St. Mary Church ( `''Idto d-Yoldat Aloho'', ), is a Syriac Orthodox church in Diyarbakir. It is under the jurisdiction of the Syriac Archdiocese of Mardin, headed by Metropolitan Mor Filüksinos Saliba Özmen. The church was first constructed as a pagan temple in the 1st century BC, and the current construction dates back to the 3rd century. The church has been restored many times, and is still in use as a place of worship today. The church is open to visitors for a 5 lira entrance fee.

History

When Diyarbakir was known by its

Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...

name Amid, it was the seat of some of the Patriarchs of the Assyrian Church of the East and thus an original Assyrian/Syriac stronghold that produced many famous theologians and Patriarchs. There are many

relics In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tang ...

in the Church, such as the bones of the

apostle Thomas 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 St. Jacob of Sarug. The church also has a large and very significant collection of manuscripts.

References

Churches in Diyarbakır Oriental Orthodoxy in Turkey Syriac Orthodox churches 1st-century BC religious buildings and structures {{Syriac-Orthodox-church-stub