Monastery of Mar Behnam
Entrance of the monastery
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 Location within Iraq
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| Monastery information | |
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| Order | Syriac Catholic Church |
| Established | 4th century |
| Dedicated to | Mar Behnam, Mart Sara |
| Site | |
| Location | near Beth Khdeda |
| Coordinates | 36°08′16″N 43°24′23″E / 36.137778°N 43.406389°ECoordinates: 36°08′16″N 43°24′23″E / 36.137778°N 43.406389°E |
| Visible remains | Destroyed |
Monastery of the Martyrs Mar Behnam and Marth Sarah (Syriac: ܕܝܪܐ ܪܡܪܝ ܒܗܢܡ ܘܡܪܬ ܣܪܐ, Arabic: دير مار بهنام, Mar Behnam Monastery), was a Syriac Catholic monastery in northern Iraq in the village Khidr Ilyas close to the town of Beth Khdeda. It was destroyed on March 19, 2015 by Islamic State.
The monastery was built in the 4th century by an Assyrian king named Senchareb as a penance for killing his son Behnam and daughter Sarah after they converted to Christianity.
The monastery, after its establishment continued its work and contributed greatly to the Christian world under the care of the Syriac Orthodox Church. Sculptures in the church show that renovations were done in 1164 and between 1250-1261. Records show that the monastery suffered greatly during the period from 1743-1790 which was due to attacks carried out by Nader Shah, the then-muslim ruler of Persia, against the Christians in the region.
The monks of the monastery established contact with Rome in the 18th century, which led to the gradual conversion of the inhabitants of Beth Khdeda to the Syriac Catholic Church.
In 1790 the monastery was taken over by the Catholic Church and was managed for eight years until the Syriac Orthodox church took it back. For some unknown reason, the monks abandoned the monastery in 1819. The monastery changed hands again to the Syriac Catholic Church in 1839, which has cared for it to the present time.
The monastery belonged to the Church of the East for at least ten centuries, which is attested to by rare Turkic inscriptions from the 13th century left by Mongol pilgrims. Before turning to the hand of the Syriac Orthodox Church, the whole region converted to Monophysitism and the monastery became the residence as well as the resting place of a number of Syriac Orthodox Patriarchs.
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