monastery
Monastery of Mar Mattai
Dayro d-Mor Mattai, Mount Alfaf (Jabal Maqlub), near Mosul, Iraq · Persia & Church of the East
36.490, 43.443
Tradition. The 363 founding date and the founder's story come from later tradition. The monastery is well attested from the late antique and medieval period on.
This hilltop monastery of the Syriac Orthodox Church is traditionally said to have been founded in the 4th century by the hermit Mattai, who fled persecution in the Roman empire. It became a major center of West Syriac learning in Persian territory and kept an important manuscript library. It is still active.
Source stance: insider. Syriac Orthodox monastic tradition.
People and groups named here
- Mar Mattai (traditional founder)
- Bar Hebraeus (13th-century scholar, buried here)
Sources
- Mor Mattai Monastery (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Dayro d'Mor Mattai
Syriac Heritage Project. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Dayrā d-Mār Matay (authority record)
Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (vHMML). Accessed 2026-11-11.
Further reading
Councils here
None in this list.