Iraqi Christians saved ancient library
Manuscripts rushed to safety ahead of advancing militants
MAR MATTI MONASTERY, Iraq — As Islamic State group militants advanced toward this monastery perched on a mountain in northern Iraq, the monks rushed to protect a cherished piece of their heritage: their library of centuries-old Christian manuscripts. Dozens of the handwritten tomes were spirited to safety in nearby Kurdish-ruled areas.
There they remain, hidden in a nondescript apartment in the Kurdish city of Dohuk, where Christians who have fled the extremists’ onslaught are living and watching over them.
The Associated Press was allowed rare access to the library, a collection of copies of Bibles and biblical commentaries, mostly written in Syriac — a form of the ancient Semitic Aramaic language — and mostly dating back 400-500 years. The oldest is a copy of the letters of St. Paul, some 1,100 years old. The bound tomes, some with tattered pages written in black and red ink, lay on shelves.
Their rescue is a bright spot in the devastating onslaught by the Sunni extremists against Iraq’s people — particularly religious and ethnic minorities — and Iraq’s heritage, as they took over much of northern and western Iraq the past year.
In recent months the militants have accelerated their campaign to destroy more ancient sites, and burned hundreds of books at Mosul’s library and university, including rare manuscripts.
The Syriac Orthodox Christians of Mar Matti, a monastery that dates back to the 4th century, moved to rescue their library of around 80 manuscripts in August, at the height of the Islamic State group’s blitz, when its fighters were bearing down from Mosul to the north, toward the monastery, 20 miles from the city. Their advance was halted by Kurdish pershmerga fighters, who now hold the road leading to the monastery.
That was a relief to the monastery’s monks and their community. But they aren’t taking any chances and are leaving the manuscripts where they are until the group is decisively defeated.
“Thank God they were unable to reach the monastery,” said Raad Abdul-Ahed, a local Christian who helped transport the library. But “we will keep it here until the crisis is over, until the situation is stabilized.” Abdul-Ahed, who fled his hometown near Mosul, now lives in the apartment.