Rabulas, of Edessa

Rabulas, Of Edessa all Eastern prelate who flourished near the opening of the 5th century, was a student of Theodorus of Mopsuestia, and, in 431, was prominently identified with the Antiochites at the council in Ephesus. In the following year, however, Cyril of Alexandria succeeded in gaining Rabulas to his side; and after this we hear of him as a devout orthodox. He energetically opposed Nestorius, and greatly weakened the Nestorians. He condemned the bishop of Edessa, the writings of Diodorus of Tarsus and of Theodorus of Mopsuestia, banished and drove off the teachers from the school at Edessa who were reputed favorable to their doctrines, and thus became an unwilling instrument in the founding of the school at Nisibis by Barsulmas and in the spread of Nestorianism in the East. He died in 436. His successor at Edessa was Ibas (q.v.). Under the name of Rabulas there is extant an old canonical collection of the Syrian Church, pieces of which are contained in the edition of the Nomoncanon of Bar-Hebraeus by Mai (Script. Vet. Nov. Coll. vol. x).