What is the oldest church in Iraq?

The candidates, and what each date means

The earliest Christian sites in Iraq

Christianity in Iraq is old, but its earliest buildings have not survived. Seleucia-Ctesiphon, on the Tigris south of Baghdad, was the seat of the head of the Church of the East from at least the early fifth century, and the first synod of that church met there in 410. That is a documented church seat, not a standing building, and the site is not in this guide.

Mor Mattai is the oldest living institution among the places listed here. Monks lived there as anchorites, recluses, hermits and in community; the monastery had its own bishop from early on, and its library was cited by the Church of the East patriarch Timothy I in the eighth century. Bar Hebraeus spent his first seven years as maphrian there and is buried there. Dair Mar Elia, near Mosul, was founded around 595 by a monk named Elia, though its main sanctuary was built in the eleventh century. It closed after the massacre of its monks in 1743, its ruins became a place of pilgrimage, and the Islamic State destroyed them in 2014.

Medieval monasteries and churches

Rabban Hormizd, cut into the ridge above Alqosh, was founded in the seventh century according to the history of the saint written by the monk Rabban Shemʿon. It belonged to the Church of the East, housed the patriarchs of the Eliya line, with gravestones from 1497 to 1804, and is now Chaldean Catholic. Mar Behnam, south-east of Mosul, is said by legend to stand over the fourth-century graves of the martyrs Behnam and his sister Sarah, but its first secure evidence is an inscription of 1164; most of its carving dates to about 1233–1259 and is the only full programme of medieval church decoration that survives in Iraq.

In Mosul itself, Mart Meskinta dates originally from the twelfth century and was substantially renovated in 1851. It was damaged in 2008 and again between 2014 and 2017. Many other churches in Mosul, Baghdad and the Nineveh Plains date from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and are documented on their own profiles.

Limits of this answer

“Oldest” depends on what is counted. A church seat, a monastic community, a founding legend and a standing building are different things, and in Iraq they rarely coincide. The Mor Mattai dates describe the community and its documents; the source gives no date for the present buildings. The seventh-century date of Rabban Hormizd comes from a saint’s history, and Mar Behnam’s fourth-century origin is a legend. War since 2003, and the Islamic State occupation of 2014–2017, damaged or destroyed several of these places. This guide documents 17 places in Iraq.

Places mentioned

• Mor Mattai Monastery · Iraq · Show on map
• Monastery of Saint Elijah · Iraq · Show on map
• Rabban Hormizd Monastery · Iraq · Show on map
• Mar Behnam Monastery · Iraq · Show on map
• Mart Meskinta Chaldean Church · Iraq · Show on map

Related questions

• What is the oldest church in Syria?
• What is the oldest church in Iran?
• What is the oldest church in Lebanon?
• Are there churches in Kuwait?
• More questions answered