Mor Hananyo Monastery
Mor Hananyo Monastery or Monastery of Saint Ananias (Turkish: Deyrulzafaran Manastırı; Syriac: ܕܝܪܐ ܕܡܪܝ ܚܢܢܝܐ) is an important Syriac Orthodox monastery located three kilometers south east of Mardin, Turkey, in the Syriac cultural region known as Tur Abdin. Mor Hananyo Monastery was the headquarters of the Syriac Orthodox Church from c. 1160 until 1932.[1]
Monastery information
Dayro d-Mor Hananyo
493
Church of the Mother of God, Beth Kadishe
Mor Shelmon
It is usually better known by its nickname, the Saffron Monastery (Syriac: ܕܝܪܐ ܕܟܘܪܟܡܐ, Dairo d-Kurkmo[2]; Arabic: دير الزعفران, Dairu 'l-Za‘farān[2]) which is derived from the warm color of its stone. Syriac Orthodox culture was centered in two monasteries near Mardin (west of Tur Abdin), Mor Gabriel and Deyrulzafaran.[3]
The Saffron Monastery
The Saffron Monastery
The tree lined path to the monastery
The main entrance, taken from the outer courtyard
The inner courtyard
The Patriarchal throne
Close-up picture of a column inside the monastery
Mor Hananyo Monastery, or The Saffron Monastery in English
Bible and Pulpit
Outside View
The monastery has made a great effort to print books. A printing press was bought during a journey to England in 1874 and subsequently shipped to Antonius Azar in Aleppo. In 1881 the press was moved to the Monastery and in 1882 a separate house for the press was built. In the 1880s the archbishop of Jerusalem was sent to England to learn the printing. He came back with a second press as a backup for the first, which was located in Jerusalem. In 1888 the first book was printed in the monastery and a copy was sent to Queen Victoria. In the Monastery books kept being printed until 1917. From 1913 to 1914 also a periodical named Hikmet was printed. In the Turkish Republic the printing press was used to print official documents as it was the only press in the region.[9]
In the printing house, books in Arabic, Turkish, and Syriac, were published until 1969, and a monthly magazine called Öz Hikmet until 1953. Some of the pieces are exhibited in the monastery, others in the Kırklar Church in Mardin.[10]