Abraham the Great of Kashkar

Template:For Template:Short description Template:Infobox saint Abraham the Great of Kashkar was the father of the Assyrian monastic revival in the 6th century. He is a doctor and saint of the Church of the East.

He was born in Kashkar in Persia around 492. He left there to preach the Gospel at Al-Hirah, leaving there to study monastic life at Scetes.

Monasticism was very popular in early Syrian and Mesopotamian Christianity. Some held the view that only a life of celibacy could lead to salvation. Initially, all monks and nuns were hermits, but in about 350 Mar Awgin founded the first cenobitic monastery of Mesopotamia on Mount Izla above the city Nisibis, patterned upon the Egyptian model. Soon there were many monasteries.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

But at the synod of Beth Lapat the Church of the East decided that all monks and nuns should marry. Obviously, this was in order to please the Zoroastrian rulers, who held family life sacred. The decision severely weakened the church. The decision was reverted in 553.

In 571 Abraham founded and governed a new monastery on Mt. Izla. This became the famous monastery called the "Great Convent". The rules he established in 571 were published with those of Dadisho, his successor (588-604).<ref>Chabot, Jean-Baptiste. "Syriac Language and Literature." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 2 Aug. 2014</ref>

Abraham died in 586.

The third abbot of this monastery was his student Babai the Great (551–628), who succeeded Mar Dadisho.<ref name=Kitchen>Kitchen, Robert A., "Babai the Great", The Orthodox Christian World, (Augustine Casiday, ed.), Chap. 21, Routledge, 2012 Template:ISBN</ref> Born to a family of humble means,<ref>Bundy, David and Norris, Frederick w. Norris. "Babai the Great", Encyclopedia of Early Christianity, Volume 1, (Everett Ferguson, Michael P. McHugh, Frederick W. Norris, ed.), Taylor & Francis, 1998 Template:ISBN</ref> Abraham's feast day is celebrated on the 6th Friday after Epiphany.

References

• Holweck, F. G., A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints. St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co. 1924.