Tel Tamer, Syria – The village church of Tel Hormiz, Syria, was dedicated to Saint Pethyon, a third-century saint of the Assyrian tradition who was originally from Egypt. "Was" dedicated, or "is" dedicated, perhaps -- which is appropriate for a church that has been destroyed and now lies in ruins?
In either case, ISIS took over Tel Hormiz in the early morning of February 23, 2015. The village, then with a few hundred residents, is the last in a string of Assyrian Christian villages along the Khabur River Valley in the Hasakah province of northeastern Syria. This church (pictured above, in ruins), named after Saint Pethyon, belonged to the Ancient Church of the East, which split with the Assyrian Church of the East in the 1960s over the issue of the liturgical calendar and patriarchal succession, but both Churches are heirs of the historical Church of the East.
