[citation needed] Ishoʿyahb was the son of a wealthy Persian Christian named Bastomagh, of Kuphlana in Adiabene, who was a frequent visitor to the monastery of Beth ʿAbe.
As metropolitan of Adiabene he hindered the Jacobites from building a church in Mosul, despite the fact that they were supported by all the weight and influence of the Tagritians from Tikrit.
Ishoʿyahb maintained good relations with the Arabs – whom he called variously Tayy, Muhajirs, and Hanifs – but never did heal the schism in his own Church.
Ishoʿyahb wrote a Refutation of Opinions on behalf of John, Metropolitan of Beth Lapat, several other tracts and sermons, some hymns, a vita of the martyr Isho-sabhran, and an exhortation to novices.
[1] The Chronicle of Seert, Pt.1.1, pg.85 (295), also credits him with choosing the three eucharistic anaphoras that are currently in use in the Assyrian Church of the East.