From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Moses (bishop of the Arabs)

4th century Arab Christian religious leader

Summary

4th century Arab Christian religious leader

Field	Value
name	Moses of the Saracens
death_date
feast_day	7 February
venerated_in	Eastern Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church
birth_place	border region between Egypt and Syria
titles	Apostle of the Saracens, Bishop of the Saracens, Venerable
honorific_prefix	Saint

Moses or Saint Moses spent many years in the 4th century as a hermit on the fringes of the Roman empire between Egypt and Syria, before becoming the first Arab bishop of the Arab people.

Moses had no fixed see after his consecration as bishop, journeying instead with his nomadic flock, converting many of them, and keeping peace between the different tribes and the Roman imperial authorities.

Biography

It is not known when he was born, but for some time in the 4th century, Moses, like his ancient namesake, spent many years travelling and preaching in the wilderness in the border region between Egypt and Syria. His life of preaching attracted him a large following among eastern Miaphysites in general and Arabs in particular. This reputation was noted by Socrates of Constantinople, who describes him as "a Saracen by birth, who led a monastic life in the desert", who had become "exceedingly eminent for his piety, faith and miracles." Socrates' description of Moses comes by way of his retelling of the exploits of Queen Mavia, who promised to end her armed revolt against the Roman empire on the condition that Moses be "constituted bishop over her nation."

Valens, the Roman emperor, had no choice but to accept. Mavia's forces, originating in southern Syria, had defeated those of Rome's on multiple occasions, marching through Palestine and Phoenicia, to reaching the frontier with Egypt. Moses also refused to be ordained by the Arian patriarchal see at Alexandria, choosing to be consecrated by chalcedonian bishops living in exile instead. In some accounts, Moses is said to have been nabbed by Roman imperial troops to be taken to be ordained. It is for this reason that he is sometimes confused with Moses the Black, another saint of the region, who is thought to have died some sixty years after he did.

Notable mentions in history

Pope Gregory III (731-741) recalled the example of Moses as a monk turned bishop, in a dialogue with the nephew of St. Boniface, when trying to convince him to join his uncle at the German mission. Irfan Shahid writes: "Thus an Arab monk bishop was presented as a model for the English saint."

References

Bibliography

References

Bunson et al., 2003, p. 595.
Butler and Burns, 2000, p. 68.
As he was well respected for his [[piety]], [[faith]], and alleged performance of [[miracles]], [[Mavia (queen). Mavia]], an Arab warrior-[[queen regnant
Ball, 2001, pp. 100-101.
Shahid, 1995, p. 214.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

4th-century-arab-people arab-christians 4th-century-christian-saints arabs-in-the-roman-empire arab-christian-saints

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Moses (bishop of the Arabs) — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report