Dionysius I Telmaharoyo (Latin: Dionysius Telmaharensis, Syriac: ܕܝܘܢܢܘܣܝܘܣ ܬܠܡܚܪܝܐ, Arabic: مار ديونيسيوس التلمحري), also known as Dionysius of Tel Mahre, was the Patriarch of Antioch, and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 818 until his death in 845.
Biography
Dionysius was born in Tal Mahre, near the city of Raqqa, into a wealthy family from Edessa, and became a monk at the Monastery of Qenneshre, where he studied philology, jurisprudence, philosophy, and theology. In 818, Dionysius was elected Patriarch of Antioch unanimously by a synod of forty-eight bishops. After his consecration, he issued a proclamation and held three councils in Raqqa in the same year, at which he issued twelve canons.
In 826, Dionysius visited Egypt in the company of the Abbasid general Abdallah ibn Tahir al-Khurasani. He later held a council at the Monastery of Euspholis in 828, The Annals were cited extensively by Michael I, Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch (r. 1166–1199), and the anonymous author of the Chronicle of 1234. Dionysius' accounts were also later used in the Ecclesiastical History of Bar Hebraeus, Maphrian of the East (r. 1266–1286).