Over this scattered flock rules the Jacobite "Patriarch of Antioch, the Divinely-protected City, and of all the domain of the Apostolic Throne." He is always a monk. He receives a berat from the Government. The bishops, under the Mafrian, elect him. A great principle has always been that: "Neither the Patriarch without the Mafrian, nor the Mafrian without the Patriarch can be appointed."[1] There have been cases of election by lot.[2] The old rule was very clear against the translation of a bishop from one see to another; so the Patriarch was never already a bishop. But isolated exceptions to this rule occur fairly early. Thus in 668 the Metropolitan of Tarsus had been Metropolitan of Amida,[3] Athanasius VII (Patriarch, 1090-1129) transferred the Metropolitan of Gubos to Meliṭine.[4] One of the first cases of a Patriarch already a bishop was that of Athanasius VI (Ḥaye, 1058-c. 1064), who had been bishop of Arishmiṭat (Arsamosata), and at his election there was a tumult and a schism for this very reason.[5] Then the custom of transferring bishops became more and more common. Eventually the Mafrian himself constantly became Patriarch, in direct opposition to the old principle. In the 15th century the continuer of Barhebræus says: "It was the custom that either the Mafrian should be made Patriarch himself, or that he should ordain whomever he thinks fit."[6] Now the Mafrian generally become Patriarch. Since the Patriarch appoints the Mafrian, this means practically naming his own successor. Barhebræus insists strongly that if the Patriarch is already a bishop, he should not be reordained, but only the additional special prayers and ceremonies for a Patriarch's ordination should be used.[7] In the old days the Patriarch was ordained by the senior bishops. Then the custom was that the Mafrian should ordain him, and vice versa. The first case of this was the ordination of Dionysius V (1077-1078). Now that he is himself generally the Mafrian, they return (in such cases) necessarily to the old rule. Barhebræus gives an account of the office of each bishop at a Patriarchal consecration in his time (in his account of Michael I's consecration, 1166). The Mafrian ordains, and twelve other
