Samaritan High Priest

The Samaritan High Priest is the high priest (kohen gadol) of the remaining Samaritan community in the Levant. According to the Samaritan's tradition, the office has existed continuously since the time of Aaron, the brother of Moses, and has been held by 133 priests in the last thirty-four centuries. However, the historicity of this claim is disputable. One account by Josephus suggests that its office holders are an offshoot of the Zadokite high priests of Jerusalem from around the time of Alexander the Great.[1][2]

Samaritan Kohanim c. 1876. The inscription on the bottom label the persons from, left to right: "Phineas the Kohen, Jacob the Kohen, Isaac the Kohen". The small child is Jacob's daughter.
Family of the Samaritan High Priests, 1876. To the left is a scribe named Shalabi, to the right are Isaac the son of the High Priest Amram ben Shalma, then Abisha, the son of Amram's brother Pinehas, and finally Uzzi the son of the High Priest Yaacob ben Aaharon ben Shalma, the son of Amram's brother Aaharon.

It appears, based upon the larger gaps in time between high priests, that several names might be missing, or that there were long periods of vacancy between priests.

The continuous lineage of Samaritan High Priests, descending directly from Aaron, through his son Eleazar, and his son Phinehas, was however disrupted in the early 17th century. In 1624, the last Samaritan High Priest of the line of Eleazar son of Aaron died without male succession, but descendants of Aaron's other son, Ithamar, remained and took over the office.[3] There are four families within the house of Ithamar. The Åbtå order, descended from the 113th High Priest Tsedaka ben Tabia, which has held the office of the High Priesthood since 1624; the House of Phineas a.k.a. Dār 'Åder, descended from Fīn'ās ban Yīṣ'å̄q (Phineas ben Isaac); Dār Yīṣ'å̄q, descended from Yīṣ'å̄q ban Åmrām (Isaac ben Amram); and Dār Yāqob, descended from Yāqob ban Årron (Jacob ben Aaron).

List of Samaritan High Priests
  1. Sashai ben Abishua, who was a contemporary and rival of the Jewish High Priest Eli of Shiloah.
  2. Bakhi ben Abishua, probably identical to the Jewish High Priest Bukki.
  3. Shembet ben Nedab ben Uzziah ben Sashai, who served at the shrine to God at Shechem alone.
  4. Shallum ben Shembet,
  5. Hezekiah I ben Pedaiel ben Shembet,
  6. Jonathan I ben Abiathar (2 Samuel 15:27), served as a messenger during Absalom's rebellion (2 Samuel 15:36, 17:17).
  7. Jair ben Jonathan,
  8. Daliah I ben Hezekiah,
  9. Jair II ben Abiezer ben Jair,
  10. Jonathan II ben Mennah ben Abiezer
  11. Ishmael ben Koraiah ben Daliah
  12. Tobiah I
  13. Zadok
  14. Amram I
  15. Hilkiah
  16. Amram II
  17. Akkub I
  18. Akkubiah I ben Hoshea, who was a contemporary of Isaiah and King Hezekiah.
  19. Hillel
  20. Seriah
  21. Levi
  22. Nathaniel I
  23. Azariah sat as High Priest during the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem
  24. Abdael
  25. Hezekiah II
  26. Hananiah
  27. Amram III
  28. Hanan
  29. Hezekiah III
  30. Daliah II
  31. Akkub II
  32. Akkubiah II
  33. Levi I
  34. Eleazar II
  35. Manasseh, the son-in-law of Sanballat the governor
  36. Jair III
  37. Nathaniel II
  38. Joiachim
  39. Jonathan III, High Priest during the lifetime of Jesus
  40. Elishama, who held the office during the destruction of the second Jerusalem temple
  41. Shemaiah
  42. Tobiah II
  43. Amram IV
  44. Akabon I
  45. Phinhas II
  46. Levi II, who held the office during the revolt of Simon Bar Koziba (Simon bar Kokhba)
  47. Eleazar III
  48. Baba I
  49. Eleazar IV
  50. Akabon II
  51. Nathaniel III
  52. (~308-328 AD[4]) Baba II Rabba, ben Nathaniel
  53. Akabon III
  54. Nathaniel IV
  55. Akabon IV
  56. Eleazar V
  57. Akabon V
  58. Eleazar VI
  59. Akabon VI, late 6th century
  60. Eleazar VII
  61. Netaniel V, early 7th century
  62. Eleazar VIII, c. 630
  63. Netaniel VI
  64. Eleazar IX, 640-650
  65. Akabon VII
  66. Eleazar X
  67. Akabon VIII
  68. Eleazar XI
  69. Akabon IX, c. 750
  70. Eleazar XII, 780-810
  71. Simeon
  72. Levi III.
  73. Phineas III.
  74. Netaniel VII
  75. Baba II
  76. Eleazar XIII.
  77. Netaniel VIII
  78. Eleazar XIV
  79. Phineas IV
  80. Netaniel IX
  81. Abdul II
  82. Eleazar XV
  83. Abdel III.
  84. Eleazar XVI
  85. Aaron II
  86. Tsedaka
  87. Amram V
  88. Aaron III.
  89. Netaniel X
  90. Itamar
  91. Amram VII
  92. Uzzi
  93. Joseph
  94. Phineas V, late 13th century
  95. Eleazar XVII
  96. Phineas VI ha-Natzri
  97. Abisha
  98. Eleazar XVIII
  99. Phineas VIII


  1. (1613–1624) Shelemiah ben Pinhas
  2. (1624–1650) Tsedaka ben Tabia Ha'abta'ai
  3. (1650–1694) Yitzhaq ben Tsedaka
  4. (1694–1732) Abraham ben Yitzhaq
  5. (1732–1752) Tabia ben Yiszhaq ben Avraham
  6. (1752–1787) Levi ben Avraham
  7. (1787–1855) Shalma ben Tabia
  8. (1855–1874) Amram ben Shalma
  9. (1874–1916) Yaacob ben Aaharon ben Shalma
    10. Samaritan High Priest Yaakov ben Aharon and the Abisha Scroll, 1905
  10. (1916–1932) Yitzhaq ben Amram ben Shalma ben Tabia
  11. (1933–1943) Matzliach ben Phinhas ben Yitzhaq ben Shalma
  12. (1943–1961) Abisha ben Phinhas ben Yittzhaq ben Shalma
  13. (1961–1980) Amram ben Yitzhaq ben Amram ben Shalma
  14. (1980–1982) Asher ben Matzliach ben Phinhas
  15. (1982–1984) Phinhas ben Matzliach ben Phinhas
  16. (1984–1987) Yaacob ben Ezzi ben Yaacob ben Aaharon
  17. (1987–1998) Yoseph ben Ab-Hisda ben Yaacov ben Aaharon {1919-1998}
  18. (1998–2001) Levi ben Abisha ben Phinhas ben Yitzhaq {1920-2001}
  19. (2001–2004) Shalom ben Amram ben Yitzhaq (Saum Is'haq al-Samiri){1922-2004}
  20. (2004–2010) Elazar ben Tsedaka ben Yitzhaq {1927-2010}
  21. (2010-2013) Aharon ben Ab-Chisda ben Yaacob
  22. (2013-) Aabed-El ben Asher ben Matzliach
Yitzhaq ben Amram ben Shalma ben Tabia, Samaritan High Priest, taking refuge from riots on Easter 1920 with Dr. A.C. Harte, Director of Jerusalem YMCA.
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See also

References
  1. Josephus (1958). Jewish Antiquities. Loeb Classic Library, Josephus 6: Jewish Antiquities Books 9-11. Translated by Ralph Marcus. Harvard University Press. Book 11, chapter 7.2 – 8, p. 461-483.
  2. Steinberg, David (20 August 2005). "The Origin and Nature of the Samaritans and their Relationship to Second Temple Jewish Sects". houseofdavid.ca. Section: "The Origin of the Samaritans: What Really Happened?". Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  3. Sean Ireton (2003). "The Samaritans - A Jewish Sect in Israel: Strategies for Survival of an Ethno-religious Minority in the Twenty First Century". Anthrobase. Retrieved 2007-11-29.
  4. Cohen, Jeffrey M. (1981). A Samaritan chronicle: a source-critical analysis of the life and times of the great Samaritan reformer, Baba Rabbah. Studia Post-Biblica 30. Leiden: Brill. pp. 225–226. ISBN 9789004062153.
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