Mor Augin Monastery

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Mor Augin Monastery from the west

The Syrian Orthodox Mor Augin Monastery ( Aramaic ܕܝܪܐ ܕܡܪܝ ܐܘܓܝܢ; Turkish Mar Evgin Manastırı ) was founded in the 4th century and is located in the Turkish province of Mardin in the district of Nusaybin in Tur Abdin . For Syrian Orthodox Christians, the Mor Augin monastery is "the mother of the monasteries of Tur Abdin" and the "second Jerusalem".

location

The Mor Augin Monastery is located in Tur Abdin on a southern slope of a mountain in the Izlo Mountains, about 1000 meters above the water level, which makes it very similar to the Mor Mattai Monastery in Iraq , which is also Syrian Orthodox . The monastery is located 20 km northeast of Nusaybin and 60 km east of the provincial capital Mardin . The property of the monastery also includes wide, fertile fields. To the north of the monastery are the villages of Badibe , Sederi and Harabemishka and to the south of Giremira . It is only a few kilometers from the Syrian border.

history

founding

The monastery is named after the Syrian Orthodox Saint Mor Augin ( Aramaic ܡܪܝ ܐܘܓܝܢ; † April 363), who is considered the teacher of numerous monks and saints and is also known as the second Christ in the Aramaic vernacular . The founder of the monastery, Mor Augin (+ 363), was a monk and miracle worker from Egypt. He is venerated as a saint in the Syrian Orthodox Church and is considered the founder of monastic life in Tur Abdin and, according to Thaddäus († October 28, 70 AD) and his student Aggai († 81 AD) as one of the first missionaries in the area. In the course of his monastic life he decided to emigrate from Egypt to the Tur Abdin, because he wanted to escape the praise and honors that followed his miracles and return to his ascetic principles. Another reason for his move was that he wanted to spread Christianity among the Aramaeans , his fellow nationals, in the Tur Abdin. Mor Augin founded the monastery brotherhood Mor Augin there with 70 other monks who joined him. Shortly after they settled there, their word spread and many people from different countries came to join them. In a short time the number of monks reached 350. Before his death, Mor Augin sent the many monks into the world, as far as India , so that they could continue to spread Christianity. His grave and relics are still in the monastery crypt to this day .

Middle Ages and Modern Times

After the church split in 431 at the Council of Ephesus , the monastery remained predominantly in East Syriac-Nestorian ownership until 1505. An extensive renovation or rebuilding of the monastery was first mentioned in 1271. In 1739 a deaconess living in the monastery was mentioned. For a long time the monastery was a center of monasticism in the Middle East, where mainly hermits lived. From here, other monasteries were founded as far as Iraq . At times the monastery was fiercely contested between Persians and Greeks.

Latest story

In 1900, Mor Augin Monastery had a bishop, an abbot and ten monks, although it had been looted and set on fire many times. The British researcher Gertrude Bell was welcomed and entertained by the abbot on one of her trips in 1909 after a long ride through the mountains. When he told her about the history of the monastery and Christian asceticism , she said she was so impressed that she “felt the centuries fade”. No traveler, the abbot explained, was ever allowed to leave the monastery without hospitality - not even the Kurds; however, they would have unduly claimed the law of hospitality. At that time there were about 12 monks living in the monastery. Up until the beginning of the 20th century, they lived exclusively vegan in the monastery. In addition, women were not allowed to enter the monastery until then. In the course of the genocide of the Syrian Christians in 1915, the inhabitants of the Mor Augin monastery fled to the Mor Malke monastery and to Iwardo . A few monks returned to the monastery after the genocide. Around 1970 the last monk of the monastery, Lahdo Örz, and shortly afterwards the last worldly servants of the monastery died. For a while, shortly after 1976, the monastery was first occupied by Kurds and later by Yazidis . The monastery was empty from 1983 to 2011, which is why a large part of the building complex fell into disrepair over time. The reconstruction ran from 2010 to 2015.

Current situation

The main buildings of the Mor Augin Monastery from the north

After almost 30 years of vacancy, the priest monk and abbot Yokin Unval moved into the monastery in 2011 in the hope of being able to repopulate the monastery. Unval was introduced as part of a festive service with around 300 participants , chaired by the Bishop of Tur Abdin, Timotheus Samuel Aktaş . The then head of the Syrian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I. Iwas , who appointed Unval abbot of the monastery, also welcomed the new spiritual initiative in Tur Abdin in a letter . Until Unval moved into the Mor Augin monastery, he lived as a monk first in the Patriarchate in Damascus and then in the nearby Mor Gabriel monastery , from where he drove with some workers to the Mor Augin monastery during the day to make the necessary repairs, which were made through donations made possible by Syrian Orthodox Christians from around the world. The monastery is currently being renovated with the help of generous donations from around the world. Before the renovation of the Mor Jakob d´Qarno monastery, another monk, Aho Bilecen, lived in the Mor Augin monastery. When the Mor Jakob d´Qarno monastery was completed, Bilecen moved in to settle it as well. On February 28, 2018, David Karli (born June 16, 1991 in Delmenhorst , Germany ) was ordained a monk in the Mor Augin monastery. Since then, two monks have lived there, with several teachers and up to 15 monastery students varying throughout the year. The monastery is a spiritual attraction that is particularly popular with Syrian Orthodox Christians and is popular in summer. In Mor Augin Monastery, the Liturgy of the Hours is practiced together four times a day in the main church and in the Church of the Theotokos ( Lauds , Sext , Vespers and Compline ). On Sundays, the divine liturgy is celebrated in the main church together with Christians from surrounding villages such as Marbobo and Gundikshukro .

architecture

The Mor Augin Monastery from the east

Like most of the structures in Tur Abdin, the buildings of the Mor Augin monastery were also built with building lime . Apart from that, the architecture of Mor Augin Monastery is very different from that of the other Tur Abdin monasteries. Among other things, it has the largest church bell in Turkey.

The interior view of the main church of the Mor Augin Monastery

At 13 meters, the main church of the monastery has the highest church ceiling on the Tur Abdin. The barrel vault with the large altar arch, columns and capitals consisting of various ornamental bands is quickly noticeable. Another unique feature of the main church of the monastery is the chancel, which instead of the traditional way houses one or three, two altars. In the cloister , a niche was probably during the Kurdish occupation, attached to a mihrab looks similar.

In addition to the main buildings, the monastery has many small outbuildings and caves, hermitages and churches built into the mountain (e.g. the Church of Mary the Mother of God or the Church of Mor Shalito).

The part of the crypt of Mor Augin Monastery where Mor Augin and his two sisters were buried

The crypt of the monastery is eight meters high and houses the graves of thousands of monks, including Mor Augins himself.

Many engravings can be found in the buildings of the monastery, the oldest of which is from 1165. Many of the hermitages have the names of the monks who lived there engraved on them. In some there are also their graves.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Yuyakim dbeth Ya'qub: ܕܝܪܐ ܕܡܪܝ ܐܘܓܝܢ ܥܩ̈ܒܬܐ ܕܡܟܬܒܙܒܢܐ ܘܥܢܘܝܘܬܐ . St. Augin Monastery Publisher, Nusaybin 2015, p. 68 (Aramaic).
  2. ↑ Mor Augen Monastery in Turkey reopened. In: orthodoxchristianity.net. Retrieved March 4, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Ignatius Aphrem Barsoum: ܒܖ̈ܘܠܐ ܒܕܝܖ̈ܐ . Bar Hebraeus Verlag, Glane 1992, p. 542 (Aramaic).
  4. ↑ Mor Augin. In: deacademic.com. Retrieved March 4, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Mor Augin. In: traumpfade-der-welt.de. Retrieved March 4, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Mor Augin Monastery. In: morauginmonastery.wordpress.com. Retrieved March 4, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Michael the disciple of Mor Augin: ܬܫܥܝܬܐ ܕܩܕܝܫܐ ܡܪܝ ܐܘܓܝܢ - The life of Saint Augin - The Life of St. Augin . In: Eliyo Aydin (ed.): The works of saints and martyrs - ܙܠܝ̈ܩܐ܇ ܕܘܒܖ̈ܐ ܕܣܗܕ̈ܐ ܘܕܩܕܝ̈ܫܐ . Bar Hebraeus Verlag, 2012, ISBN 978-90-5047-000-1 , pp. 11–14 (German, Aramaic, English).
  8. ^ Pictures of Gertrude Bell in 1909. In: Facebook. March 5, 2014, accessed March 5, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Helga Anschütz: The Syrian Christians from Tur 'Abdin . Augustinus-Verlag Würzburg, 1985, ISBN 3-7613-0128-6 , pp. 138 .
  10. ↑ Gabriel Akyüzï: Aziz Mor Malke'nin Yaşamı ve Manastırının Tarihçesi - ܬܫܥܝܬܐ ܕܩܕܝܫܐ ܡܪܝ ܡܠܟܐ ܘܡܟܬܒܢܘܬܙܒܢܐ ܕܕܝܪܐ ܕܝܠܗ . Mardin 2005, ISBN 975-8233-11-4 , pp. 3 (Turkish, English, Aramaic).
  11. ↑ Turkey: Syriac Orthodox Monastery 'reopened'. In: kath.net. June 9, 2011, accessed March 4, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Helga Anschütz: The Syrian Christians from Tur 'Abdin . Augustinus Verlag Würzburg, 1985, ISBN 3-7613-0128-6 , pp. 137 .
  13. ↑ Tur Abdin 2013 - Mor Augin. In: YouTube. Suryoyo Sat, October 29, 2018, accessed March 5, 2019 (Aramaic).

Coordinates: 37 ° 10 ′ 4.2 ″  N , 41 ° 24 ′ 30 ″  E