We Believe In The Gospel
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Mar MariTitle
He was converted by Thaddeus of Edessa (St. Addai, the 2nd Chaldean Patriarch) and is said to have had Mar Aggai as his spiritual director. He did missionary work around Nineveh, Nisibis, and along the Euphrates, and is said to have been one of the great apostles to Syria and Persia. His feast day is on the 2nd Friday of Summer on the Chaldean liturgical calendar. He and Thaddeus are credited with the Liturgy of Addai and Mari, which is the Eucharistic prayer still prayer today in the Chaldean Church.. Despite the fact that there is little, if any, concrete information on Mari, he is still venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church.
Mar Shimun Bar Sabbae
He was the Chaldean Patriarch from 329-341AD. The Shah decided to institute a double tax on his Christian population, since this would break the back of an already poor population. Even worse, he ordered that Mar Shimun, the son of a garment stainer, (“bar Sabbae”), was to collect the taxes himself. The noble Patriarch refused, saying “I am no tax collector, but a shepherd of the Lord’s flock.” This became an excuse for the Shah to declare open season on Christians, and especially clergy. Mar Shimun was arrested and brought before the court, and given a devious offer: if he alone were to deny Christ and worship the sun, all other Christians would be saved. This caused an uproar in the Christian community, which refused the offer of salvation through apostasy. In the end, King Shapur II, whom Shimun had known since childhood, had the bishop taken out of the city of Susa with much of his clergy. On Good Friday of 344AD, Mar Shimun had to watch as five of his brother bishops and one hundred of his priests were beheaded before him. Last of all, he was killed as well. He was the first of many Patriarch-Martyrs of the Church of the East.
Rabban Hormizd
Rabban Mar Hormizd was a monk who lived in the seventh century in modern northern Iraq). Rabban is the Syriac term for monk. “Rabban” is also the Aramaic word for “teacher”. He founded the Rabban Hormizd Monastery, named after him, which has served in the past as the patriarchate of the Church of the East. In the Church of the East and its schismatic branches, Rabban Hormizd is commemorated on the second Sunday after Easter. According to The histories of Rabban Hormizd the Persian and Rabban Bar-Idta, a text written by his disciple Simon before the 12th century, Hormizd was born at the end of the sixth or beginning the seventh century at Beth Lapat from a rich or noble family, and at the age of eighteen he started to travel towards Scetes to become a monk there. On the way he met three monks of the Church of the East monastery of Bar Idta who urged him to become an inmate of their monastery, and he did so. He lived a hard, stern life. Hormizd lived in and near the Monastery of Bar Idta for thirty-nine years and in the monastery of Abba Abraham of Risha for six or seven years. When Hormizd was sixty-five or sixty-six, he left the monastery and passing out of the country of Marga went and settled down in the mountain of Beth ‘Edhrai near the Chaldean town of Alqosh. When he had been there some little time the people in the neighbourhood offered to build him a monastery, the present Rabban Hormizd Monastery.
Mar Qiryaqos
When persecution was raging against Christians under Diocletian, between 284-305 AD, a wealthy and pious noblewoman named Juliet was widowed with a three-year-old son named Qiryaqos. As a Christian, Juliet decided that life in her native Iconium in Lycaonia was too dangerous. Taking Qiryaqos and two maids, she fled to Seleucia and to her alarm found that the governor there, Alexander, was savagely persecuting Christians. The four fugitives journeyed on to Tarsus in Antioch. Unfortunately, Alexander was paying a visit to that city when the fugitives were recognized and arrested. Juliet was put on trial. She brought her young son with her to the courtroom. She refused to answer any questions about herself, except to say that she was a Christian. The court pronounced its sentence: Juliet was to be stretched on the rack & then beaten. The guards, about to lead Juliet away, separated Qiryaqos from his mother. The child was crying, and Alexander, in a vain attempt to pacify him, took Qiryaqos on his knee. Terrified and longing to run back to his mother, Qiryaqos kicked the governor and scratched his face. Alexander stood up in a rage and flung the toddler down the steps of the tribune, fracturing the boy’s skull and killing him. Qiryaqos’ mother did not weep. Instead she thanked God and went cheerfully to torture and death. Her son had been granted the crown of martyrdom. This made the governor even angrier. He decreed that her sides should be ripped apart with hooks, and then she was beheaded. Both she and Qiryaqos were flung outside the city, on the heap of bodies belonging to criminals, but the two maids rescued the corpses of the mother and child and buried them in a nearby field. The relics of Saints Qiryaqos and Juliet were discovered during the reign of Constantine the Great in May 21, 337 AD. In honor of these holy martyrs, there was built near Constantinople a monastery, and not far off from Jerusalem was built a church. Today, the village “Tel Keppe” in Iraq is known as the village as Mar Qiryaqos. In popular custom, Saints Qiryaqos and Juliet are prayed to for family happiness, and the restoring to health of sick children.
Mart Juliet
When persecution was raging against Christians under Diocletian, between 284-305 AD, a wealthy and pious noblewoman named Juliet was widowed with a three-year-old son named Qiryaqos. As a Christian, Juliet decided that life in her native Iconium in Lycaonia was too dangerous. Taking Qiryaqos and two maids, she fled to Seleucia and to her alarm found that the governor there, Alexander, was savagely persecuting Christians. The four fugitives journeyed on to Tarsus in Antioch. Unfortunately, Alexander was paying a visit to that city when the fugitives were recognized and arrested. Juliet was put on trial. She brought her young son with her to the courtroom. She refused to answer any questions about herself, except to say that she was a Christian. The court pronounced its sentence: Juliet was to be stretched on the rack & then beaten. The guards, about to lead Juliet away, separated Qiryaqos from his mother. The child was crying, and Alexander, in a vain attempt to pacify him, took Qiryaqos on his knee. Terrified and longing to run back to his mother, Qiryaqos kicked the governor and scratched his face. Alexander stood up in a rage and flung the toddler down the steps of the tribune, fracturing the boy’s skull and killing him. Qiryaqos’ mother did not weep. Instead she thanked God and went cheerfully to torture and death. Her son had been granted the crown of martyrdom. This made the governor even angrier. He decreed that her sides should be ripped apart with hooks, and then she was beheaded. Both she and Qiryaqos were flung outside the city, on the heap of bodies belonging to criminals, but the two maids rescued the corpses of the mother and child and buried them in a nearby field. The relics of Saints Qiryaqos and Juliet were discovered during the reign of Constantine the Great in May 21, 337 AD. In honor of these holy martyrs, there was built near Constantinople a monastery, and not far off from Jerusalem was built a church. Today, the village “Tel Keppe” in Iraq is known as the village as Mar Qiryaqos. In popular custom, Saints Qiryaqos and Juliet are prayed to for family happiness, and the restoring to health of sick children.
Servant of God Ragheed Ganni
Father Ragheed Ganni was an Chaldean priest who was studying at the Irish College when the US invaded Iraq. He asked his bishop for permission to return to be with his people, and afterwards, he had received many death threats. In 2007, after the evening liturgy is Mosul’s Holy Spirit Chaldean Church, Father Ragheed was leaving together with three subdeacons. His car was stopped by gun men, although he was smiling, laughing, and trying to engage with them. They said they will teach him to laugh and cut him in half with machine gun fire. He was martyred along with the three subdeacons. At the time of this murder, Father Ragheed was secretary to Paolos Faraj Rahho, the archbishop of Mosul. Bishop Rahho was murdered only nine months after Father Ragheed in the same city of Mosul. The Chaldean Church immediately mourned them as martyrs, and Pope Benedict XVI immediately prayed for them from Rome. He is revered as a martyr by the Chaldean Church and his cause for canonization is formally in place.
Mart Shmoni
Mart Shmoni is the patroness of many of the Northern Chaldean Villages like Mangesh, Zakho, and others. She has a shrine in many villages and has even two shrines in Tel Keppe dedicated, one for Mart Shmoni, within the village, and one for her sons, on the outskirts of the village. Her and her sons lived during the 2nd century BC.
Sultan Mahdokht
In the year 313, the ninth year of the reign of King Shapur, a law was passed to kill all Christians. At the time a Prince Pholar ruled the principality of Dorsas, who had two sons and an very beautiful daughter named Sultan Mahdokh (whose name means “daughter of the moon” in Persian). Shapur ordered Pholar to apprehend Christians and move them to Karkh-Slokh (today’s Kirkuk) to be killed before the king’s representative. While the prince was away completing his mission, his three children decided to race. Near the village of Ahwan, Meharnarsa, one of the boys, fell and broke his hip and leg and passed out. They took him to Ahwan. During that time Bishop Mar Abda was visiting his flock there. Seeing the young people, he came to help. Saying a prayer, he ordered the young man to stand up and walk. When Meharnarsa awoke he recognized the Saint and told everyone the dream he had had while passed out: he was in heaven where he saw Jesus, and Mar Abda kneeling in front of Jesus asking for him to be healed. After this miracle, all three young people asked to become Christian, were baptized and rejoiced with everyone in the village. Meanwhile, their father sent troops to look for his lost kids; this was especially urgent because King Shapur had asked to marry Sultan Mahdokh. The young people hid in a cave and were taken care of by the people of the village, but after an exhausting search of three years, they were found and brought to their father. They declared their faith and predicted the day they would be killed. They were martyred on January 12, 319.
Mart Anahyd
Mart Anahyd was first a pagan who lived in the 4th century. Her father was a very powerful man, and as she grew older she became very sick, so her father sought out many other religions to see if they can heal her, but no one could do it. He finally took her to a very holy man named Mar Pithyon, and he cast a demon out of her. She was sent back home, and a couple years later, her father tried to marry her off, but I contracted leprosy. As a result, she was sent again to Mar Pithyon, where she remained with him for a couple months, and he healed her. She asked him how she could remain healthy, and he told her to be baptized. That night, she had a dream, and Christ was sitting on a throne, and He placed a crown on her, and said, “Why are you refusing my invitation? I’ve invited you twice already, and you’ve rejected me.” The next day Mar Pithyon baptized her. She went back home and didn’t immediately tell her family about becoming a Christian. When she finally did, she was chastised very much by her father. Soon after this, her father had a dream, and in it, Christ told an angel to strike him on the shoulder with a stick, and when he woke up, he couldn’t move his shoulder. After this, he asked Mar Pithyon to heal him, and then asked him to explain Christ to him. After a couple week of catechesis, he accepted baptism. Since this all took place in Persia, the Magi, who were rampant at the time, martyred him. After he was martyred, they went out looking for Anahyd, and they eventually found her, where she was in my cell, next to Mar Pythons’ cell. They found her and she went willingly with them. The people who captured her felt guilty because of her chaste and holy appearance, and they considered letting her go. They did not, and she was taken to the courts, where the King wanted she to re-convert back to their religion. Instead of doing it harshly, they spoke nice words and tried to convince her in this way to convert, but she would not have it. They king offered her his son if she converted, as well as much land and property. She denied him, telling him that she couldn’t be bought and that she was betrothed to Christ. They said, “Who is this evil king, which our king cannot overcome?” She remained silent, and so was tortured for days. They struck her roughly, and most of her teeth fell out, along with much blood. She was stripped, scourged, and everyone thought she was dead because She eventually stopped moving after being scourged. So the guards threw her in jail just in case she wasn’t dead. That night, an angel completely healed her wounds and she continued singing hymns to God. The next morning, the guards took her and the king tied strings to her breasts and pulled the strings. She ripped off her hanging breasts and offered them back to the king. He said, “What am I? A dog to eat flesh?” She responded, “You’re worse than a dog, because a dog guards the doors to the palace, but you guard the doors to hell.” After he became offended, he had his men cover her with honey, and they tied her to stakes for animals to come and eat her. Thousands of wasps came and surrounded her, however, and protected her so that nothing could come near her, lest it die. For 7 days this continued. On the 7th day, the priest at the closest parish came to retrieve her body, but she wasn’t dead. Instead, she was saying her last prayer before she died, and gave her spirit to Christ. From there, instead of the wasps killing the priest and the people praying, they formed a church, a ceiling and an altar, and mass was offered for me. For the next 7 days, the wasps cleaned any piece of dirt that fell on her body, finally leaving her body there.
Mar Qardagh
Qardagh was born to a noble family in the Sassanid Empire during the 4th century. When Qardagh was 25 years old, Shapur II visited his parents’ estate and was impressed with Qardagh’s handsome appearance and athleticism. Qardagh was appointed as a governor for a large region in northern Persia, there he met Abdisho and converted to Christianity. Upon returning home Qardagh was rejected by his family and under pressure from the religious elite, Shapur sentenced him to be stoned. Qardagh fled with a small army to the mountains where he was able to repel the Persians for months. One night, St. Stephen appeared to him and told him that it was better to give his life for his faith than to continue fighting. He surrendered to the king and it was his own father who threw the first stone. He was buried in Arbil, Adiabene where a church holding his relics was later constructed.
Mar Paolos Faraj Rahho
Also known as Paul Faraj Rahho, he was born in Mosul, where he lived almost his entire life. The city of Mosul has a long-established community of Chaldean Catholics. Rahho came to worldwide attention in 2008 when he was kidnapped by gunmen and subsequently found dead in Mosul, an event that drew condemnation from the Vatican and foreign governments. He is revered as a martyr by the Chaldean Church and his cause for canonization is formally in place.
Mar Pithyon
A few days after the martyrdom of St. Anahyd, King Athorfurzajard ordered Pithyon to be arrested and brought to his court, accusing him of being the cause of the killing of Anahyd. When the king saw him he was enraged and called him “Pithyon the magician, head of the Christians.” Pithyon replied, “I am not the head of the Christians; nor do I deceive people. I teach them how to gain the eternal life.” The king became even more enraged and ordered him chained and thrown into prison. In the middle of the night, Pithyon and all the prisoners were miraculously unchained and the doors of the prison were opened. Everyone was praising Pithyon’s faith, and the guards were terrified and thought that all the prisoners had escaped. The next day, he was found, bound with heavy chains and thrown into the river. The river stopped flowing and Pithyon was seen standing at the bottom of the river. After this second miracle, all those around him began praising the Christian faith. After this, the hard-hearted king ordered him to be burned alive, but again he survived. In his final frustration, the king ordered him to be taken to a mountain and cut into pieces over a period of three days. Pithyon died on Wednesday, the 25th of November, 449.
Sheikh Matti
Behnam and Sarah were born in the 4th-century in Adiabene, and were the children of a king. Whilst hunting on Mount Alfaf with forty slaves, Behnam became separated from his entourage and was forced to spend the night on the mountain. He received a dream in which an angel instructed him to seek Saint Matthew, who lived on the mountain, as the saint could heal his sister Sarah, who was afflicted with leprosy. Behnam met with his entourage the next day, and they discovered Saint Matthew in a cave and requested he join them on their return to the city, to which he agreed. Behnam and his entourage returned to the city ahead of Saint Matthew and told his mother of his dream and the saint. His mother allowed Behnam and Sarah to return to the saint in secret, and he healed Sarah of her leprosy, after which Behnam, Sarah, and the forty slaves were baptised and Saint Matthew returned to Mount Alfaf. Their father discovered Behnam and Sarah’s conversion and demanded they abandon Christianity. Stalwart in their faith, Behnam, Sarah, and the forty slaves, fled to Mount Alfaf, but were slain by soldiers sent by their father. Following his children’s death, Their father was afflicted with madness. Behnam spoke to his mother in a dream and instructed her to seek Saint Matthew, as he could heal the king. The queen took the king to the place of Behnam and Sarah’s death, where he met with Saint Matthew and was cured. Their father and his wife returned to Assur with the saint and were baptised. The king had a monument to the martyrs built at the place of their martyrdom, and, at the request of Saint Matthew, constructed a monastery on Mount Alfaf, which later became known as the Monastery of St. Matthew. Their father had the martyrs buried at the monastery atop Mount Alfaf. In the 6th century, a Persian merchant constructed a shrine to the martyrs and would later develop into the Monastery of Saints Behnam and Sarah.
Mar Abba the Great
Mar Abba was a convert from Zoroastrianism. The man who would later become the Patriarch of the Church of the East was the secretary of the governor of a Persian province when he met a Christian during one of his journeys. He was so impressed by the Christian’s simplicity and humility that he began to talk to him and eventually became a Christian himself. He soon became a monk and made a pilgrimage to visit much of the Western Christian world, including Jerusalem, Egypt, Greece and Constantinople, with his friend Toma, where they were received with great enthusiasm as holy men and fine scholars. Mar Abba became Patriarch in 540, a time of great interior and exterior turmoil in the Church, but despite the disasters before him, he faced his Patriarchate with great brilliance and nobility. He visited every diocese and dealt fairly with any divisions, he revived both monasticism and Christian scholarship, creating educational systems for the simple faithful as well as theological universities, and he returned the Church, through his policies and his personal example, to its original purity and simplicity, all in the course of a 12-year Patriarchate, during most of which he was either in prison or in exile for defying the Zoroastrian authorities. At his Synod in 544, Mar Abba solidified the internal reorganization of the Church of the East and reached out enthusiastically for unity with the Western Church. After his death in February 552, the faithful carried his casket from his simple home across the Tigris to the monastery of Mar Pithyon.
Mar Behnam
Behnam and Sarah were born in the 4th-century in Adiabene, and were the children of a king. Whilst hunting on Mount Alfaf with forty slaves, Behnam became separated from his entourage and was forced to spend the night on the mountain. He received a dream in which an angel instructed him to seek Saint Matthew, who lived on the mountain, as the saint could heal his sister Sarah, who was afflicted with leprosy. Behnam met with his entourage the next day, and they discovered Saint Matthew in a cave and requested he join them on their return to the city, to which he agreed. Behnam and his entourage returned to the city ahead of Saint Matthew and told his mother of his dream and the saint. His mother allowed Behnam and Sarah to return to the saint in secret, and he healed Sarah of her leprosy, after which Behnam, Sarah, and the forty slaves were baptised and Saint Matthew returned to Mount Alfaf. Their father discovered Behnam and Sarah’s conversion and demanded they abandon Christianity. Stalwart in their faith, Behnam, Sarah, and the forty slaves, fled to Mount Alfaf, but were slain by soldiers sent by their father. Following his children’s death, Their father was afflicted with madness. Behnam spoke to his mother in a dream and instructed her to seek Saint Matthew, as he could heal the king. The queen took the king to the place of Behnam and Sarah’s death, where he met with Saint Matthew and was cured. Their father and his wife returned to Assur with the saint and were baptised. The king had a monument to the martyrs built at the place of their martyrdom, and, at the request of Saint Matthew, constructed a monastery on Mount Alfaf, which later became known as the Monastery of St. Matthew. Their father had the martyrs buried at the monastery atop Mount Alfaf. In the 6th century, a Persian merchant constructed a shrine to the martyrs and would later develop into the Monastery of Saints Behnam and Sarah.
Mart Miskenta
Miskenta lived during the fourth century in the city of Mosul. During that time, the Persian King Yezdegard swore that he would eradicate Christianity from his kingdom, and for forty years he systematically slaughtered Christians and forced any survivors to flee the country for their lives. He ordered all the captains of his armies to search for and kill any Christians they found, whether man, woman, or child. When an army neared Mosul, news spread of their arrival and the Christians were warned to leave the city if they wanted to live. Meanwhile, Miskenta was baking bread for her two young sons when news of the armies approach reached her. Instead of taking her children and fleeing the city in a vain hope for temporary safety, she courageously left her home, carried her sons on her shoulders, and went looking for the army. Finding it, she was stopped by a group of soldiers who asked her, “Where are you going?” Miskenta responded, “I am looking for the people who are killing Christians because I wish to be martyred.” When it became clear that Miskenta would not give into their threats and promises, they had her two sons killed before her eyes. As she watched her children die, she encouraged them saying, “My sons, go ahead of me to heaven where Jesus is waiting for you.” The soldiers then killed Miskenta and burned their bodies. A church in her name now stands on where her remains are believed to be, in Mosul.
Mart Barbara
The daughter of a rich pagan named Dioscorus, Barbara was carefully guarded by her father who kept her locked up in a tower in order to preserve her from the outside world. Having secretly become a Christian, she rejected an offer of marriage that she received through him.
Before going on a journey, he commanded that a private bath-house be erected for her use near her dwelling, and during his absence, Barbara had three windows put in it, as a symbol of the Holy Trinity, instead of the two originally intended. When her father returned, she acknowledged herself to be a Christian; upon this he drew his sword to kill her, but her prayers created an opening in the tower wall and she was miraculously transported to a mountain gorge, where two shepherds watched their flocks. Dioscorus, in pursuit of his daughter, was rebuffed by the first shepherd, but the second betrayed her and was turned to stone and his flock changed to locusts.
Dragged before the prefect of the province, Martinianus, who had her cruelly tortured, Barbara held true to her faith. During the night, the dark prison was bathed in light and new miracles occurred. Every morning her wounds were healed. Torches that were to be used to burn her went out as soon as they came near her. Finally she was condemned to death by beheading. Her father himself carried out the death-sentence. However, as punishment for this, he was struck by lightning on the way home and his body was consumed by flame. Barbara was buried by a Christian, Valentinus, and her tomb became the site of miracles.
Before going on a journey, he commanded that a private bath-house be erected for her use near her dwelling, and during his absence, Barbara had three windows put in it, as a symbol of the Holy Trinity, instead of the two originally intended. When her father returned, she acknowledged herself to be a Christian; upon this he drew his sword to kill her, but her prayers created an opening in the tower wall and she was miraculously transported to a mountain gorge, where two shepherds watched their flocks. Dioscorus, in pursuit of his daughter, was rebuffed by the first shepherd, but the second betrayed her and was turned to stone and his flock changed to locusts.
Dragged before the prefect of the province, Martinianus, who had her cruelly tortured, Barbara held true to her faith. During the night, the dark prison was bathed in light and new miracles occurred. Every morning her wounds were healed. Torches that were to be used to burn her went out as soon as they came near her. Finally she was condemned to death by beheading. Her father himself carried out the death-sentence. However, as punishment for this, he was struck by lightning on the way home and his body was consumed by flame. Barbara was buried by a Christian, Valentinus, and her tomb became the site of miracles.
Mart Cecilia
Sister Cecilia had belonged to the Order of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and had devoted her life to ministering to the poor and ill. On August 15, 2002, the Feast of the Assumption, she had been at her family home in Baghdad until 9pm. Sister Cecilia’s family had suggested that she stay at the family home rather than venture out into the night. However, Sister Cecilia insisted on returning to the convent so as not to leave it unattended. Ordinarily, three nuns would have resided in the convent, but on that night none of the others were present. It is widely believed that the three assailants had broken into the convent with the intention of murdering all three nuns normally living there. When only Sister Cecilia was found, all three attackers apparently turned their assault upon the defenseless seventy-one year old woman. Sister Cecilia succumbed to the flurry of knife stabbings, alone, in her room. On the following day, normally a special day of retreat for nuns throughout Iraq, Sister Cecilia’s fellow nuns gathered for their annual event. Noting Sister Cecilia’s atypical absence, the nuns searched only to discover Sister Cecilia’s blood soaked and beheaded corpse lying in her room. She is revered as a martyr by the Chaldean Church and her cause for canonization is formally in place.