Nestled in a steep rocky hillside among the remote mountains of northern Iraq, the Rabban Hormizd Monastery has watched invaders come and go through Christianity's tumultuous history in this corner of ancient Mesopotamia.
Mongols, Persians, Arabs, Kurds and Ottomans have sacked, surrounded or occupied the seventh century monastery and the Christian town of Alqosh, above which it perches, near the borders with Turkey, Syria and Iran.
But Christians there survived the latest onslaught, this time by Islamic State militants who took over one third of Iraq between 2014 and 2017, including the city of Mosul just 20 miles (32 km) to the south.
Mercifully for them, a string of villages just above Mosul was as far north as the group got, sparing Alqosh the brutality inflicted on minority faiths and sects. Some families fled those villages to the safety of the town.
"This will remain a Christian town, I believe. We have to stay in this land," said Brother Saad Yohanna, an Iraqi monk working at a local orphanage.
"Far fewer people live here these days - maybe 1,000 families from 3,000 a few years ago, but it remains home for them."
Residents and local Christians regularly make the winding hike up to the monastery to pray or seek solace.
For them, the town, its monasteries and churches are a sanctuary for life and worship in a country where they say Christian existence is threatened.
Of the 1.5 million Christians in Iraq before the U.S. invasion in 2003, only around a fifth remain, the others driven out by sectarian violence first by al Qaeda and then Islamic State.
The displaced who remain will get rare recognition this week, as Pope Francis visits the country from March 5-8. The closest he will get to Alqosh is a cluster of demolished churches in Mosul, once Islamic State's de facto capital.
SYMBOL OF ENDURANCE
Yohanna was among those who left Alqosh when Islamic State took Mosul and several Christian-inhabited towns to the south. He returned two weeks later as Alqosh emerged unscathed.
Some families from surrounding areas made the town their permanent home. Their villages are now under the control of Shi'ite Muslim militias who helped the Iraqi army defeat Islamic State in 2017.
"People opened their doors to us as fellow Christians fleeing Daesh, and helped us to get our lives back together," said Maysun Habib, a mother of seven from the nearby Tel Keyf area. Daesh is an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.
"Alqosh is protected, it's not exposed or controlled by militia," she added.
Control of Alqosh itself, after centuries of change, remains unresolved. It lies along disputed territory between the Baghdad central government and the self-run Kurdistan region.
It is in Baghdad's Nineveh province, but controlled by Kurdish forces who helped drive Islamic State away.
Habib's family is among some 100 from nearby areas who now worship in Alqosh's churches, and occasionally at a chapel that remains usable at the monastery.
They see the mountainside retreat as a rare symbol of Christian endurance, spared the desecration wrought by Islamic State in other parts of northern Iraq.
The country's oldest monastery of St Elijah, near Mosul, was damaged during the 2003 conflict before Islamic State destroyed it just over a decade later.
Rabban Hormizd Monastery, named after its founder, was built when Muslim armies were conquering the Middle East, and fortified over time. Dotted around its high brick walls are caves where monks once cloistered and prayed.
It became an important centre of the Eastern Catholic clergy from the 16th to 19th century, although monks gradually moved out to more accessible digs, including a second monastery in the town.
It is open now to visitors, worshippers and local monks, but not inhabited.
Shatha Tawfiq, a woman who moved to Alqosh, summed up the mood among local Christians ahead of the first ever papal visit to Iraq.
"Our situation in Iraq is not good, but I feel at home here."
Reuters
Fri Mar 05 2021
Iraqi monks pray during a mass at the Virgin Mary Church in Alqosh, Iraq. Filepic via REUTERS
Unjuran pertumbuhan KDNK 2025 sebanyak 4.5-5.5 peratus adalah munasabah - Ahli ekonomi
Belanjawan 2025 adalah langkah terbaik untuk mengimbangi keutamaan ekonomi dengan realiti politik.
Semua negara wajib tamatkan pendudukan Israel ke atas wilayah Palestin - Suruhanjaya Siasatan PBB
Pendudukan Israel adalah punca utama kepada kitaran keganasan yang tidak berkesudahan dan konflik selama beberapa dekad.
Dijangka jana sebahagian besar pertumbuhan ekonomi global
BRICS memainkan peranan luar biasa dalam ekonomi global pada masa kini dan diyakini meningkat di masa depan.
Enam maut, 25 cedera bas terbabas di Turkiye
Enam terbunuh manakala 25 cedera apabila sebuah bas terbabas lalu terbalik di Aksaray wilayah tengah Turki, pada Jumaat.
Polis giat cari warga amerika yang disyaki diculik
Pihak berkuasa Filipina pada Jumaat melancarkan pencarian seorang warga Amerika Syarikat yang dipercayai diculik kumpulan bersenjata di selatan Filipina.
Singapura tahan remaja bawah ISA, rancang lakukan serangan
Jabatan Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISD) dalam satu kenyataan berkata pelajar yang radikal diri itu merupakan penyokong tegar kumpulan Daesh, juga merancang pergi ke Syria, untuk terlibat dalam keganasan bersenjata.
Pasukan pengaman disasar secara sengaja - Jurucakap UNIFIL
Jurucakap itu berkata kedudukan mereka telah berulang kali diserang di Lubnan, sekali gus meletakkan pasukan pengaman dalam bahaya.
Dia rakyat beta, beri keadilan sekarang - Tengku Hassanal
Tengku Mahkota Pahang itu dalam kemas kini di Instagram Story hari ini menambah, keadilan bukan sahaja perlu perlu dilaksanakan, tetapi ia juga mesti dilihat dilaksanakan.
Empat lelaki didakwa rompak jongkong emas RM710,000
Empat lelaki mengaku tidak bersalah di Mahkamah Sesyen Kuala Lumpur, pada Jumaat, atas pertuduhan merompak jongkong emak bernilai RM710,000, awal bulan lalu.
Tiga penunggang motosikal maut dalam kemalangan berasingan di LPT2
Tiga lelaki dipercayai peserta program EX5 Members 4.0 maut dalam dua kemalangan berasingan di Lebuhraya Pantai Timur 2 (LPT2) di Kemaman hari ini.
Rakyat Malaysia di Iraq, Iran diminta mendaftar melalui E-Konsular - Wisma Putra
Semua rakyat Malaysia yang berada atau melancong ke Iraq dan Iran disarankan untuk segera mendaftar melalui E-Konsular.
Iraq isytihar berkabung 3 hari peringati pemimpin Hizbullah Hassan Nasrallah
Ia sebagai penghormatan kepada Setiausaha Agung Hizbullah, Hassan Nasrallah yang terkorban dalam serangan Israel ke atas Beirut.
Kelayakan Piala Dunia/Piala Asia: Jordi Amat dilayang kad merah, Iraq benam Indonesia
Dalam perlawanan yang berlangsung di Jakarta, Indonesia tumbang 0-2 kepada Iraq di sebalik persembahan cemerlang dalam separuh masa pertama.
Iraq luluskan RUU anti-LGBTQ
PARLIMEN Iraq pada Sabtu meluluskan rang undang-undang (RUU) yang menjenayahkan hubungan sejenis.
Bintang TikTok Iraq, Umm Fahad ditembak mati di luar rumah
Pihak berkuasa Iraq umum penubuhan "jawatankuasa siasatan khas- untuk menjejaki pembunuh yang tidak dikenali itu.
Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Antara pelbagai berita luar negara yang disiarkan di Astro AWANI, berikut adalah antara yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari ini.
Pasangan pengantin Iraq masih trauma, akui jiwa mati selepas insiden kebakaran maut
Majlis perkahwinan pada malam Selasa lalu itu dihadiri 900 tetamu, dengan kebakaran bermula kira-kira jam 10.45 malam.
Proton X90 tembusi pasaran Mauritius, Afrika Selatan dan Brunei
Kenderaan tenaga baharu pertama Proton Holdings Bhd, X90 mencatat kemunculan pertama di Mauritius, Afrika Selatan dan Brunei.
Iraq isytihar perintah berkurung di Kirkuk selepas pertempuran
Perdana Menteri Iraq Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani mengarahkan perintah berkurung dan memulakan operasi mencari di kawasan rusuhan.
3 jalani hukuman gantung di Iraq terlibat pengeboman Daesh ragut 300 nyawa
Perdana Menteri Iraq Mohammed al-Soudani menyifatkan hukuman itu "adil" semasa pertemuan dengan keluarga mangsa.