Dayra d'Mar Oraha () (Saint Abraham Monastery) is a
Chaldean Catholic monastery in northern
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 ...
close to the town of
Batnaya.
The monastery is traditionally attributed to Mar Oraha, who was forced to abandon his hermitage in
Mount Alfaf due to a draught, and descended to the
Nineveh Plains, where he built his monastery during
Ishoʿyahb I's patriarchy (581–596). It was occupied by monks of the
Church of the East until 1719, when it passed to the
Chaldean Catholic Church. The monastery was completely destroyed and its monks were killed at the hands of
Nader Shah of
Persia
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 ...
during his campaign in the region in 1743. In 1921, it was rebuilt with the help of the
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic Church, Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilians, Castilian priest named Saint Dominic, Dominic de Gu ...
.
The feast of Mar Oraha is held twice at the monastery: the first Sunday of the
Great Lent, and the second Sunday after
Easter
Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...
.
[Sulaiman Al-Saigh, 'The Nineveh Villages', Al-Mashriq magazine, Issue 21, 1923, p. 422.]
References
Monasteries of the Church of the East
Christianity in Nineveh Governorate
Eastern Catholic monasteries in Iraq
Christian monasteries established in the 6th century
Chaldean Catholic monasteries
Nineveh Plains
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