Yeşilyurt (; ; ) is a village in the

Gerger District Gerger District is a Districts of Turkey, district of Adıyaman Province of Turkey. Its seat is the town Gerger.Adıyaman Province Adıyaman Province (, ) is a Provinces of Turkey, province in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. The capital is Adıyaman. Its area is 7,337 km2, and its population is 635,169 (2022). The province is considered part of Turkish Kurdi ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. The village is populated by

Kurds Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

of the Kirvar tribe and had a population of 120 in 2021.

History

The King's Table Monastery (today called Yeşilyurt) was founded in 1138. It became known as Dayr Abū Ghālib after Athanasius Abu Ghalib, bishop of Jaiḥan (), who had been a monk at the monastery and had died there, according to the ''Chronicle'' of

Michael the Syrian Michael the Syrian (),(), died AD 1199, also known as Michael the Great () or Michael Syrus or Michael the Elder, to distinguish him from his nephew, was a patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church from 1166 to 1199. He is best known today as th ...

. The monastery's church was rebuilt by Patriarch Michael the Syrian in 1170. Joseph of Abu Ghalib’s Monastery wrote a hagiographical collection for the

Mor Bar Sauma Monastery The Mor Bar Sauma Monastery was a Syriac Orthodox monastery located between Gargar and Malatya in Turkey. The monastery served as the regular patriarchal residence from the eleventh century until the thirteenth century, and was eventually abandon ...

, dated October 1196, sponsored by his cousin the deacon Ṣaliba, at the request of Patriarch Michael the Syrian. Dawud of Amid resided at the Monastery of Abu Ghalib and the Monastery of Mar Abhai after his retirement as bishop of Shlabdin before 1198 prior to settling at the Monastery of Mar Iliyya. In total, the monastery produced five bishops. The village is attested by the name Venk-i Ermeniyan in the Ottoman archives in 1519. Five deacons and one priest were consecrated for the Church of the

Mother of God ''Theotokos'' (Greek: ) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations are or (approximately "parent (fem.) of God"). Familiar English translations are "Mother of God" or "God-bearer ...

at Wank on 11 Tamūz (July) 1580 ( AG 1891). The monk Micah Najjar Dawlatshah of Wank (1589–1606) was an eminent calligrapher. Gregory John Najjar,

metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ar ...

Cappadocia Cappadocia (; , from ) is a historical region in Central Anatolia region, Turkey. It is largely in the provinces of Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. Today, the touristic Cappadocia Region is located in Nevşehir ...

and

Edessa Edessa (; ) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, in what is now Urfa or Şanlıurfa, Turkey. It was founded during the Hellenistic period by Macedonian general and self proclaimed king Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Sel ...

(), was born at Wank. Dayr Abū Ghālib continued to be occupied until 1600. Metropolitan Iyawannis Jirjis, son of Amir Shah of Wank, was abbot of the Monastery of the Syrians in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

in 1633. Ephraim of Wank, metropolitan of Hattakh (1612–1675), copied

Ḥasan bar Bahlul Ḥasan bar Bahlul (, '; , ') was a 10th-century Christian bishop and Syriac linguist. Not much is known of Bar Bahlul's life. His name has appeared in the list of bishops who supported Abdisho I's ascent to the patriarchy of the Church of the ...

's dictionary in 1659. Four deacons were consecrated for the Church of the Mother of God at Wank in 1674 ( AG 1985). The bishop Severus Yuhanna transcribed a copy of the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

s in Syriac for the church at Wank in 1750. The village formed part of the

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 ...

diocese of Gargar. In April 1913, Matran Abd Dunnur, archbishop of Mamuret-ül Aziz, petitioned the government for the reconstruction of the dilapidated church at Wank and requested that it be renamed the Mar Eliyan/Mar Elbeyan Church. At this time, the village was inhabited by 140 Syriacs and there were thirty-nine households. The petition was approved on 2 May 1914. In 1915, amidst the

Sayfo The Sayfo (, ), also known as the Seyfo or the Assyrian genocide, was the mass murder and deportation of Assyrian people, Assyrian/Syriac Christians in southeastern Anatolia and Persia's Azerbaijan (Iran), Azerbaijan province by Ottoman Army ...

, Syriacs and

Armenians Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...

from Wank were thrown into the

Euphrates The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...

whilst others were killed in the nearby caves and the church was pillaged and destroyed. Some Christians took refuge in neighbouring villages or converted to

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

. In 2016, there were forty-six households, including six Syriac families.

References

Notes Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * Villages in Gerger District Kurdish settlements in Adıyaman Province Populated places established in the 12th century Assyrian communities in Turkey Former Armenian communities in Adıyaman Province Places of the Sayfo Syriac Orthodox monasteries in Turkey {{Adıyaman-geo-stub