The Church of Saint Thomas is a
Syriac Orthodox church in
Mosul
Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second large ...
,
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
.
History
The church is dedicated to Saint
Thomas the Apostle
Thomas the Apostle ( arc, 𐡀𐡌𐡅𐡕𐡌, hbo, תוֹמא הקדוש or תוֹמָא שליחא (''Toma HaKadosh'' "Thomas the Holy" or ''Toma Shlikha'' "Thomas the Messenger/Apostle" in Hebrew-Aramaic), syc, ܬܐܘܡܐ, , meaning "twi ...
and is believed to have been constructed on the site of the house that the saint resided in during his stay in Mosul. The church is first mentioned in 770 as part of a grievance to Caliph
Al-Mahdi
Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Manṣūr ( ar, أبو عبد الله محمد بن عبد الله المنصور; 744 or 745 – 785), better known by his regnal name Al-Mahdī (, "He who is guided by God"), was the third Abb ...
. The current structure suggests it was built in the 13th century. The church was damaged during
Shahanshah
Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...
Nader Shah's siege of Mosul as part of the
Ottoman–Persian War of 1743–1746, and was subsequently renovated in 1744 by Cyril George,
metropolitan bishop
In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan (alternative obsolete form: metropolite), pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis.
Originally, the term referred to the b ...
of
Hattakh, with the permission of the Ottoman Sultan
Mahmud I. It was later renovated again in 1848.
Amidst restoration work in 1964, the finger bones of Saint Thomas were discovered in the church.
On 23 December 2009, a bomb damaged the church, killed two men and injured five people. In the aftermath of the
Fall of Mosul
The Fall of Mosul occurred between 410 June 2014, when Islamic State insurgents, initially led by Abu Abdulrahman al-Bilawi, captured Mosul from the Iraqi Army, led by Lieutenant General Mahdi Al-Gharrawi.
On 4 June, the insurgents began their ...
, the relics of Saint Thomas were taken from the church by Nicodemus Daoud Sharaf, Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Mosul,
and transferred to the
Monastery of Saint Matthew on 17 June 2014.
The church was used as a prison by
Islamic State
An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...
insurgents until the city's
liberation
Liberation or liberate may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Liberation'' (film series), a 1970–1971 series about the Great Patriotic War
* "Liberation" (''The Flash''), a TV episode
* "Liberation" (''K-9''), an episode
Gaming
* '' Liberati ...
in 2017.
Burials
*
Ignatius Isaac II
Ignatius Isaac II ( syr, ܐܝܣܚܩ ܥܐܙܐܪ, ar, اسحق بطريارك انطاكية) was the Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1709 until his resignation in 1723.
Biography
Isaac ʿAzar was born at Mosul ...
, Syriac Orthodox patriarch of Antioch ()
*
Basil Matthew II, Syriac Orthodox
maphrian
The Maphrian ( syr, ܡܦܪܝܢܐ, maphryānā or ''maphryono''), originally known as the Grand Metropolitan of the East and also known as the Catholicos, was the second-highest rank in the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the Syriac Orthodox Church, ...
of the East ()
*Basil Lazarus IV, Syriac Orthodox
maphrian
The Maphrian ( syr, ܡܦܪܝܢܐ, maphryānā or ''maphryono''), originally known as the Grand Metropolitan of the East and also known as the Catholicos, was the second-highest rank in the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the Syriac Orthodox Church, ...
of the East ()
*Cyril Rizq Allah, Syriac Orthodox metropolitan bishop of Mosul ()
*Cyril 'Abd al-'Aziz, Syriac Orthodox metropolitan bishop of Mosul ()
References
Bibliography
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{{Authority control
Churches in Mosul
Syriac Orthodox churches in Iraq
Persecution of Assyrians by ISIL
Islamist attacks on churches