Dayro d'Youhannon Urtaya

Dayro d'Youhannon Urtaya 

The history of the Convent of Mar John at Amida begins around 389 AD, when a Syriac ascetic named John established a small hut near the city of Amida on a site previously occupied by a few cells associated with Mor Ephrem. It produced three bishops, the most famous of whom is John of Ephesus, the historian (d. 587).  Mor Youhannon became known as "Urtaya" because he traveled through the country of the Urtaye, located within the historical Greater Armenia, to teach, correct, and preach, eventually learning their language. Two scholars and scribes, Samuel and Jonathan, left the monastery of the Edessenes at Amida to join him. Under John’s leadership, the community expanded into a monastery of fifty monks, with substantial growth in both its physical structures and property.

Upon Youhannon’s death, governance of the monastery passed to Samuel, who oversaw significant expansion before his passing. He was succeeded by Jonathan, who governed with skill and increased the holdings of the monastery, and then by Job, who led the community spiritually and prudently. He was followed by Abraham of Amida, a native of the city. Unfounded suspicions eventually arose among certain monks that Abraham was secretly funneling monastery gifts to his family. Indignant at the accusations, Abraham resigned, left the community, and swore never to reside there or consume its food or water. He retired to his home in Amida, though he occasionally visited the monastery while strictly bringing his own provisions from the city.

A second Abraham, known as "the Great," took charge of the monastery and led an era of rapid expansion. He gained widespread renown, secured royal favor, and acquired a forested village named Narda in the district of Ingilene, half of which he gifted to the nearby monastery of Zuknin out of fraternal goodwill. Under his leadership, the brotherhood expanded to four hundred monks, making it the largest monastery surrounding Amida. Upon his appointment as Bishop of Anzetene, the monks insisted he select a successor. He chose a humble monk named Abraham, a former shepherd from the village of Thella d-Mikhana who became known as "Mar Abraham the Shepherd." Displeased with the appointment of a simple shepherd over educated candidates, a faction of sixty monks seceded from the community to establish their own monastery and a martyrs' chapel in the village of Beth Bar 'Rubtha.

During the leadership of Abraham the Shepherd, King Kawad I of Persia besieged and captured Amida in the year 502/503 AD. Persian forces razed the monastery to the ground, using its stones, timber, and clay to build a siege ramp against the city walls. About three hundred monks took refuge inside the city walls at the school of the Urtaye. Upon taking the city, Persian soldiers executed ninety monks on the spot and carried the remainder away into captivity, plundering all monastic possessions. Prior to the destruction, the brotherhood had grown so large that they had begun constructing a spacious chapel, forming a continuous human line from local quarries directly into the monastery grounds to hand-pass heavy stones after the city gates shut at dusk. Following the Persian destruction, the remaining stone heaps were used to construct a martyrs' chapel dedicated to Kyra Maria, as well as civic and church structures in Amida. The monastery was eventually rebuilt on a smaller scale, with reduced buildings and a smaller brotherhood.

Cosmas succeeded Abraham the Shepherd and governed the community in peace throughout the reign of Emperor Anastasius. He was followed by Sergius of Gadara. During the first outbreak of imperial persecution against non-Chalcedonian communities, Sergius led the brotherhood into exile, governing the community in banishment until his death at the monastery of Mor Mama. Symy of Arzen, a charismatic leader gifted with foresight who correctly predicted he had only three and a half years left to live, succeeded him and maintained strict spiritual discipline. Following Symy's death during the ongoing persecution at the monastery of the Poplars, his remains were transfered back to the main monastery at Amida after a five-year period of exile ended.

Abba of Arzen headed the monastery when persecution renewed under Emperor Justinian and the Chalsedoian Patriarch Ephraim of Antioch. The monks were expelled from Amida and retreated first to the monastery of the Poplars, then into the mountains to the monastery of the Nut in 'Bdyhr, and subsequently to the district of Claudias at the monastery of the Huts. Abba was arrested by imperial authorities but escaped to Constantinople, where Empress Theodora received him warmly. After five years in the capital, he returned to his exiled flock in Claudias, where he died. Three years later, his bones were transfered back to the monastery at Amida.

Abraham of Anzetene subsequently governed as administrator over both spiritual and material matters until his death. Finally, Sergius of Amida, also called Bar Deba, assumed leadership. Raised in the monastery from childhood under Archimandrite Cosmas, Sergius came from a prominent local family. Originally accustomed to a life of civic luxury, he embraced rigorous asceticism, wearing hair garments, fasting, and leading continuous prayers. He guided the brotherhood through continuous displacement from district to district up to the year 565 AD, the year of Justinian's death.

During the periods of persecution detailed in the text, the community of the house of Mor Youhannon was repeatedly displaced from their main monastery outside Amida and forced into exile across several distinct sites and regions. 

Because it was located immediately outside the northern city walls of Amida (Diyarbakır), the monastery survived the Arab-Islamic conquest in 639 AD. However, because of its exposed position outside the massive basalt city fortifications, it suffered repeated damage during later medieval conflicts between Byzantine, Arab, Seljuk, and Kurdish forces. Over the centuries, the monastic community dwindled, and the physical structures were eventually reduced to ruins. Today, no standing monastic complex remains, though the site falls within the northern urban expansion of modern Diyarbakır.

Status: No ruins left standing