Mor Gabriel Monastery
The Monastery of Saint Gabriel, also known as Monastery of Qartmin, Deir el-ʿUmr, Deyrulumur, and in Turkish, Mor Gabriel Manastırı, is a Syriac Orthodox monastery located near Midyat in the Tur Abdin region of southeastern Turkey. Founded in 397 AD by the ascetics Mor Shmuel of Qartmin and Mor Shemʿun of Qartmin, it is one of the oldest surviving Assyrian monasteries in the world and one of the oldest continuously active Christian monasteries in existence.
The monastery has elaborate decorations that have been added over the centuries, starting when the location served as a Zoroastrian temple and continuing to this day. It comprises several structures, including the main church, the Dome of Theodora, a mausoleum, and other buildings; it also houses the relics of its namesake, Gabriel of Beth Qustan. The monastery remains a popular pilgrimage site and functions as a religious and social centre for the remaining Christian Assyrians.
Throughout its history, it has served for centuries as a major centre of Syriac monasticism, theology and cultural preservation for the Syriac‑speaking Christian community. From Turco‑Mongol raids, to Byzantine imperial persecution, to contemporary land and legal disputes with the Turkish state, it has endured many periods of conflict and persecution, yet survives today as a monastic centre; legal disputes brought by the Turkish state and local Kurdish authorities against the indigenous community, however, are ongoing. The monastery currently serves as the seat of the metropolitan of Tur Abdin.
History
The Monastery of Mor Gabriel is situated in the heart of Tur Abdin, on a caldera formed by an ancient meteorite impact, evidenced by the presence of broken quartz fragments. Like many other monasteries in the region, it was constructed using stone blocks from a pre-Christian temple, with its eastern wall preserved from the original Zoroastrian sanctuary. Architectural slits in the one-metre-thick walls are aligned with the summer solstice, reflecting the solar cult practices of that earlier tradition.According to the Life of Shmuel, the origins of the monastery date back to the late 4th century. Shmuel, a disciple of the martyred Bishop Karpos who had been killed by Persian raiders, fled into the hills and came to the village of Qartmin. There he acquired a disciple, Shem‘un, and together they lived in a temple that is now identified with the "Arches of Mor Gabriel". Simon experienced a vision of an angel commanding him to build a Beth Slutho further west, marked by three large stone blocks. When they located the spot, they began the foundation of what became the Monastery of Mor Gabriel. Around forty years later, in 397, the Roman emperor formally recognised and endowed the institution.
By the 6th century the monastery's reputation had grown considerably, and its community swelled to over 1,000 monks, including both local Assyrians and Copts. Its fame was such that it attracted donations and benefactions from Eastern Roman emperors Arcadius, Honorius, Theodosius II and Anastasius. Toward the end of the century, Simeon of the Olives, a former monk of Mor Gabriel who later became bishop of Harran, renovated the monastery with funds discovered in a buried treasure.
Following the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the staunchly Miaphysite stronghold of Tur Abdin, including Mor Gabriel, rejected the council's decrees and forfeited the benefactions of Emperor Marcian, a determined supporter of Chalcedon. Later, Emperor Anastasius, who opposed the council, restored imperial patronage. He financed the construction of a new church with a large prayer hall that still functions as the monastery's main church today, and added the "Dome of Theodora", an octagonal structure originally built as a baptistery and later repurposed as a kitchen. Empress Theodora, revered as a saint in the Syriac Orthodox Church, maintained a close friendship with the monks and visited Qartmin, after which the dome was named in her honour following her visit.
Emperor Anastasius also supported the growth of the monastic community after hearing of its renown, which at the time numbered some 300 monks. He provided extensive resources for its expansion and renovation, including blacksmiths and building materials. Throughout its history, the monastery has been home to numerous high-ranking clerics and scholars, including four patriarchs, a maphrian, and 84 bishops. Among those who later studied at Mor Gabriel are four patriarchs of the Syriac Orthodox Church: Theodosius Roman, Dionysius III, Basilius V, and Ignatius Behnam of Hidl.
During the Islamic conquests, Bishop Gabriel of Beth Qustan, then overseeing two dioceses, negotiated a peace treaty with Arab forces that protected the rights of Christians in Tur Abdin. His reputation endured for generations, especially after a devastating plague in 774 killed 94 monks at Qartmin. The body of Gabriel was placed upright in the church as an intercessor, and his right arm was carried to Hah to end the outbreak there. From this point onward, it began to be called the Monastery of St. Gabriel.
Despite its prominence, the monastery endured repeated devastations. In 580 it was attacked and burned by Persian forces. In 1100 both the monastery and its neighboring village were pillaged by Turkish raiders, who massacred locals, destroyed manuscripts, and looted precious metals and furniture. Further destruction followed in 1296 at the hands of the Tatars. In the 14th century, Mongol forces invaded, killing 440 monks. In 1394, the armies of Tamerlane besieged the monastery. Many clergy sought refuge in the Cave of Ibn Siqi, but Tamerlane set it aflame, killing over 500 people by suffocation. The monastery was later rebuilt in 1502 with assistance from the local community of Basibrina.
By the 13th century, Eli of Qartmin had become the monastery's patron saint. Though little is known of his life, he is remembered as a monastic author who composed a metrical biography of Philoxenus of Mabbug.
The monastery also became an important site of scholarship and manuscript preservation. Nearly 450 ancient manuscripts had been digitised from its collection at the beginning of the 21st century. During recent renovations, relics were uncovered, including the remains of the martyred Bishop Karpos and a piece of the True Cross embedded in the altar. The monastery was the heart of Syriac religion, culture, and education in seminaries.
Modern history
During the Assyrian genocide of 1915, the monastery of Mor Gabriel suffered severe losses when Kurdish tribes killed all the monks who lived there and occupied the monastery for four years. In 1919 the monastery was returned to the Syriac Orthodox Church, though the trauma of the events persisted in communal memory. A Kurdish family from a nearby village, whose members were directly involved in the massacres of the monastery inhabitants, had settled inside the monastery during this period. They were expelled in 1922 after a siege by the Assyrians, and in 1925 a new bishop was appointed. In 1936, under the new Republic of Turkey, the monastery was officially registered as a religious foundation.The monastery continued to face ongoing persecution long after the establishment of the Turkish Republic. In the late 1960s, a new wave of attacks and harassment by local Kurds began. The Assyrians filed numerous lawsuits in an attempt to mitigate the violence but later withdrew them when they realised that the attacks had behind-the-scenes support from the government. In 1978, the Turkish government attempted to close the monastery on accusations of sheltering members of ASALA, an Armenian militant group. Only protests from diaspora Assyrians prevented its closure. In the 1980s, similar accusations arose, this time alleging shelter for PKK militants. In 1997, the local governor ordered the closure of the monastery's school, claiming that religious education for Assyrians was illegal because the Syriac Orthodox were not recognised as a protected minority under the Treaty of Lausanne, unlike Armenians, Greeks, and Jews.
Legal pressures have continued into the 21st century. In 2010, the monastery faced five separate lawsuits contesting its right to retain land it had occupied for over a millennium. Church leaders attributed these disputes to bureaucratic stonewalling, while some of the claims came from neighboring Kurdish villages dominated by the Celebi tribe, which had participated in the genocides of 1915. Members of the tribe later provided recruits for the state-run "village guard" militia, which fought against PKK rebels.
From 1962 to 1971, the monastery underwent extensive renovation. A new road allowed vehicles access, a generator was installed to provide electricity, and a seminary for the formation of clergy was opened. Since 1971, the abbot has been Mor Timotheos Samuel Aktas, who has overseen major building projects. Today, the monastery has electricity, running water, and telephone connections, serving as a living centre of monasticism in Tur Abdin.
Despite the relocation of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate to Damascus, the monastery remains the centre of Syriac religious education and is regarded by the community as the cultural and linguistic heart of Syriac heritage. It is sometimes described as the "second Jerusalem" of the Syriac Orthodox. The monastery continues its centuries-old role in preserving the Syriac language, culture, and liturgy. Currently, it is inhabited by Mor Timotheos Samuel Aktash, three monks, eleven nuns, and thirty-five boys receiving education in the monastery's teachings, including the Syriac language.