Monastery of Tal Wardiyat, a center for religious teachings and a shelter during war days

On the occasion of the Virgin Mary’s birthday, the Syriac Orthodox Bishop Maurice Amisih has celebrated the establishment of the Divine Sacrifice at the Monastery of Virgin Mary in Tal Wardiyat, one of the largest monasteries in al-Jazira region, on Sunday evening.

The priest of the monastery Afram al-Hanu told North-Press about the services that the monastery has provided to the faithful since its founding on August 15, 2000 by Patriarch Triangle of Mercy “Zaka I Eiywas”.

Al-Hanu said: “We have held many religious courses in the monastery, including for the clergy and annual courses for the deacons to teach the Syriac rituals and melodies, as well as recreational and development camps for all church institutions.

He pointed out that the monastery was regularly visited by monks and deacons to teach the Syriac language and the religious rituals.

Al-Hanu said that the number of visitors to the monastery began to decrease with the beginning of the crisis in Syria, while before the crisis the monastery was visited by hundreds of citizens to pray and stroll in its large square.

In 2013, the monastery was cordoned off and all surrounding villages were seized by several armed groups including al-Qaeda’s affiliate al-Nusra Front, and the last of which was the Islamic State group (ISIS).

The priest added that these armed groups had threatened those who were visiting the monastery, while spread fear among them, “However, I remained in the monastery with a number of deacons, until the return of safety to the area at the beginning of 2015”.

While Abd al-Masih Korkis, a deacon and servant in the monastery talked about the severe damage that was caused to the monastery as a result of the terrorist attacks in 2013. He pointed out that they were not able to protect the monastery by themselves, “especially when ISIS had seized the surrounding villages, where they attacked us on a daily basis, and the monastery’s external construction was heavily damaged”, the deacon said.

The deacon said that with the help of People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the Syriac Military Council, who were staying in the monastery for eight consecutive months, could protect  the monastery and those who were inside were secured, pointing out that they continued to guard the monastery until they were fully ensured about the safety of the area.

In early 2016, people gradually started to visit the monastery again, especially during the summer days.

Korkis added: “We have not been able to completely renovate the monastery, because the monastery basically depends on the donations of the visitors who come during summer days, in addition to the small number of workers compared to the large area of the monastery, and because it is far from all service centers”.

The monastery is about 25km from the city of Hasakah, and was a sheltering center for many residents of the villages of Khabur area, especially the village of Tal Hormuz during the attacks of the Islamic State (ISIS), it was also a refuge for a large number of residents of Hasakah, where the monastery was securing and providing all the needed supplies of food, drink and other needs for those families.