Syriac Monasteries in Iraq

 Syriac Monasteries in Iraq

The monasteries in this list were mentioned in various sources but all of them are in ruin. They were abandoned for various reasons throughout the history of the Syriac Orthodox church but unfortunately there isn't much information about them. There was more monasteries in al-Mada’in (Ctesiphon), capital of the Persians but they were destroyed after the death of Gabriel of Sinjar, chief physician of the Persian king in 610. 

• Mor Behnam Monastery: also called the Pit Monastery, is situated about six hours' journey southeast of Mosul. It was built in the beginning of the fifth century. From it graduated one Maphryono and seven bishops. In 1839, it was usurped by a group which seceded and joined the Catholic church. It was deserted for some sixty years, but is now populated. 

• Khanushya Monastery: in the mountain of Sinjar, is first mentioned in history in the sixth century. From it graduated Maphryono Paul in 722 and the monk David Bar Paul in the beginning of the ninth century

• The Upper Mor Daniel Monastery: Mor Daniel monastery is built on a mountain known as Jabal 'Ayn al-Safra (Yellow Spring Mountain) near the village of Basakhra near Mosul, Iraq. Mor Daniel's Monastery was built on top of the mountain in a beautiful spot in the latter part of the fourth century. From all directions, it overlooks the vast plains of Nineveh, Mosul and Marga. Its ruins which still stand show that it was a large monastery and the cistern, hewn in rock on its western side, is too large. It was attended by many monks, and, for more than ten centuries, remained an abode of asceticism and devotion. In church history it is called Upper Mor Daniel's Monastery because there was another monastery below known as Lower Mor Daniel's Monastery, a convent for nuns. In 1261, the faithful Syrians of Basekhraye and other villages in Mosul plains, fled to this monastery for refuge because of lack of safety in the district and Mosul. At the end of the thirteenth century Maphryono Barsoum al-Safi and his students stayed in it for sometime. In the Middle Ages, the monastery was known as Dayr al-Khanafis "The Beetles' Monastery" and Bar Hebreaeus called it Dayro d- Habshushyotho (The Beetles' Monastery) in the middle of the thirteenth century. The name came from a mysterious phenomenon about this monastery is that each year for three days its walls and roofs become blackened by tiny beetles creeping like ants. When these days draw near, the monks take out the furniture, food and other stuff to protect them from the beetles and return them to their former places in the monastery after the three days are over. These beetles still appear on its walls during its festival on October 20 during the prayer of the tishmesht chanted at the close of the Mass, it was still thriving at the beginning of the fourteenth century.

• The Lower Mar Daniel Monastery, exclusively for nuns. It is near the other monastery of Mar Daniel.

• The Monastery of Mar Zaina, known as the Monastery of Qayyara. It was built at the end of the sixth century and housed 170 monks. It was still populated in the thirteenth century. It was mentioned by Yaqut al-Hamawi in 1210, and by Bar Hebraeus. It is located on the bank of the Tigris River, in what is known today as Hammam al-’Alil.

• The Monastery of ‘Ayn Qani, in the middle of Ba’arbaya. It was built by Mar Ahudemeh and was still populated in 829.

• The Monastery of Beth Asa near Qoronta. It was mentioned in the life story of Mor Ahudemeh. Its abbot was Yeshu’ ZKha

• The Monastery of Afmariyya (Abu Marya) near Talla’far (Tell ‘Afro, north of Mosul).

• The Monastery of Takrit, mentioned in the life story of Mar Ahodemeh.

• The Monastery of J’atni in the desert near the village of Qoronta. It was by Mor Ahudummeh .

• The Monastery of Mar Shamu‘il (Samuel) the Mountaineer, on the northern bank of the Tignis River, opposite the Monastery of Mar Sergius near Balad. It housed forty monks. Mar Marutha studied in it in the sixth century.

• The Monastery of Nardes in Duhok, named after Mar Li’azar, who was martyred in 480. It was located near the village of Beth Maloudh. At one time it housed seventy monks. It achieved more fame than all the monasteries of the East in the sixth century. In it the saint Maphryono Mor Marutha of Takrit studied and became a monk Among its abbots who achieved fame were Mar Jusi and Maskina.

• The Monastery of Bir Qawm, near Balad on the bank of the Tigris River. Some Maphryonos were its inmates.

• The Monastery of Shirin in al-Mada’in (Ctesiphon, south of Baghdad), built by the Christian Queen Shirin near the royal palace in 598. Shirin became a Syriac Orthodox adherent with the help of her doctor, Sergius of Sinjar

• The Monastery of Shapur in ‘Aqula (modern al-Kufa in southern Iraq). It was still populated in 605.

• The Monastery of Mar Sergius, known as al-Ajjaj, betweenTakrit and Hit. It was built by Mar Marutha on the highway leading from the Tigris to the Euphrates. It was mentioned by Yaqut as ‘Ayn Gago.

• The Monastery of the Virgin in Takrit It is also known as Beth Ibro.

• The Monastery of the Virgin, built by the Syriac governor of Takrit, Ibrahim, son of Yeshu’, near the city in the seventh century.

• The Monastery of ‘Aluk in Takrit, from which came the Maphryono Sergius (872-883).

• The Monastery of Kukhta, known also as Kukhi. It was built in the name of Mar Ibrahim near the Monastery of Mor Mattai. Its abbot, the philologist Athanasius, achieved fame in the eighth century. Its ruins still stand today.

• A monastery in Sinjar, built by Saint Shim’un (Simon) d’Zaite, metropolitan of Harran (734). It was mentioned in his life story.

• The Monastery of Beznitho ( in Nineveh, probably on the site where the village of Bahzani now stands). It was the ancient monastery in which the tyrant Barsoum of Nisibin killed ninety priest-monks in 480.

• The Monastery of Mar Gurgeis the martyr, in Bartulli. It was still populated in 1701.

• The Monastery of Mar Yuhanna Nagoro (son of carpenters) and his sister Shushan, the martyrs in Bartulli. It was built by the learned Maphryono Mar Gregorius Abu al-Faraj Bar Hebraeus in 1284, It was still inhabited by monks in 1593.

• The Monastery of the Forty Martyrs, north of Bartulli. These martyrs were mentioned in the Synazarium of saints.

• The Convent in Khudayyda (Qaraqosh), mentioned by Bar Hebraeus in his Syriac Chromography in 126 AD.

• A monastery near Jazirat Ibn ‘Umar, mentioned in the History of Maphryones in 1172.

• The Convent of Nuns in Baghdad, still populated in 1002.

• The Monastery of Beth ‘Urbo (the Raven), to the side of Takrit. Yuhanna, metropolitan of the Monastery of Mar Mattai, stayed in it in 685.