Dayro d'Mor Quriaqos

Dayro d'Mor Quriaqos

The Monastery of Mor Quriaqos is situated approximately three kilometers southeast of the village of Bakhdida (Qaraqosh) on the edge of a rocky, uncultivated hill—locally termed a qaraj (from the Turkish qiraj, meaning stony, barren land). Modern residential expansion has brought the town's houses within close proximity to the site.

Architecturally, the monastery was largely carved directly into compacted rock and gravel. It consisted of a large central cave used for prayer, connected by subterranean tunnels to surrounding monks' cells, along with two rock-cut domes that housed the living quarters. Roughly 10 to 20 meters south of the main cave lie the structural remains of a well that supplied the community with water. The central cave's roof has collapsed in recent times. Given its subterranean nature, the surviving complex resembles a small hermitage designed for a few monks, though it is possible that above-ground structures once existed and have since vanished.

Debate continues regarding the identity of the monastery's patron saint and its historical origins. While some local traditions suggest the monastery was named after an obscure local ascetic from Baghdeda who retired to the site, liturgical manuscripts overwhelmingly attribute the site to the early martyrs Mor Quriaqos (Cyriacus) and his mother, Julitta. The monastery maintained an intimate administrative and historical link with the nearby Monastery of Mar Yohannon of Dailam (Muqartaya). It is understood to have been established as an auxiliary dependency when Muqartaya became overcrowded. Monks relocated to the new site while remaining under a single administrative leadership. Consequently, individual abbots or monks for Mor Quriaqos are rarely cataloged separately in historical registers. 

Some historical references attempt to associate the site with a prominent convent near Baghdeda that was captured during Kurdish raids in 1261 AD. However, given the small physical capacity of the cave complex compared to accounts describing a large convent housing over forty inhabitants, many scholars consider this identification unlikely. 

The site is documented in several key historical manuscripts and liturgical records. In 1658 AD, the earliest explicit written record of the monastery appears in the marginalia of a liturgical volume copied for its church during the tenure of Maphrian Basilius Habib. In 1722–1723 AD, a priest named Khoshaba ibn Matta al-Baghdadi authored two manuscripts invoking the patronage of Mor Quriaqos and his mother Julitta alongside Mor Georgis, Mor Theodorus, and Mar Yohannon of Daylam. In 1728 AD, a Syriac manuscript titled The Book of Fountains (Fanqith) was copied by the monk George ibn Juma'a of Baghdeda inside the Church of Saint Shmuni for the Church of Mor Quriaqos. The colophon records that the text was completed on Saturday, April 6, 1728 AD, during the patriarchate of Ignatius Shukrallah and the episcopate of Iwanis Kars of Beth Khdida. The note adds that Easter fell on April 21 that year, and local villagers began harvesting barley a week before Palm Sunday on April 13. Originally preserved at the Church of Mor Georges in Baghdeda, the manuscript was later transferred to the Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese of Mosul. These 18th-century manuscripts confirm an active monastic and liturgical presence at the site prior to its ultimate abandonment following the regional invasion of Tahmasp Shah (Nader Shah) in 1743 AD.

The local community in Bakhdida—both Catholic and Syriac Orthodox—maintains a long-standing tradition of celebrating the monastery's feast on the Sunday before Palm Sunday (moved from its traditional calendar date of July 15 to coincide with spring). Devotees make pilgrimages to the site to light candles and oil lamps. Nearby lies another uncultivated sacred site known as Pi Shmoni d'Shtitha ("Maccabees of the Plain"), as well as an ancient rock feature known variously as Qura Dengert, Qura D Naqratu ("the carved grave"), or Qura Dqurdhaya ("the grave of the Kurd"). According to an old custom, local residents would gather pebbles corresponding to the number of their family members and stone the site—a ritual tradition associated with memories of the 13th-century Kurdish raids on the town's monastic community.