Urfa is the ancient Edessa, the historic city of the Bible where Abraham, Job, Jacob and even Saint Gregory lived.
The Kurdistan region is mentioned for the first time in the Torah as being the native land of Abraham, “Aram naha-rayim”. Land between two rivers, the Mesopotamia successively belonged to the great powers of antiquity, the Medes, the Persians, Assyrians and Babylonians.
And it is precisely an Assyrian king, Shalmanazar, who will settle the first Jews in Kurdistan. Between -724 and -722 of the Christian era, more than 2,700 years ago, it besieged the kingdom of Israel to finally succeed in annexing Samaria. During his victory, he deported the Jewish populations in Assyria to prevent any rebellion. These Jews are part of the “Ten exiled tribes” and, by settling in Mesopotamia, they create one of the first Jewish communities in the diaspora. And the destruction of the two Temples will only contribute to the increase of these.
One of the cities of Mesopotamia that is mentioned several times in the Tanach, the Bible, is that of Nineveh, now Mosul. This city has the distinction of being twice subject to the predictions of the prophets of Israel. The first time it is Jonah who is sent by God to ask the city to repent. The second time, less known, is the prophet Nahum, a native of the city Kurdish of Alqoche, who prophesies against Nineveh and Assyria. Until today, his supposed tomb is venerated in Alqoche by the local populations, Jews and Yazidies.
Birth of Abraham
It was thus written that the Assyrian king Nemrut had a dream in which it was mentioned that he should cede his kingdom to a person born in the year, so he had all the newborns of the year executed as well as the pregnant women.
Nona concealed her pregnancy and hid her son Abraham in a cave where he lived until he was 7 years old. As an adult, Abraham fought Nemrut but was taken prisoner and burned at the stake. Then God intervened and transformed the fire into water and the sparks and the ashes into carp. This water now flows into two ponds where sacred carp swim.
Edessa also played a big role during the first centuries of Christianity: it was called the "city of the Apostle Thomas" and constituted the center of Christianity armenian as well as the home of the Church of Eastern Syria. Also mentioned is the legend of King Abgar of Edessa and the "Mandylion", an Icon of Jesus made miraculously: when Abgar was stricken with leprosy, an ambassador was sent to Jesus to ask for healing, Jesus wiped his forehead with a cloth (mandylion) which was given to the ambassador.
This linen, found in 544, was hidden in a wall of the city and became the priceless possession of Edessa. In 944, this relic was transferred to Constantinople and then stolen by the Crusaders in 1204 to be brought back to the West, where it disappeared. For Orthodox Christians, this icon represents the real face of Jesus.
