David (Syriac: ܕܘܝܕ ܕܟܪ̈ܬܘܝܐ, romanized: Dawid d-Kartwāyē) was a monk, bishop and historian of the Church of the East in the 7th or 8th century.
[9] According to Thomas of Marga in chapter XXI of his Book of Governors, David wrote at the request of a Persian nobleman named Khuznahir, a Christian from Bashosh (near Shalmash).
[10] The Little Paradise was a series of "histories" of Mesopotamian ascetics beginning with George bar Sayyadhe, who was the ninth abbot of Beth Abe in 590.
[1][11] It certainly also contained biographies of the next four abbots of Beth Abe: George's brother and successor, Sama of Neshra; Nathaniel; Selibha the Aramaean; and Gabriel, called the Little Sparrow, who flourished in the late seventh century.
[1] Thomas of Marga cites it in his chapter XXIV concerning a famine that took place during the youth of John of Daylam.