Mar Behnam, his sister Sarah and the Forty Martyrs

Word for the day

“Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” Romans 8:35

Life

Mar Behnam and his sister Sarah are greatly honoured in the Syriac Churches, especially in northern Iraq, where the monastery of Mar Behnam near Mosul has been a place of pilgrimage for centuries.

According to the traditional account, Behnam and Sarah were children of a Persian ruler in the fourth century. Behnam came to faith through the holy monk Mar Mattai; Sarah was healed and baptised; and when their father learned that they had become Christians, he had them put to death together with forty companions. Later the father repented. Historians consider much of this account legendary, but it carries the memory of real martyrs of the Persian persecutions.

The monastery of Mar Behnam was damaged by militants in 2014–2015 and has since been restored, a sign of the endurance of Christians in the lands of their ancient faith.

Lessons

Nothing separates us from Christ

Faith stronger than family pressure.

Brother and sister together

Faith shared in a family.

The suffering Church today

Christians of Iraq and the Middle East.

Stories

The martyrdom of Behnam and Sarah (legend)

The traditional account tells that their father, angered by their conversion, had them killed with forty companions, and later repented and built a shrine in their memory.

The monastery restored (history)

After the damage of 2014–2015, the monastery of Mar Behnam near Mosul was restored and reopened for worship.

Homily

1. Faith stronger than fear

Nothing separates us from Christ (Romans 8:35).

2. A family of faith

Brother and sister together.

3. Persecuted Christians today

The Church of the East still suffers.

Dear friends, today the Syriac tradition remembers Mar Behnam, his sister Sarah and forty companions. The traditional story, partly legendary, tells that they became Christians and were killed by their own father, a pagan ruler, who later repented.

St Paul asks: who will separate us from the love of Christ? Hardship, persecution, sword? (Romans 8:35). The martyrs answer with their lives: nothing.

Their monastery near Mosul has seen centuries of pilgrims and, in our own time, war and destruction. It was damaged by militants and then restored. Christians in Iraq and Syria still carry the cross of persecution.

Let us pray today for the Christians of the Middle East, our brothers and sisters in the Syriac tradition, and let us not be ashamed of our faith, which they keep at such cost. Amen.

Prayer

Lord, through the prayers of Mar Behnam, his sister Sarah and the Forty Martyrs, strengthen Christians who suffer for their faith, especially in the lands of the East. Amen.