Thursday, March 28, AD 2024 3:40am

Bringing New Life to an Old Monastery.

PHOTO: Maj. Jeffrey Whorton, a Roman Catholic chaplain, celebrating Mass at St. Elijah’s Monastery near Mosul in northern Iraq.

The United States Army hopes to restore St. Elijah’s Monastery, an ancient site of Christian worship stuck in the middle of a base in northern Iraq (New York Times December 18, 2009) | Photo Tour of St. Elijah’s Monastery in Iraq.

  • In the years of American occupation, St. Elijah’s became a curiosity, a diversion for soldiers and contractors.
  • The site has never been studied or excavated. Before the war, Iraq’s Republican Guard occupied the base and, according to the Americans, used the cistern as a latrine.
  • The monastery is believed to date from the late 500s, when Elijah, an Assyrian monk, traveled from what is now Turkey. It later became part of the Chaldean Catholic Church.
  • The goal, Sergeant Miller explained, is to give St. Elijah’s “another 100 years of life — in whosever regime it is then.”
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Tito Edwards
Friday, January 1, AD 2010 4:03pm

Pray for the persecuted Christians in Iraq.

daledog
daledog
Friday, January 1, AD 2010 4:14pm

Best to keep this quiet. I’m sure our president will not approve.

clericus17fp0glx
Friday, January 1, AD 2010 6:04pm

Good story.

j

http://kingofages.wordpress.com/
(catholic bible study)

Donald R. McClarey
Admin
Friday, January 1, AD 2010 6:53pm

Bravo to the Army! May the monastery again become a citadel of Christianity in an Islamic land.

American Knight
American Knight
Saturday, January 2, AD 2010 3:31pm

It is amazing to me how seemingly novel it is to see a warrior priest. The last episode of “V” on ABC had someone telling the Catholic priest that he has to choose whether he is going to be a solier or a priest.

It seems to me our priests always have been soldiers.

What a great picture!

May God bless our priests, our soldiers and the poor persecuted Christians in all of the Muslim-occupied middle-east and Israel.

Michael J. Iafrate
Saturday, January 2, AD 2010 10:21pm

It’d be nice if those foolish soldiers hadn’t damaged the site with their war toys in the first place. And if they hadn’t placed their pagan insignia on the walls after doing so.

This looks to me like a case of clean-up/damage control after a really embarrassing (but standard) act.

[Editor’s note — blanket and unjustified speculation about the motives of the military in general edited for the sake of civility. Michael, while I’m not at all surprised that you disapprove of this action, I’d request that you maintain focus on the specifics of the story and elaborate further, if need be, on why you disapprove and condemn the restoration of a erstwhile Christian monastary as “Christo-Facism.”

P.S. Given the increasingly polarized and problematic atmosphere that typically inhabits the comboxes, it’s my hope that you can help us carve out a space, perhaps only a small corner of space, in which our passions do not get the best of us — and in which we can truly be a “new voice” that reflects the possibility of a new Catholic blogosphere in 2010. – Christopher]

Florence
Florence
Sunday, January 3, AD 2010 9:08am

What a beautiful story of Hope–God bless this Chaplain and all of our military!

Tito Edwards
Sunday, January 3, AD 2010 3:12pm

Daledog,

Yeah, best we keep this on the down-low. Don’t want our agnostic President to get a whiff of this.

Donald,

Completely agree, let Christ reign!

Michael J. Iafrate
Sunday, January 3, AD 2010 4:04pm

Completely agree, let Christ reign!

Yeah let “Christ” reign, at the hands of the U.S. military. This is precisely the definition of CHRISTO-FASCISM.

Michael J. Iafrate
Sunday, January 3, AD 2010 9:45pm

At this point in time, would you agree with the intentions and actions of the Chaplain to restore the monastary?

If not, why not?

The monastery should be restored. But the u.s. Army should have nothing to do with it. Referring to it as a potential “citadel” — as Donald has done — is positively disgusting.

Joe Hargrave
Sunday, January 3, AD 2010 10:04pm

I will pray for the endurance of the monastery and the conversion of those who would probably like to see it razed the ground.

DarwinCatholic
Sunday, January 3, AD 2010 10:12pm

This is a fascinating a human story, which is probably why it draws ire from someone who sees the world with all the subtlety and humanity of an (anarchist) comic book. A couple more complete articles are:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/iraq-monastery.html?c=y&page=1

http://www.kellykennedy.net/monastery.pdf

Some of the interesting points:

– Dair Mar Elia was occupied as a monastery for nearly 1200 years before all 150 monks living there at the time were massacred by a Persian leader in 1743 for refusing to convert to Islam. The monastery has been a ruin ever since.

– The local Christian population used to visit yearly on the feast of St. Elia, but this practice has mostly been abandoned since the 70s, when the Republican Guard built a major tank base around the monastery.

– During their 30 year occupation of the site, the Republican Guard used the monastery’s sistern as a latrine and Iraqi soldiers carved graphiti on the walls through the standing buildings.

– The area was the site of a major tank battle in 2003, and the eastern wall of the chapel was damaged at that time by a turret blown off an Iraqi tank (which was positioned right next to the chapel).

– Coalition troops at first had no idea what the buildings were, and so painted over several areas of the monastery with white gloss paint, painted the 101st Airborne crest over the doorway, and most unfortunately, set the latrine waste in the cistern on fire. (Just for a good time? To get rid of the smell? Who knows…)

– Since army chaplains and the army core of engineers have set about restoring the monastery and trying to get it on the Ministry of Archeology and Culture’s list of historic sites, they’ve discovered additional graphiti carved in the monastery walls by crusaders in the 13th century, and also the tombs of the monks, which local Christians had believed to be lost or destroyed.

Whatever one thinks about the US’s mission in Iraq, it’s good to hear about this ancient monastery (long abused and unknown) is receiving some long needed restoration, and may in fact receive it long term through the Iraqi Ministry of Culture. And the Eucharist is once again being celebrated in a chapel which, for many centuries, was left empty, and in recent decades was actively mistreated. The stones once again witness the sacrements for which they were put in place. Those who put those stones in place could little imagine what would follow in the centuries to come. And yet, through it all, the sacramental life of the Church returns, Christ is present on the altar once more.

How a Catholic can find that romance of the centuries and unexpected (and unintended) consequences uninteresting I do not know.

S.B.
S.B.
Sunday, January 3, AD 2010 10:31pm

The notion that God can bring good things even out of what seem to be evil situations ought to be familiar to even the most poorly formed and ill-educated Christians.

Tito Edwards
Sunday, January 3, AD 2010 10:43pm

I’m flabbergasted that a “self-identified” Catholic such as the Anarchist would find it disgusting to celebrate the sacraments in an ancient monastery is beyond me.

DarwinCatholic
Reply to  Michael J. Iafrate
Sunday, January 3, AD 2010 10:48pm

Referring to it as a potential “citadel” — as Donald has done — is positively disgusting.

A citadel is the walled, central part of a city in which people take refuge in time of attack. Rather than being strictly military structures, citadels were often home to the most important areas of the city, and thus were in a literal sense the heart of the city. (The acropolis in ancient athens, for example.)

Given that Iraq is a country in which Christians are struggling, to say the least, with much of the local population being sympathetic to the idea of burning churches and driving Christians out of the country, how exactly would a renovated monastery which once again became a center of pilgrimage and sacramental life not be a metaphorical citadel?

What metaphor would be more appropriate to delicate, pacifist ears?

Michael J. Iafrate
Sunday, January 3, AD 2010 11:52pm

What metaphor would be more appropriate to delicate, pacifist ears?

Just call it a monastery. Donald no doubt was intentional in his use of that word, what with its military connotations.

DarwinCatholic
Monday, January 4, AD 2010 9:09am

“May the monastery become a monastery of Christianity in an Islamic land.”

Wow, that’s… Um… Inspiring. I don’t know why it is that pacifist anarchist prose doesn’t get more circulation with wordsmithing ideas like that.

Or maybe, Michael, if the saints and apostles and even Christ can use military terminology in order to make metaphorical points, we can too. There’s a thought.

Rick Lugari
Monday, January 4, AD 2010 9:32am

The citadel of Jerusalem is more commonly called the Tower of David. Presumably, Christ when mourned the destruction of Jerusalem He mourned the loss of the citadel as well. It’s really hard to believe that God considers citadels offensive or sinful, let alone using the term metaphorically. Aside from things like Communion with God and saints, the Sacraments, and plain old Truth, it’s good to be Catholic just for the reason and moderation.

Tito Edwards
Monday, January 4, AD 2010 11:04am

I guess we need to stop using the term the Church Militant as well.

Phillip
Phillip
Monday, January 4, AD 2010 11:32am

Darwin,

When there is no other way to eliminate waste from a latrine, it can be burnt. Maybe they felt is was the best way to get rid of the waste.

For more on the wonders of field waste:

http://www.armystudyguide.com/content/army_board_study_guide_topics/field_sanitation/field-facilities-for-huma.shtml

Tito Edwards
Monday, January 4, AD 2010 11:40am

Phillip,

I’m surprised the anarchist didn’t catch that.

Michael J. Iafrate
Monday, January 4, AD 2010 2:42pm

Wow, that’s… Um… Inspiring.

I’m sorry you find Christianity itself to be uninspiring, and that you need to drop in militarism in order to make it exciting. What gets you off is no concern of mine though.

Or maybe, Michael, if the saints and apostles and even Christ can use military terminology in order to make metaphorical points, we can too. There’s a thought.

The difference between THEM and THIS BLOG is that the former did not have fascist politics and did not idolize the military. They used such metaphors precisely to SUBVERT military violence, unlike Donald, et al. You get the saints DEAD WRONG.

I guess we need to stop using the term the Church Militant as well.

If by “we” you mean most of the people who write for this blog, then yes, I suggest you stop using it because you are promoting neo-Constantinian Christo-fascism.

Christians who take peace seriously will continue to use such metaphors in the way that they were intended.

Joe Hargrave
Reply to  Tito Edwards
Monday, January 4, AD 2010 3:14pm

Just when I thought TAC didn’t have enough meaningless, pointless, fruitless, waste-of-time, self-righteous, self-discrediting, morally stupid arguments to make and points to debate, MI comes along to save the day.

Do you guys ever get the sense that MI should have his own theme music?

“Quick! Someone used a vaguely-sounding military word to describe a monastery! Who will save us!? To whom shall we turn!?”

::Swoons::

Phillip
Phillip
Monday, January 4, AD 2010 3:52pm

“Who will save us? To whom shall we turn?”

Marx? 😉

Tito Edwards
Monday, January 4, AD 2010 4:55pm

What about the steeenkeeng badgers?

DarwinCatholic
Reply to  Michael J. Iafrate
Monday, January 4, AD 2010 5:03pm

Michael,

So basically: You don’t think there’s actually anything wrong with the metaphor, you just like to harass people whom you consider to be bad people. If you didn’t consider us to be bad people, there would be nothing wrong with us using the metaphor.

Got it.

S.B.
S.B.
Monday, January 4, AD 2010 9:15pm

It’s a sad spectacle for someone’s mind to be so bent by ideology that he can’t admit that his hated enemies ever do even one thing right, not even restoring a defiled monastery.

American Knight
American Knight
Monday, January 4, AD 2010 9:23pm

Someone please tell me why after Mass we pray, “St. Michael the Archangel defend us in BATTLE . . .

Dale Price
Dale Price
Monday, January 4, AD 2010 9:36pm

Carping over “citadel”?

Some folks just have a craving to feel offended, I guess.

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