Abdisho IV Maron

{{Short description|Head of the Chaldean Catholic Church from 1555 to 1570}}

{{Infobox Patriarch

|image=Abdisho-IV-Maron.jpg

|honorific-prefix = Mar

|name=Abdisho IV Maron

|birth_name=Abdisho Maron of Yohannan

|church=Chaldean Catholic Church

|see=Amid of the Chaldeans
Siirt of the Chaldeans

|patriarch_of=Patriarch of the Chaldeans
Patriarch of the Eastern Assyrians{{cite book |last=Da Mula |first=Marco Antonio |title=R.D. Patriarchae Orientalium Assyriorum De Sacro Oecumenico Tridentini Concilio. MDLXII |publisher=Jacob Marcaria Publishers |year=1562 }}

|residence=Siirt, Ottoman Empire

|enthroned= 1555

|ended= 11 September 1570

|predecessor= Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa

|successor=Yahballaha IV

|birth_date=

|death_date=11 September 1570

}}

Mar Abdisho IV Maron ({{langx|syc|ܥܒܕܝܫܘܥ ܪܒܝܥܝܐ ܡܪܘܢ}}) was the second Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, from 1555 to 1570.

Abdisho, whose name is spelled in many different ways in Latin characters (Abdisu, Abd-Jesu, Hebed-Jesu, Abdissi, Audishu) meaning Servant of Jesus, was born in Gazarta on the River Tigris, son of Yohannan of the house of Mari. He entered in the monasteries of Saint Antony and of Mar Ahha and Yohannan,{{cite book |last=Wilmshurst |first=David |title=The Ecclesiastical Organisation of the Church of the East, 1318-1913 |publisher=Peeters Publishers |year=2000 |isbn=978-90-429-0876-5}}{{rp|349}} and in 1554 was consecrated metropolitan bishop of Gazarta by Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa.

After Sulaqa's death in 1555, Abdisho was elected patriarch of the Chaldean Church. He could travel to Rome only in 1561. On 7 March 1562 Abdisho made a profession of faith in front of pope Pius IV and on 17 April 1562 he received from the pope the pallium, the sign of the confirmation of his election declaring him as "Patriarch of the Eastern Assyrians".{{cite book |last=Da Mula |first=Marco Antonio |title=R.D. Patriarchae Orientalium Assyriorum De Sacro Oecumenico Tridentini Concilio. MDLXII |publisher=Jacob Marcaria Publishers |year=1562 }}{{rp|}}

In a letter of his dated 1562 to the pope he listed thirty-eight dioceses under his rule, ranging from the Ottoman Empire to Persia and India. Modern scholars suggest that the actual dioceses could be only about fourteen, and the error in the list was due to a probable mistake in translation from Syriac to Latin.

He preferred to return to his church without waiting for attending the next session of the Council of Trent, where, on 17 Sept 1562 (XXII session), was given a detailed account of what he narrated about his Church and his faith.{{Cite book|title=Dictionary of Christian Biography|year=2001|editor=Michael Walsh|publisher=Continuum|isbn=0826452639|page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofchri0000unse/page/2 2]|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofchri0000unse/page/2}} The Portuguese bishops objected when it was narrated that Abdisho considered the jurisdiction of the Church of the East wide-ranging up to South India.{{cite book |first=Paolo |last=Sarpi |author-link=Paolo Sarpi|title=Storia del Concilio tridentino: ridotta alla primitiva lezione, con la vita scritta da Fra F. Micanzio |year=1858|orig-year=1619 |publisher=Pubblicato da Barbèra Bianchi |volume=3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7iwVAAAAQAAJ|access-date=2009-02-09|page=387}}

File:Abdisu IV Maron.jpg in 1562]]

About his reign, we know that in 1565 the pope confirmed the use of the traditional Chaldean uses and rites,{{cite book |first=Suha |last=Rassam |title=Christianity in Iraq: Its Origins and Development to the Present Day |year=2005 |publisher=Gracewing Publishing |isbn=978-0-85244-633-1|page=109}} and that he moved the See from Amid to the monastery of Mar Yaqub Khbhisha near Siirt.

Among the different possible dates of Abdisho's death, Murre suggests 11 September 1570.{{cite journal|url=http://syrcom.cua.edu/Hugoye/Vol2No2/HV2N2Murre.html |title=The Patriarchs of the Church of the East from the Fifteenth to Eighteenth Centuries |journal=Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies |access-date=2009-02-04 |author=Heleen H.L. Murre |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081222173041/http://syrcom.cua.edu/Hugoye/Vol2No2/HV2N2Murre.html |archive-date=2008-12-22 }}