Sir (;
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
Suret ( Help:IPA for Aramaic, ˆsuËrɪtÊ°or Help:IPA for Aramaic, ˆsuËrɪθ, also known as Assyrian, refers to the varieties of Northeastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) spoken by Christians, namely Assyrian people, Assyrians.Nordhoff, Sebast ...
: ''Seiri'') is a mountainous area and village in
Baranduz Rural District, in the
Central District of
Urmia County
Urmia County () is in West Azerbaijan province, Iran. Its capital is the city of Urmia.
Demographics Ethnicity
The county is mainly populated by Azerbaijanis, Persians and Kurds
Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peopl ...
,
West Azerbaijan Province
West Azerbaijan province () is one of the 31 provinces of Iran, whose capital and largest city is Urmia.
It is in the northwest of the country, bordered by Turkey ( Ağrı, Hakkâri, Iğdır and Van Provinces), Iraq ( Erbil and Sula ...
,
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
. At the 2006 census, its population was 134 people, in 32 families.
In English the place has been subject to various spellings due to early
transliteration
Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → and → the digraph , Cyrillic → , Armenian → or L ...
including Seer, Seyr,
and Seir.
History
Sir is located the historically significant stone church of Mar Sargis, a shrine visited by the faithfuls for healing, both Christian and Muslim. Due to its fresh mountain air, Sir historically became the summer station for many European and American missionaries based in Urmia.
On 1800s a proto-evangelical English missionary led by Sir John White and Elisabeth Hobart also built a massive worship place in Urmia, known as 'Ojag-e Sir' (Sir's Henge, God's House of Sir) later renamed and converted to Kelisay-e Hazrat-e Maryam (the Church of
Saint Mary
Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...
). There is a remaining room of mentioned sacred address which is located in the close outskirts of Janveslou village, foothill of Sir's Mountain. The village was colloquially named Janveslou meaning the village of John and Elisa and is widely known to have historically offered safety to various displaced and persecuted peoples of faith. It is there that many missionaries and their household-members are buried in the area, such as
Joseph Plumb Cochran (1855–1905).
Notable people
*
Joseph Gallup Cochran (1817–1871), missionary,
buried in Sir
*
Jacob David (1873–1967), pastor and relief worker, born in Sir
*
Ana Diamond (born 1996), British-Iranian scholar and author
*
William Ambrose Shedd (1865–1918), missionary, born in Sir
See also
*
St. Sarkis Church
*
Assyrians in Iran
Assyrians in Iran (; ), or Iranian Assyrians, are an ethnic and linguistic minority in present-day Iran. The Assyrians of Iran speak Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, a neo-Aramaic language descended from the eastern dialects of the old Aramaic language ...
*
List of Assyrian settlements
The following is a list of historical and contemporary Assyrian settlements in the Middle East. This list includes settlements of Assyrians from Southeastern Turkey who left their indigenous tribal districts in Hakkari (or the historical Hak ...
References
Assyrian communities in Iran
Populated places in Urmia County
{{Urmia-geo-stub