Dayro d'Mor Youhannon Nagoro

Dayro d'Mor Youhannon Nagoro

The account of Youhannon Nagoro, known also as John "Son of the Carpenters", and the monastery established in his name near Bartella is preserved primarily through two liturgical and manuscript sources from the region. The first is a canonical prayer service recorded in an early Bartella manuscript, which sets the commemoration of the saint on the fifteenth or sixteenth day after Easter. The second is a 1914 manuscript titled "Scattered Prayers and Melodies in Karshuni and Syriac," copied from older texts preserved at the Church of Saint Shmuni in Bartella. Because original historical biographies of the saint were lost over time, writers and compilers derived his narrative by gathering oral traditions preserved by the village elders.

Local tradition holds that Yohannan was a young man from Bartella whose father was a Zoroastrian woodcarver that crafted and sold idols. This profession earned the family the occupational surname "Son of the Carpenters" or "Ibn al-Najjarin." Following his conversion to Christianity, Yohannan disrupted his father's business by attempting to persuade customers against purchasing lifeless wooden statues. Angered by his son's actions, the father threatened him, forcing Yohannan to flee. Upon capturing him, the father condemned his son and executed him.

In keeping with traditional hagiographical literature, extended liturgical narratives expand upon this core account by depicting Youhannon brought before a royal court. These accounts describe him enduring a series of severe tortures, including imprisonment, having his feet nailed to wooden boards, being forced to walk over sharp blades, being placed in a press, dragged by an iron cart, flogged, and stoned while praying for his executioners. Ultimately, the king ordered him to be beheaded, his body dismembered, and his remains burned. Extended accounts also introduce a sister who was killed alongside him. While early texts refer to her as Susan, local tradition and popular piety preferred the name Sarah, aligning her with other prominent local female saints of the same name. The siblings were said to have been killed at the foot of Mount Ba'ashiqa between the Christian villages of Ba Akri (variously written as Akri, Akara, or Beit Abri) and Beth Telkita. Yohannan's remains were initially kept at Ba Akri, while his sister's remains were placed in Beth Telkita.

By 1282 AD, the village of Ba 'Akri had fallen into ruin, and the abandoned shrine was frequently targeted by thieves who harassed visiting pilgrims. To safeguard the shrine and its visitors, Maphrian Gregorius Bar 'Ebroyo decided to construct a new monastery dedicated to the martyr on the northwestern outskirts of Bartella. The construction was overseen by the monk Gabriel, son of the priest Youhannon from Bartella, who later became Bishop Dioscorus of Qardu around 1300 AD. The church features elaborate interior decorations arranged in a Byzantine style by an artist sent from Constantinople by Princess Mary (daughter of Michael Palaiologos and mother of Arghun). The artwork included a depiction of Ezekiel's chariot surrounded by cherubim in the central dome, the four Evangelists, the Virgin Mary seated on a throne behind the altar, and various Orthodox Church fathers.

Construction and decoration took place between 1282 and 1285 AD. Following a public fast, Bar 'Ebroyo reported a revelation regarding the location of the martyr's hidden relics at the original abandoned site in Ba 'Akri. On October 23, 1285 AD, the relics of Youhannon were formally transferred to the new sanctuary in Bartella and placed on the right side of the altar alongside the bones of ancient Egyptian monks from the Thebaid and relics of the Forty Persian Martyrs. The occasion was marked by an annual feast and a large banquet funded by a local figure named Prince Jamal al-Din Nisan.

The monastery remained an active community of monks through the medieval period, with manuscripts written at its church, known as the Church of Mar Youhannon ibn al-Najjarin or the "Church of the Two Doors," as late as 1345 AD. Monastic life continued at the site until at least 1593 AD. Following the eventual destruction of the monastery, the relics of Yohannan and his sister Sarah were transferred to the Church of Saint Shmuni in Bartella. Today, the physical structures of the monastery have almost entirely disappeared, though its historical site is located on the northern side of the main road in Bartella, where a commemorative structure marks the location.