St. Matthew Monastery School and Library

St. Matthew Monastery School and Library

School

The fame of St. Matthew’s Monastery is attributed, in part, to its status as a center of learning for thousands of monks. The period between 400 and 480 A.D. is considered the monastery's golden age, during which its goals and discipline reached perfection. Since its inception, the monastery has been a center of education for thousands of monks in Biblical and theological disciplines. Thousands of seekers of ascetic life and teachings flocked to this monastery, learning religious sciences, spiritual philosophy and knowledge derived from the manuscripts housed in the magnificent library. However, the importance of this center of learning was severely challenged around 480 A.D., when the tyrannical Nestorian Barsoum of Nisibin attacked the monastery, setting it on fire and consuming its large and precious library.

As the Nestorian storm subsided, monks returned to the monastery and reestablished monastic life and learning. The school continued to flourish in the seventh century and produced learned men who worked diligently to restore the intellectual tradition.

• Philological Work: Learned men like Ram Yeshu' and Gabriel devoted their time to correcting and adjusting the monastery's manuscripts with diacritical points and vowel signs. They were considered the "leading learned men in the Syriac language". Another monk, Bar Hadhbshabba, was engaged in the interpunction and correction of Syriac books in the middle of the ninth century.

• Theological Studies: The school remained active until the thirteenth century. Mar Gregorius Bar Hebraeus (d. 1286), one of the greatest Syrian learned men, spent seven years at the monastery following his enthronement as Maphryono in 1264. During this time, he graduated a number of students and wrote many of his significant works, using them as teaching material.

In modern times, Metropolitan Mar Qlemis (Clement) John 'Abaji opened a school (seminary) on May 25, 1923. The students came from the dioceses of Mosul, St. Matthew's Monastery, Azekh, and Tur 'Abdin. The curriculum of the school, according to a statute issued by the Third Council of St. Matthew's Monastery in 1930, included: Syriac and Arabic grammar, morphology and literature, catechism, the Scriptures, books of the Fathers, homilies, arithmetic, geography, ecclesiastical and civil history, church choral and some English. This last school survived a little more than a decade. 

Graduates

The famous school of the monastery graduated many patriarchs, maphryone, and metropolitans 

Patriarches

• Ignatius Jirjis II (1687–1708)

• Ignatius Ishaq (1709–1723)

• Ignatius Yacoub III (1958–1980)

Maphrians

• Mar Marutha (628–649)

• Denha I (649–659)

• John I Saba (686–688)

• John II Kionoyo (759–785)

• Gregorius IV Matthew (1317–1345)

• Basil Matthew II (1713–1727)

• Basil Li’azar IV (1730–1759)

Metropolitans

• Ith Alaha, bishop of Marga and Gomel (628)

• Aha, bishop of Firshapur and al-Anbar (628)

• Hananya, metropolitan of Mardin and Kafartut (793–816)

• Shamu'il, metropolitan of Sijistan

• Ishaq, bishop of Armenia

• Tuma, metropolitan of Tiberias

• Philotheous, metropolitan Afra-Khurasan

• Athanasius, bishop of Sadad

• Athanasius Behnam bar Sammana, bishop of Banuhdra (Duhuk in northern Iraq) (1265–1279)

• Iyawannis Denha, bishop of Baghdad (1265)

• John Wahb, bishop of Jazirat ibn 'Umar (1265–1280)

• Sawera Yeshu', bishop of Azerbayjan, Mor Mattai Monastery, and Tabriz (d. 1277)

• Dionysius Joseph, bishop of Tabriz (1277)

• Mikha'il Mukhlis, bishop of Baremman (1278)

• Denha John, bishop of the Mu'allaq Monastery (1278)

• Iyawannis Ayyub Gob, bishop of Banuhadra (modern Duhok) (1284)

• Dioscorus Gabriel of Bartulli, bishop of Jazirat ibn 'Umar (1284–1300)

• Abd Allah of Bartulli, metropolitan of Jazirat ibn 'Umar (1326)

• Dioscorus Jirjis, metropolitan of Jazirat ibn 'Umar (1677)

• Ishaq Saliba, metropolitan of the monastery of Mar Abai (1697)

• Athanasius Tuma, metropolitan of the Patriarchal Office and then of Jerusalem (1731–1748)

• Dionysius Behnam Samarchi, metropolitan of Mosul (1867–1911)

• Julius Behnam of 'Aqra, metropolitan of the Jazira (1871–1927)

• Gregorius Bulus Behnam, metropolitan of Mosul, then Baghdad (1952–1969)

Library

The library of St. Matthew's Monastery holds significant historical importance as a major repository of Syriac literature and learning, though it suffered numerous calamities throughout its long existence. The monastery housed a large library. The manuscripts contained within contributed to the thousands of monks,  excelling in religious sciences, spiritual philosophy, and knowledge during the monastery's golden age.

The very existence of such a collection demonstrated that the monastery was a center of education from its inception. This library flourished particularly during the golden age of the monastery, between 400 and 480 A.D.