The Church of Saint Ahudemmeh, also known as the Green Church, was a

Syriac Orthodox The Syriac Orthodox Church (), also informally known as the Jacobite Church, is an Oriental Orthodox denomination that originates from the Church of Antioch. The church currently has around 4-5 million followers. The church upholds the Mia ...

church in

Tikrit Tikrit ( ) is a city in Iraq, located northwest of Baghdad and southeast of Mosul on the Tigris River. It is the administrative center of the Saladin Governorate. In 2012, it had a population of approximately 160,000. Originally created as a f ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. The church was destroyed by

Islamic State The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadism, Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS ...

militants on 25 September 2014.

History

The church was constructed by

Denha II Mar Denha II (also written Dinkha II) was patriarch of the Church of the East from 1336/7 to 1381/2. Although no history of his reign has survived, references in a number of Nestorian, Jacobite and Muslim sources provide some details of his pat ...

Maphrian of the East The Maphrian ( or ''maphryono''), is the second-highest rank in the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the Syriac Orthodox Church, right below that of patriarch. The office of a maphrian is a maphrianate. There have been three maphrianates in the hist ...

, in 700 AD, and was dedicated to Saint

Ahudemmeh Ahudemmeh was the Grand Metropolitan of the East in the Syriac Orthodox Church from 559 until his execution in 575. He was known as the Apostle of the Arabs, and is commemorated as a saint by the Syriac Orthodox Church. Biography Early life A ...

. Denha II and his successors John II, Daniel, Thomas I, and Baselios III, were buried in the church. Dinkha of Tikrit debated theology and philosophy with

Al-Masudi al-Masʿūdī (full name , ), –956, was a historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodotus of the Arabs". A polymath and prolific author of over twenty works on theology, history (Islamic and universal), geo ...

at the church in 925. In 1089, the church was looted and destroyed by the governor of Tikrit, but was restored in 1112. Christians took refuge in the church during the

Mongol invasion of Iraq The siege of Baghdad took place in early 1258. A large army commanded by Hulegu, a prince of the Mongol Empire, attacked the historic capital of the Abbasid Caliphate after a series of provocations from its ruler, caliph al-Musta'sim. Within ...

in 1258, where they were slaughtered and few escaped. The church was excavated by the Iraqi Archaeological Service in the 1990s, and several coffins were discovered, including that of Anaseous, Bishop of Tikrit. In 2000,

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...

had the church restored due to its dilapidated condition. On 25 September 2014, the church was destroyed by Islamic State militants with improvised explosive devices.

References

Bibliography

* Churches destroyed by Muslims Persecution of Christians in Iraq Islamist attacks on churches Destroyed churches in Iraq Buildings and structures demolished in 2014 Buildings and structures destroyed by ISIL Syriac Orthodox churches in Iraq History of Tikrit {{Syriac-Orthodox-church-stub