Forty Days on the Holy Mountain the Mountain, the Monks, the Mission Dale Albert Johnson Dedication To the Seeds of Hope team members the Honorable Dale Ramerman, Eric Johnson Ret. USAF, Greg Rhodes, businessman and son of an Episcopal priest, the Rev. Jonathan Weldan, Episcopal priest, Alice Kapka, educator. and to Rabban Jaoqim Unval, Abbot of Mor Awgin Monastery Special mention to Ron Medcalf for behind the scenes support 3 Copyright © 2016 by Dale A. Johnson All rights reserved. This book, or no parts thereof, may be reproduced in any form without express written permission Library of congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dale A. Johnson Forty Days on the Holy Mountain ISBN 978-1-329-49349-0 Manufactured in the United States of America Parts of this book were previously published 2004 under the title Monks of Mt. Izla by New Sinai Press. 4 Forty Days on the Holy Mountain the Monks, the Mountain, the Mission Preface……………………..6 The Mountain………….…..13 The Monastery .........26 How Did They Live..........41 The Monks A Cloud of Witnesses.......51 St. Awgin ……………….…..63 St. Habib...…………………..69 St. Abraham of the High Mountain…..…93 St. Shalito…………………………….…….100 St. Malke……………………………….......111 St. Aho………………………………....…..116 St. Hananyo………………………….....…155 St. John the Arab………………….....…... 158 St. Yoreth…….. ………………………...... 165 St. Salloro…………………………………176 St. Yonan ………………………………..181 Mariam of Qidum……………………...…189 Jacob of Salah……………………..……….204 Babai the Great……………………...…….224 Sts. Samuel and Simeon………………….232 Severos Sebkhot …………..257 The Mission: Seeds of Hope: the project………..263 The Message ……….271 5 Appendix I: Factfinding Report……284 References Consulted ……….294 Books by the author: …..297 General Map ………….302 Seeds of Hope Nineveh team 6 7 Preface There are three moments that created this book. First was a dream. I had been teaching and doing research on the Silk Road in far western China, studying the expansion of Aramaic Christians from the Middle East to the heartland of China. I awoke from the dream responding to the beheading of Christians by ISIS with a certainty that I must return to S.E. Turkey where I had spent so many years serving indigenous Christians who still speak a dialect of Aramaic akin to the language of Jesus. Second was the cry of a woman I heard during an investigatory trip I took into northern Iraq, Kurdistan, where I interviewed 2000 families early in 2015. The experience forged a long-term plan to assist the people fleeing ISIS and perhaps help prevent the extinction of Christianity in the Middle East. Third, was the decision to return to the Holy Mountain of Mount Izla for a period of 40 days and nights. Why? I do not know except I felt this inner calling. The time was right. The dream, the cry, and the decision! Now I find myself on a mountain following the footsteps of Moses, Mar Awgin and many others in search of an encounter with the Divine. Here on this mountain I am in the presence of thousands of saints, a cloud of witnesses, who lived here in quiet prayer and service to humanity and their God, Note: The transliteration of some words vary depending on use of western or eastern dialects of Syriac/Aramaic. For example “Mor” is western whereas “Mar”is eastern, 8 the same with Izlo/Izla. There is only one vowel change. In general I use the eastern form except for specific Syriac Orthodox terms. I have chosen to use the title “Mar” which means “saint” instead of the spelling “Mor” in the title for the monastery of Mar Awgin. While this may disappoint my Syriac Orthodox friends I choose to stay with the East Syriac form of the spelling because the monastery was for most of its existence an Assyrian Church of the East institution even though now it has reverted to the West Syriacs (Syriac Othodox). Monasticism of the Christian form, especially cenobitic monasticism helped to develop world culture. According to my teacher, Arthur Voobus, Christian monasticism started on or near the Holy Mountain near Nisibis. It was a wild solitary form. Males did not live in community. They lived solitary lives at the edge of civilization. In this case it was Nisibis. Monasticism seems rd to have existed on this mountain around the 3 century or perhaps even earlier. It could be that these men and a few women were victims of war. They were exposed to violence and the psychological damage drove them into isolation. The Persian/Roman wars were waged on the northern Syrian plains. Nisibis was the recipient of armies from both sides. Centered in a vast agricultural region its residents were able to supply food to the armies. At other times it was a victim to the shifting battle lines. The city also was the refuge to the injured solders and the war 9 weary. When the Eastern Roman Emperor Julien died on the battlefield not too far from Mar Awgin in 363 AD it was the end of Roman occupation of the region. The Persians moved in and pushed the local population sympathetic to the Romans to the West. Saint Ephrem moved from Nisibis to Edessa a couple hundred kilometers directly west. The border sifted westward. Mount Izla now belonged to the Sassanid Empire. Mar Awgin and his brothers stayed on the Holy Mountain preferring not to side with the Romans who had been their oppressors in Egypt. Not until the Crusades 700 years later would the Romans try to regain a foothold on the region. One of the most interesting historical puzzles is the question of the relationship between Saint Awgin and Saint Ephrem. The Bishop of Nisibis was Jacob and we read nothing about Jacob and Awgin meeting together or Ephrem and Awgin. If Awgin arrived on Mount Izla in 350 AD and lived there until 363 when Ephrem and Jacob lived in Nisibis then where is there a mention of these men meeting? After all they were less than ten miles apart. You can see the monastery from Nisibis. I am looking at Nisibis from the window of my cell as I write these words. Did Bishop Jacob of Nisibis ever visit Mor Awgin Monastery? Did Ephrem ever set foot on the monastery grounds? Either the records of this connection are lost or are yet to be discovered. I suspect that if we were to ever find anything ab out this connection it would be in the hymns of Ephrem. On the other hand these men were separated by language, 10 empires, authority, and culture. Awgin spoke Coptic and Ephrem and Jacob spoke Syriac. Awgin traveled extensively whereas Ephrem and Jacob did not. This limited the time of contact within the 13 years when it was possible for them to be in contact. Also, Jacob was not the bishop of Awgin. More than likely Awgin saw himself under the authority of a Coptic bishop or Patriarch. As mentioned above they lived in a border region where the Persian and Roman empires collided. They sympathized with different sides. There are many reasons to conclude why did not meet or if they did it was merely cordial and in passing. Nisibis, after all, was the border between the Persian and Roman Empires. Just as today it is the border between Turkey and Syria (Nusybene and Qamishli) although in a different direction. I am sure there are people in Nisibis who have never been on the Syrian side of the border although only a miles or two away. The same would be true of people from Qamishli who have never been across to the Turkish side. Although only a few miles apart, these populations are separated by culture, language, and nations. It is not hard to imagine that the same would be true of the days of Ephrem and Awgin. Although a few miles apart they too were separated by culture, language and empires. There is mention of Saint Awgin along with Jacob and Ephrem in a Fanqitho in the Easter Week sections. But these are not historical records and are only evidence of a cultural memory. The Fanquitho is a book of long festal prayers for various seasons. I once stood in the Church of Saint Jacob in Nisibis. It was 11 thrilling to stand on the very stones where Ephrem stood and conducted his choirs teaching the people his new hymns. I believe Ephrem to be the greatest writer of Christian hymns in all of history. Monasticism began to experience a period of peace and stability after Saint Awgin. Monks from Egypt were able to travel to Mount Izla under the security of the Persians. The fame of Mar Awgin drew people throughout the Empire and beyond. Conversely, the monks of Mar Awgin were able to travel eastward along the Silk Road and spread the benefits of monasticism and Christianity under the relative th th veil of Persian security from the 4 to 5 century. Some have argued that the history of Saint Awgin was distorted to benefit the Nestorian claim on the monasteries of the region. And because of this underlying motive the history of the founding of the monastery should be viewed with suspicion. While there may have been a sectarian motive behind to establishment of the early date of Saint Awgin monastery the early date still may be true. The Egyptian monks were not Nestorian. Later monks were Nestorian and wanted to perhaps weave a claim into the fabric of their history but the founding of the monastery had nothing to do with their perception of it. Saint Awgin may have founded the monastery in 350 AD and only later was this credited to a Nestorian purpose for the benefit of people centuries later.