Sayfo; Monastery of Mor Quriaqus

Monastery of Mor Quriaqus

The Mor Quriaqus Monastery is located in the Beshiriyeh area north of the Tigris River, positioning it in the northern vicinity of Diyarbakir. The monastery served as a vital spiritual and educational center for the Syriac Orthodox community throughout its history.

The Sayfo genocide from 1915 to 1924 marks the most catastrophic era for the Mor Quriaqus Monastery in Beshiriyeh. Atrocities were committed by Ottoman soldiers and Kurdish tribal militias who coordinated to annihilate the Christian population. Specific details regarding the massacre at the monastery describe a brutal assault where the perpetrators showed no mercy to the religious inhabitants. As the killers approached the complex, the elderly monk Joseph, accompanied by the fasting nun Zarroh, came out to meet them to understand the purpose of their visit and offer service; however, the nun was struck with an axe and decapitated, and the monk was shot and killed. During this same timeframe, a group of six priest-monks served the monastery and its surrounding region, identified as Yusuf, Goriya, Gewargis, Tuma, Yeshu, and Rabban Sim'an.

The clergy of the Mor Quriaqus Monastery were specifically targeted for extermination. The abbot of the monastery during this period was the Very Reverend Father Awgen, formerly known as Murad from the village of Hashas. Murad had gained a reputation for heroism in 1915 when he snuck out of the besieged Mor Hananya Monastery through a northern window and traveled alone to Mardin to alert Bishop Mor Cyril Georges of the imminent danger, which subsequently led to the deployment of jandarma units to protect that site. Despite his earlier survival, Awgen was ultimately murdered by Kurdish groups in 1925 during the Sheikh Said rebellion while he was attempting to defend destitute people.

The population and properties of the monastery suffered total devastation. Thousands of Syriac Orthodox believers from the surrounding districts, including villages such as Qellet, Bafawah, and Ma'sarteh, were put to the sword or forced into desertion, with hundreds of churches and monasteries either occupied, looted, or destroyed. The Mor Quriaqus complex was effectively emptied of its Christian inhabitants as survivors fled toward safer enclaves or into Iraq and Syria. In the aftermath of the atrocities, the property was often confiscated by local Kurdish clans or the government. In one reported instance, the church of Mor Quriaqus was converted into a mosque after a horse stabled there killed the local Agha's son, an event the perpetrators viewed as a divine punishment.