Mar Behnam Monastery

Saint Behnam Monastery
The entrance of the monastery
Religion
Affiliation	Christian
Province	Nineveh
Rite	Syriac Catholic Church
Location
State	Template:Iraq
Height (max)	25m

Monastery of the Martyrs Saint Behnam and his Sister Sarah (Template:Lang-syr), is a Syriac Catholic monastery in northern Iraq close to the town of Bakhdida.

The monastery was built in the 3rd century A.D. at the hands of an Assyrian people king named Senchareb as a penance for killing his son Behnam and daughter Sarah after they concerted to Christianity.

The monastery belonged to the Church of the East for at least 10 centuries attested by rare Turkic inscriptions from the 13th century left by Mongol pilgrims. before turning to the hand of the Syriac Orthodox Church when the whole region converted to Monophysitism and the monastery became the residence as well as the resting place of a number Syriac Orthodox Patriarchs.

The monks of the monastery established contact with Rome in the 18th century, which led to the gradual conversion of inhabitants of Bakhdida to the Syriac Catholic Church.

The monastery was renovated in 1986 and is visited by thousands of Christians and Muslims yearly.