Mar Matti Monastery is located atop Mount Maqloub in northern Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

. About 20 kilometers from Mosul

Mosul

Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...

, Mar Matti was founded in AD 363 by a Syriac Christian

Syriac Christianity

Syriac or Syrian Christianity , the Syriac-speaking Christians of Mesopotamia, comprises multiple Christian traditions of Eastern Christianity. With a history going back to the 1st Century AD, in modern times it is represented by denominations primarily in the Middle East and in Kerala, India....

 called Matti (Syriac for Matthew) who was fleeing persecution from Amid to nearby Nineveh

Nineveh

Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....

 in Asuristan

Asuristan

Asuristan was the province of Assyria under the Sassanid Empire . It corresponds to the Babylonia province under the Parthian Empire.The province for the most part stretched from Mosul to Adiabene....

 (Assyria.) Matti joined a mostly Nestorian population that had a small Syriac community already located atop Mt. Maqloub. Under his leadership, that community developed a true monastic ethos. It is today recognized as one of the oldest Christian monasteries in existence. It is further noted for a considerable collection of Syriac Christian manuscripts.

The monastery is currently maintained by the Syriac Orthodox Church

Syriac Orthodox Church

The Syriac Orthodox Church; is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Eastern Mediterranean, with members spread throughout the world. The Syriac Orthodox Church claims to derive its origin from one of the first Christian communities, established in Antioch by the Apostle St....

. Every year, Christians of various church denominations gather in the monastery on September 14 to commemorate the day of Saint Matti's death.