Patriarch Athanasius of Balad, or Athanasius II, was the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church (683 - 686). Antioch in his patriarchate was ruled by the House of Marwan, a branch of the Umayyads then struggling for its life in the Second Civil War. He warned his community against following "pagan" practices, many of which were likewise warned against in the Qur'an (e.g. 5:3), "that they should distance themselves from fornication, from what is strangled and from blood, and from the food of pagan sacrifices, lest they be by this associates of the demons and of their unclean table". (Athanasius of Balad, "Letter", 128-129)