John X bar Shushan

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John X bar Shushan was the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch from 1063/1064 to 1072/1073. He was born in the early 11th century in Melitene and studied languages, philosophy, and religion before becoming a monk. He studied with Patriarch John IX bar ʿAbdun and served as his syncellus (secretary). After John bar Abdun died in 1057, Yeshu was elected patriarch at Amid by eastern bishops under the maphrian, taking the name John. Western bishops opposed him and elected Athanasius V, appealing to the Muslim rulers; John abdicated, and Athanasius ruled until 1063/1064, when John was restored. During most of his tenure he lived mainly at Amid, and also stayed at Harran and Maypherqat under Muslim control to avoid persecution. His relations with other non-Chalcedonian leaders were tense, and he defended church practices with a treatise to Armenian Catholicos Gregory II the Martyrophile. He also sent a letter to Coptic Pope Christodoulos of Alexandria to refute criticism of mixing salt and oil with the sacramental bread. John X bar Shushan died in Amid in November 1072 or 1073. He wrote extensively on theology, canon law, and liturgy: seven books of propitiatory prayers (ḥusoye), four books of poetry about the 1058 Turkish sack of Melitene, an anaphora, and two treatises defending the church against Islam and against the Melkite church.