Rabban Hormizd Monastery

Rabban Hormizd was founded around 640 by the monk whose name it carries, built into the face of the escarpment above Alqosh with a church and living quarters partly constructed and partly cut into the rock, and caves and cells hollowed out along the cliff where monks lived in seclusion. It was for centuries the principal monastery of the Church of the East and the burial place of its patriarchs, whose tombs are in a chamber cut from the stone. The community moved down to a newer monastery, Notre-Dame des Semences, in the valley in the nineteenth century, and the old buildings are maintained rather than fully occupied. The view from the terrace runs out over the whole Nineveh Plain.

History

Founded around 640 by the monk Rabban Hormizd, whose fame made it one of the most important houses of the Church of the East, the monastery flourished until the 10th century, and by the end of the 15th it was the burial place of the patriarchs; nine patriarchal graves, from 1497 to 1804, lie in the corridor leading to Rabban Hormizd's cell. Yohannan Sulaqa was a monk here before he went to Rome to become the first Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, and from 1551 into the 18th century the monastery was the official residence of the patriarchs of the Eliya line. Plague and attacks at the start of the Ottoman-Persian war of 1743-1746 left it largely empty, until in 1808 Gabriel Dambo revived it, rebuilt it and founded a seminary; after the union with Rome in the early 19th century it became a leading monastery of the Chaldean Catholic Church. Its library, rich in Syriac manuscripts, was looted in 1828 and again in 1868, but the monks kept buying and copying manuscripts and built up an important collection again (Wikipedia, Rabban Hormizd Monastery).

What you'll find

• Rock-cut cells - hermit chambers hollowed along the cliff face.
• The patriarchs' tombs - burial chamber cut into the stone.
• The cliff church - the monastery buildings against the escarpment.
• The plain below - the Nineveh Plains from the terrace.

When to go

March to May and September to November. Christian feast days bring visitors from the surrounding towns. Summer is very hot on the exposed rock and winter can be wet and cold.

Practical notes

The road up the escarpment is steep and narrow. Reaching the upper caves involves scrambling. The monastery is not fully occupied and access to some areas depends on finding a keyholder.

Nearby

Alqosh lies directly below; Mar Mattai is southeast.

Key facts