Thomas of Edessa (or Tōmā ūrhāyā;[1] died c. 540) was a theologian of the Church of the East who wrote several works in Syriac, most of them lost.
He later travelled with Aba around the Roman Empire, including to its capital, Constantinople.
ʿAbdishoʿ bar Brikha ascribes to him some buyyāye (hortatory discourses), a refutation of astrology, some treatises against heresy in the form of disputations and an epistolary treatise on qāle, that is, stanzaic syllabic chants.
[4] His commentaries on the feasts of Nativity and Epiphany are the oldest extant examples in the genre of ʿelta (cause, explanation, etiology).
[4] Cyrus of Edessa continued the work of Thomas by writing etiologies for the spring festivals.