Chaldean monks return historic manuscripts to Iraqi archdiocese after more than 50 years

After safeguarding them for more than half a century, the Chaldean Antonian Order of St. Hormizd has returned a collection of historic manuscripts belonging to the former Chaldean Diocese of Akra in northern Iraq to its ecclesiastical authorities.

The formal handover ceremony took place at the Monastery of the Servant of God and Martyr Gabriel Danbo in Ankawa, Iraq, a predominantly Christian district of Erbil. It was attended by Archbishop Najeeb Michaeel of Mosul and Akra; Abbot Samer Soreshow, superior general of the Chaldean Antonian Order of St. Hormizd; and several monks.

The manuscripts were entrusted to the order in the 1960s amid the difficult circumstances and widespread displacement affecting the region, Soreshow explained in an interview with ACI MENA, the Arabic-language sister service of EWTN News.

According to Soreshow, Abdul-Ahad Rabban, a member of the order who served as its superior general and later became bishop of Akra, sought to protect the ecclesiastical heritage from being lost. The manuscripts were placed in the order’s care until circumstances would allow their safe return to the diocese.

Soreshow emphasized that throughout the decades, the order…