Volume I - Issue 20 APRIL 2010 Chairman’s Message Swedish Parliament recognizes Sayfo Dear readers, exist among the population. On 11th March, the Swedish Parliament recognized the Syriac-Assyrian-Chaldean In the aftermath of the Sayfo, Syriac- March 11 will get an important genocide also known as “Sayfo” (sword) per- Assyrian-Chaldeans were murdered, killed petrated by the Ottomans and abandoned with their fate. The majority place in the history of the Suryoye. March 11 is was disappeared and the the day on which the Swedish parliament has during First World War. 500 thousand of Syriac- rest were exiled to save our acknowledged the genocide of 1915 on the lives anywhere. As a conse- Syriac-Assyrian-Chaldean people. Assyrian-Chaldeans were killed during this period. quent, today Syriac- In a motion backed by the Assyrians-Chaldeans are The acknowledgement of the genocide by everywhere at the planet. Sweden as a Western country and a member of five political parties including Social From homeland the European Union is of great importance, for Mesopotamia to Europe, the Syriacs as well as for the genocide of 1915. Democrat Party and Left Party, the resolution is from Russia to all continent of America the member of Firstly it is the first time in history that the name adopted after long discus- sions. The motion includ- this folk are spread to every of our people (Syriacs-Assyrians-Chaldeans) is corner of the earth. officially added to the list of nations who suf- ed also Armenians and Pontiac Greeks. fered because of the genocide of 1915. With this adopted resolution Sweden is the The decision of the Sayfo by the Swedish Parliament has important gravity for the Because, during World War 1, besides 1, 5 mil- first country that accepts Syriac-Assyrian- Chaldean Genocide. (It is important to stress reconnaissance of this at the international lion Armenians, also 500.000 Syriacs- arena and also among other countries. Of Assyrians-Chaldeans and 350.000 Pontus that important amount of members of this folk living in Sweden since those decades.) course the effort and activities that have been Greeks were murdered by the then Turkish realized at this direction also played a valu- regime. Turkish Republic successor of the Ottoman Empire denies vehemently 1914-1915 inci- able point. From this point, the work and dents and qualifying it as “genocide” accord- efforts are vital for the recognition of Sayfo all Up until now, only the name of the Armenians over the world. was mentioned during acknowledgements, but ing to United the Swedish parliament is now the first to men- Nations resolu- tion all the nations that were killed during the tion of 1948. Today, Turkey In December 2007 the International Genocide of 1915 in the official acknowledge- Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) ment. works nonstop to persuade interna- also recognized the genocides of the Syriac- tional arena and Assyrian-Chaldeans and Pontiac Greeks per- Secondly, the name Syriac has come up for dis- petrated by the Ottoman Empire. cussion during an important decision of a parlia- claims that inci- ment for the first time. dents were just unorganized With a letter sent to Swedish Parliamentary ESU welcome and acknowledge the decision With that, the existence of the Syriacs is also events during the war. in favour of the reconnaissance of the geno- acknowledged, because after World War One, cide. ESU is one of the main and significant the Syriacs didn’t get any acknowledgement as The Sayfo is one of darkest period of the his- organizations within Syriac-Assyrian- an ethnic group in the newly formed countries Chaldeans working for promoting the ques- such as Turkey, Syria and Iraq. tory of Syriac-Assyrian-Chaldeans. During these tragic years Syriac-Assyrian- tions among politics of the countries. Because of this, the voice of the Syriacs could Chaldeans faced great atrocities and mas- not reach the West. It is because of that that sacres most of them were killed others were exiled at the different places. The Sayfo issue In the future ESU has the intention to take until recently, the Syriacs were an unknown some steps in Switzerland and in United group to the Western Countries. has very important gravity among Syriac- Assyrian-Chaldeans and for the collective States for memory. Within every habitation of this folk the geno- Although lately the name of Syriacs is more and cide ques- more mentioned by Western representatives, it inevitably exist a little or big history about these years. tion. At the never got to the point where a parliament could next issue take an official decision about it. The Syriac-Assyrian-Chaldean folk lost all of of our bul- the components of their existence and identi- letin ty, the richness and wealth that were arise detailed It is a beginning stadium for the Syriacs in inter- information national politics. during the centuries were all destroyed. Although now a days the trauma of this peri- and news od is still alive at the memory of the ancients will be pre- who see and live this genocide. For this, sented. Iskender Alptekin important amount of the oral history material The Voice of the Syriacs Volume 1 - Issue 20 page 2 Mor Hananyo (Deyrulzafaran) Monastery Sebokht's Treatise on the Constellations. One of the most luxurious The monastery Mor Hananyo established in the 5th century also known Syriac Manuscripts to survive is the Lectionary of Deir ez-Za`faran, as Kurkmo Dayro (in Syriac) or Deir ez-Za`faran (in Arabic) meaning the copied in the middle of the thirteenth century by Dioscrous Theodorus, "Saffron Monastery", is situated some five kilometers east of Mardin (in who later became bishop of Hesna d-Ziyad (Kharput). Besides having South eastern Turkey), in a shallow basin half-way up the side of the twenty miniatures inserted in the text, the manuscript is strewn with orna- mountain ridge. This is one of the most known ments in the form of colourful circles, crosses, and ancient structure of Upper Mesopotamia, stars and bands, the last serving as the back- and the religious center of the Syriac Orthodox ground for titles and rubrics, Full-page Community. The origins of this imposing Crosses introduce and close the canon monastery goes back to the 5th century; Tables, and the title frontispiece is presented mosaics remaining from that period have still under a gold portion. The miniatures within been present. From 1293 until 1932 it was the the interlaced borders in red, blue and yellow official seat of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate follow Byzantine iconographical formulas of Antioch and all the East. Tradition associates closely. The background included both archi- the monastery's foundation with a certain tecture and elements of landscape. Moreover, Shleymun (Solomon), about whom little or nothing is known. the physiognomic type of the person is not 'islamicised'. There is a Bible of great historical value and a sacred stone in the monastery, from where The name "Saffron monastery" is said to derive from the saffron dye the first School of Medicine is to thought to have been established. used in the building's plaster-work; the correct name, however, is the "Monastery of Mor Hananyo (St. Ananias)" who was the Metropolitan of On the first visit of any Syriac Orthodox Patriarch to England, in the win- Kfartuta (793-800). It was he who renovated the monastery buildings ter of 1874-75, Mor Ignatius Pathros IV took the opportunity to have a after a period of decline in 793. An earlier dedication, to Mor Augen, is printing press sent back to the monastery, and once it had been installed still remembered much later by some scribes who refer to it as the it was put to good use in the printing of a number of liturgical and other monastery of Mor Hananyo and Mor Augen. Further important renovation books in Syriac. work was done by an energetic bishop of Mardin, John, who died at the monastery on 12th July 1165. The most ancient buildings of the monastery are the main church, the Church of the Mother of God, and Scholars from the Monastery the Beth Kadishe. They are said to have been erected on the ruins of a Roman castle and a pagan temple. The monastery possessed a fine library with valuable manuscripts and books. Of the many Syriac scholars and authors who have been monks at Deir ez-Za`faran, three stand out for their exceptional learning. The first is a prolific author of the eighth-ninth century, Iwannis of Dara; before he was Church Architecture appointed Metropolitan of Dara in 825 he had been a monk at the monastery, and it was presumably there that he had access to an extremely well-stocked library, the fruits of which can be seen in his writ- The various churches and buildings of the monastery still preserve a ings, the other two both belong to modern times. Although born at Mosul great deal of the original decoration and sculpture, many of the details of (in 1887), the Patriarch Ignatius Ephrem Barsaum (1933-57) studied and which are of very high artistic quality. Here the well preserved main became a monk at the monastery; he possessed an incomparable church, with its impressive proportions and fine carved decoration, dates knowledge of Syriac literature, the fruits of which can be seen in his back to the sixth century, as does the adja- invaluable History of Syriac literature. cent funery chamber to the north. Set in a Although this book was written in Arabic, niche in one of the reception rooms is a it was translated into Syriac by another carved stone panel surrounded by a long monk of the monastery, Metropolitan Mor decorative Syriac inscription.