The Monastery of Mar Awgin

The First Monastery, on Mount Izla

The Monastery of Mar Awgin, Mar Shalita and Mar Ologh at Kirshiran, Qahtaniyah (Qabre Hiwore)

On 12 November 2000 His Eminence Mar Eustathius Matta Roham, Metropolitan of al-Jazira and the Euphrates, laid with his blessed right hand the foundation stone of the Monastery of Saints Mar Awgin, Mar Shalita and Mar Ologh in the village of Kirshiran, which belongs administratively to the town of Qahtaniyah (Qabre Hiwore). He charged the virtuous father, civil engineer Simon Issa, with drawing up the engineering plans and supervising them, together with a committee also appointed by His Eminence from the members of the Syriac Orthodox Community Council, formed in its new session on 6 October 2000 in Qahtaniyah, consisting of:

Suleiman Malki Afram, vice president; Malfono Elias Malki Yohannan, secretary; Kourieh Somi Iyo, treasurer; Malfono Andraos Kourieh Malki, accountant; and the members Engineer Yaqub Yousef Saado, Haitham Zaytoun Malki, Engineer Abdulahad Mousa Murad, Engineer Adib Marouki Lahdo, Malfono Aziz Dawoud Touma, Malfono Habib Behno Yaqub, and Malki Aho Marouki.

To supervise the building of the holy monastery, its fitting out and facilities, and the planting of its garden with various fruit trees: Malfono Andraos Kourieh Malki, civil engineer Yaqub Yousef Saado, and Issa Ibrahim Kourieh (who, however, excused himself from the work). They served not seeking position or coveting vain and passing glory, but after the example of the Lord: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).

His Eminence consecrated the monastery on 20 April 2005 in a great spiritual celebration, attended by state officials, all the institutions, bodies and popular organizations, and the economic leaders of our Syriac Christian people and others, and a great crowd of the faithful from all parts of the flourishing diocese.

His Eminence set the annual feast of the monastery on 1 April each year, in honor of the saints, and of our Chaldean-Assyrian-Syriac people, who celebrate the Akitu festival on that blessed day, to strengthen the bonds of faith and love in the hearts of the faithful toward God, who is love, on the one hand, and among themselves on the other, for the sake of unity, renewal, progress and zeal, and of preserving the ancient Syriac heritage, the heritage of the fathers and forefathers.

But sadly, very sadly, our people under all their names and in all their communities still have a very long way to go before they walk the path traced by the pure blood of our valiant fathers and forefathers. The whole world has risen, built and flourished in every field of life, drawing on the civilization our people gave it in the past and present, while we still quarrel over names, cling to husks and formalities and abandon the substance, stray from the goal while falsely claiming to have reached it, fight over positions and alluring seats of power, and wreck and destroy everything that stands in the way of our narrow personal interests, our greed and our ugly pleasures.

Location of the Monastery

The monastery stands on the international road that runs from Iraq through al-Yaarubiyah, Qahtaniyah and Qamishli to Aleppo, in the village of Kirshiran, 5 km south of the town of Qahtaniyah (Qabre Hiwore).

The monastery grounds cover 6,000 square meters, enclosed by a reinforced concrete wall and planted with more than 350 fruit and pine trees, watered from an artesian well with abundant water. Within the wall rises a beautiful, well-appointed holy church dedicated to the saints named above, measuring 21 × 6 = 126 m².

The monastery is bounded on the east by farmland of the honored Terzi Bashi family, on the west by the well-known Tell Kirshiran and the Jarrah River, which comes from the town of Qahtaniyah, on the north by the village of Kirshiran, and on the south by the international road.

Why the Monastery Was Built

His Eminence Metropolitan Matta Roham summed up the purpose of building the monastery in the address he gave at the laying of the foundation stone:

Beloved, we are restoring our history in this village, for we had an old church here dedicated to the saints Mar Shalita (“the one with authority”) and Mar Ologh, one of the ancient ascetics who came from Egypt and worshipped in our holy mountains (the mountain of Tur Abdin). Likewise Saint Mar Okeen, also an Egyptian ascetic, came and worshipped on Mount Izla (Tur Abdin). His monastery still stands, but it is uninhabited. It looks down on us from these holy mountains; it sees us every day and we see it every day. The border (the northern border of our beloved Syria) separates us; we cannot go to it, but his prayers are with us and with you.

Today, in memory of these saints, we build this monastery and shrine in their honor, for the spiritual values they gave us: love, peace, holiness, meekness, forgiveness and mercy, values we have inherited from them and which we in turn plant in the souls of the generations to come.

His Holiness Mor Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and Supreme Head of the Syriac Orthodox Church throughout the world, praised the efforts of His Eminence Mar Eustathius Matta Roham, saying: “He is not content with building in stone; his efforts extend to building souls as well.”

We ask God to make this spiritual project a beacon and a dwelling for all people, a place of rest for the people of Qahtaniyah (Qabre Hiwore) and for all travelers. It is the house of God, a house for the faithful, a house for all the people of Syria passing through this region, and for our people coming from every part of the world.

Today, nine years on, the monastery building stands as a beacon, sanctified by the light of our Lord, the Lord of heaven and earth, and by the intercession of our Mother the Virgin Mary and the righteous saints, adorned with the most beautiful holy paintings, steadfast and lofty like an oak tree. The Divine Liturgy is celebrated on the holy altar of its church from time to time through the zeal of the virtuous father, Khoury Simon Issa, priest of the Church of the Virgin Mary in Qahtaniyah.

The trees of its garden have grown tall and green and lend the place the most beautiful scenery. A kitchen, facilities, electricity and telephone service have been provided, along with a paved road linking it to the international road to the south, to serve the faithful who visit it.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Mor Awgin Monastery
• Old okeen.net: The Monastery of Mar Awgin, Mar Shalita and Mar Ologh in the village of Kirshiran