NSIBIN, Turkey — Located in southeastern Turkey, in the historic region of Tur Abdin, the city of Nsibin (Nusaybin) hosted its first Divine Liturgy in over a century. Sounds of hymns once again rose across the Syriac Orthodox Church of Mor Yakub of Nsibin, marking the return of life to one of the oldest Christian edifices in the East.
The Divine Liturgy was presided over by Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Tur Abdin Mor Timotheus Shmuel Aktaş. He was joined by priests, monks, and deacons, with a large gathering of faithful who traveled from various regions to partake in the occasion.
This is the first service of its kind since the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) and Armenian genocides, referred to by the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) community as the Sayfo, which led to the killing of millions and displacement of hundreds of thousands of others.
In his sermon, Archbishopl Aktaş recalled pages of ancient Church history, highlighting the Council of Nicaea, which was held in Nicaea, contemporary İznik, with the participation of 318 bishops, including Mor Yakub of Nsibin, a prominent figure of the early Syriac Church.
The Archbishop stated that holding the liturgy in this ancient church is not merely a religious event, but a recovery of the pulse of collective memory and of the faith rooted in the very stones of the place. He also referred to the recent visit by Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II to Tur Abdin and his meeting with Turkish officials. He emphasized that “the great warmth with which the Patriarch was received was unexpected from the Turkish state,” sending important signals about the future of the Syriac presence in the region.
During the service, the archbishop pointed out that the Mor YaKub of Nsibin Church requires restoration work and the installation of a new bell, appealing to the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) people in diaspora to contribute to supporting this project. “This church was built from stones shaped by greatness of our earliest fathers’ faith,” he stated. “We must safeguard their legacy as they safeguarded it through the centuries.”
Nisibin, once a prominent religious and cultural center in Tur Abdin, has now witnessed a moment that connects the past with the present, confirming that religious and civilizational memory cannot be erased, no matter how long the silence.