Father Najeeb Michaeel examines a manuscript
Father Najeeb Michaeel is an Iraqi Christian priest who speaks Arabic, English, French, Aramaic and Syriac, not to mention being able to read Latin and Greek. In the garden of Zaytun library, Erbil I hear this gentle man tell me how his community of friars used to live in Mosul, a traditional centre for Christianity in Iraq, having the highest proportion of Assyrian Christians of all the Iraqi cities. Father Najeeb’s community has had to leave Mosul due to persecution. Later on during The House of Books workshop he gives us a presentation of the magnificent early Christian manuscripts they are digitising. Over coffee he gives us a moving rendition of the ‘Our Father’ sung in Aramaic. I wasn’t expecting to feel so moved by a religion I have become increasingly frustrated by, and in Iraq.
Early Christian manuscript, Centre Numerique des Manuscrits Orientaux, Mosul, Iraq.
Iraq has often compared to a mosaic in terms of the diversity of its religious diversity. Iraq is a Shia majority country and contains the sacred Shia cities of Najaf and Karbala. Most sources estimate that around 65% of Iraqis follow Shia Islam, and around 35% follow Sunni Islam. What is not so well known is that Christians have inhabited what is modern day Iraq for about 2,000 years. The person who is supposed to be respnsible for the transmission of Christianity in Iraq is St Thomas the Apostle. Assyrians (also called Syriacs and Chaldeans) most of whom are adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church and the Assyrian Church of the East account for most of Iraq’s Christian population, along with Armenians. Tariq Aziz was born to an Assyrian family and is a member of the Chaldean Catholic church. There are also small populations of Mandaeans, Shabaks, Yarsan and Yezidis. The Iraqi Jewish community, numbering around 150,000 in 1941, almost entirely left the country. There are also Gnostics in the form of Mandeans and sub sects thereof, Yazidis who believe in a god but have a blue peacock angel in their pantheon, and of course the Zoroastrians which the ancient Babylonians followed.
Early Christian manuscript, Centre Numerique des Manuscrits Orientaux, Mosul, Iraq.
Despite this diversity they share some things, one being religious persecution within Iraq. Estimates for the numbers of Christians suggest a decline from 8–10% in the mid-20th century to 5% at the turn of the century, to 3% in 2008. About 600,000 Iraqi Christians have fled to Syria, Jordan or other countries or relocated to Iraqi Kurdistan.which is also the traditional homeland of the Assyrian people. Those who remain are very aware of their minority status and the threat to their lives. Another shared thing they have in common is a respect for their heritage, both in terms of artefacts and records. In the aftermath of the war in Iraq where countless manuscripts where destroyed, these communities are well aware of the importance of their documentary heritage. Each group have their own manuscript collection. In addition, an attempt by Saddam Hussein to centralise private collections of archives has also made them wary of any notion of centralisation/government control. This has resulted in many collections being hidden away and lost.
It was in this context that I met Father Najeeb in Erbil. He was there to speak about his work at the Centre Numérique des Manuscrits Orientaux (CNMO) Mosul and their work involving the digitisation of their Iraqi Christian manuscripts. This is a small scale project conducted by the Dominican community in Kurdistan. Their move to Iraqi Kurdistan was due to their persecution in Mosul and the government in Kurdistan ensures as much they can the community’s safety. Father Najeeb and his community are being helped by Father Columba Stewart, a Benedictine monk in St John’s monastery in Minnesota. Based at the the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library, the library began in the cold war, hoping to retain a record of Europe’s heritage in case the Soviets came. Father Stewart’s goal since 2003 has been to digitise as many Eastern Christian manuscripts in the Middle East as possible, because these manuscripts are endangered from a variety of causes. The main danger is the ethnic genocide which has afflicted Iraq but also neglect.
CD of a collection for donor
Father Najeeb’s aim is clear, to preserve and generate awareness and interest in these ancient Iraqi Christian manuscripts and protect their heritage from disaster and cultural genocide. The Centre actively collects and digitises collections from private donors, who in turn get a copy of their manuscripts on CD (see above). I met other members of the Christian community in Iraq who had found a safe haven in Ankawa a district of Erbil which we visited. They all speak several languages including Arabic and Syriac, an ancient language closely related to Aramaic. While Erbil is known as a safe haven withing Iraq, driving around in Father Najeeb’s car one realises that hanging a rosary bead from a rear view mirror is not a casual gesture a brave declaration of faith as is wearing the traditional clothes of a Catholic priest.
The manuscripts which Father Najeeb is digitising are extarordinarily beautiful, and all the more so considering their provenance, age and the number of destructive forces they have endured. They have of some similarity to other e arly Christian manuscripts of the age, as the religion spread as far east as Iraq and also to the wilds of western Ireland where scribes worked on similar texts. In some way digitisation and the digital age has brought people together again to protect these texts and hopefully raise awareness of this and other vulnerable communities.
Young Iraqi Christian at Centre Numérique des Manuscrits Orientaux
