Yohannan the Leper

Who is Yohannan the Leper?

Yohannan Garba, originally metropolitan of Nisibis, was anti-patriarch of the Church of the East between 691 and 693. He opposed the claims of the legitimately-elected patriarch Hnanishoʿ I, who had offended the caliph ʿAbd al-Malik with a tactless remark about Islam. In 693 Yohannan was disgraced and thrown into prison, where he died shortly afterwards. Hnanishoʿ's successor Sliba-zkha removed Yohannan's name from the diptychs, and he is not included in the traditional list of patriarchs of the Church of the East.