Centralism and Local Tradition: A Reappraisal of the Sources on the Metropolis of Tagrit and Mor Matay

This article reexamines the origins and authority of the Syrian Orthodox metropolis of Tagrit and the monastery of Mor Matay between the 7th and 9th centuries. Challenging earlier scholarship, the author argues that Mor Matay was not merely a monastery with honorary status, but an officially recognized metropolis overseeing six northern dioceses of Assyria from the time of the union with the patriarchate of Antioch (624–629). By closely comparing the letter of Patriarch Athanasius Gamolo, the Canons of Mor Matay, and later Syriac and East Syrian historiography, the study shows that the eastern church was originally divided between two metropolitan centers: Tagrit in the south and Mor Matay/Assyria in the north. The article further contends that later patriarchal historians intentionally downplayed Mor Matay’s metropolitan status in order to strengthen centralized patriarchal authority and limit the autonomy traditionally granted to metropolitans under the Canons of Nicaea. The long-standing conflicts between the maphrians of Tagrit, the monks of Mor Matay, and the patriarchate are therefore interpreted as the result of an inherent jurisdictional tension built into the original organization of the eastern provinces.