Simandu (West Syriac diocese)

Simandu was an archdiocese of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Cappadocia, attested between the tenth and twelfth centuries. Thirteen of its bishops are mentioned in the lists of Michael the Syriac and other Jacobite sources.
Sources.
The main primary source for the Syriac Orthodox metropolitans of Simandu is the record of episcopal consecrations appended to Volume III of the "Chronicle" of the Syriac Orthodox patriarch Michael the Syrian (1166–99). In this Appendix Michael listed most of the bishops consecrated by the Syriac Orthodox patriarchs of Antioch between the ninth and twelfth centuries. Twenty-eight Syriac Orthodox patriarchs sat during this period, and in many cases Michael was able to list the names of the bishops consecrated during their reigns, their monasteries of origin, and the place where they were consecrated.
Two twelfth-century bishops omitted from Michael's list are mentioned in the "Chronicon Ecclesiasticum" of the Jacobite maphrian Bar Hebraeus ("ob."1286).
Location.
Simandu was a district near Melitene, known in Greek as Tzamendos. During the twelfth century it was included in the territories of the Frankish County of Edessa.
Bishops and metropolitans of Simandu.
Eleven Jacobite metropolitans of Simandu are mentioned in the lists of Michael the Syrian.
Two twelfth-century bishops of Simandu omitted from the lists of Michael the Syrian are mentioned in the "Chronicon Ecclesiasticum" of Bar Hebraeus:
The diocese of Simandu seems to have lapsed around the end of the twelfth century, perhaps after the death of the bishop Basil (1139/1166).