Вави́ Рабба́: Самаритя́нский первосвяще́нник IV века́

4th century Samaritan high priest

Baba II Rabba (Samaritan Aramaic: ࠁࠢࠁࠢࠀ ࠓࠠࠁࠠࠄ Bābāʾ Råbbå, Samaritan Hebrew: ࠁࠢࠁࠢࠀ ࠄࠣࠂࠟࠃࠅࠫࠋ Bābāʾ ʾagā̊dōl; literally "Baba the Great"), was a notable Samaritan High Priest. He is believed to have lived during the late third and early fourth centuries CE; Jeffrey Cohen puts his birth at 288 and his death at 328. The son of the Samaritan High Priest Nethanel III, Baba Rabba was probably born in Kiryat Hagga, modern day Hajjah, West Bank. Little is known about his life. According to later Samaritan works, he was a religious reformer and together with the scholar Marqah helped codify Samaritan liturgy and worship. He appears to have had connections with the Roman authorities, and may have exercised some temporal authority over the Samaritan community, which appears to have been relatively autonomous during this period. One chronicle places his death at 362 in Constantinople. Baba is also remembered for his actions against Roman (Byzantine) sanctions on the Samaritan community, such as resisting the ban on circumcision imposed on the Samaritans, re opening and building brand new synagogues throughout Samaria, and administering the country in the midst of its rebellion against the Romans. Per Samaritan chronology, he lived in the "eighth period".

In Samaritan chronicles, extensive space is devoted to the recording of events in the order in which they occurred and the activities of Baba Rabba. His various works have no external documentation, neither in the Sages' sources nor in the Christian literature of the Byzantine period. Apart from the division of the land into districts, Baba Rabba built synagogues and appointed judges from various localities. He also founded a council composed of priests and sages who were supposed to teach Torah and run new synagogues. The council was composed of seven priests: three priests and four elders.

Yitzhak Khamitovsky believes that Baba Rabba was the leader of the rural environment of Nablus. The priesthood in Nablus itself was not a partner in the reforms he made. In the lists of synagogues and judges, there is no mention of the city of Nablus. What's more, at that time the Roman pagan Nablus Neapolis was at its height of prosperity. His actions remained within the area of the surrounding countryside. According to Yitzhak Magen the tradition surrounding Baba Rabba should be seen as an allusion to the "religious renaissance" of the Samaritan community in the 4th century. The appearance of Baba Rabba, together with the discovery of Greek inscriptions from that period and archeological discoveries of the synagogues of the Samaritans in and outside Samaria indicate a Samaritan religious awakening. In the 4th century, the sacred compound on Mount Gerizim was also rebuilt and the pilgrimage to it reinstated.