Abraham the Great of Kashkar

Who was Abraham the Great of Kashkar?

Abraham the Great of Kashkar was the father of the Assyrian monastic revival in the 6th century. He is hailed as a doctor and saint of the Assyrian 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.

But at the synod of Beth Lapat the Assyrian 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. Spiritual life declined and some opponents left altogether and joined Miaphysite Churches.

The decision was reverted in 553, and in 571 Abraham founded a new monastery on Mt. Izla with strict rules. Abraham died in 586.

The third abbot of this monastery was his student Babai the Great. Babai finally drove out the married monks from Mt. Izla, and as 'visitor of the monasteries of the north' ensured that the monastic ideal was taken seriously throughout northern Mesopotamia.