city
Seleucia-Ctesiphon (Kokhe)
Salman Pak / al-Mada'in, Iraq · Persia & Church of the East
33.095, 44.581
Attested. Synod acts (Synodicon Orientale) and martyr acts attest the see from the 4th century. Lists of bishops before Papa (c. 300) are later legend.
The twin royal cities on the Tigris were the Sasanian capital and the seat of the catholicos (later patriarch) of the Church of the East, whose cathedral stood in the Kokhe quarter. The Synod of Mar Isaac held here in 410 organized the Persian church under its own head, recognized by the Persian king. The see moved to Baghdad after the Abbasid capital was founded nearby.
Added from later research
abrahamic
Mahoza (by Ctesiphon)
Mahoza was a wealthy Jewish trading quarter on the Tigris beside Seleucia-Ctesiphon (Persia batch), where Rava's academy flourished in the 4th century. The Talmud depicts close contact with Persian court life, including the queen mother Ifra Hormiz. It shows Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians living side by side at the Sasanian capital.
attested. Attested in the Talmud. The court anecdotes are traditional or literary.
Source stance: insider. Mainly Church of the East synod records and martyr acts; Sasanian sources are neutral on the church itself.
People and groups named here
- Papa bar Aggai
- Shemon bar Sabbae (martyred 344)
- Catholicos Isaac (Synod of 410)
- Mar Aba I
- Rava
- Ifra Hormiz (traditional)
- Shapur II
Sources
- CTESIPHON
Encyclopaedia Iranica. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Seleucia-Ctesiphon (e-GEDSH)
Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage, electronic ed., Beth Mardutho. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Pleiades place 893976: Ctesiphon
Pleiades Gazetteer (ISAW, NYU). Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Al-Mada'in (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0). Accessed 2026-11-11.
Further reading
Councils here
None in this list.