Mor Mattai

Mor Mattai

July 24th is the commemoration of the dukhrono of St. Mathew the Hermit according to the Liturgical Calendar of the Syriac Orthodox Church.Mor Mattai Renuoyo was born in the early 4th century in the city of Amid or in a village close by. Little is known about his early life. Mor Mattai was a monk in that region when the anti-Christian persecution of Julian the apostate took place.In 361, Mor Mattai & other monks were forced to flee to Nineveh where he found a hermitage on Alfaf Mountain in the Nineveh plains. It was during that time that he met prince St. Behnam, the son of Sencharib, during a hunting trip. Mattai taught him about Christianity & Behnam became a disciple of Mattai. Impressed by his teachings, Behnam went back to his mother & persuaded her to let him take his sister Sara, who had leprosy, to the saint. She was cured by the saint & after the miracle, both Sara and Behnam were baptized by the saint alongside Behnam's forty companions. Upon learning of his children's conversion, King Sencharib killed his children & their forty companions on a hill in Nimrud. The king was then struck with a disease. Behnam appeared to his mother in a dream & told her to get Mor Mattai. She did & the saint cured the king. To show his gratitude, the king built a monastery in the mountain where Mor Mattai healed his daughter. This became known as Dayro d-Mor Mattai Nineveh. Biography courtesy of Syriac Orthodox Resources Oh Mor Mattai! Plead for us before God's throne of grace. Amen. About Dayro d-Mor Mattai Nineveh: https://goo.gl/Tzgo4aBiography in Arabic: https://goo.gl/ZTTVvmhttps://urhotheway.com/2020/09/17/st-matthew-the-hermit/Paris 146 and Vat. LXIX