It occurred to me yesterday that I never wrote about Mar Qardakh, the person. Mar Qardakh (or Saint Qardagh , as you please ) was an early 4th century martyr in the Eastern Church. He was born during the time of the Sassanid Persian Empire to pagan parents who were nobles in society. When Qardagh was 25 years old, King Shapur II visited his parents’ estate and was deeply impressed with Qardagh’s handsome appearance and athleticism – especially with his skill at archery. After a particularly successful hunt, the king granted Qardagh a large amount of land and gave him authority as a governor over a large portion of northern Persia. After two years of living as a nobleman, Qardagh met a Christian hermit named Abdisho’, and his life was never to be the same. After debating heatedly about Christianity and Zoroastrianism and arresting the hermit, there was a series of miraculous events that convinced Qardagh that Abdisho’ was a holy man and that his God was the true one. He faced East, made the sign of the Cross, and begged Christ to forgive him and accept him into his flock. He released the hermit and visited him in his hermitage. After learning the faith, he was baptized.
When he returned home, however, his family began to reject him due to his new faith, and this rejection became more and more violent. Qardagh was sentenced to death by the king due to pressures from the religious elite, but he did not give in so easily. Taking a small army with him, he fled to the mountains and held off the Persian army for a number of months. After valiantly defending himself for so long, Qardagh had a dream in which St. Stephen the Martyr appeared to him and told him that it was better to give his life for his faith than to continue fighting thus. It was his own father who threw the first of the stones that were to give Qardagh the crown of martyrdom. He was buried in Erbil, where a church was dedicated to him.
Today, Kathy and I visited Mar Qardakh Church in Erbil. It was to be our last exploratory outing before leaving.
Front of Mar Qardakh Church.
Side view of church.
Altar of church.
A sign outside of the church.
You may ask "Who is Father Ganni?? I will tell you in a moment. But first I will share with you the unexpected surprise that lay in wait for Kathy and I as we were looking at the altar.
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While we were in the church, we were invited to look through a grate that covered a niche in the wall near the altar. Behind the grate was a reliquary for Fr. Ganni, his stole, and a Holy Card that was in his pocket when he was pulled out of his car in Mosul on June 3, 2007 and shot dead for refusing to obey those who told him to close his church. You can see the bullet hole in the card, right above Mary's head. Fr. Ganni and 3 of his subdeacons were martyred for being Christians in a hostile environment.
While we were in the church, we were invited to look through a grate that covered a niche in the wall near the altar. Behind the grate was a reliquary for Fr. Ganni, his stole, and a Holy Card that was in his pocket when he was pulled out of his car in Mosul on June 3, 2007 and shot dead for refusing to obey those who told him to close his church. You can see the bullet hole in the card, right above Mary's head. Fr. Ganni and 3 of his subdeacons were martyred for being Christians in a hostile environment.
I could devote an entire post to Fr. Ganni.. However, I think it will suffice if I provide a very good link that tells his story. In many ways, Fr. Ganni's story is the same as many, many people that we have come to know and love. I pray that all of us have the courage to endure in the faith during persecution as the Christians of the Middle East.
After our visit to Mar Qardakh Church, we returned to Ankawa for one last visit to Mar Qardakh School. I offer you the following photos.
Main entrance in to the school. Entrance is on Mar Qardakh street in Ankawa.
A view of the front of the school taken from the street.
A photo shot from the corner.
May Mar Qardakh be an inspiration to all the teachers and students of the school as well as Christians around the world.
jw
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