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monastery in Mardin, Turkey
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The Mor Hananyo Monastery (Syriac: ܕܝܪܐ ܕܡܪܝ ܚܢܢܝܐ, romanised: Dayro d-Mor Hananyo), also called Monastery of Saint Ananias, Deyrulzafaran (Arabic: ديرالزعفران, romanised: Dayr al-Za'farān) or Dayro d-Kurkmo (Syriac: ܕܝܪܐ ܕܟܘܪܟܡܐ), and in Turkish, Deyrulzafaran Manastırı, commonly known in English as the Saffron Monastery, is one of the most renowned monasteries of the Syriac Orthodox Church. Located about 3 km (1.9 mi) east of Mardin, Turkey, in the Syriac cultural region Tur Abdin, it has served as a spiritual, cultural, and intellectual centre of Syriac Orthodox Christianity for centuries. From 1166 to 1932, it functioned as the Patriarchal See of Antioch, housing 53 patriarchs and metropolitans in its burial chambers.
Beginning as a temple to the Assyrian sun‑god Šamaš, the site was converted into a monastery in the Christian era. Over the centuries it endured repeated attacks by Mongols, Turks, and Kurds, during which the monastery, its artworks, and many manuscripts were abused and destroyed. Despite this, the monastery survives and today is headed by its abbot Mor Filüksinos (Philoxenos) Saliba Özmen.
Externally, the monastery's walls are famously yellow‑tinted. Inside are many ornate and beautiful structures, including the Domed Church, the Sayyida (Church of the Virgin Mary), the Church of the Patriarchal Throne, a mausoleum, and a garden structure known as the 'Paradise'.
The monastery, regarded as the "Mecca of Assyrians" and a jewel of Tur Abdin, continues to function as a monastic community, tourist site, and centre of learning, attracting thousands of visitors annually, in addition to its critical ecclesiastical functions since its inception. Syriac Orthodox culture was centred in two monasteries in western Tur Abdin, Mor Hananyo and Mor Gabriel.
The monastery was originally dedicated to Saint Solomon (Mor Shlemun), thought to have been its first abbot, persecuted under Byzantine emperor Justin I during his intense anti-Miaphysite policies, as described by Michael the Syrian. The modern name derives from Mor Hananyo (Saint Hananya), metropolitan of Mardin and Kafartut, who purchased and restored the ruined site in 793 and gave it new life. Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem I Barsoum believed Solomon to have been a disciple of Saint Augen, explaining why the monastery was sometimes also called Mor Hananyo & Augen.
The Arabic name Dayr al-Za'faran ("Saffron Monastery"), with its Syriac translation Dayro d-Kurkmo, is traced to the 15th century. Tradition recalls that a merchant carrying saffron (za'faran) passed by this monastery during its rebuilding. The abbot purchased the saffron from him, mixed it with lime, and used it for building the monastery, lending its walls their distinctive warm, yellowish hue. Another theory for the name is that saffron was cultivated in the surrounding area with records indicating its cultivation in the fields of a monastery near Nusaybin.
Thus, the monastery was initially called 'Mor Shlemun', then 'Mor Hananyo', then 'Mor Hananyo & Augen', and currently, it is referred to by both names 'Mor Hananyo' and 'Deyrulzafaran'.
According to archaeological and traditional accounts, the site of the monastery was originally occupied by a temple dedicated to the Assyrian sun-god Šamaš, dating back to c. 2000 BC. The temple's massive stone vaults, constructed without mortar, are still preserved beneath the monastery. One of its windows is aligned to catch the sunrise, suggesting its use in ritual observances and sacrifices.
In late antiquity, the complex was transformed into a Roman citadel, later expanded into a Byzantine fortress. When the Romans abandoned the site in the late 5th century, it was converted into a Christian monastery by Mor Shlemon (Solomon) in 493 AD. Architectural remains from this period, including floor mosaics, are still visible within the monastery. The oldest surviving church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, dates from the 5th–6th centuries and features four altars, with carved wooden sanctuaries added in 1699. It was raided and destroyed by the Persians in 607 AD when they conquered the region from Byzantine forces, leaving the monastery deserted afterwards.
Ananias (Hananyo) was educated and ordained as a monk at the Monastery of Mor Mattai near Mosul. He was later ordained as the metropolitan bishop of Mardin and Kafartut, undertaking major restoration of the monastery. He also established a grand library of manuscripts, and under his leadership, the monastic community grew to about 80 monks. From this period onward, the monastery became a prominent religious centre and has since borne his name as Mor Hananyo Monastery. Ananias was succeeded by his disciple Ignatius I in 816, who was the 80th bishop of the church and further expanded the monastery's structures and its library.
In 1034, the 67th Patriarch of Antioch, Dionysius IV Yahya (1031–1042), settled in Amid (modern-day Diyarbakır) after seeking the protection of the Muslim rulers. He also spent some time in Mor Hananyo, becoming the first patriarch to do so. The region was invaded by Islamic forces in 640, and in 1106, it came under the control of the Artukids. The monastery was later abandoned and re-founded by Yuhanon (John) IV, bishop of Mardin, who renovated the complex between 1125 and 1148, after which it was designated the patriarchal residence before his death on 12 July 1165. The region was devastated by Mongol invaders in 1394 and in subsequent years. In 1166, Patriarch Michael the Great was enthroned there, initiating nearly eight centuries of patriarchal presence.
During the 14th–15th centuries, the monastery endured devastation. In 1396, Tamerlane attacked Mardin for the second time, killing, looting, and taking many captives. As a result, some of its monasteries were destroyed, including the walls, cells, and the door of Mor Hananyo. Kurdish raiders inflicted great damage on the monastery and surrounding villages over the years as well, including in 1516. The monastery further deteriorated due to neglect. Patriarch Ignatius II rebuilt the monastery between 1696 and 1699, adding the Church of the Patriarchal Throne which was intended for synods and patriarchal elections. Later patriarchs would also gradually renovate it. The patriarchal throne and many relics are still located in the monastery, in addition to the tombs of various patriarchs.
Since the 13th century, the monastery has faced repeated Kurdish incursions, looting, and desecration. The wider insecurity of southeastern Anatolia, where most Assyrian Christians lived, left their communities vulnerable to frequent raids by neighbouring Kurdish Muslim groups. As the patriarchal seat of the Church, the monastery was directly affected. Horatio Southgate, an American missionary who visited in the 19th century, noted that Mor Hananyo had been invaded and occupied by Kurds. Regional upheavals, including the rebellion of Badr Khan in the 1840s, brought devastation to Assyrians of both the Syriac Orthodox Church in Tur Abdin and the neighbouring Church of the East in Hakkari.
Some of the worst violence, however, was unleashed in the massacres beginning in 1895. During this period, the monastery was repeatedly occupied by Kurdish Muslims, who neglected and abused the site. Ancient manuscripts were destroyed, with some used as gunwadding for rifles or as kindling for fire, and clergy were powerless against local violence. The monastery's condition deteriorated rapidly, leaving it little more than a ruin by the time restoration was attempted. Despite this, the monastery also became a refuge for displaced villagers, particularly during the massacres of 1895. Syriac Orthodox manuscripts preserved at the monastery contain eyewitness accounts of the atrocities in Syriac, Arabic and Garshuni. There were widespread killings of men, women, childrenm and clergy; burnings of monasteries, homes, and churches; and the ransacking of villages across Mardin, Diyarbakır, and the surrounding regions. More than fifty villages were reported as emptied of their indigenous Assyrian population. Refugees who fled to the monastery were ordered by Ottoman officials to return to their ruined villages, where starvation, exposure, and renewed attacks caused further deaths. Contemporary letters also document appeals to the patriarch to intervene in cases of abduction and forced conversion, including an Armenian plea to rescue his wife and child from Kurdish captors who claim the wife converted to Islam after her kidnapping, and thus will not be returned. The violence has been described by scholars as a precursor to the Assyrian genocide of 1915.
The monastery itself sheltered hundreds of women, children, and the elderly during the crises. One account recalls that only the intervention of an Ottoman army officer, moved to pity by the state of the refugees, prevented the complete massacre of those inside. Nevertheless, the villages surrounding the monastery — including Bnabil, Dara, Bkeera, Qillath, al-Mansuriyah, Macsarta, Baval, Sour, al-Qusour, al-Qalsatma — were devastated, with their Christian populations eradicated. The destruction extended across Diyarbakır, Nusaybin, Azekh, and Siirt, where the Chaldean Catholic archbishop and scholar Addai Sher was murdered. Further looting of farmland and livestock was reported by villagers who resorted to begging to survive. A state of anarchy prevailed, with both ecclesiastical and local civil authorities rendered helpless before the tyranny of Kurdish tribes, who operated undeterred under the blessing of the Ottoman state. They pillaged, murdered, raped, kidnapped, and harassed the indigenous Christians of the monastery and surrounding villages, who were also subjected to forced conversion to Islam against their will. The violence reflected deep-rooted attitudes that persisted long after these events.
During the Seferberlik massacres, part of the 1915 Assyrian genocide, Kurdish tribes besieged the monastery, intent on killing refugees from surrounding villages. One Assyrian man disguised himself to smuggle food past the besiegers.
Despite centuries of upheaval, Mor Hananyo remained the patriarchal seat of the Syriac Orthodox Church for nearly a millennium. This ended in 1924, soon after the establishment of the Turkish Republic, when Patriarch Ignatius Elias III received a telegram from Mustafa Kemal Atatürk delivered via the governor of Mardin, declaring:
The clerical leader in the black cassock [the Patriarch] should leave Turkey immediately and should never ever return!
The patriarch was stripped of Turkish citizenship, and the patriarchate relocated first to Homs, and then to Damascus, where it remains today as the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchal Archdiocese of Damascus. Mor Hananyo, however, would continue to function as a monastic centre, despite everything.
Over its history, at least 21 Syriac Orthodox synods were convened there, the last on 30 November 1916, when Ignatius Elias III was elected Patriarch of Antioch.
Mor Hananyo Monastery is one of the main centres of the Syriac Orthodox Church, renowned for its magnificent architecture. The various churches and buildings of the monastery still preserve a significant amount of the original decoration and sculpture, many of which exhibit very high artistic quality. The monastery is regarded as one of the largest and most influential in Mesopotamia. It is situated on a mound approximately 3 km east of the city of Mardin, Turkey. The monastery measures about 71 × 63 m, fortified by a strong wall, and is surrounded by water channels. Its courtyard features porches on four sides facing one another, and in the middle are two large cisterns fed from nearby springs through aqueducts that were used for storing fresh water during winter and spring.
The complex is constructed on several levels, with two storeys across most of the site and three storeys in the southern section. These higher structures, considered the best-preserved parts of the monastery, contain the patriarchal apartments and the monks' cells. The construction is irregular, which reflects centuries of additions and reconstruction. Remains of the earliest building phases, made from large carved stones and bricks, can still be seen in the churches and the vaults of the lower storey.
The monastery incorporates a variety of ecclesiastical buildings: the Domed Church of Mor Hananyo, the Church of the Virgin Mary (Sayyida), the Church of the Patriarchal Throne, the Mausoleum of the Fathers (Beth Qadisheh), and a garden structure known as the Paradise. In addition, St Peter's Church and accommodation for patriarchs, metropolitans, and clergy are part of the compound.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Mor Hananyo Monastery”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.