Established over 16 centuries ago Mor Gabriel (Saint Gabriel), is the world’s oldest functioning Christian monastery. But if the Religion of Intolerance has its way, it won’t be around much longer.
 
Located in Southeastern Turkey near the Syrian border, St. Gabriel sits on the Tur Abdin plateau near Midyat in an area referred to as the motherland of the Syriac people.
 

 
The monastery’s roots go all the way back to the fourth century. Founded in 397 by two monks, its fame and reputation quickly spread, word of its existence eventually reaching the emperors in Istanbul and Rome. Contributions from various Roman Emperors enabled construction of several building which are still standing undamaged today.
 
St. Gabriel’s primary mission is to keep Syriac Orthodox Christianity alive in the land of its birth by providing schooling and the ordination of native-born monks. Current inhabitants include Mor Timotheus Samuel Aktash, 3 monks, 11 nuns and 35 boys who are learning the monastery’s teachings, the ancient Aramaic language spoken by Jesus and the Orthodox Syriac tradition. They welcome some 20,000 pilgrims annually.

 
Now, just to be clear… the monastery of St. Gabriel still occupies the very same land it has been on for 1600 years. Unfortunately for the present-day occupants, national and ethnic borders have shifted over the centuries and their land is now situated in a Muslim-majority country. And, along with the growing movement toward Islamist ascendancy in the Middle East, radical Muslim elements have been emerging in formerly secularist Turkey as well.
 
So it shouldn’t come as a huge shock to learn that, as part of a Christian minority amid a Muslim majority, the monastery is suddenly facing an existential threat. Although it does seem a bit surreal to learn that in 2008 three nearby villages actually sued the monks – claiming ownership of the land.
 
Here are the details and background story from a July 13th Assyrian International News Agency article ~

But in the past 150 years Mor Gabriel has gone through a decline after the massacres of Christians by nationalists at the end of the 19th century – 3,000 Christians were burnt to death in Edessa’s Cathedral in 1895 – and clashes between Turks and Kurds in the area during World War I.
 
In the mid 1960s the community in Tur Abdin numbered 130,000.
 
Today only 3,500 people are left and the ‘second Jerusalem’ is in danger. The heads of the three neighbouring Muslim villages, Kurds with the Belebi tribe, filed a lawsuit against the monastery years ago with the support of an MP member of the Islamic Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
 
Under the lawsuit, the Syriacs are accused of practicing ‘anti-Turkish activities’ by providing an education to young people, including non Christians, and of illegally occupying land which belongs to the neighbouring villages.
 
After a number of contrasting verdicts, the highest appeals court in Ankara, which is close to the government, has ruled in favour of the village chiefs and said the land which has been part of the monastery for 1,600 years is not its property, Turkish newspaper Zaman reported.
 
The lawsuit also claimed that the sanctuary was built over the ruins of a mosque, forgetting that Mohammed was born 170 years after its foundation. 😯

 
St. Gabriel plans to appeal the ruling to European Court of Human Rights. Let’s hope and pray that some sanity will prevail.
 

 
This episode of Christian persecution by Muslims speaks volumes about the Religion of Peace. But of course it’s really just a manifestation of the Islamists’ doctrine ~
 
In Surah 9:29, Muhammad tells his followers:

By contrast, on the homepage of the St. Gabriel website, the following message is posted:

 
Which sounds like the Religion of Peace to you?
 

Related:
Gem of Christian History at Risk in Turkey
Turkish Court Takes Monastery’s Land, Declares Assyrians ‘Occupiers’
 
Apparently eliminating the cultural heritage of any non-Muslim civilization is a growing Islamic trend: Mr. Infidel, Tear Down This Pyramid!