Ibas
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [1]
( ῎Ιβας ), bishop of Edessa, in Syria, from 435 to 457, distinguished himself by the translation of the works of Theodore of Mopsuestia into the Syriac. His lenient policy towards the Nestorians and the fact that he distributed the translation of Theodore extensively throughout Persia and Syria, caused several priests of his diocese to accuse him before the emperor Theodosius II, and before the archbishops of Antioch and Constantinople, for favoring Nestorianism. The emperor appointed the bishops Uranius of Himera, Photius of Tyre, Eusthate of Berytus, and the prefect of Damascus a commission to try-him. Two Synods, held respectively at Berytus and Tyre in 448, failed to convict him, and he was left undisturbed until the Robber-Synod of Ephesus (A.D. 449), when he was finally deposed from his diocese. He appealed to the Council of Chalcedon, and was restored to his bishopric in 451. Long after his death, in 553, the fifth general Council of Constantinople condemned him as a Nestorian, in spite of the efforts of pope Vigilius. The principal ground for this accusation was a letter written by him to the Persian bishop Maris, in which he blames his predecessor, Rabulas, for having condemned Theodore of Mopsuestia. The greater part of this letter is contained in the Recueil des Conciles, 4, 661. See Baronius, Annales, an. 448, 449, 451, 553; Dupin, Biblioth. eccles. duc 5me Sicile; Cave, Hist. litter.; Hoefer, Nouv. Biogr. G É neral É , 25, 727: Landon, Manual of Councils, s.v. Chalcedon; Neander, Church History, 2, 538- 552.
