Mar Behnam

Mar Behnam
An icon of Mar Behnam and his sister in the Coptic Museum.
Born	4th century
Died	350 Nimrud, Iraq
Venerated in	Syriac Christianity including Syriac Orthodox Church Assyrian Church of the East Syrian Catholic Church Chaldean Catholic Church Syro-Malabar Church Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church also venerated in Coptic Orthodox Church
Major shrine	Monastery of Mar Behnam and Mart Sara, Nimrud, Iraq
Feast	10 December

Mar Behnam (Syriac: ܡܪܝ ܒܗܢܡ‎) is a saint and martyr revered in Syriac Christian churches.

Life

Mar Behnam was born in the 4th century to Sennacherib II, the Assyrian pagan king of Asuristan. During a hunting trip at Mount Alfaf he met Mar Mattai where he was converted to Christianity and became a disciple of Mar Mattai. He later brought his sister Sara to be healed of leprosy and they were both baptised alongside Behnam's forty companions.

Upon learning of his children's conversion, Sennacherib attempted to convince them to denounce their faith, however they fled to Mar Behnam's hermitage. The king sent soldiers to intercept them who killed his children and their forty companions on a hill near Nimrud. The king later regretted his actions and was himself baptised by Mar Mattai. He also built a monastery on the mount where Mar Mattai healed his daughter.

Monastery

In the 6th century, a Persian merchant built a shrine on the hill where Mar Behnam died, this later became a large monastery that came to be administered by the Jacobites until 1839 when it was passed to Syriac Catholics. The monastery is traditionally administered by an abbot from Bakhdida.

Other monasteries also exist in the name of the saint, including some in Syria and Egypt.^[1]

Feast

Mar Behnam and his sister Sara are honoured on 10 December by both the Syriac Orthodox and Syriac Catholic churches. He is also considered a martyr and a saint by both the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Church.

See also

• Mar Qardagh

References

• القديس مار متى الناسك والشهداء مار بهنام وسارة ورفاقهما الأربعين, Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate
• http://niranamchurch.com/StBehanam.htm, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church