Midyat

Midyat is the chief town of Turabdin and has been an episcopal see since 1478. It lies at an altitude of about 1000 m above sea level in a gently undulating landscape strewn with fields and vineyards. It used to be the only settlement in Turkey big enough to be called a town which had a majority of Christian inhabitants, with eight churches and two mosques. Then it was coupled with the nearby town of Estel, which boosted its Muslim population and, with the emigration of the Christians, rapidly reversed its ratio of mosques to churches. Today there are about a hundred Christian families there, some of them having moved in from the villages. Five slim church towers and two minarets give the town a distinctive silhouette.

The bishop's church, Mort Shmuni, attained its present appearance at the end of the nineteenth Century. A yard around the church also gives access to the church school and the Offices of the bishop. Nearest to the centre is the highly decorated Church of Mor Barsawmo, which was rebuilt, on its ancient foundations and to a traditional design, in 1943.

At the edge of the town, to the southeast, stands the oldest Church, Mor Akhsnoyo (the Syriac for Philoxenos). This church, too, was completly ruined until the 1960s, when it was reconstructed, making use of ancient materials. Mor Sharbel, a building of generous proportions, which was constructed as recently as 1965, is the southernmost of the two prominent churches on the hill.

At the highest point of the town rises the largest church of all, the Protestant Church, built in 1900.

The name Matiate is attested as long ago as the ninth Century B.C., in an Assyrian inscription, as a cave settlement. The earliest Christians are said still to have lived in caves. It has frequently been attacked and destroyed, the last occasion being during the First World War, when a third of the inhabitants was killed and many houses were knocked down. The town had to wait until the 1930s for a recovery: houses and churches were reconstructed; the Christian population began to grow again. Most families belonged to the Syrian Orthodox Church, some of them were Syrian Catholics or Protestants.

Midyat is known for its silversmiths, not only for the trade, but also for the fabrication of

filigree silver.

Midyat is the centre of the Christian Turabdin and, as such, an Archdiocesan See. Various threats in the past, beginning with the persecutions of Mesopotamian Christians by the agents of the Byzantine Emperor, made it the custom for bishops to live in monasteries. Sometimes they were abbots too. So Archbishop Timotheos Samuel Aktas lives in the monastery of Mor Gabriel. But on high feast days and official occasions he is present at the Church of Mort Shmuni in Midyat. Shmuni is the name given by Syriac tradition to the mother of the Maccabees, who, instead of pleading with their sons to deny their faith and save their lives, encouraged them to go through with their martyrdom.


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