Ignatius Isaac II (, ) was the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1709 until his resignation in 1723. Biography Isaac ʿAzar was born at Mosul in 1647, and was the son of Maqdisi 'Azar and Maryam. He had brothers named Matthew and Jacob, and two uncles, George and Rizq Allah, through his mother. Isaac became a monk at the nearby monastery of Saint Matthew, where he and his uncle George were both ordained as priests in 1669 by Basil Yeldo, Maphrian of the East. In 1673, Isaac and George aided Basil Yeldo in renovating the monastery of Saint Matthew, for which the three of them were imprisoned by the governor of Mosul for a short while. Basil Yeldo appointed Isaac as the abbot of the monastery of Saint Matthew in 1675, and he was later ordained as archbishop of the monastery of Saint Matthew by Patriarch Ignatius Abdulmasih I in early 1684 at the monastery of Saint Ananias, upon which he assumed the name Severus. This took place at the same time as George's ordination as Basil Yeldo's successor as Maphrian of the East. In April 1687, Isaac was ordained as Maphrian of the East at the Great Church of Mardin by his uncle George, who had been elevated to patriarch of Antioch at the same time, upon which he assumed the name Basil. Throughout George's tenure as patriarch, Isaac was entrusted with the administration of the whole church, and thus he ordained several bishops and a number of presbyters, deacons and monks. At Amida, he rebuilt the church of Saint Jacob in 1691, and renovated the church of Saint Mary in 1693, and added the nave of Saint Jacob of Serugh, on instruction from the patriarch. In 1701, he received permission from the Ottoman government to rebuild the churches of Mardin after having travelled to Constantinople and other places, accompanied by the priest Shukrallah. Whilst Isaac was at Aleppo, George died on 5 June 1708. A synod was subsequently held at the monastery of Saint Ananias in 1709, with Maphrian Basil Lazarus of Tur Abdin presiding, and Isaac was unanimously chosen to succeed George as patriarch of Antioch. After having received a firman from the Ottoman government recognising his ascension to the patriarchal office, Isaac was consecrated as patriarch by Basil Lazarus at Amida on 8 February 1709, upon which he assumed the