Rav Sherira was ordained for the Gaonut in year 4727 [(and in Yuchsin in the order of the Geonim, generation 7, he wrote 4728, and in Shalshelet HaKabbalah, letter 37, part 3, he wrote that Rav Sherira and Rav Hai his son in Naharde'a and Rav Saadia in the Metivta of Machsaya year 4720)] and he was the son of Rav Chanina Gaon bar Mar Rav Yehuda Gaon. At that time the Rashbash was Rosh Yeshiva in a place called Peroz Shavur in the border of Naharde'a near Babylon where there were about ninety thousand Jews.

For the Raavad he reigned thirty years until 4757 and then he removed himself from the Gaonut and seated his son Rav Hai on his throne. He was from the seed of Zerubavel ben Shealtiel from the house of David, and therefore his seal was the form of a lion like in the banner of Yehuda. [And in Yuchsin the Rashbash wrote that Rabbah bar Avuha was his ancestor and from the house of the Nesi'im he was. And he wrote in the order of the Geonim, generation 7, that from the days of the Ishmaelites they would establish by money the authority of the Reish Galuta, and his parents did not want to be Reish Galuta and they returned to the Gaonut.

His burial is in the Metivta of Machsaya (Gedolei Yisrael)].