After safeguarding them for more than 50 years, the Chaldean Antonian Order of St Hormizd has returned a collection of historic manuscripts belonging to the former Chaldean Diocese of Akra in northern Iraq to its ecclesiastical authorities. Source: National Catholic Register.
The formal handover ceremony took place at the Monastery of the Servant of God and Martyr Gabriel Danbo in Ankawa, Iraq, a predominantly Christian district of Erbil.
It was attended by Archbishop Najeeb Michaeel of Mosul and Akra, Abbot Samer Soreshow, superior general of the Chaldean Antonian Order of St Hormizd, and several monks.
The manuscripts were entrusted to the order in the 1960s amid the difficult circumstances and widespread displacement affecting the region, Fr Soreshow said.
According to Fr Soreshow, Abdul-Ahad Rabban, a member of the order who served as its superior general and later became bishop of Akra, sought to protect the ecclesiastical heritage from being lost. The manuscripts were placed in the order’s care until circumstances would allow their safe return to the diocese.
Fr Soreshow said his order regarded the manuscripts not only as priceless treasures but also as an essential part of the Chaldean Church’s historical and spiritual memory and a legacy preserving its identity.
He explained that changing conditions over the years forced the order’s manuscript collections, including those belonging to the Akra Diocese, to be moved repeatedly in search of safety.
The manuscripts were transferred from the Monastery of Our Lady of the Seeds in Alqosh to St George Monastery in Mosul and later to St Anthony Monastery in Baghdad. Their journey eventually brought them to the order’s general headquarters in Ankawa in 2021, which houses the Scriptorium Syriacum, a cultural centre dedicated to preserving Syriac manuscripts.
The repeated relocations mixed the Akra manuscripts with other collections held by the order, requiring extensive efforts to identify and separate them.
According to Fr Soreshow, Akra Diocese’s collection originally comprised 97 manuscripts, of which 93 were handed over to Archbishop Michaeel.
Of the remaining four, three were identified in the Chaldean Patriarchate’s digitised archives, made available through manuscript digitisation efforts and accessible via the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library in Minnesota. The fourth manuscript remains missing.
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Chaldean Monks Return Historic Manuscripts to Iraqi Archdiocese After More Than 50 Years (By Georgena Habbaba, EWTN News via National Catholic Register)
