In a land east of the Euphrates River, on the northern reaches of the Tigris is an ancient Christian land called Tur'abdin: the Mountain of the Servants. In the fourth century after Christ, a Christian civilization rose up and created masterpieces of art and culture. This book presents a few samples of the many treasures crafted by monks who dedicated their lives to God.
East Syriac Christianity spread outside the Roman Empire as a result of the missions carried out by the "Church of the East", formerly known as "Nestorian Church". This volume contains the most recent cutting edge research on this very Church in China and Central Asia. World-renowned scholars from universities and institutions in China, India, Europe and North America contributed to the study of this fascinating chapter of the history of Christianity. They come from various disciplines such as Religious and Ecclesiastical History, Philology (Sinology, Syrology), Archeology, Theology, and Central Asiatic Studies.
This exciting resource on desert spirituality is quite unlike any other: at once a physical journey to outstanding deserts of the planet and an odyssey of the soul. A journey of discovery takes us across five continents as we venture to places few pilgrims reach: the Gazan desert, the Sahara, the Australian outback, the Athos wilderness and the Ordos Desert of China, and the Syrian desert, among others. Evocative descriptions by early travelers and by the author immerse us into a diversity of wilderness landscapes, stimulating the senses and the imagination. Physicality leads to spirituality as we listen to compelling voices that speak to us poignantly across space and time—including spiritual writers long-forgotten or not well-known. These unearth for us the treasure we seek: we uncover the distinctive charism of each desert, offering us different and challenging ways of looking at the world and at the spiritual life. We discover the unpredictable desert to contain unexpected, priceless treasures of transformative wisdom that speak uncannily into our own contemporary spiritual search. We see how these gems can energize and inspire our discipleship or spiritual practice. As we embark on this spiritual quest, we may never be the same again!
"In this third volume the regions covered are to the south and east of the Taurus range, beginning with the Upper and Lower Euphrates, which includes the Byzantine and Turkish buildings of Harput, Malatya and the Keban region, where there are also a number of churches and monastic sites. The following section, on the Tigris region, runs from the Taurus to the Tur 'Abdin, a historic centre of Syrian monasticism. In Diyarbakr and Mardin there are many important Christian and Islamic monuments. This was the centre of the medieval Artukid kingdom."
This is a collection of summaries, diary entries and letters from the famed British explorer, Gertrude Bell who later went on to become an adviser to Winston Churchill and founded the Baghdad Archeology Museum. The focus of the book is on her contribution to the photographic and archeological record she made of a region of forgotten Christians, called Tur Abdin in present day Turkey, who had preserved the language of Jesus and a Semitic form of Christianity under the veil of Islam.
This is a brief history of the life and times of William A. Baillie Grohman, 19th century pioneer Austrian immigrant to the Pacific Northwest who envisioned digging a canal linking the Columbia River to tributares of the the Mississippi and thus create the fabled Northwest Passage.
For nearly forty years I have been chasing this object of love, Syriac manuscripts, because for me this is the most engaging way to enter into the romance and experience the source of love itself: God in the form of Jesus the Messiah. It is not for everyone. In fact it is a path for very few. It is a lot of hard work learning the languages and traveling to and living in to remote and difficult places in search of these manuscripts.
