Shimun XVII Abraham

Mar Shimun XVII Abraham (also Simon XVII Abraham or Auraham, 1800/01– 1861) served as the Catholicos-Patriarch of the Church of the East from c. 1820 to 1861.^[2]

Mar Shimun XVII Abraham
Catholicos-Patriarch of the Church of the East
Church	Church of the East
Diocese	Patriarchal Diocese of Qodshanis
See	Holy Apostolic See of Seleucia-Ctesiphon
Installed	1820
Term ended	1861
Predecessor	Mar Shimun XVI Yohannan
Successor	Mar Shimun XVIII Rubil
Orders
Rank	Catholicos-Patriarch
Personal details
Born	1800/01[1] Qodshanis, Hakkari, Ottoman Empire
Died	1861 Qodshanis, Hakkari, Ottoman Empire
Denomination	Christian, Church of the East
Residence	Qodshanis, Hakkari, Ottoman Empire

He led the church from Qodshanis (modern Konak, Hakkari) in southeastern Turkey, and tried to maintain good relations with local Ottoman authorities. In 1843, he was faced with renewed hostilities from Kurdish warlords, who attacked many Christian villages and killed 10,000 men, taking away women and children as captives, and forcing Patriarch to take refuge in Mosul.^[3] He is buried in the Church of Mar Shalita in Turkey. He also bravely resisted the Kurdish warlords, most prominent resistance being against the Kurdish Nurullah Beg in 1841, where Nurullah unsuccessfully tried to subdue the Assyrians who Shimun led.

See also

• List of youngest bishops