Reminiscence from Anatolia- Part Twenty Eight: Saffron Monastery
I reached Mardin at around 10 am…. The bus broke down somewhere midway… and the journey that would have got completed in 2 hours took almost 4 hours…
Mardin… I realized was a hill-station like area… with topsy turvy narrow roads… I was told that Syrian border is mere 60 kilometers from Mardin… and till about 100 years ago, Mardin was a significant Syrian Orthodox city… however, now it is almost 100 percent Muslim. It was one of the major sites of anti-Christian violence… many Christians escaped to Syria… and many more ghettoed in a nearby Christian stronghold called Midyat… which is perhaps the last bastion of Syrian Orthodox population in Turkey.
Even today… there are few living Syrian Orthodox churches… prominent of them are Virgin Mary Church… these are managed by the last few Christian families left in the city… in contrast, Midyat has a large number of churches and monasteries… and a vibrant Christian population… Alison told me that Midyat is very different from rest of Turkey and Arab… liberal lifestyle… one can see girls wearing mini-skirts and trendy European fashion… it exudes a European feel… somewhat like Maronite-dominated north Lebanon.
Midyat, incidentally, is also the hometown of my Norwegian friend Maria Korkunc… who studied Arabic with me in 2006… she is one of the most affable human beings that I have ever met.
I landed- firstly- at a bus company, which ran services to Hassankeyf… and enquired about next bus to Hassankeyf… it was at 1 pm… I had 3 hours to do some site-seeing in Mardin… I beckoned a taxi to make some quick visits…
There are two places of interest… Saffron Monastery, which used to be the head quarters of Syrian Orthodox denomination till about 100 years ago… and the Church’s patriarch used to live here till about 1920… when the anti-Christian violence forced him to leave the area and shift his center to Sadanaya in Syria. The other is Kasimiye Madarassa, which was constructed in 1500 by Seljuk kings… when Muslims captured this city after the Mongols… this was followed by gradual Islamization and intolerance towards Christians… which completed in early 1900s. Both the places were at the either ends of the city… and I had time to see one of them and then take a walk around the place before catching bus at 1 pm. I chose Saffron Monastery, and hired a taxi for 25 Liras… to and fro and waiting at the Monastery.
Mongol invasions and rule… is a poignant phase in Islamic history… the Muslim world was devastated by the ferociousness of Mongol Invasion… millions of them were butchered… city was razed to dust… the Ummayad Caliphate was destroyed… Damascus became a city of corpses… this was a dark period… where the Caliphate, with its liberal tradition, was gone… leaving behind a vacuum, which was filled by the religious scholars… two streams emanated- the Sufism and the traditionalists… the traditionalists kept on becoming more or more dogmatic… and it was perhaps the start of intolerant Islam… confrontation with the Christians, Jews and Pagans … the trend which continues even today.
Mardin… in the yesteryears… was an important town… was one of the junctions of Silk Road…. From where some caravans proceeded towards Aleppo and some to towards Istanbul… and therefore it was always contested by different forces… it has a typical Arab feel about it… the architecture, like Urfa, is pre-dominantly Arab… and I later discovered that Arabic is also the lingua-franca of the people here… not Kurdish and certainly not Turkish.
It took some while for the driver to realize that I speak in Arabic… he said that he was an Arab… an Arab Muslim. The language gelled up… so much so that he dropped the price for the trip… 15 Liras for locals… 25 Liras for tourists… you are a brother… and therefore only 15 Liras.
The Saffron Monastery in almost 10 kilometers from the city… the location of the monastery tells a story of itself. Located amidst barren mountains… perhaps… was the reason for its continued safe existence amidst thousand years of persecution and turmoil… and only recently… in the aftermath of first world war and Christian persecution in Turkey… did the Syrian patriarch finally decided to shift his base to Syria… among the relative peaceful and tolerant climes.
The monastery is beautiful and true to its name… it is saffron in color… mingling in its saffron and beige environment… the hills and the barren lands. The turmoil has now settled and therefore, today, the monastery survives without any security and in relative peace… one of the monks told me… the last threat emanated in 1970s, when some Muslim of Mardin accused the Monastery of trying to preach Christianity. But since then… it has been peaceful. The locals got busy in the Kurdish movement and there has been a stronger presence of Security forces in the area. Thus, in a way, PKK movement has been a blessing for the Monastery and remaining Christian population in the region.
Last night, Stefan has told me about the eldest monk in the monastery- who was in his 90s and had seen much turmoil… he barely speaks and walks with some support… I tried seeing him and realized that he was not keeping well today… so I could not meet him
Saffron Monastery, it seems, had a long history… it was- to begin with- a Pagan Monastery… it has a room in the basement, where the pagans used to see the Sun deity and do their religious rituals…
It had witness, therefore, and withstood many faiths and their interplay… and lies at the heart of this unique region and its complexities…
It was time to move back… and do some walking in Mardin town… which many had told me… was a wonderful walk… and that I may still see a lot of its unique architecture… the mosques, the madarassas and Caravan Serais…
I got back to the town… and realized that I had still some time to go… before catching the bus to Hassnkeyf… so decided to take a walk.
Mardin… I realized was a hill-station like area… with topsy turvy narrow roads… I was told that Syrian border is mere 60 kilometers from Mardin… and till about 100 years ago, Mardin was a significant Syrian Orthodox city… however, now it is almost 100 percent Muslim. It was one of the major sites of anti-Christian violence… many Christians escaped to Syria… and many more ghettoed in a nearby Christian stronghold called Midyat… which is perhaps the last bastion of Syrian Orthodox population in Turkey.
Even today… there are few living Syrian Orthodox churches… prominent of them are Virgin Mary Church… these are managed by the last few Christian families left in the city… in contrast, Midyat has a large number of churches and monasteries… and a vibrant Christian population… Alison told me that Midyat is very different from rest of Turkey and Arab… liberal lifestyle… one can see girls wearing mini-skirts and trendy European fashion… it exudes a European feel… somewhat like Maronite-dominated north Lebanon.
Midyat, incidentally, is also the hometown of my Norwegian friend Maria Korkunc… who studied Arabic with me in 2006… she is one of the most affable human beings that I have ever met.
I landed- firstly- at a bus company, which ran services to Hassankeyf… and enquired about next bus to Hassankeyf… it was at 1 pm… I had 3 hours to do some site-seeing in Mardin… I beckoned a taxi to make some quick visits…
There are two places of interest… Saffron Monastery, which used to be the head quarters of Syrian Orthodox denomination till about 100 years ago… and the Church’s patriarch used to live here till about 1920… when the anti-Christian violence forced him to leave the area and shift his center to Sadanaya in Syria. The other is Kasimiye Madarassa, which was constructed in 1500 by Seljuk kings… when Muslims captured this city after the Mongols… this was followed by gradual Islamization and intolerance towards Christians… which completed in early 1900s. Both the places were at the either ends of the city… and I had time to see one of them and then take a walk around the place before catching bus at 1 pm. I chose Saffron Monastery, and hired a taxi for 25 Liras… to and fro and waiting at the Monastery.
Mongol invasions and rule… is a poignant phase in Islamic history… the Muslim world was devastated by the ferociousness of Mongol Invasion… millions of them were butchered… city was razed to dust… the Ummayad Caliphate was destroyed… Damascus became a city of corpses… this was a dark period… where the Caliphate, with its liberal tradition, was gone… leaving behind a vacuum, which was filled by the religious scholars… two streams emanated- the Sufism and the traditionalists… the traditionalists kept on becoming more or more dogmatic… and it was perhaps the start of intolerant Islam… confrontation with the Christians, Jews and Pagans … the trend which continues even today.
Mardin… in the yesteryears… was an important town… was one of the junctions of Silk Road…. From where some caravans proceeded towards Aleppo and some to towards Istanbul… and therefore it was always contested by different forces… it has a typical Arab feel about it… the architecture, like Urfa, is pre-dominantly Arab… and I later discovered that Arabic is also the lingua-franca of the people here… not Kurdish and certainly not Turkish.
It took some while for the driver to realize that I speak in Arabic… he said that he was an Arab… an Arab Muslim. The language gelled up… so much so that he dropped the price for the trip… 15 Liras for locals… 25 Liras for tourists… you are a brother… and therefore only 15 Liras.
The Saffron Monastery in almost 10 kilometers from the city… the location of the monastery tells a story of itself. Located amidst barren mountains… perhaps… was the reason for its continued safe existence amidst thousand years of persecution and turmoil… and only recently… in the aftermath of first world war and Christian persecution in Turkey… did the Syrian patriarch finally decided to shift his base to Syria… among the relative peaceful and tolerant climes.
The monastery is beautiful and true to its name… it is saffron in color… mingling in its saffron and beige environment… the hills and the barren lands. The turmoil has now settled and therefore, today, the monastery survives without any security and in relative peace… one of the monks told me… the last threat emanated in 1970s, when some Muslim of Mardin accused the Monastery of trying to preach Christianity. But since then… it has been peaceful. The locals got busy in the Kurdish movement and there has been a stronger presence of Security forces in the area. Thus, in a way, PKK movement has been a blessing for the Monastery and remaining Christian population in the region.
Last night, Stefan has told me about the eldest monk in the monastery- who was in his 90s and had seen much turmoil… he barely speaks and walks with some support… I tried seeing him and realized that he was not keeping well today… so I could not meet him
Saffron Monastery, it seems, had a long history… it was- to begin with- a Pagan Monastery… it has a room in the basement, where the pagans used to see the Sun deity and do their religious rituals…
It had witness, therefore, and withstood many faiths and their interplay… and lies at the heart of this unique region and its complexities…
It was time to move back… and do some walking in Mardin town… which many had told me… was a wonderful walk… and that I may still see a lot of its unique architecture… the mosques, the madarassas and Caravan Serais…
I got back to the town… and realized that I had still some time to go… before catching the bus to Hassnkeyf… so decided to take a walk.
No comments:
Post a Comment