggle of the Assyrian people prior, during, and after World War I. It was originally published anonymously in 1934. Authorship of the book was posthumously attributed to Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII. Most of the material in the book is his personal letters to various heads of governments and organizations and their replies. The book was reprinted in January, 1988 by Mr. Sargis Michael, over a decade after the assassination of Mar Eshai. ==See also==