Yohannan VIII Hormizd
According to his autobiography, Yohannan Hormizd was born in 1760 in Alqosh to an Assyrian family. His father, the deacon Hanna (Yohannan), was the brother of the Mosul patriarch Eliya XII Denha (1722–78).
Sasanian civil war of 589-591
Hormizd also declined the requests of the Zoroastrian priesthood to persecute the Christians. He did not like the Zoroastrian priesthood, and therefore killed a great deal of them, including the chief priest ("mowbed") himself. Furthermore, Hormizd greatly reduced the payment of the military by 10 percent and massacred many powerful and prominent members of the elite, including the famous Karenid "vizier" of his father, Bozorgmehr, the latter's brother Simah-i Burzin; the Mihranid Izadgushasp; the "spahbed" ("army chief") Bahram-i Mah Adhar, and the Ispahbudhan Shapur, who was the father of Vistahm and Vinduyih. According to the medieval Persian historian al-Tabari, Hormizd is said to have ordered the death of 13,600 nobles and religious members.