Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 1.djvu/146

102 During another excursion in 1843 we visited the Chaldean convent of Rabban Hormuzd, situated in a deep gorge of the mountain range which bounds the plain of Mosul on the north, and about thirty miles from the town. We were met at the gate by the old abbot and by several of the monks, who ushered us into the convent, and spread carpets for us in the churchyard. The abbot was the same who twenty-three years before had entertained Mr. and Mrs. Rich, and he betrayed evident emotions of interest as he led us into one of the chapels and showed us the names of these travellers engraved on the walls. Since Rich's time, however, the convent has been twice plundered by the Coordish pashas of Rawandooz and Amedia. Traces of the excesses wrought by the infidel soldiery on these occasions were yet visible in the broken altars and disfigured walls of the chapels which they had converted into kitchens and stables. Everything of any value was carried away, several of the monks were inhumanly murdered, and the few MSS. which had survived the inundation recorded by Rich were torn in pieces or burned with fire.

At the time of our visit the convent contained thirty-five lay brethren and four priests including the abbot; the former are almost exclusively engaged in cultivating the fields, and in other manual labour connected with the establishment, or in collecting contributions from the villages around. The priests with one exception were illiterate men, who seemed to have no other occupation than that of reciting the daily prayers. They knew hardly anything of the contents of a few Syriac MSS. which formed the library, and confessed that the only book in common use among them was Antoine's theology in Arabic, printed by the Propaganda for the use of the Eastern Churches in communion with Rome.

According to historical tradition Rabban Hormuzd lived prior to the council of Ephesus, and was the chief founder of monasticism in this country. His name is held in high veneration by the Nestorians, to whom this, as well as all the other convents which once existed in the plains of Mosul, and are now claimed by the Chaldeans, belonged. The remains of the Rabban or monk are buried at the eastern end of the church called after his name, where his tomb now serves as an altar. In the ground