Iraq’s oldest Christian monastery gone
IRBIL, Iraq — The oldest Christian monastery in Iraq has been reduced to a field of rubble, yet another victim of the Islamic State extremist group’s destruction of ancient cultural sites.
For 1,400 years the compound survived assaults by nature and man, standing as a place of worship recently for U.S. troops. In earlier centuries, generations of monks tucked candles in the niches and prayed in the cool chapel. The Greek letters chi and rho, representing the first two letters of Christ’s name, were carved near the entrance.
Now satellite photos obtained by The Associated Press show that the St. Elijah’s Monastery of Mosul has been wiped away.
In his office in exile in Irbil, Iraq, the Rev. Paul Thabit Habib, 39, stared at before and after images of the monastery that once perched on a hillside above his hometown, Mosul.
“I can’t describe my sadness,” he said in Arabic. “Our Christian history in Mosul is being barbarically leveled. We see it as an attempt to expel us from Iraq, eliminating and finishing our existence in this land.”
The Islamic State, which controls large parts of Iraq and Syria, has killed thousands of civilians and forced out hundreds of thousands of Christians, threatening a religion that has endured in the region for 2,000 years. Along the way, its fighters have destroyed buildings, and ruined historical and culturally significant structures that they consider contrary to their interpretation of Islam.
Those familiar with the monastery wondered about its fate after the extremists swept through in June 2014 and largely cut communications to the area.
Now, St. Elijah’s has joined a growing list of more than 100 demolished religious and historic sites, including mosques, tombs, shrines and churches in Syria and Iraq. The extremists have defaced or ruined ancient monuments in Nineveh, Palmyra and Hatra. Museums and libraries have been looted, books burned, artwork crushed — or trafficked.
At the Vatican, spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi, noted that since the monastery dates back to the time Christians were united, before the break with Orthodox and Catholics, the place would be a special one for many. He said it was the first news he had had of the destruction.
“Unfortunately, there is this systemic destruction of precious sites, not only cultural, but also religious and spiritual. It’s very sad and dramatic,” Lombardi said.
Suzanne Bott, who spent more than two years restoring St. Elijah’s Monastery as a U.S. State Department cultural adviser in Iraq, teared up when shown the images.
“What we lose is a very tangible reminder of the roots of a religion,” Bott said.
Earlier this month, satellite imagery firm DigitalGlobe pulled a series of images of the same spot from its archive of pictures taken globally every day.
Imagery analyst Stephen Wood, CEO of Allsource Analysis, reviewed the pictures and identified the date of destruction as between Aug. 27 and Sept. 28, 2014.
“Our Christian history in Mosul is being barbarically leveled. We see it as an attempt to expel us from Iraq, eliminating and finishing our existence in this land.” — Rev. Paul Thabit Habib
Before it was razed, images show a partially restored, 27,000-square-foot religious building. Although the roof was mostly missing, it had 26 distinctive rooms including a sanctuary and chapel. One month later, “the stone walls have been literally pulverized,” said Wood.
“Bulldozers, heavy equipment, sledgehammers, possibly explosives turned those stone walls into this field of gray-white dust. They destroyed it completely,” he said. “There’s nothing to rebuild.”
The monastery, called Dair Mar Elia, is named for the Assyrian Christian monk — St. Elijah — who built it between 582 and 590. It was a holy site for Iraqi Christians for centuries, part of the Mideast’s Chaldean Catholic community.
In 1743, tragedy struck when as many as 150 monks who refused to convert to Islam were massacred under orders of a Persian general, and the monastery was damaged. For the next two centuries it remained a place of pilgrimage, even after it was incorporated into an Iraqi military training base and later a U.S. base.
Then in 2003 St. Elijah’s shuddered again — this time a wall was smashed by a tank turret blown off in battle. Iraqi troops had already moved in, dumping garbage in the ancient cistern. The U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division took control, with troops painting over ancient murals and scrawling their division’s “Screaming Eagle,” along with “Chad wuz here” and “I love Debbie,” on the walls.
A U.S. military chaplain, recognizing St. Elijah’s significance, kicked the troops out, and the Army’s subsequent preservation initiative became a pet project for a series of chaplains who toured thousands of soldiers through the ruin.
The U.S. military’s efforts drew attention from international media outlets in 2008.
One piece published in Smithsonian magazine was written by American journalist James Foley, six years before he was killed by Islamic State militants.